The lease on our house in Johnsonville was up in October, but our landlord was ok with letting us go month-to-month for a little while. Hopscotch was turning five in June, which meant that she was going to be starting school (that’s a whole other post, but here, kids start school on their 5th birthday). We wanted to buy a house and be moved in by her birthday so that she would start school where we would be living long-term.
So by October I’d been at my new job long enough for the bank to be ok with giving us a mortgage, so we got in touch with a mortgage broker that was recommended to us, and started house shopping again.
As I’m sure I mentioned before, the real estate system is a bit different from the US. For one thing, it is very seller-oriented. In the US, both the seller and buyer typically have their own real estate agent that represents them and helps them in the process. Here, the buyer is pretty much on their own. You can sometimes find a real estate agent that is willing to work with you when buying, but they will typically only show you houses that are listed with their company,
So that means it’s basically up to the buyer themselves to figure out which houses they’re interested in viewing and getting to them. When you find a house you’re interested in, it’s up to you to get the offer paperwork from the seller’s agent and have your solicitor review it and give advice on how to write an offer up. A fair amount of time the seller will pay for an inspection and LIM (property report from the Council outlining any liens, hazards, consents, etc) and provide it to people making an offer, but if not, its up to you, the buyer to pay for them prior to submitting an offer.
When we were house hunting the Wellington property market was at peak insanity, which meant that only an unconditional offer would be competitive, so it was really important to have the house inspected and get the LIM before you made an offer so you knew what you were getting yourself into.
Next time: house hunting
Kiwi Bound 