Settlement

Now that your lending has been approved it's time to confirm your loan structure. Don't worry, it's not as scary as it sounds! Your loan structure covers the term that you will be repaying your mortgage over, whether you are going to be on a fixed or floating rate (or a little bit of both!), what rate you will be on, the frequency of your repayments, and a few other bits and pieces.

Your Lender will walk you through each of these steps, so make sure you ask questions if you aren't sure.

The great news is that as a first home buyer you may be eligible for the SBS FirstHome Combo, which includes a fantastic interest rate for first home buyers (and all the other perks).

Once you have confirmed your loan structure your Lender will send the final documents through to your solicitor for you to sign and arrange payment of the deposit for settlement.

FirstHome Combo Terms and Conditions apply.

The next step is to visit your solicitor to sign your loan docs and other forms relating to your deposit. The deposit you pay to the bank is typically paid through your solicitor with them collecting all the funds and sending it on in one lump sum.

Your solicitor will usually help you to arrange the withdrawal of your KiwiSaver funds (if you are using your KiwiSaver for your deposit) to ensure they are ready for settlement. They will also give you their firm's bank account details for you to transfer your savings for the deposit into.

Woohoooo! You made it!!!

Settlement day might just be the most exciting day of your life so far - we know how excited we'll be for you!

On the day of settlement your Solicitor will transfer your deposit to the bank, and the bank will pay the sale amount of the property to the vendor. This can all take a few hours so it is likely to be towards the end of the day when everything is finalised, but it can sometimes be sooner so keep your phone off mute!

Once the Real Estate Agent has confirmed everything has been processed they will give you a call, or contact your solicitor, to let you know that you can come and collect the keys to your brand-new home. 

Congratulations homeowner!