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First home buyers get a real boost

FHSS Scheme – first things first

Deciding to buy your first home is really exciting. There are so many decisions to make about where you want to live, what sort of home you’d like to buy and of course, how you’re going to afford it all.

To start, it’s important to work out how much you’ll need for your deposit in the first place, so you’ll have to do the maths.

  • Work out how much you need to buy the property you’re interested in – don’t forget to factor in all related fees and charges including things like stamp duty and conveyancing fees
  • Take away the amount you can afford to borrow
  • Equals the deposit you’ll need to save.

It all sounds pretty straightforward, but saving the deposit for your first home isn’t as easy as a simple equation. It can be much harder.
 
Some people try to boost their savings by taking a second job, selling things they no longer want or need or even starting a side hustle.
 
Many more move back in with their parents to save on rent and other expenses and others budget around the clock so they can sign their very own Contract of Sale sooner rather than later.
 
That’s why the Australian Government’s first home super saver scheme (FHSS) is such a great idea.
 
This initiative lets you make extra contributions to your superannuation and use those funds to buy your first home sooner. By contributing to your superannuation, you can save on the amount of tax you need to pay annually, which is extra money you could be putting into your deposit.
 
Anyone earning more than $18,200 per year can save on tax while being part of this scheme.

Are you eligible?

To access this scheme:

  • You must be 18 or older
  • You cannot have accessed this scheme in the past
  • You must not have owned property in Australia before.
 

Like any service, different businesses and individuals charge various fees to get the job done.

  • You live in the premises you are buying, or intend to as soon as practicable
  • You intend to live in the property for at least six months, within the first 12 months you own it, after it’s practical to move in.
 
Only voluntary contribution funds can be accessed as part of this scheme and withdrawals are currently limited to:
  • $15,000 per financial year
  • $30,000 in total.
 
Although the FHSS scheme might not be the most straightforward way to save for a house, it can help you save at tax time and boost your deposit.
 
Your accountant would probably argue that right now, this is the most tax effective way of saving for a home deposit.
 
If you’d like more information about the FHSS scheme, visit the Australian Tax Office website here for everything you need to know.

How is my conveyancing fee calculated?

There are two parts that make up your Settle Easy conveyancing fee:

  • Professional services
  • Disbursements or out of pocket expenses

Professional Services Fee

You might be interested to know that this part of your conveyancing fee pays for the specialised work your property law expert will need to do to legally transfer your property.

As you would expect, transferring a property to a new owner requires:

  • Property law expertise
  • Time
  • Excellent attention to detail.
 
At Settle Easy, your expert conveyancers have all the skills and experience necessary to ensure all your paperwork is ready to go from pre-contract right up until settlement day.
 
They’ll also be in regular contact with you and the other party’s legal representatives to nut out all the finer details of this important transaction.
 
Some people embark on the conveyancing process themselves, but unless you are a property law expert, it’s not something we recommend – there’s just too much at stake when it comes to property transactions.

What are disbursements/out of pocket expenses?

When it comes to conveyancing, the word disbursements and the expression ‘out of pocket expenses’ are used interchangeably by real estate agents, property lawyers, solicitors and conveyancers, but in reality, they are the same thing.

Whether you are escaping to the mountains or investing in an inner city apartment, every property transaction in Australia will incur some sort of out of pocket expenses – it’s just part and parcel of all conveyancing transactions.

It’s important to know that these out of pocket expenses are not covered by Settle Easy’s professional fee.

When we help you with your conveyancing, our conveyancers and property lawyers will undertake various searches to get your conveyancing transaction sorted.

At Settle Easy, our expert local conveyancers and lawyers can provide you with an estimate of what these out of pocket expenses are likely to be for your property, just as soon as we know where your property is located and what sort of property it is.

We can only provide an estimate of these costs because every local council and government body in Australia has different fee schedules for these searches and your out of pocket expenses ultimately depend on where your property is located.

Your out of pocket expenses may pay for things like:

  • council and water rates searches
  • planning and heritage searches
  • title and encumbrance searches
  • water meter readings
  • road authority certificates
  • land tax clearance certificates
  • Environment Protection Authority (EPA) certificates
  • owner’s corporation/body corporate/strata title certificates.

Questions about conveyancing fees?

If you have any questions about how we calculate conveyancing costs or if there is any other conveyancing-related question you need answered, we’re here to help 24/7.

Our expert conveyancers are ready, prepared to answer any questions you have about transferring ownership of property or about conveyancing in general. Our conveyancing services are available across Australia, from Victoria to Queensland, New South Wales to Western Australia. 

We can’t wait to help you settle easy.

What our customers are saying

Ryan Slaviero
Ryan Slaviero
Assisted us with purchasing our first home, fantastic from start to finish. Incredible transparency and quick responses. Made the stressful experience enjoyable! More specifically a thanks to Ziya.
Matt
Matt
Ziya is expectionally friendly and professional. He helped me throughout the settlement process, and successfully advocated for my best interest. I would recommend Settle Easy to anyone!
Amanda S
Amanda S
Me and my partner want to thank Ziya. When we started looking for properties, Ziya was very quick in reviewing the contracts of sale, providing advice and making sure we understood the whole process. We have just bought our first property, everything went smooth and he dealt with everything professionally. Any questions we had he would always be quick to respond and made sure we were not stressing. Would highly recommend Ziya at Settle Easy and have referred a few friends. Thank you again!
Liz Mccabe
Liz Mccabe
Great service from Settle Easy.Thanks to Natalie& Team.Very efficient service.Every question dealt with quickly and confidently . Highly recommend,Thanks Guys.
Karen Ornopia
Karen Ornopia
As a first home buyer, we had an amazing experience with Settle Easy. The journey started back in Aug. 2021 with Jelena and our account was then handled by Samantha & Natalie recently. Free contract review, prompt email/call response, sound portal interface were the highlights that I share to some friends in the future.
Will Richards
Will Richards
I had a seemless experience as a first home buy with Settle Easy. The free contract review was a useful tool and Natalie guided me through the entire process. I've recommended to a few friends.
David Oxnam
David Oxnam
We purchased interstate and off the plan and found Settle Easy very helpful. In the pre purchase due diligence we escalated and sought help from a senior consultant and got sound and thorough advice. The web site is a great tool and settlement went without a hitch with strong support from Natalie and Samantha even over the Christmas break. We recommend this service as cost effective, tech savvy, and professionally sound. David and Kathryn
Elisa King
Elisa King
Sam was a delight to deal with throughout the sale of my investment property. She was a true professional, the Settle Easy digital platform that manages your documents made it super easy as everything was in one place. I'd highly recommend Sam at Settle Easy.
anuwinder kaur
anuwinder kaur
Highly recommend Settle Easy. Had amazing experience and special Thanks to Dishani🤩

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