SELLING PROPERTY IN WOLLONGONG

Step 1

The first step to selling a property is finding a suitable and reputable agent with expertise in the area the property is located. You will then need to sign an agency agreement with the agent.

Step 2

The next step is to contact our office and advise us you are selling your property. We will provide you with an instruction sheet to complete and some items to attend to. Once we receive your completed instruction sheet, we will then draft the contract and issue it to the agent.

Step 3

The agent will arrange the advertising and inspections of the property. We will negotiate with potential buyers on your behalf, and obtain your instructions where required. Once you accept an offer from a purchaser, either the agent or our office will arrange for contracts to be signed and dated i.e. exchanged.

Step 4

Once contracts are exchanged, we will provide you with documents to sign, certify your identity documents, and provide you with a summary letter outlining the important dates and information. We will also liaise with your mortgagee in preparation for settlement.

Step 5

Prior to the settlement date, we will provide you with settlement figures for your approval, outlining adjustments for rates, and the amount due to you on settlement. We will also provide you with a copy of our invoice, which will be factored into the settlement figures for payment on settlement.

Step 6

Settlement will take place electronically on PEXA. Once settlement has been completed, we will inform you and the agent so they can release the keys to the purchaser and transfer you the deposit (less any commission and marketing fees owing). We will also provide with another summary letter with all the relevant paperwork you will require for future reference. 

When selling a property, you are required to pay the selling agent, their commission, and any marketing fees.  These costs are usually deducted from the deposit by the selling agent and the balance is transferred to you when the deposit can be released to you, either on exchange or after settlement, depending on the terms of the contract.

It is important to find an agent local to the area your property is located, as they will often have greater knowledge of the area to inform prospective buyers and a greater grasp of local sale to provide you with a more accurate sale price estimate. Conveii is happy to assist in recommending reputable agents in your area, as we deal with agents on a daily basis.

There is a legal requirement in New South Wales that all swimming pools must be registered and compliant with the regulations. The New South Wales swimming pool register contains a list of all registered and compliant or non-compliant swimming pools in New South Wales. When selling a house with a swimming pool, the contract must contain a swimming pool, registration certificate, and a pool compliance (or non-compliance) certificate. A non-compliance certificate must contain a report identifying the non-compliant issues with the swimming pool. 

A property is most appealing to prospective purchasers when the swimming pool is compliant, so owners often rectify the issues prior to listing the property for sale on the market. The swimming pool compliance certificates are issued by either Council or pool certifiers. 

Conveii is happy to assist in recommending reputable swimming pool certifiers as we deal with swimming pool certifiers on a daily basis. 

You can still sell your property if you have done building works without Council and/or strata approval. It is important that all works  completed without approval are disclosed in the contract, so the purchaser is aware of them. It is possible to obtain approvals after the works have been done to provide further assurances to prospective buyers. 

'Exchange' or 'exchange of contracts' refers to contracts being dated after they have been signed by both the vendor and purchaser. Once contracts are exchanged, the vendor and purchaser are bound by the contract, subject to any cooling off period, enabling the purchaser to resend during the cooling off period and forfeit, their 0.25% deposit to the vendor (owner).

When contracts are unconditional, this means contracts have been exchanged, and the purchaser does not have the benefit of a cooling off period, as either:

a) a 66W was issued by their solicitor/conveyancer on exchange i.e. when contracts were signed by both parties and dated, or

b) the purchaser's cooling off period has lapsed.

If you are selling a property, and you have signed the contract, then once the purchaser has signed the contract and pay the deposit to the selling agent, then the agent or vendors solicitor will date the contracts i.e. Exchange contracts. 

Once contracts are exchanged, the vendor and purchaser are bound by the contract, subject to any cooling off period, enabling the purchaser to resend during the cooling off period and forfeit their 0.25% deposit to the vendor. 

If you are selling a property, you should only sign the contract once you are satisfied with the terms of the contract, and in particular the sale price and settlement period.

Settlement refers to the transfer of money and Legal documents to effect the transfer of a property title from the vendor to the purchaser.

On the day of settlement, we will access the PEXA settlement platform to ensure the necessary funds and legal documents are ready for the scheduled settlement time. 

Once the funds (usually provided by the purchaser's bank) and legal documents are prepared and ready for settlement, settlement will begin at the scheduled time. 

Settlement usually takes place between 12pm and 2pm on business days. Settlement usually takes 30 minutes. Funds are usually dispersed on the same day as settlement, and in accordance with the agreed settlement adjustments (provided to you prior to settlement for your approval). Once settlement has been completed, we will let you know. 

No. You are not required to attend settlement. We will attend settlement on your behalf. Settlement is almost always done electronically using the PEXA settlement platform and so there is no physical space to attend nowadays.

‘Vendor’ is another name for the person or company selling the property. They are not necessarily the registered owner of the land, for example, a deceased person/s may be registered on title and the executor is noted as the vendor on the contract (in which case the contract will be subject to the executor’s name being noted on title in place of the deceased person/s). 

Vendor is often interchangeably used in discussions with the word ‘owner’, ‘registered owner’ or ‘registered proprietor’, although this may not always be legal accurate (as per the above example).

If you are selling a property, we require an upfront payment to cover our expenses for preparing the contract. The balance of our legal fees are payable on settlement and will be included in the final settlement figures provided to you prior to settlement. 

It is often desirable and financially necessary to have your sale and purchase settlements on the same day/time and linked (so that if your sale settlement doesn't complete, your purchase does not complete). 

We can direct part or all of your sale proceeds (i.e. funds paid to you by the purchaser after expenses for loan payout, legal fees and agents fees) towards your purchase as required.

If requested in your initial instructions to us, and the successful purchaser agrees, you can use part of the deposit (i.e. the deposit less the selling agent's commission and any marketing fees) paid to the agent towards the purchase of your own property.  You can use these funds either as a deposit for your purchase, payment of stamp duty on your purchase contract or towards settlement of your purchase.