1. Work out what you can borrow, before you look
- Get a rough figure from the affordability calculator, then treat it as a ceiling rather than a target.
- Ask a bank for a pre-approval or indicative approval. It costs nothing and tells you what the market will actually lend you.
- Existing commitments matter more than income. A car loan or PTPTN repayment reduces what you can borrow, often by more than people expect.
2. Check the asking price against evidence
- Look up the district and locality medians for the same property type, not the headline area figure.
- A single comparable is not evidence. Look at the spread of recent sales and the sample size behind the median.
- Price per square foot is only comparable within the same property type — land area and built-up area are different things.
3. Offer and booking
- A booking fee is typically 2 to 3 percent and is usually paid to the agent or seller as a holding deposit.
- Get in writing what happens to the booking fee if your loan is declined. This is the single most common dispute in a subsale.
- Nothing is binding until the sale and purchase agreement is signed.
4. Loan application and the SPA
- The SPA is normally signed within 14 to 30 days of the booking. Your lawyer prepares or reviews it.
- Apply to more than one bank. Approval terms and margin of finance vary, and a rejection from one is not a rejection from all.
- The valuation the bank orders can come in below the agreed price. If it does, you make up the difference in cash.
5. Completion
- The standard completion period is three months from the SPA, with a common one-month extension carrying interest.
- Stamp duty on the transfer and on the loan agreement both fall due here. Model them before you commit.
- Do a final inspection before releasing the balance. Fixtures listed in the SPA should still be there.
Educational only. Auction, legal, tax and financing terms differ by property and may change. Verify primary documents and seek qualified advice.