SerenaJ

On 5/7/2017 at 22:27, Annie_H said:

Hi Serena,

I am a licenced real estate agent in Queensland and the rules are different from NSW. 

If buying at auction there are no  conditions you have bought your seld a house once the hammer goes down on your bid and the auctioneer says sold!  In queensland the agent does the contract unlike NSW. I always recommend that anyone looking to purchase should always get preapproval from the bank first, however I would recommend gowing through a mortgage broker.  There is no point looking at property if you dont know how much you can borrow, as this can be waisting your time. As for a finance clause id recommed 14 days, which is pretty standard. Building and pest the same 14 day, always get your own.  Remember there is a 5 day cooling off period from date of contract and remember you dont have a contravt until all parties have signed.when signing a contract. I'm happy to give you more tips as a buyer, so feel free to contact me.

Regards,

Anne Harris 

Thanks so much for your reply - sorry for the late response; I've been away with work and then not had a chance to check messages since. I'd be keen to understand any tips relating to buying at auction, as it seems all the properties we are looking at are going this way. Does the 5 day cooling off period you mention only relate to properties not bought at auction? In regards to building and pest, are you suggesting that if the vendor has had one done prior to auction we ignore it and get our own done in every instance? Why is this? Is it not reliable if purchased by the vendor (i.e. could they have negotiated to have certain things omitted from the report or something?). Would you have any advice on the contract? As the contract is already drawn up prior to the auction, what should be our course of action? Should we have a solicitor review it prior to the auction? Or are contracts all pretty much of a muchness and we should just go with it? Thanks so much for your help. We've seen anther property that goes to auction on Saturday (we lost out on the last one I was posting about) so we need to get ourselves organised pretty quickly! :-)

Thanks for the advice. So, if buying at auction, you show the contract to your own solicitor prior to the auction? Seems sensible to me, only our mortgage broker said you only need to appoint a solicitor after signing the contract? Same for searches. If you pay for all the searches prior to the auction, then don't get the house, this is a huge expense. But is that just what you have to do when buying at auction? We don't want to take risks and put a deposit down only to lose it, but similarly we don't want to keep paying thousands of dollars getting contracts checked and searches done, and then getting outbid at the auctions. Yes we are PR residents. Thanks for your help. It feels so unfamiliar compared to the UK. :-)

We've found a house we're interested in buying (Brisbane), but it goes to auction on Saturday. We've only just applied for an offer of a loan so our finances won't be sorted in time to bid, but we're planning on going to the auction to see if the property gets passed in and if we have a chance of negotiating a contract (we've been advised only to sign one with a 14 day finance clause). What we're totally bewildered by is what inspections and legal checks we should get done. There is a building and pest report (provided by the seller) but would most people get their own done in addition? What other inspections would people normally get done (or is that it)? Also, when would we get a solicitor on board? Does the solicitor check over the contract - if so would this be before or after signing the contract? We had a quote from a solicitor for all sorts of searches that they can undertake - but which are recommended? The house was built in the 1930s if that has a bearing. Thank you for any help / advice.

Thanks everyone for all the great advice. Gave my husband and I some really good points to consider and talk about. We had a parents evening tonight with the teacher and have agreed that we will support our son in using the new style of writing and the school has also agreed to support and encourage him no matter what style of writing he uses during the transition period. We've positioned it with our son as 'learning to write Australian' and said we will all learn together. So he's happy to give it a go and knows he can also continue to write in the cursive style outside of school if he prefers. Hopefully it won't be too painful a process for any of us. Thanks again for the advice.

Hi there, We've recently moved to Brisbane and our 7 year old son has just started Year 2. He already completed a term of Year 2 in his previous school in the UK and since the start of Year 1 he's been taught the cursive handwriting font (as a pre-cursor to joined up writing). He now pretty much does joined up writing, as he finds this easier than keeping the letters separate... He's not the fastest or neatest writer in the world, but he's only 7 and we're really proud of the progress he's making (especially as he's left handed which can make it a little more awkward). But now he's being told at his new school that he needs to strop writing this way and start forming his letters separately in the non-cursive style. I emailed the teacher when he came home and told me that this is what he's being told, and she says they "implement the Queensland handwriting font and this forms part of our assessment and reporting. I just need you to be aware of this as I feel your son can be encouraged to apply this font here at school whilst continuing to enjoy his success and progress with cursive writing in his free time."

My husband and I can't help feeling this is a little like going backwards, and we are also are worried about the effect this will have on our son's self-esteem, given that he's now being told he writes 'wrong'. He's rather a perfectionist, so we know it will really upset him if he has to start relearning to write and therefore making mistakes. What would your advice be? If it's really just a question of the school being able to score points in terms of reporting on the handwriting abilities of each year group, then we'd rather look after the interests of our son than the group interests of the school.

My kids are going to Ithaca since September (it's holiday now) and school is great. Good teachers and really nice community around the school.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Thanks for that - it's reassuring to get a good review from someone with children there. Do you mind me asking how old your kids are? We have a 7 year old son, so he'll be starting Year 2 later this month. We're moving into a house in Bardon next weekend. Not sure if you're able to recommend any good local places for us to make contact with children of his age before school starts - he's not had anyone his own age to play with for over a month. Really feel for the poor lad... :-(

Thanks for this - really useful. :-)

Hello. We've just arrived from the UK and are looking at buying a car, as it seems like such a false economy to rent for more than the first week or so. We have no idea what's involved here though... Do we need Aussie licences before we can buy or is a UK licence ok? Will we need a permanent address to register a vehicle (we are in holiday accommodation until early Jan)? What are the main steps to taking over ownership of a vehicle here (we'd be buying 2nd hand). Any advice on whether better to buy from a dealership or private sale? Thanks for any help you can offer.

Hi all, We just arrived from the UK on the 10th and are looking for a permanent rental as we're in holiday accommodation at the moment. We've found somewhere we like in Bardon and it's in the catchment for Ithaca Creek State School. Our son is 7. Just wondered if anyone has any experience of the school and whether it has a good reputation? Thanks.

Sorry I never really considered the risk of your 3 week journey to Malaysia as we came straight to Australia so not sure which would be the safer option to be honest . For rental purposes copies will do but you do need to ensure all your originals I.e birth certificates , marriage certificates , copy of your visa entitlements, or any other legal documents such as ( divorce papers, any avadavits or sworn declarations regarding jurisdiction for removing children ) are secure either in shipment of with you ( we wanted to ensure these wasn't going missing that's why we had them with us in our hand luggage )

No worries... I know we need to take our own view on things / the risk etc. Thanks for all the advice though - much appreciated. :-)

Oh, and for the drivers licence you need some evidence of a Queensland residential address. A bank statement from your Australian bank will suffice. This can be your temporary address (we used ours) and then later advise them of your new, more permanent address.

Thanks for all the info... v useful. :-)

Also consider why you might need birth and marriage certificates on arrival. We just shipped these documents.

Agreed. At the moment we have no idea what we'll need what for... or when. Lol! We're just finding lists of advice on what to take, but wondering how many documents are actually essential, and what they'd need to be produced for. Any tips much appreciated :-)

Great - thanks for the tip! Useful to know... :-)

I assume you don't internet bank. I haven't seen a printed bank statement in years.

Yes we do internet bank, but might not have a printer for a while when we get to Oz, so will need to bring them printed out in advance, hence the discussion about whether to bring in backpack when we go traveling or send in air freight box. Also it's the other docs to consider as well: mortgage statements and paid up mortgage confirmation, copies of recent utility bills showing payments made, birth certificates, marriage certificates, employment references, copies of medical and dental records, school file for our son etc.

When it comes to things like copies of bank statements, why don't you just scan them and put the whole lot n a usb - or two usbs, one with you, and one in the shipping. You can then print out what you need or just email it. Obviously with certificates you also need toring the originals, but scan them as well, always good to have as a back up.

Thanks - yes this is a good idea. We'll do this.

Thanks - this is really helpful. :-)

We brought all our legal documents with us in our hand luggage , plus all those mentioned and also precious photos , we wasn't taking any chances of them going missing , our container came with no problem following on after 3 weeks but I needed the assurance of all the paperwork with me . It provided a sense of security knowing that if there was any problems with my shipment I had all I needed with me to get started in my new life in Oz

Thanks for this - that sounds like a really good idea. I'm just not sure, with us travelling across Malaysia, whether there is a higher risk having them in our backpacks (and stuff getting stolen) rather than having them in the shipped items. Will have to give it some serious thought! Do you know if copies are OK, or does everything have to be originals? Also, you mention legal documents, as well as the things I mentioned. What did you mean by this? Thanks.

Hi there, We'll be arriving in Brisbane on December 10th, following a 3-week trip to Malaysia en route. Since we're travelling beforehand, we won't be taking much luggage, so as well as sending over a container, which will arrive in January, we're also planning on sending a box via air freight to arrive just after we arrive. We're now trying to work out what documents will need to be in that box.. and which will need to be with us. Obviously passports will be on us, plus we'll carry our driving licenses so we can sort out a rental car when we arrive. But will we need our Visa Grant letters (given that we activated our visas in 2014)? We've made a list of things that we intend to put in the box, such as: copies of bank statements, copies of mortgage statements and paid up mortgage confirmation, copies of recent utility bills showing payments made, birth certificates, marriage certificates, employment references (we won't yet have work), copies of medical and dental records, school file for our son. Are there any other documents that we will need in order to get a rental (we'll be in holiday let to start off), buy a car, apply for work, and get our son registered in school...? Thanks in advance for any thoughts.

Its on a points system but sometimes the more paperwork you can throw at them the better it makes you look. Id make up some folders ready to hand over to agents with

- A covering letter explaining your new to the country hence lack of aussie references

- A copy of a healthy bank account

- Copies of passports for anyone over 18 who will live there

- Copies of driving licences (pref Aussie, but UK will do)

- Any paid up UK utility statements

- Copy of paid up mortgage statement or UK rent receipts

- Copy of medicare card if youve had time to get one

- Copy of offer of employment if you have one

- Pet references if you will be having pets or have pets arriving

 

Its also good to try and be friend the agent a little, especially if your looking in areas where rentals are hard to get.

Hope this helps

Cal x

This is really useful advice, thanks. We'll do this. Does offering to pay a few months rent in advance tend to ever swing things as well? I guess the downside of that is they have you over a barrel then and may not be so quick to deal with any maintenance issues / repairs that crop up...

Hi @SerenaJ it really depends where you will be living. Some areas there isn't the demand for rentals like there use to be so agents aren't as fussy.

All they care about is that you can pay the rent. So a bank statement is great, they don't care about past credit history in the UK. You will need your passport. I would also include a letter stating you have just arrived in the country as usually they want to do the 100 point check but you may struggle with this at first https://www.instantchecks.com.au/100points.aspx

Thanks... from our research we've identified the following places: Paddington, Bardon, Ashgrove, Red Hill, Bulimba, Hawthorne, Balmoral, Sherwood and Graceville. Based on stats on Realestate.com.au they all seem to be quite high demand areas. I guess we'll just have to hope we can strike lucky as we'll need to be a rental before we can register our son into school...

We're arriving in Brisbane in December and have holiday accommodation booked until the new year when we hope to be able to move into a rental. We're wondering what documentation we should have with us (rather than in our container) which may be needed as evidence of ability to pay for a landlord? We won't have jobs initially. We can bring copies of bank statements, which will show our account balance which will have the proceeds of our house sale in it. We have been advised that we should also request bank references and a reference from our mortgage company? Not sure if this is right... or what it is that we should be asking the bank / mortgage company to verify? That we are good customers and credit / worthy? Or does the bank need to verify that we could afford to pay a certain amount per month? Can anyone shed any light on the documents that we will need? Many thanks.

Thanks. That helps clarify things. So that's 2 car seats definitely not coming with us either! :-)

Thanks. What constitutes the Aus tick of approval? Is there something we need to check if the seats comply with? Or are you saying that they def won't comply if they've not been manufactured in Aus?

Has anyone brought over an Isofix or non-Isofix car seat to Australia, and did they have issues at customs. We are talking to two international removals companies. One of them says Isofix is an issue but the other one we have will be OK to take across. The other one says no UK car seats comply with Health and Safety regulations in Australia so cannot be brought in. Does anyone have any experience of this please?

Thanks Eira. What is a family daycare provider? Is that the same as a childminder? Someone who looks after other people's children in their own home?

Thank you.