It can be a competitive world out there when buying a home. The selling process doesn’t make it easy for buyers, especially when blind tenders and auctions are involved.

If you have a deposit of 20% or more with your mortgage approval, then there may be a chance to place an offer without conditions. An auction is a good example of this where you must bid unconditionally. This is called a ‘cash’ or unconditional offer.

Here’s how it works – assuming we already have a written pre-approval ready to go:

Make sure you do any other optional due diligence before bidding, such as getting the lawyer to check the title, do a builder’s report, and check the council LIM report.

Draft sale and purchase agreement and disclosures – Send to us as soon as possible. At least 3 days before a deadline. We need these in plenty of time before any auction or deadline to give the bank a chance to check
them and say it’s OK to proceed (including any further negotiation). The draft sale and purchase does not need to be filled in with your name or price at this early stage. But we need to know your maximum offer.

The bank will officially tick off the final sale and purchase agreement after your offer is accepted, so make sure the final sale and purchase agreement and disclosures have not changed from the draft we had ticked off, i.e.
make sure no last-minute disclosures have popped up.

Make sure the property is fully insurable with no exclusions before bidding. So obtain your own quote (we can help) in your name.

 When you go unconditional, you will need to make a down payment (contract deposit), usually the agents require 10%. Make sure you have this readily available or negotiate less. (including early release of KiwiSaver) or negotiate a lower deposit or extended time to pay it if your offer is accepted.

Do not make settlement date more than 6–8 weeks away without liaising with us first (due to loan approval expiry dates and other logistics). If your pre-approval is a low deposit one with less than 20%, then the above process will likely not be available to you. This is because a registered valuation on your approval is usually required before the property is fully signed off by the bank. Cost around $800–1000+. However, you could get the valuation done, and sale and purchase checked well in advance of any ‘cash’ offer – though you run the risk of paying all that money on due diligence and getting out-bid. So liaise with us in regards to this. The agent in the first instance or your lawyer can guide you through filling in the sale and purchase agreement. If in doubt, ensure you at least have a finance clause whenever you make an offer.