Aydon
22nd September 2006, 01:00 AM
Well, we’ve had our offer on the house accepted.
The process was weird compared to the UK - it was a “Deadline Private Treaty” - which meant the vendors gave no indication of what the house was worth - we had to guess and put in an offer by a certain date (Weds at 1pm) - then they would decide if it was right for them or not - very odd.
The house is between Mandeville and Ohoka and the Government Evaluation was carried out in July last year and came up with a figure of $600,000. We decided that the property needed some work (New showers, every room needed painting, the external workshop needed water to turn it into a sleepout) - so we decided on $610,000. When we went to the Estate Agents they informed us about GST - which is a tax that the government charge for land - basically it’s 12.5% of the land value, after the value of the house has been removed - totally confusing - so we decided to stick at $610,000. After we had signed the offer over, the agent told us that the vendors were looking for $650,000 PLUS GST - around $700,000 in total. So we assumed we didn;t have it.
There was one other couple who put in an offer (Who were also from the UK!). Then the agent called us today and asked to meet us - so we had a thought that we would have to increase the offer to around $650,000 to secure it so we were in two minds as to what to do as $600,000 was our absolute maximum and we had already gone over that. The agent came, shook our hands, and said that they accepted the $610,000!!!!!! So we had the house!
Totally different to the UK market in that no one can gazump us - and we have 15 days to check the contracts and accept them and then that’s it! We've already been pre-approved for a mortgage so that's one hurdle out the way! Having spoken to people we really have got a bargain which is good for us - and the dream of having a small mortgage is coming a bit more to fruition :)
It can still fall through if the LIM or the contracts aren;t correct, but I don;t see that happening - so hopefully we can move in on Oct 27th :)
The process was weird compared to the UK - it was a “Deadline Private Treaty” - which meant the vendors gave no indication of what the house was worth - we had to guess and put in an offer by a certain date (Weds at 1pm) - then they would decide if it was right for them or not - very odd.
The house is between Mandeville and Ohoka and the Government Evaluation was carried out in July last year and came up with a figure of $600,000. We decided that the property needed some work (New showers, every room needed painting, the external workshop needed water to turn it into a sleepout) - so we decided on $610,000. When we went to the Estate Agents they informed us about GST - which is a tax that the government charge for land - basically it’s 12.5% of the land value, after the value of the house has been removed - totally confusing - so we decided to stick at $610,000. After we had signed the offer over, the agent told us that the vendors were looking for $650,000 PLUS GST - around $700,000 in total. So we assumed we didn;t have it.
There was one other couple who put in an offer (Who were also from the UK!). Then the agent called us today and asked to meet us - so we had a thought that we would have to increase the offer to around $650,000 to secure it so we were in two minds as to what to do as $600,000 was our absolute maximum and we had already gone over that. The agent came, shook our hands, and said that they accepted the $610,000!!!!!! So we had the house!
Totally different to the UK market in that no one can gazump us - and we have 15 days to check the contracts and accept them and then that’s it! We've already been pre-approved for a mortgage so that's one hurdle out the way! Having spoken to people we really have got a bargain which is good for us - and the dream of having a small mortgage is coming a bit more to fruition :)
It can still fall through if the LIM or the contracts aren;t correct, but I don;t see that happening - so hopefully we can move in on Oct 27th :)