At R & R Property we specialise in rural property and have lots of clients escaping the rate race and heading our way. We find that a hurdle in the process of purchasing a rural property can sometimes be obtaining the finance if you don’t go about it the right way.
Most importantly we recommend that you deal with a financial institution or broker who is knowledgeable & has experience in the process of lending to rural locations. All financial institutions have restrictions and they all seem to vary. For example some have a restriction that they don’t lend to rural at all, some have a maximum of 25 acres and some have a maximum of 150 acres etc etc. So the key is to ask the questions up front.
Always have pre-approval to purchase a property before you start looking. There is no point doing all the inspections, finding the property of your dreams, making an offer if you then have to go through the process to obtain a loan and your chosen institution doesn’t lend for that type of property.
Getting the final finance approval may take a lot longer than you anticipate. Given this fact, you could go through the whole seeking of property process to then miss out because someone else has fallen in love with it, but they already had their finance pre-approved. Thereby making the journey to exchange of contracts a lot shorter.
A few keys things to remember when purchasing rural property in the Midcoast Council area:
- The current laws require a minimum of approx. 40 hectares (100 acres) of land to allow a build in a rural zoning.
- If you have a small acreage of rural zoned land it may still have a building entitlement. This information may be held in a letter by the owner and originally obtained from council.
- A search can be paid for through the council to ascertain whether a small acreage block has an existing building entitlement, if no authority letter is to hand.
- Bush fire; restrictions may be relevant on the house and/or land you are purchasing.
- Flooding; if you are in a flood zone this may also affect your lending possibilities.
At R & R Property we deal with sales in our rural area every day.
Therefore the best advice we can give you is to be up front and honest with your chosen agent regarding your financial position. As an agent there is nothing more frustrating than telling your vendor that your purchaser who has made an offer on their property has informed you that they are clear for finance when in actual fact they haven’t got cash, they haven’t had anything approved with their bank, or the bank they have approval with doesn’t lend for rural properties.
This is time consuming and frustrating for all parties involved, so complete the relevant steps prior to seeking a property to purchase.
Denise Haynes and The R & R Property Team are Tree Change Specialists living and working within the beautiful Stroud Valley. Stroud is located around an approximate 2.5 hour drive from Sydney. R and R Property specialise in assisting their customers make the move to a happier and healthier life in the country. You can grab your FREE Tree change Guide at :www.randrproperty.com.au
Please be aware that all purchasers are responsible for their own investigations with financial institutions and council areas when purchasing a property. This is general guidance only.
