Right now, properties on the Sunshine Coast are selling fast. Very fast. With many properties needing to make it to the first open home. It is my ultimate guide to buying a property on Sunshine Coast Qld in 2023.

I’ve spoken to so many buyers that are frustrated and disillusioned. With offers being made and them missing out. So here I give you my very best advice to provide you with the best opportunity to secure a property on the Sunshine Coast in the current market. 

DAILY ALERTS

You need to watch the market daily and know when a new property comes onto the market every day. The good news is you can do this automatically.

Realestate.com.au and domain.com.au allow buyers to create a daily alert. So every day, when a new property comes onto the market in your price range and area, an email will arrive in your mailbox. You first need to set this up so that you are alerted when something comes onto the market. 

IMMEDIATELY MAKE AN OFFER

Making an offer does not legally bind you Buying a property in Sunshine Coast. 

If you get an email for a property you like in your mailbox, immediately contact the agent and make an offer. Do this via email, SMS, and phone call. What the? Making an offer and not even seeing the property first? Yep. Making an offer does not lock you into a purchase. Yet. Making a sight-unseen offer will bring you to the attention of the sales agent and someone they need to pay attention to. Currently, agents are swamped with inquiries; many buyers are still just “looking,” so this will ensure the sales agents can see you are serious. I know it’s hard to get your head around. 

WHAT TYPE OF OFFER SHOULD YOU MAKE?

I am now helping Amber, my 21-year-old daughter, buy her first property. So far, we have made offers on six properties at the time of writing and have yet to see them all. Which is pretty shocking, considering I’m in the industry. Ha. We have not been trying to get a “Bargain.” Our offers have been very high; they need to be higher. 

Your offer needs to be as good as it can be. So my recommendation is this ; 

At the time of writing, a property was advertised in Buderim for $419,000. So we made an offer of $425,000 the day it came onto the market. $6,000 over the asking price. We were then told other buyers also wanted to make offers, so we had the chance to make one final offer. All offers would be submitted to the seller for them to choose one. It is called multiple offers. We increased our offer to $465,000. We missed out, and it sold to someone else for $475,000. 

So while this was advertised for $419,000, it sold way above that. That is just one example of six properties we have missed out on.

HOW TO MAKE AN OFFER

First, email, text, and call the sales agent to explain you would like to make an offer. When you email and text the request, include all your conditions, full names that you would be buying, and your solicitor’s details. 

So it might look like this ; 

The sales agents will either have you complete a letter of offer or sign a sales contract before buying a property on Sunshine Coast.

OFFICIAL SALES CONTRACT

The best practice is that a sales agent should write your offer on an official sales contract for you to sign. It is what I have always done & still do. Going to the effort of having your request written up on a sales contract shows everyone this is serious. 

When you do this, the contract suggests you have your solicitor look through it. Which, yes, is a good idea. But solicitors kill deals. They will probably tell you to reduce your deposit from 10% and increase your finance clause to 21 days. Don’t do that. 

When you sign a sales contract, you are protected by the finance clause; the B&P clause OR due diligence clause protects you. The five-day cooling-off clause also protects you. But a buyer should never pull out under the five-day cooling-off clause, as the seller can charge you around $2,000 for doing this.

If you do have your solicitor look at the sales contract, you would also need them to do it and get back to you reasonably fast, or you may miss out on the opportunity. 

LETTER OF OFFER

Many sales agents now use a letter of offer. I don’t and never will. I can see why they do, though. If ten people want to make offers, that’s ten sales contracts they need to fill out. A letter of recommendation is a short, simple non legally binding piece of paper that you write your offer. As a buyer, this is great because it does not lock you into anything. But as a buyer, a sales contract is better before buying a property on Sunshine Coast.

MULTIPLE OFFER FORM

If you are making an offer and other buyers would like to make an offer simultaneously, legislation states that a sales agent needs to inform all buyers if their offer is part of multiple offers. It just needs to be done verbally. REIQ’s best practice is to have all buyers sign a letter of offer form to ensure buyers understand what this means. So why is it not legally required? It is an excellent idea, which is why I do this. Many buyers need help understanding how multiple offers work. I’ve recently learned that many agents don’t understand either. 

HOW DO MULTIPLE OFFERS WORK?

In Qld, a sales agent can only negotiate with one buyer at a time. The sales agent presents all offers to the owners & the owners then choose which offer they like the most. It only sometimes means the best price. A buyer might offer less but have better conditions. Like no finance. 

I’ve recently discovered many sales agents need to realise the seller can choose the highest offer. They can choose a lower offer with better terms and decide to negotiate with that buyer, which is what I usually do. Yes, I will say that again. A seller can accept the highest offer, which most real estate agents need to realise.

Recently my daughter Amber made an offer of $499,000, 14 days finance, 30-day settlement, and no B&P. The agent said they accepted a slightly higher bid of $510,000 but with a longer finance term as that buyer needed to approve finance. Unfortunately, this sales agent does not realise that he would have been better off choosing Amber’s offer and negotiating with her, asking us to pay more because Amber’s finance is pre-approved. 

PROPERTIES SELLING OVER THE LASTING PRICE

If a property is advertised for $800,000, it may sell for $850,000. I suggest you initially offer $800,000, and only if the agent informs you there will be multiple offers do you need to improve your submission and conditions to the best you possibly can. 

PRE-APPROVED FINANCE

It would help if you got your finance pre-approved. If you try and make your finance term longer than 14 days, you will be able to accept an offer. But also, if by the 14 days, your bank needs a few more days, you can request a five days extension which is usually granted. 

The best practice is that a sales agent should write your offer on an official sales contract for you to sign. It is what I have always done & still do. Going to the effort of having your request written up on a sales contract shows everyone this is serious. 

When you do this, the contract suggests you have your solicitor look through it. Which, yes, is a good idea. But solicitors kill deals. They will probably tell you to reduce your deposit and increase your finance clause. Don’t do that. When you sign a sales contract, you are protected by the finance clause; the B&P clause OR due diligence clause protects you. The five-day cooling-off clause also protects you. But a buyer should never pull out under this clause, as the seller can charge you around $2,000 for doing this.

PRICING WITH CONTACT AGENT

I know. It’s frustrating for buyers. Agents do this because the market is moving so fast we are still determining what it will sell for. I recently sold a property where we told the owners to expect a sale of around $750k, which sold for $830k. Another, we told the owners around $575k, and it sold for $625k. 

In the realestate.com.au search, you can fine-tune your price, for example, to $500,000, and properties that are contacted argumentatively on your rough budget will show up. But consider this. The agent may think it will sell for $500,000, but buyers may be prepared to pay $550,000. So don’t beat up the agent. 

CHOOSING A MORTGAGE

Not all mortgage brokers are the same. Ones with a high volume of loans get preferential treatment for pre-approved loans. If you are talking to a mortgage broker that is not keen to bring you a pre-approval or gives you excuses from the bank, that’s a red flag; you need to find a better broker. 

So a good question is how fast can you get me a pre-approval, and once I have it can they handle a seven-day finance clause? 

Pete Solomon from Mortgage Choice o the Sunshine Coast can do all this. He is unbelievably busy, so it might take a week to have a phone interview with you, so you need to jump onto this now. 

Another reason to get a pre-approval is you are about to be shocked by how much information they are going to need from you. ID, bank statements, pay slips, copies of leases, electricity bills, and loan statements. Maybe bank valuations of other properties you already own. The list is long.

BUYING A PROPERTY ON SUNSHINE COAST AT AUCTION

One of the disadvantages of buying under the multiple-offer process is all the buyers making offers are flying blind. They have yet to learn what other offers are being made. They might miss out by just $5,000. 

With pre-approval, you are then able to bid at auctions. Some of the advantages of bidding at an auction are less competition. Instead of competing with ten buyers who all have finance clauses, you may only be competing with three buyers as they are the only ones pre-approved. Auctions are transparent. You get to see what the other buyers are prepared to pay, and you can decide if you are ready to pay. Instead of missing out by $5,000 with the multiple offer process, you may be able to secure the property by paying $5,000 more. I recently spoke with a client who bid at an auction in Buderim and was the only bidder there, to her surprise and delight. 

Something very challenging with auctions, though, is pricing. You need to research what has just sold in the comparable area. In Qld, it’s illegal for real estate agents to guide a buyer on price. But they can supply a buyer with a list of comparable sales. So it would help if you asked for that. The challenge here, though, is if you are looking at sales from 3 months ago, whatever they sold for then is now worth more.

BUYING A PROPERTY ON SUNSHINE COAST WITH A TENANT IN PLACE

It needs to be understood. A tenant is protected by their lease. So if their lease expires in 10 months when the property sells, they must stay put. If the lease has expired, you only need to give the tenant one month’s notice to vacate. 

I am seeing for the first time buyers are buying properties they want to live in with tenants in place and just waiting for the lease to expire; I’ve never seen this before. But even Amber is looking to do this. 

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN MARKETING RIGHT NOW?

It’s out of control. Amber is looking for properties in Buderim less than 12 months ago that was selling for $370k. In Feb 2021, properties in the same complex were selling for $440k. And now, in Sept, they are selling for just over $500k. 

It’s the same all over the Sunshine Coast. A townhouse that sold last year in a Cotton Tree for $440,000 just sold for $565,000 less than 12 months later. 

WHEN WILL THE MARKET SLOW?

I’m just a real estate agent. I am not qualified to answer. But I assume while interest rates stay low, the buying a property on Sunshine Coast will continue to boom. Then add to that the Olympics in about ten years, plus the excellent infrastructure and limited land. The Sunshine Coast is still significantly undervalued compared to other areas of Australia. Covid has created a massive push for people thinking of getting out of the cities to make a move now. Once borders open, there will be another spike as interstate buyers can finally come up and see properties in person again.

IN SUMMARY

Yes, I suggest you buying a property on Sunshine Coast. If you believe in Sept, it will be worth more by Dec, get a pre-approval and be prepared to compete with many other buyers. So act fast.