Accepting an offer starts a process rather than ending one. Most of what follows is handled by your conveyancer or solicitor, but the dates are yours to know because missing one has consequences.
In most states a buyer who signs a private treaty contract has a short cooling-off period during which they can withdraw, usually forfeiting a small percentage of the price. The length and exceptions differ by state. Confirm the rules with your conveyancer before signing. Your conveyancer will tell you exactly where you stand.
If the contract is conditional, each condition has a date. Finance approval, a building and pest inspection, sometimes the sale of the buyer's property. Until they are all satisfied or waived the contract can still end, which is why an unconditional contract is worth what it is.
A building and pest report sometimes produces a request to reduce the price or to have work done. You are not obliged to agree, and what happens if you do not depends on how the condition is written.
Confirm what you will walk away with The agreed price, less your mortgage and the costs of selling — the figure that actually reaches your account. Estimate net proceeds
Anything you agreed stays with the house — appliances, fittings, the shed — should be in the contract. A conversation at an open is not.
Settlement is normally handled electronically now, between the two sides' representatives and the banks. Your mortgage is paid out, the balance comes to you, the title transfers and the keys are released to the buyer, usually through the agent. You do not need to be anywhere.
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