The contract is the tool most upgraders waste.
In Victoria, an auction bid is unconditional, and the buyer carries all the timing risk. Queensland is different, and it is a real advantage.
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Most sales here happen by private treaty on a written contract, which can be made subject to finance, subject to building and pest, and in some cases, subject to the sale of your own property. A settlement date is negotiable rather than fixed by the auctioneer.
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Get it right, and you solve your timing issues straight through the contract instead of relying on a costly short-term loan. Get it wrong, and you risk missing your finance deadline and losing your deposit.
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Sellers will weigh a subject-to-sale clause against a cleaner offer, so it is not free. But in a normal market, it is worth asking for, and knowing how to structure the request is part of what you are hiring us for.
Sell first, buy first, or line them up.
Our mortgage brokers at The Queensland Mortgage Company (TQMC) will guide you through all the options and help you pick one that suits you.
Sell first
This is the cleanest route. You know your budget exactly and carry one loan, not two. You just have to rent for a few months.
Buy first
This is good if your income can support both loans at once, as lenders assess you as though you will hold both at buffered rates.
Line them up
In a simultaneous settlement, your sale funds your purchase on the same day or close to it.
Release your equity before you list.
This is a strategic move that quietly solves the timing issues.
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Refinancing or topping up the loan on your current home while you are still living in it puts cash in your hands. You can use it for the deposit, transfer duty, moving costs and other fees without waiting for a settlement. Since refinance loans aren't short-term products priced for urgency, you can get standard rates and terms for releasing your equity.
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You just have to execute this promptly. Once your home is on the market, lenders become far less willing to approve an equity release before selling, and once it is under contract, that door is effectively shut.
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So if you are thinking about listing in the next few months, have a conversation about refinancing first. At TQMC, we have a panel of over 60 lenders that can help fund your next home through refinancing.
End-to-end care across two transactions
Two properties means two sets of dates, two conveyancers and a lender in the middle of it.
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The Queensland Mortgage Company gives you one point of contact for all of it. We are the mortgage brokers upgraders in Brisbane, Cairns, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, and Townsville use because we track the finance date, the valuation and both settlements, and we tell you where things stand before you have to chase. Then we review the loan you keep, because the product that suited you five years ago is rarely the sharpest today.
Questions we get asked before the first call
Yes, though Queensland's general home concession applies to any property you buy as your principal residence, not just your first. It is not the full first home benefit, but it is more help than buyers in most other states get. We include the net figure in the numbers we give you.
Generally yes, provided the new property genuinely becomes your principal residence. The concession attaches to how you occupy the new home rather than to how many properties you own. This is also worth confirming with your conveyancer or solicitor for your circumstances.
Selling usually triggers a break cost, and the amount depends on where rates have moved since you fixed. It can be substantial. Tell us your fixed expiry date early because in some cases, the best plan is to time your move around it rather than pay to exit.
Usually not, and we do not arrange them. Releasing equity before you list, negotiating settlement dates, or lining up a simultaneous settlement covers most situations at lower cost. If your circumstances genuinely call for bridging, we will tell you plainly rather than leave you guessing.
