Home-buyers: Making an offer

The news is full of first home buyers being priced out of the Auckland property market. The Invercargill market over the last few months has been buoyant. We’ve had clients miss out on a property when multiple offers were presented.

The highest offer isn’t always the best offer

If you have been missing out, you should consider the highest price isn’t always the best offer. If you can make an offer on a property with few or no conditions this may be more attractive than a higher offer with a number of conditions with long timeframes to confirm. The sooner a seller has a confirmed contract the better.

Tips for making an attractive offer

While we don’t recommend making an unconditional offer, there are things you can do to make the most attractive offer by ensuring you have either satisfied the normal conditions i.e. Finance, Builders Inspection, LIM prior to making the offer, or in a short period after. Think about doing the following:

  1. If you need finance, obtain pre-approval from your bank and discuss how long it might take to get final approval (in tender or auction situations banks can provide final approval prior to the auction or tender)
  2. Contact your builder, and check whether he will be available to do an inspection within a day or two of the agreement being accepted
  3. Consider ordering a fast LIM, these can take 5 working days rather than the normal 10
  4. Talk to your solicitor early so they can determine what conditions you do and don’t need in the agreement, and the timeframe you may need to confirm them.

If you’d like to know more, contact [Enable JavaScript to view protected content] or any member of our Property Law team.

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