Saving your deposit

The larger the deposit, the less you have to borrow. This also means your regular repayments will be lower and you’ll pay less interest over the life of the loan. Most lenders ask for at least 5% of the purchase price as a deposit.

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Check your eligibility for the First Home Buyers Grant

You may be eligible to receive up to $15,000 towards the cost of purchasing your first home. It’s a grant that’s available from the Queensland Government. Find out more about the First Home Buyers Grant in Qld and check your eligibility.

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Communication is key

If it’s a first home buyers house and land package that you’ve chosen, communication is key to your happiness and success. In other words, keep in touch with your North Harbour sales team and informed of your home’s progress. Ask questions. Listen carefully to the answers. Complete inspections and progress payments, as required. Most importantly, look forward, with great anticipation, to calling your new home yours.

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Choosing the right lender and the right loan

When buying your first home, it’s important to choose the right lender and the right loan. It pays to research, research, research! The time you invest now will benefit you in the long run.

Lenders typically offer three different types of loan products – variable, fixed and split. With variable-rate loans, the interest rate you pay moves with the market. For fixed loans, the rate you pay and the repayments are fixed for a set period. Split loans give you the best of both worlds – you can fix part of your loan and leave the balance at the variable rate.

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Write yourself a first home checklist

What features do you want your first home to have? Write yourself a checklist of inclusions. Decide whether each one is a ‘must-have’ or a ‘nice-to-have’. When preparing your checklist, don’t just consider the home itself, consider the community too. Does it have good public transport connections? Is it located in a growth area? Is the quality of housing high? Are there nearby public spaces? Is it
a wise investment?

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The Purchasing Process

When you have found your ideal block and you’re ready to purchase, the ideal timeline is as follows:

Step 1: Visit the North Harbour Sales Office and Display Village and review our available land for purchase. Once you have chosen your block we will hold it for 48 hours without deposit. After two days we will call you to confirm that you wish to proceed.  If you want to go ahead, we will ask you for some further details (full names of buyers and your solicitor) to enable us to prepare the contract.  An appointment is made to sign the offer to purchase in the following week when all parties are available. After the buyer/s have completed the offer to purchase, it is then signed by the Developer (us) and sent to our solicitor.  At this point the deposit is payable.

Things to note in Step 1: North Harbour as the developer sells the land (block). Once you have chosen your block you then need to choose the style of house you would like to put on there – you can do this by choosing one of our pre-approved house packages and building with one of our Display Village builders or you are free to choose a different builder. BUT any home you choose must adhere to the North Harbour design guidelines and must be suitable for your block (info is available here.)

House packages come with a variety of inclusions from basic requirements up to marble benchtops and top of the range cookers. Each builder offers a range of different packages to suit a range of needs and budgets.

Step 2: You, the purchaser, have 28 days to secure finance. You will need to speak to a mortgage advisor or your chosen bank to secure finance. If finance is declined, the deposit is fully refundable. This deposit is held in Trust with our solicitor until settlement – which will occur 28 days after registration.

Step 3: Registration normally takes place 3 – 5 months after the release of a new stage (we sell our land in stages of around 30 blocks). Registration can be delayed due to bad weather affecting the civil works and is also subject to council approval timelines.  Once registration is through council, it can then go to titles office to register. Once registered, we will call the buyer to inform them of registration and they will also receive notification from their solicitor and a settlement date.

Things to note in step 3: This step is somewhat outside the control of the developer as it is subject to council approval timelines. It can be subject to delays – we do our best to mitigate any delays but it is not always possible.

Step 4: Once settled, your builder can start building your new home.

Things to remember: Contact Opticomm at opticomm.net.au to get your broadband set up so you can join North Harbour’s fibre optic network and get access to Australia’s Fastest Broadband, your builder can organise for your gas to be connected to our reticulated gas system.

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