When does your contract go unconditional?
By John Dowling of ABIS www.abis.com.au
"Wow! What happened there?"..."The house was only on the market for two days and it's sold!"
Yes... and what's more, the contract gives the buyer just seven days to address issues like finance and building inspection etc., before it goes unconditional. (Occasionally, you may be lucky and get fourteen days.) That's the real estate market today. It's all done at a frantic pace and if you're not on-the-ball, you could trip up!
So be warned. You need to book an inspection as soon as possible after signing your contract. And will any inspector do? Definitely not!
Here's your sure and certain fast-track to a quality pre-purchase inspection.
Ask your agent for the business cards of two or three well known and established pre-purchase inspection firms. Contact them and ask about:
After asking these questions, how do you know you've made the right choice?
Generally, a quality company will have:
Once you're satisfied you've made the right choice, check to see that they can conduct the inspection and deliver your reports at least 24 hours before the contract goes unconditional. This is really important because you then have time to read the report thoroughly and act on any findings that need further attention.
All this may seem to be a big task but really, it's only three phone calls, each 10 to 15 minutes. When you consider you're making a several hundred thousand dollar commitment, one hour to lock in a quality inspection and ensure your property is sound is an hour well spent. Once you've booked, your inspection company will then manage the entire inspection process for you; allowing you to address any other matters.
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