Steps to buying your first home

Conditional approval or pre-approval is an indication of how much we may be able to lend you. It helps narrow down your price range.

You can start house hunting without conditional approval, but having it sorted can give you confidence that you can move quickly if the right property comes up.

Once you've found a property you like, it's time to start doing your homework on it. Give us the address so we can confirm that we're happy to lend on it. Engage a lawyer and decide what checks need to be done such as getting a building inspection or a full valuation.

You could also talk to your lawyer and make a conditional offer before getting the checks done and write these in as conditions. Find out more about doing due diligence.

Request the Sale and Purchase Agreement from the real estate agent if there is one and complete it with your lawyer. This document details the purchase amount, deposit amount, settlement date, and what's included, i.e. chattels. If you have any conditions, you can list them here. See common conditions and how making an offer works.

If you're going to auction, you'll be making an unconditional offer.

Before you sign any Sale and Purchase Agreement or register to bid at auction, you should always get legal advice from an independent lawyer.

Once you've made an offer, the vendor might need time to consider it. Via the real estate agent, they could accept your offer, reject it completely, or want to negotiate on details such as price and settlement date. In this case, you might receive a counter-offer.

At an auction, you'll either get an answer on the day or have the chance to negotiate afterwards.

If you reach an agreement with the vendor and they accept your offer, congratulations.

If your offer was conditional, you'll have until the settlement date to satisfy those conditions. This can include finance so you'll need us to update your conditional approval to a full loan approval. See your conditional approval letter for what to do.

If you're using your KiwiSaver money, make a KiwiSaver withdrawal application early to allow for processing time. Once your offer has gone unconditional, you'll have to pay part of your deposit, as determined by your Sale and Purchase Agreement. We can also start looking at how you'd like to structure your home loan.

Settlement day is when your mortgage appears in your bank account, and you pick up your new keys. It's important you've completed all required steps before this day so it goes as smoothly as possible. This includes signing the loan documents with your lawyer, transferring the rest of the deposit, purchasing house insurance and doing a pre-settlement inspection.

Find out more about how you can prepare for what happens on settlement day.