Buying off the Plan

Hi, it’s Tiron from Newcastle Buyers Agent. I’d like to give you some tips for buying off the plan.

In general, off the plan can be riskier than buying an existing home. You don’t know what you’re going to end up with, there could be delays and there could be potentially times where your finance may not be approved at completion even though you might have had approval in principle before you started looking to buy.

A couple of things that I look for when buying off the plan: I tend to like to find the best located property. I’m looking at aspect, I’m looking at the size of courtyards, where it is in the block in relation to the others. There might be something unique about a particular unit versus another one, and if they’re all priced the same, that might be something that might give it a little more value or make it more desirable for resale or for rental.

Another tip I encourage people to ensure is: making sure they get a detailed inclusions list so that you have something to refer back to when it settles to make sure that you’re not ending up with lesser quality appliances or lesser quality fittings or fixtures.

Finding a good conveyancer or solicitor that specialises in off the plan contracts is critical to make sure you don’t have any problems with clauses or any issues down the track.

When the property is completed, I strongly advise you get a building defect report and even an electrical report. There may be some things there that you may need to get rectified by the builder; there may be some things there you’ll have to accept. An electrical inspection makes sure all the appliances work and ensure the smoke alarms also work.

Be aware and always seek independent legal advice. There may be clauses that the owner must have in the contract for lending reasons or for variations where, either a particular brand of appliance may not be available or where council may require them to make some changes during construction that may have not been present at the time of planning.

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