Finalising the details

Once your offer on a home is accepted and you’ve come down from cloud 9, it’s time to pay the deposit and decide on your home loan type.

Paying your deposit

If you’ve won at auction, you’ll most likely need to pay the deposit right away so it’s a good idea to make sure your finances are in order before you head to the auction.

If you’ve made a successful offer, you’ll pay the deposit when the offer goes unconditional. Depending on the agreement, you’ll usually pay the deposit to your lawyer or the real estate agent.

At this stage, you will want to go back to your bank and decide on the type of mortgage you want.

A fixed rate mortgage gives you stability, because you pay the same interest rate and repayment amount each time. This gives you a chance to nail down your budget, however there might be additional costs if you want to make extra repayments.

On the other hand, a floating rate mortgage gives you heaps of flexibility to make extra repayments or up your regular repayment amount whenever you want. The difference is that the interest you pay can change depending on what’s happening in the market. With this type of home loan you might end up paying more interest, but you could shorten the length of your home loan thanks to the possible extra repayments.

If having the best of both worlds appeals to you, consider using both fixed and floating rates throughout the life of your home loan by having different fixed terms. For example, you might do one year of floating rates, then three years of fixed rates, and so on. For personalised advice about how to structure your home loan talk to our home loan experts.

Before you move into your new place, you need to sort out your home insurance. Getting house insurance before moving in is important for a couple of reasons. Firstly, you want the home insured in case anything gets damaged during the move. Secondly, having house insurance is going to be a condition of your home loan, so legally you will need to have it in place before moving in.

• The Cotality Sum Sure calculator can help you estimate the Sum Insured of your new home to cover the full reconstruction costs in the event of a total loss.
• For Contents Insurance, there's also the Contents Sum Insured Calculator, which is designed to help you understand how to calculate your sum insured to reduce the risk of you being underinsured.

Talk to us today about our insurance offerings including home, contents, and loan protection insurance.

Before settlement day, you get to do one final inspection of the property. This is your chance to make sure that the home is in the same condition as when you signed the sale and purchase agreement, and that nothing has changed since then. It’s also your chance to check that any repairs or maintenance jobs outlined in your sale and purchase agreement have been completed.

We recommend getting your pre-settlement inspection done at least 2-3 working days before settlement day. This gives you and the seller enough time to assess any issues and make a plan for how they will be sorted out. If you do find that the house has been damaged, talk to your lawyer about what to do next.