The home buying process: Making an offer

You’ve found your dream home, now what? It’s easy to fall in love with a property and want to buy it immediately, but there are a few key steps you need to take first. Take a look at our blogs: The block - Buying Your First Home | TSB Bank and The home buying process: Getting started | TSB to make sure you’re on the right track.

 

Chat to a lawyer

Your first call before making an offer is to your lawyer. They’ll review the sale and purchase agreement and help you to make an informed decision when it comes to buying a home, as well as helping to pull the offer together, alongside the real estate agent selling the property. Your lawyer will also provide guidance on what conditions you need or might want to include and what information we need to process your home loan. These conditions give you time to do due diligence. Generally, vendors like to see fewer conditions on an offer, but ultimately you need to be happy with the offer that you’re putting forward, so if there are conditions that you feel will give you peace of mind, it’s important to include them.

  • Common conditions

    Common conditions include

    • subject to a builder’s report
    • subject to LIM (Land Information Memorandum)
    • subject to finance
    • subject to a solicitor’s approval.

    You or your lawyer will order a LIM from the local council. The LIM will provide a summary of property information held by different departments at the council. You can use this to work out, for example, if the current owner has carried out any unconsented building work.

    Your lawyer will get a copy of the title for the property and explain to you what it means. This is an important legal document which states who owns a property and includes any rights or restrictions relating to the property, such as mortgages, easements and covenants.

    We also recommend buyers get a building inspection report for the property. A thorough inspection will identify any issues with weather tightness, structural problems, and significant maintenance issues. 

    You could also get an independent valuation for the property. This will help ensure that your offer is reasonable compared to similar recent sales.

Making an offer

When you’ve done your due diligence and you’re satisfied with the property, you’re ready to make an unconditional offer, or, if you made a conditional offer, you’re ready to confirm to the vendor that the conditions have been satisfied. 

Once the finance conditions have been met, you’ll receive an Unconditional Letter of Offer from us. You can then pass this onto your lawyer who will confirm with the seller’s lawyer that you’ve met the finance conditions.


Organise your KiwiSaver

Finally, if you’re using your KiwiSaver, or a First Home Grant for your deposit, then you’ll need to engage with your KiwiSaver provider and Kāinga Ora – Homes and Communities (if applicable) to make sure these funds will be available on the settlement date. Talk to your lawyer to make sure all the paperwork is in order so that the funds will be there when you need them. 

Congratulations! You’re officially one step closer to being a homeowner!