With interest rates at record lows and the Reserve Bank holding the cash rate at 1.5% this month, there is no time like now to invest in the property market.
While a small upward shift is possible in interest rates, the historically low rates give buyers a home run advantage to get their foot in the property market.
While house prices have experienced strong growth over the past year, numerous suburbs around Melbourne and regional Victoria continue to offer affordable housing stock.
The free REIV Home Seminar being held on 19 April 2017 at the State Library of Victoria from 6-8pm will offer homebuyers valuable insights into buying property and will give buyers with advice on what is usually the single biggest investment made in a lifetime.
Leading property legal firm, Parke Lawyers’ executive counsel Brendan Reilly, who will present at the free REIV Homebuyers Seminar, says the contract of sale is a buyer’s most valuable document to fully understand what is being purchased.
Contracts of sale of residential real estate come in all shapes and sizes. There are standard-form general conditions for those contracts. However, because the residential property market is ‘hot’ at the moment, it has become common in the industry for solicitors for vendors to prepare complex special conditions that alter in quite fundamental ways the ‘ordinary’ terms of the contract for such a sale.
Changes that are made are typically very advantageous for vendors and very unhelpful for purchasers. Those changes include, among a raft of others, very unfavourable arrangements if settlement is delayed. Also, lead times of up to five years from the date of sale are now common for completion of off-the-plan projects.
Brendan Reilly encourages buyers to have their contract reviewed by a lawyer before signing a contract of sale.
This puts the purchaser in a better position to negotiate contract changes with the vendor and avoid costly mistakes that could have been averted with what is likely to be the most expensive asset-purchase you ever make.
Brendan Reilly will present significant information at the seminar, so that homebuyers can be informed of the questions they need to ask when purchasing a home. Other presenters at the seminar include Bendigo Bank staff who will provide information about home finance and pre-approvals and REIV management offering information on where the most affordable suburbs can be found.
For more advice about a contract of sale contact us.