SPEAKER_00 0:10

Welcome back to those that just bought a house. We're going to talk about what do you need to do next. Hello, George.

SPEAKER_02 0:16

Hi Zebruneso.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Nice to have you back.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Been great to be back. Thanks for inviting us.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Thank you. You've got a great topic for us today. We're going to talk about what do you need to do after you've bought a house?

SPEAKER_02 0:26

After you bought a house. It's like a lot of people are sometimes set up, well, oh great, we bought the house now. What do we do? It's like so what one of the one of the good things is about today is talking to you because one of the things we always say is, well, you need to speak to your mortgage broker or your bank. A lot of times for us, it's a mortgage broker. It's like so when they call you and say, hey, is everybody now? So we've just we've got that house, we bought it, and they call you. What's the next stage for you, you guys? Like within.

Unconditional Offer And Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Oh, wait a second, you're asking me questions. What? I didn't expect that. Okay, all right. So people have bought a house. They basically put an offer, sales and purchase agreement, right? That's how you buy a house in New Zealand. That's right. And because we deal a lot with migrants, they often say, How do I even buy a house? Well, for first of all, they need to get sales and purchase agreement. It's fully signed by both the vendors and the purchasers. Yeah. And then we get the signed copy of it, which is signed and dated. Dated is very important.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Sometimes real estate agents forget to put that date on, don't they? They do.

SPEAKER_00 1:29

So but are we talking about fully unconditional offer?

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Fully unconditional, because yeah, because normally when when there's such a condition, what we would normally do then is send the contract to you guys. We would send you a copy of that. That's what we normally do, send it to the lawyers, you guys, and sit send it all out there. And then it's up to them then to contact you to see what they do next.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Yeah, and I think the number one step here would be is do not delay. Sometimes people forget that, hey, we actually need a mortgage for this. Yeah. And this is where we come in and we go, all right, how much money do we need? If it was purchased at the auction, you would hope they had an approval before the auction. Yes. But sometimes we do get surprised where they go, Oh, I just bought a house at the auction. So we need to sort out how much money they've got for the deposit for the bank, not just for you guys, but for the bank.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

And then how much money do they need for lending? So we need to sort out their lending. And this is very important to note that the banks actually require at least 10 working days to prepare loan documents. So if they bought a house and they want to settle next week, often it's a very hard push for us. Like we have to move mountains for this to happen. So ideally, we want them to settle at least two weeks later. And also for Kiwi Saver, if they're using their Kiwi Saver, they need at least 10 working days to get the Kiwi Saver out. So very, very important. The moment they bought a house, we need to make sure they can get the money out in time. And also the house insurance. We need to make sure that that's also a thing that happens on the day.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Yeah. So I mean, we would normally, when people make an offer, we would have conditions in there to protect them for that, like 10 days for finance and things like that. But then it's like once all that has been met and then they're unconditional, and then we'd say, right, you need to contact Zebrinesso and contact your lawyer. We'll have sent the documents through to show them the sale and purchase agreement and sent all that through. But yeah, there's still a lot for you guys to do behind the scene now and getting that money.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

This is where the marathon happens for us because that's where we need to make sure the bank is responsive and comes back to us with anything they need. Sometimes clients surprise us and they might not have IDs, like they might not have passports or recent driver's license. So we need to make sure all of that happens before. But I guess they need that to buy a house with you. They need to fill out forms.

AML Checks And Getting ID Ready

SPEAKER_02 3:44

Yes, they do. Yeah, I mean there's forms to fill out to buy the house. There's also with the the people selling the house that they've got to do the AML and stuff like that with us. And I know that they have to do it again with the lawyers, which seems a bit of a backward system, but that's the way it's and then they need it for us as well. And then they need it for you as well. I mean, there should be one place to do it, and we can all go and collect that information, but no, they make us all all put them through it. Um the AML there. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

So people need to make sure they have the IDs re relevant to whatever transactions they're doing and uh proof of address. So very, very important for AML. For those that don't know what AML is, it's anti-money lacking laundering act that came into place many years ago. Yeah. And we need to adhere to the law. If you don't have ID, you can't buy a house.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we've actually got a really good app on our phone now for AML, which basically, if they've got a valid driving license or a passport, we can scan it on there and that validates everything for them, like the proof of address, everything, which is really good. As long as they're living at that address, it'll do that. Otherwise, if they're living somewhere else, we need proof of address there.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

But yeah, okay.

Packing Decluttering Moving Services

SPEAKER_02 4:55

But that's good to know. That's good to know. So look, the other some of the other things that we look at is is is stuttering there a little bit, is packing, is they'll say to us, when do I start pack? I'll say pack straight away. Packing takes ages, takes a lot longer than you think. I remember when Megan and I were moving, we didn't think we had that much stuff. And we were like, oh my gosh, you know, we had so much stuff. So it's like get packing straight away, you know. That that's really important, and get it all sort of set up. Then you've then you've got to work out with your movers, you know, your moving company. Because when it comes to settlement day, I'm jumping away ahead here. I mean, even before set settlement day with the day that you move in, you'll you'll need to do a pre-settlement inspection. So that's something that we offer.

Pre-Settlement Inspection Must-Dos

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Yes, and that's something I'm gonna ask you now. Ah, right. So the pre-settlement inspection, very, very important in our clients' world, and a lot of them don't know they actually have an option and a choice to go and do pre-settlement inspection. Yeah, why would someone want to do pre-settlement inspection?

SPEAKER_02 6:03

So that is very important. We always tell people about that, and we make sure that it always happens with it because the last thing you want to do is move in on the day, and you go in and and things aren't working, power's not working, and the cooker's not working, the oven's not working, there's some light lights. So these are all the things that we get them to check on the day. I'll tell them to bring along a charger for the phone so they can go around and plug it in and check all the powerpoints, make sure they're all all working, check the oven, make sure it's working, make sure you know how it works, you know. The guests, that's right, checking all that. So, so we actually work with a company called what's it called? Moving Hub. Yeah, moving hub. We work with this company called Moving Hub, and what they can help you do is they can change all that over so they can have all the gas and electricity stopped and restarted for you so that it's all working the day that you go in to the property because there's always a cut-off day that you need that people do for the day that they sell where the power goes off so that they're not charged, the the vendors, and then the new people come in and then it needs to all go on. So moving hub can organize that for you. So we always put that in our packages to people that they can use them if they want, and it just takes the pressure off you a bit to make sure that your internet, your power, your gas, all these things are working from when you move move in.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

This episode is not sponsored by the Moving Hub. No, it's not. If they would like to sponsor this episode, they're more than welcome to connect us.

SPEAKER_02 7:39

Thanks for that.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

So that's a really good point because with the packing, I remember when we had to move, and what we did is we did it systematically, but room by room. And we just started from Federus room that you don't really use, or the kids' toys, or whatever. Really good time to declutter as well. Absolutely and maybe have those garage sales, you know, make some extra cash for the moving cost.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

Yep, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 8:02

I would highly recommend that.

SPEAKER_02 8:03

I mean, one of the things that we did when we were moving was well, even before we moved, when we were setting the house up ready for open homes, we actually moved a lot of our stuff into storage, and because there was so much kids stuff, and everything we just put it all into storage, and when we seen the house after that, we were like, oh, we don't want that stuff back. Yeah, and we just sort of slowly got rid of it all, and it was a great way of decluttering, you know, and doing it that way, having our house ready to be be shown off.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

And make sure you just reminded me of something when we moved from Palms North to Carpeti. My ex-husband, he was my husband at the time, he had a truck and he was moving it with our friend. And apparently they'll have the door open. And as they were driving from Palmy to Carpeti, they've lost a few boxes on the way. Oh my god. I still don't know what they've lost, but um, that was a good way to declutter. And if I haven't missed it by now, I guess it was nothing of importance.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

You wonder what it was. What did we lose? Just boxes, what was in them?

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Yeah, because we got contacted by uh Foxton police to say that someone found the box and it had some of our names.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

So that's that's hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 9:08

They found us. So you make sure the truck door is shut.

Pets Kids And Moving Day Stress

SPEAKER_02 9:12

Absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Animals. I think uh animals, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

So I mean that's a big one with with especially with cats. It's always probably good if you can put them into a catering, maybe a few days before you move, so that you're not on the day if they've scampered off somewhere trying to find them. I've had people had to go back to the property for about a week or so looking for their cat. So yeah, so it's good to maybe get them out a few days before it's all happening with the move and everything, because they they know something's going on. And the same with the dog, if you could put the dog with a friend, some other family members, and that just so that the they're not in the way of you trying to move and they're all stressed out with it all.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Yeah, and also like as you've seen, if you have extra people coming and going out of your house, like movers, then you know it's easy for a dog like mine just to bolt, bolt off, and run away. And then, you know, you and especially if you're moving towns, like that would be horrible. That'd be really good. It's one thing if you're moving around the region and well, around the town, and you can always come back to the same street. But what if you're moving town?

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Yeah, that's right. Absolutely. So, yeah, consider your animals as well and how you can make it as stress-free as possible.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

And children, I mean, if you can get rid of children and put them in the childrenary. I just made up a word. It's childrenary from catcher. You know, just get them out of the way.

Settlement Day Keys Timing Patience

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Absolutely, yeah. If you have young kids, it's hard. I mean, I remember we did it with the young kids and it was yeah, it was pretty tough. Uh we we didn't have anywhere to put them, we had no one, and um, they were just involved in it all, and it was it was pretty, pretty stressful. We were juggling them around. But then that brings you to the final day, the day that you're moving in. So that that's an interesting day because although we're involved a lot with that, there's not a lot we can do as real estate agents uh apart from just communicating and trying to find out what's going on.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

So hold on, who gives them keys?

SPEAKER_02 11:13

Well, we give them the keys, but we can't give them the keys until we have notification from the vendors' lawyers that the money has been transferred into the account.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

I'll tell you one tip. It's interesting because we get notifications from most of the banks when the money leaves the bank. Yeah, and to be honest, most of them either happen in the middle of the night or early morning. So the bank actually sends off if they've received everything from the lawyers on time, usually they send the money across really fast. It's then the lawyers need to receive the money and press the button.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

That's right. And that's what we we find, you know, because sometimes people say, but the money's gone over. I'm like, yeah, but we haven't heard from the lawyer. We we have to, and we'll chase them up. And lawyers on a Friday afternoon are usually very hard to get hold of. Yeah. And that's when usually a lot of of the agreements happen is on the Friday. We say to people, look, if you can, if it if you can make your settlement date on a Wednesday or a Thursday, that could be a little bit easier. Yeah, then because everyone tends to do it on the Friday afternoon. So we've had it happen as early as 10 o'clock in the morning, and that's great. And we've had it literally happen at five o'clock in the afternoon, which is quite stressful for everyone because it's it's a hard one to juggle your moving truck, yeah, because a lot of moving trucks are charge charging by the hour. What we what we try and say to people is look, we we need a little bit of consideration for everyone here. It's like we're waiting then for the the owners to move out. Sometimes the owners move out the day before or the a couple of days before. So if we can find that out for the the new purchases, if that's happening, then it can make things a little bit easier than knowing that they can then come and put stuff in straight away in the afternoon as soon as they we've been told we can release the keys.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

So can clients negotiate it with the agents and go, hey, can we find out? Yeah, but I know it all depends on the agent.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

People people will ask if they can bring things in earlier. It's a tricky one because it's only down to the lawyers. We can't do that. It's a lawyer thing because as soon as you start doing that, there's insurance implications. You know, so if you haven't actually owned the house straight away, it's still the vendor's insurance. And if something happens when they are putting things into the house and something's damaged, then it's like who who covers that? So that's that's why we always just say, Look, it's down to the lawyers. Nine times out of ten, the lawyers will say no, you you you can't because no one wants the hassle of if something goes wrong. So it's basically technically, as soon as we get the the email saying that we can release the keys, technically, then the the new homeowners own the house, but there needs to still be a little bit of leeway because if we've been told that the people still might be just moving out, yeah, and there's that transition period, so we we just ask people for just a little bit of patience. Nine and a half times out of ten, it goes pretty smooth. Every that half a percent sometimes there's a few challenges just to sort out, but we we as agents we're always there to help, you know. We don't just say, hey, no, that's not my problem. You know, but we're there to help and help them with the situation.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

Okay, that's good to know. I remember chasing um chickens one time for a client when they were moving and they couldn't get the chickens out on time and that or just sold a house and they were moving into the new house and we were running around in their backyard chasing chickens.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

Chickens would be good. The best one I've ever come across is chasing around the garden after a pig, trying to get it into a van at the at the back there, and this pig just would not go go into to the truck at the back. It was quite hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

So I guess the tip here is you say, you know, everyone just needs to have a little bit of patience on settlement day because the emotions are on the high. Everyone, you know, people that are selling, their emotions will be on the high because they're saying goodbye to their family home or whatever it is. Absolutely. People that are moving in, their emotions on the high because they've just moved out from wherever they're moving into their first home or you know, upgrade or downgrade. Yeah. So it's it's a very emotionally charged day.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

Very, very. And that and and that's why when it's key time to hand over, Megan or I, or both of us, are always there to hand them the keys at the front door at the property. Always. We never ask them to come to the office or like that, because we know that there's probably been a lot of stuff going on behind the scene. They might have a car load of stuff, they might have kids there, might have animals. So we always say we'll meet you at the property. What's the best time to meet you there? And we'll we'll go and meet them there. Because we've had experience of that ourselves, you know. Yeah, um, see it seemed like Megan having to go down and click keys with sleeping children in the back and go into the office and get them. And we we know it's not the best, so yeah, we are always there to hand over the keys. So as soon as we have been notified, we phone the buyers, say, hey, we've been given permission, release the keys. What's the best time to get you out of the property?

When Disasters Hit Ask Your Lawyer

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Nice, nice. I love that. I think uh we've covered pretty much all the important points what happens when people buy a house. Yeah, so if anyone's got any questions, just the only thing I just thought of that happened to one of my clients. He bought a house, pretty much gone unconditional, but on the same day the property got flooded and it was a big disaster. Yeah, so he had to pull out, even though he's gone unconditional. The vendors were graceful enough to let him off the hook because they had to claim through the insurance and etc. etc. But yeah, it was it was a disaster.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Thank goodness we haven't come across anything like that yet.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Yeah, so just a tip again, you know, for those that are looking to buy, just be aware. I mean, sometimes we don't know what natural events can happen or whatever happens at the house, but you know, always consult your lawyer.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

Absolutely beautiful, okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Thank you, George.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

Thanks, everybody so.