Overseas Buyers

Buy your home or investment property in Sydney with confidence using the local professionals.

Australian expatriates returning to Australia from overseas postings, and those looking to buy investment properties, will find our services of particular importance and assistance. We also help immigrants to locate their new homes, and give advice on Sydney’s best suburbs for a variety of budgets.

Homesearch Solutions has acted on behalf of numerous expatriate Australian buyers of Sydney property from many parts of the world, particularly from the following major financial capitals:

Our services and systems for remote buyers are similar to those for locals (See services and Fees), although also includes the following :

• Where the purchase is “sight-unseen” by the buyer, arrangements can be made with buyers’ family/associates to inspect for second opinions
• Homesearch Solutions will fully brief you on the laws and procedures for purchasing real estate in Australia
• Arrange powers of attorney for signing of the contract of sale, and deposit cheque collection at a Sydney bank
• We will submit Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) applications on your behalf (if required)

Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) Restrictions

If you are an Australian citizen, or a foreign national holding a permanent residence visa, there are no restrictions on purchasing real estate in Australia.

Visa Holders

You are entitled to purchase selected real estate in Australia if you hold a temporary residence visa or have a student visa. All applications to purchase Australian real estate must be submitted to the FIRB for their approval before purchase is permitted.

Temporary residents and students will be required to sell established property purchased when leaving Australia.

Non Visa Holders

Foreign interests are normally given approval to buy in the following 2 categories:

1. New dwelling(s) from a developer, where the developer has pre-approval to sell those dwellings to foreign persons and has provided you a copy of the pre-approval notice
2. Vacant residential land – construction of a dwelling must commence within 24 months of the purchase of land.

Refer to the FIRB website for detailed information www.firb.gov.au

Please let us know if you have any further enquiries or concerns regarding your eligibility to purchase in Australia.

Procedures for Overseas Clients

1. Ensure that your finance is approved and in writing from your lender. Inform Homesearch Solutions if there are any conditions to the purchase (leverage requirements, maximum units in a complex, pre-purchase valuation etc)
2. Complete the necessary paperwork
   • Homesearch Solutions Agreement – sign and return
   • Client Requirement Questionnaire. This is your brief to Homesearch Solutions, and be as specific as possible. The more detail you can give us, the easier the search process becomes.
3. Financial Details
   • Transfer required retainer to Homesearch Solutions account
   • Have 10% deposit monies ready for a purchase at exchange of contracts. If offer and acceptance to buy a property is given by the vendor for a suitable property, then often we have to be able to move quickly to be able to secure it. The most efficient method is where you authorise us to collect a bank cheque at a Sydney bank branch on your behalf, with the cheque made out to the selling agent’s trust account.
4. Send us copies of your passports, and if applicable copies of Australian visas (ie. client not Australian resident or citizen). This is necessary as the vendor’s solicitor may want to sight a copy of purchaser’s identification. For foreigners, FIRB  approval may need to be sought for each suitable property. Additional FIRB paperwork will be completed by Homesearch Solutions to assist in this application. All copies of these documents will also need to be forwarded to your solicitor.
5. The search begins based on specifications made in Client Requirement Questionnaire and telephone discussions.  For properties that Homesearch Solutions considers suitable, digital photographs, detailed information, a market price analysis and aerial photos will be emailed to the client.
6. Discussions between Homesearch Solutions and client will ascertain course of action regarding specific properties.  Homesearch Solutions will negotiate or bid at auction based on written authority from client for each particular property.
7. Relevant “due diligence” to be done including : building reports, strata searches, pest inspections etc for selected properties.
8. After the client is satisfied with the due diligence it is time to arrange exchange of contracts (assuming private treaty sale). For efficiency and competitiveness the best option for signing is to have a Limited Power of Attorney (POA) assigned to someone in Sydney who can sign the contract of sale on your behalf. Some solicitors will accept a faxed signed copy of the contract by the actual purchaser but there are some who will not, so the POA should be arranged regardless. A deposit of either 5% or 10% will have to be paid at this stage (as per Point 3 above).
9. Homesearch Solutions will continue to oversee all necessary matters until settlement takes place.
10. A suitable property manager can be arranged and appointed for investment properties