Things you need to know

• First Home Owner Grants(FHOG)

The First Home Owner Grant (FHOG) scheme was introduced on 1 July 2000 to offset the effect of the GST on home ownership. It is a national scheme funded by the states and territories and administered under their own legislation.

Under the scheme, a one-off grant is payable to first home owners that satisfy all the eligibility criteria.

​ For further information regarding rebates, click on your state below, or send us a message via contact form.
• WA - www.dtf.wa.gov.au
• NSW - www.osr.nsw.gov.au
• SA - www.revenuesa.sa.gov.au
• VIC - www.sro.vic.gov.au
• ACT - www.act.gov.au
• QLD - www.osr.qld.gov.au
• The Loan process
• Conditional Approval / Pre-Approval

After successful submission of your loan, the lender assesses your application and confirms that you meet their policy and issue an approval subject to particular conditions. For example, a condition could be that the property being used as security is acceptable to the bank.If you haven’t found a property yet, we can get your loan pre-approved by a lender. Meaning that as long as the property meets the lender’s guidelines, they are likely to approve the loan.A pre-approval is valid for 90 days with most lenders.They can be extended if need be by providing up to date pay slips and other documents.Some people buy a property before they have a pre-approval. They sign the contract to buy a property and then they organise their loan.This can be risky: if you can’t get a loan then you may lose your deposit on the property.

• Valuation

Once you have chosen your desired property, a valuer will make an appointment to inspect the property. The bank doesn’t employ valuers, they are separate companies. As a result, the timeline can vary. In some cases, tenants can delay the valuer from gaining access to the property. For very low risk applications, a valuer may not be required. We can order upfront valuations with many of our lenders, which enables the bank to skip the first two steps and go straight to formal approval.

• Unconditional Approval/Formal Approval

Unconditional Approval, also known as formal approval, is when the lender has everything they need and can confirm that they are willing to lend you the money.The Lender will issue a letter confirming their approval. At this stage, you can relax.Sometimes, there’s some going back and forth asking for additional documents before the bank can finalise approval.This is normal for complex applications or where you haven’t provided everything that the lender needs up front.If you’re borrowing over 80% LVR then you may need lenders mortgage insurance approval as well.In some cases, this will mean that your application will take longer before a final approval. You should get formal approval before the end of the cooling off period.

• Loan Offer

Once the loan has been formally approved, the lender will send you a loan contract for you to sign to accept their loan.You can go through this contract with your solicitor if you’d like to receive independent legal advice. This is optional for most loans.Once you’ve signed the contract, return it to the lender with any requirements that they need to settle the loan.

• Settlement

Once the lender has certified that all of your documents are in order, they can then advance the loan funds. For a purchase, they will call your solicitor or conveyancer and let them know that the funds are available. Your conveyancer will book in a settlement time and date with the lender.For a refinance loan, your new lender will arrange with your current lender to repay their loan and take possession of your certificate of title.They will book in a time to meet and sort this out automatically.Settlement has occurred when the loan is advanced.We’ll notify you as soon as the lender informs us.