You have sold the house, settlement is getting close, and then somebody asks the question no one thought to settle properly at the start.

Does the dishwasher stay? What about the curtains, the television bracket, the garden shed, the security cameras, the pot plants, the bore equipment or the expensive light fitting in the dining room?

These questions sound minor until a buyer arrives after settlement and discovers something they reasonably expected to receive has disappeared.

After more than two decades and more than 1,500 personal sales, I can tell you most arguments over what stays and what goes are avoidable. The problem is usually not dishonesty. It is two people making different assumptions about the same item. If an item matters to either the buyer or the seller, put it in the contract. Do not rely on what seems obvious.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Whether a particular item is a fixture or
a chattel can depend on how it is attached, why it is attached, the contract wording and the
surrounding circumstances. If an item is valuable or disputed, obtain advice before signing.

The simple rule of thumb: turn the house upside down

One of the simplest ways agents are taught to explain fixtures and chattels is this. If you could turn the house upside down and shake it, whatever falls out is generally a chattel. Whatever stays attached is generally a fixture.

That is not the complete legal test, but it is a useful starting point. As a general rule, an item that is screwed, nailed, glued, concreted or otherwise permanently fixed to the home or land will usually be treated as a fixture, and things planted in the ground ordinarily remain with the land. An item that is free-standing and easily movable will usually be a chattel.

The trouble is the grey area. A dishwasher can be connected to plumbing and power but still be removable. A large shed can look permanent without being fixed to a slab. Curtains are removable, while their tracks are fixed. A television is movable, while its wall bracket may stay. That is why the rule of thumb helps, but the contract is what removes the doubt.

Fixtures usually stay; chattels usually go

WA Consumer Protection describes chattels as movable items that are not part of the land
or building, and fixtures as items fixed to or forming part of the property. Its guidance is that fixtures generally remain while chattels are removed, unless the contract says otherwise.

Common fixtures include fixed floor coverings, light fittings, built-in air conditioning, fixed mirrors, television aerials, permanently installed sheds and plants growing in the ground. Common chattels include rugs, free-standing furniture, removable appliances, pot plants and other loose items.

Those are only examples. The classification of a particular item can still depend on its method and purpose of attachment, which is exactly why the safest practice is to list any uncertain item clearly in the Offer and Acceptance.

What we put in every contract

To remove the most common arguments, every Offer and Acceptance we prepare includes wording to the effect that the offer includes all fixed floor coverings, window treatments, light fittings and the dishwasher in place.

If the seller wants to keep one of those, it is excluded in writing before the buyer signs. If the buyer expects an unusual movable item, it is included in writing. For a valuable appliance, the brand and model can be recorded too. Those few words save a lot of misunderstanding at settlement.

The contract beats the assumption

A seller can generally exclude an item that might otherwise stay, provided the exclusion is clear and accepted as part of the contract. A buyer can also negotiate for a movable item to be included. For example:

• Included in the sale: Bosch free-standing dishwasher, model ABC123.
• Excluded from the sale: dining-room pendant light. The seller will remove it before settlement and install a standard working light fitting in its place.

The more valuable or unusual the item, the more specific the wording should be.

The items that cause the most confusion

Dishwashers.

A fully integrated unit can look like part of the kitchen, while a free-standing one is easy to remove. WA guidance specifically identifies dishwashers as items to list, and our contracts include the dishwasher in place unless agreed otherwise.

Curtains, blinds and window treatments.

Tracks, rods and fitted blinds are attached to the building. Curtains themselves can usually be removed. Because expectations differ, our standard wording includes window treatments unless the contract states otherwise.

Televisions and wall brackets.

The television normally belongs to the seller unless expressly included. A fixed bracket may remain, and if it is being removed, agree what happens to any holes or damage.

Sheds, cubby houses, aviaries and animal enclosures.

This matters throughout the Perth Hills and Foothills. Some structures are concreted or fixed, others can be moved. If it appears in the marketing and matters to either side, identify it in the contract.

Solar panels, batteries and EV chargers.

Roof-mounted panels and permanently installed equipment ordinarily appear to form part of the property. The contract should also deal with any finance, lease, service agreement, cables, adaptors and account transfers.

Pool equipment.

Fixed pumps, filters and heating are different from loose cleaners, covers, rollers and accessories. List the removable equipment if the buyer expects to receive it.

Everything else follows the same logic, so record it rather than guess: fixed mirrors and
hung mirrors, sentimental light fittings, security cameras and smart-home hubs (including
the codes and accounts needed to run them), outdoor kitchens and pizza ovens, workshop
benches, statues, water features and established plants. If it matters to either side, one line
in the contract settles it.

A story from my first year in real estate

One of my earliest sales was a home in the Kelmscott hills. The sellers had come from England, and everything went smoothly through the contract and final inspection.

The property settled. Not long afterwards the buyer rang me and said, “Brendan, you had better come up here and have a look.”

When I arrived I could hardly believe it. The sellers had removed the carpets, curtains, blinds and light fittings. The home had been stripped back.

I called the seller and asked what had happened. His answer was completely genuine: “What do you mean? That is what we do in England.”

He honestly believed he had done the right thing. I had to explain that this was Western Australia, and more importantly, the contract specifically included the fixed floor coverings, window treatments and light fittings. They had to be returned and properly reinstalled.

Fortunately the buyer was easy-going and could see the funny side once it was explained. The sellers arranged for the items to be put back by qualified people, and it was resolved. The lesson was not that anybody was dishonest. It was that assumptions change from country to country, and person to person, and the contract is there to make the expectation clear.

A much more expensive lesson about internet advice

A later sale was not so easy.

The seller had a stove and oven that formed part of the property and were included in the sale. We explained repeatedly that they were fixtures under the contract and could not simply be removed.

By that stage, though, the seller had started relying on advice from online forums. It did not seem to matter what the agent or the other professionals said. She had found people online telling her what she believed she was entitled to do, and she made up her own mind.

When the buyer’s building inspector attended and took his normal photographs, the report showed the stove and oven had been dismantled and left in pieces, with the gas connection cut. The matter had to move into the legal channel before settlement. The appliances had to be reinstated properly, and the delayed settlement exposed the seller to default interest under the contract.

That is where it gets expensive. On a seven-figure sale, with an outstanding balance well over a million dollars, default interest adds up fast. The 2022 Joint Form sets default interest at 9 per cent a year, calculated daily, though the form is updated from time to time and the rate that applies should always be confirmed against the current contract. On an outstanding balance of around 1.3 million, 9 per cent works out to roughly 320 dollars a day. A delay of a couple of weeks can add several thousand dollars, before any legal and trade costs on top.

The lesson is not “never use the internet.” It is that general online advice does not know your signed contract, your property or the facts of your transaction. Licensed agents, settlement agents and property lawyers are not infallible, but they are dealing with the actual transaction in front of them. Where the agent, settlement agent and lawyer are all telling you the same thing, an anonymous online opinion should not override the contract you signed.

Advertising photographs do not decide what is included

Buyers sometimes assume everything in the marketing photographs will remain. That is unsafe. Photographs normally show furniture, artwork, rugs, lamps, outdoor furniture, pot plants and decorative items that belong to the seller.

Marketing photographs do not, by themselves, reliably establish what is included in the sale. The contract is what identifies inclusions and exclusions. At the same time, advertising must still accurately represent the property and should not create a misleading impression about a significant feature that will be removed. If a major feature shown in the campaign is going to be removed, the safest approach is to declare it before offers are made.

What sellers should do before launching

Before photography and home opens, walk through the property with your agent and identify anything you intend to take that a buyer may reasonably think belongs to the property: sentimental light fittings, curtains and custom window treatments, dishwashers and appliances, wall-mounted televisions and brackets, security and smart-home equipment, sheds and enclosures, pool equipment, workshop benches, EV charging equipment, statues, water features and established plants.

Where practical, remove or replace the item before the photography. That is cleaner than presenting the home with an attractive feature and announcing later that the buyer does not receive it.

What buyers should do before making an offer

During the inspection, ask one question: what do I expect to still be here when I receive the
keys? If something matters, tell the agent before the offer is written. A verbal conversation is not a substitute for clear contract wording. Pay particular attention to window treatments, the dishwasher and appliances, TV brackets and fixed mirrors, security and smart-home equipment, sheds and outdoor structures, pool equipment, bore, rainwater and reticulation equipment, solar and EV charging, and any valuable plants or garden features.

Keys, garage remotes and access devices must be handed over

The sale is not complete in a practical sense if the buyer receives the house but cannot properly access or operate it. The Joint Form of General Conditions deals with the handover of keys and relevant remotes or access devices, and “access device” is defined to include keys, security devices and the codes for any security system. Sellers should collect and hand over everything reasonably required to enter and use the property, subject to the
exact contract terms: front, rear and side-door keys, security-screen keys, mailbox keys, shed and workshop keys, garage-door and gate remotes, and alarm fobs, access cards and relevant codes.

Brendan’s tip for sellers: create a settlement box

As soon as the property goes under offer, start a small box or drawer for everything that needs to stay with the home: all keys and labelled spares, garage and gate remotes, alarm fobs and access cards, instruction manuals, warranties and service records, smart-home reset or transfer instructions, spare remote batteries, and any agreed equipment or accessories. By settlement day everything is in one place, and there is no frantic search through packed boxes.

Brendan’s tip for buyers: change the locks after settlement

This is not a legal requirement, but I recommend it to almost every buyer. Once the property has settled, consider having a locksmith re-key the external locks. The first reason is convenience. Older homes often have a different key for every door, and a locksmith can frequently change the barrels so one or two keys operate the whole home. The second is security. You do not know how many copies of the old keys exist, or who may still have one. Previous owners may have given keys to relatives, neighbours, tradespeople, cleaners or house sitters over many years. Re-keying means you know exactly who can access your new home. As a rough guide it is commonly around 300 to 600 dollars depending on the number and type of locks, so get a current locksmith quote rather than treating that as fixed pricing.

What happens if something disappears before settlement?

The final inspection is your chance to check the property remains in the required condition and the seller has complied with the contract. If something is missing:

1. Record exactly what is missing or altered.
2. Take photographs where appropriate.
3. Do not argue at the property.
4. Notify the settlement agent and selling agent in writing.
5. Let the settlement agents deal with it under the contract.

Depending on the item and the contract, the solution might be its return, replacement, repair of removal damage, an agreed settlement adjustment or legal advice. A missing item does not automatically entitle a buyer to cancel settlement. The contract and the seriousness of the breach matter.

Five practical things to do on settlement day

1. Confirm all keys, remotes, fobs and access codes have been received.
2. Walk through the home and confirm the agreed inclusions are present.
3. Photograph the electricity, gas and water meter readings for your records.
4. Confirm utility and internet arrangements.
5. Book a locksmith to re-key the external locks.

Frequently asked questions

Does the dishwasher stay when you sell a house in WA?

It depends on the contract. WA guidance specifically flags dishwashers as items to list, because an integrated unit can look built-in while a free-standing one is easy to remove. Our contracts include the dishwasher in place unless it is expressly excluded, so the safest thing is to have it written in either way.

Do curtains and blinds stay when you sell in WA?

Curtain tracks, rods and fitted window treatments may appear to form part of the property, while curtains and some blinds can be readily removed. WA Consumer Protection actually lists curtains and blinds among its examples of chattels, and recommends identifying window fittings in the contract because expectations can differ. Our contracts include window treatments unless they are expressly excluded, which removes the argument before it starts.

Can a seller remove fixtures before settlement?

A seller can keep an item that might otherwise stay only if it is clearly excluded in the contract and accepted before the buyer signs. Removing a fixture that the contract includes is a breach, and it can lead to reinstatement, an adjustment, delayed settlement and default interest.

What is the difference between a fixture and a chattel?

A fixture is attached to or forms part of the property and generally stays. A chattel is a movable item that is not part of the land or building and generally goes. The rule of thumb: shake the house, what falls out is usually a chattel, what stays attached is usually a fixture. The contract settles anything uncertain.

The bottom line

The legal difference between a fixture and a chattel matters. But the best transaction is not the one where somebody wins an argument about it after settlement. It is the one where the argument never happens.

If the seller wants to keep it, exclude it in writing. If the buyer expects to receive it, include it in writing. One extra line in the Offer and Acceptance can save days of stress, damaged goodwill, trade costs, default interest and legal expense over an item worth a fraction of the property itself.

After more than 1,500 personal sales, my advice is simple: never assume the other side sees an item the same way you do. Put it in the contract.

If you are buying or selling in the Perth Hills or Foothills and want the process explained in plain English before you sign, get in touch.

To help you, please feel free to download our property sale checklist

Truth. Strategy. Sold.

About the author: Brendan Leahy has been selling homes across the Perth Hills and
Foothills since 2002, with more than 1,500 personal sales.

This article is general information only and is not legal advice. The classification of an item
and the remedies available may depend on the method and purpose of attachment, the
contract wording and the particular circumstances. Speak with your settlement agent or
property lawyer if an item is valuable, disputed or unclear

 

How the Offer and Acceptance Process Works in Western Australia (and Why It Is Different to the Rest of Australia)

By Brendan Leahy, Naked Real Estate®

Buying or selling a home is one of the biggest financial decisions most people ever make. Yet the document that controls the whole thing is often the one people understand the least.

In Western Australia, almost every residential sale is done using an Offer and Acceptance contract, usually just called the O and A. If you have spoken to friends or family in the eastern states, their buying process probably sounded completely different. That is because it is.

I have sold more than 1,500 properties across more than two decades in the same handful of suburbs. In that time I have watched the same misunderstandings cost people money and sleep, almost always because nobody explained the process in plain English before they signed. This is my attempt to do that.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Every transaction is different. If you are unsure about your rights or obligations, get independent legal advice before you sign anything.

Why Western Australia is different

There is a common belief that WA works differently because we have a different land title system. That is not really the case. Australia’s registered land systems are predominantly based on the Torrens model, which began in South Australia in 1858 and was adopted across the country. Each state and territory has its own legislation and procedures, but WA’s simpler contracting process is not explained by a fundamentally different system of land ownership. It is explained by how the sale is put together and who does what.

What actually makes WA simpler is how the sale is put together and who does what:

• In WA, the real estate agent commonly prepares the standard Offer and Acceptance contract and negotiates it between buyer and seller.
• Once both parties agree on the terms, the contract is signed and acceptance is communicated. At that point it is binding.
• After that, a separately licensed settlement agent, or a lawyer, handles the settlement, which is the legal transfer of the property.

In much of the eastern states, a solicitor or conveyancer is involved much earlier, often preparing the contract and a stack of disclosure documents before the property is even advertised. That front-loading is a big part of why their process feels heavier.

WA has a dedicated licensed settlement agent profession that takes over once the contract is formed. That is the practical difference, and it is why selling here can feel refreshingly straightforward.

I will be straight about the flip side of that, because it matters. A simpler process for the transaction also means more of the responsibility sits with you before you sign. That is the honest trade, and the rest of this article is really about how to carry that responsibility well.

The two documents that make up the contract

Most people think they are signing one document. In reality the standard WA contract is usually made up of:

• The Offer and Acceptance (the O and A)
• The Joint Form of General Conditions
• Any annexures
• Any special conditions

The O and A is the part everyone looks at. The Joint Form of General Conditions is just as important, because it carries a large part of the legal rights and obligations that are not written on the front page. Most people never read it. You do not have to read every clause, but you should understand it exists and that it forms part of your agreement.

You can view the standard forms here by clicking on the respective PDF icons below

Offer and Acceptance Form	Joint Form of General Conditions

*** Please note that the documents linked above are used with permission. Copyright REIWA ***

Page one: the scheduleThe first page holds the commercial terms:

• Property address
• Purchase price
• Deposit
• Settlement date
• Finance details, if any
• Chattels included in the sale
• Buyer and seller details

It looks simple. It is not. Every completed part of that page can affect the parties’ legal rights and practical obligations, and a small error, even a misspelled name, can cause real problems at settlement.

One decision buyers make without realising it: how you hold the title

Look at the first page of the contract and you will see three boxes: sole owner, joint tenants, or tenants in common. If you are buying with someone else, which one you tick matters enormously, and a lot of people tick it without being told what it means.

If you are buying a home with your partner, it is normally done as joint tenants. In simple terms, you both own the whole property together. If one of you passes away, the property automatically stays with the surviving owner. It happens by law and does not depend on what a will says.

Tenants in common works differently. Here, each owner holds a defined share, and those shares do not have to be equal. If one owner passes away, their share does not automatically go to the others. It is dealt with according to their will.

That difference makes tenants in common a useful structure in some situations. Say you are helping one of your children into a property. You might hold it as tenants in common with a third each to you, your partner, and your child. If something later happens to one owner, their third is dealt with by their will, not simply absorbed by the others. It can also offer your child some protection. If they buy with a partner down the track and that relationship later ends, their defined share is the share in play, not the whole home. Sadly that situation comes up more often than it used to.

Blended families are another common reason. If you and your partner each have children from earlier relationships, tenants in common lets each of you leave your own share to your own children through your will.

This is one of those decisions that is simple to tick and hard to unwind. Before you decide how to hold the title, get legal advice, and speak to your accountant too, because there can be tax and estate consequences that are not obvious at the time.

When the contract becomes binding

This is the single most important thing to understand about buying and selling in WA.

The signed O and A becomes a binding contract once acceptance is communicated to the buyer. Not when the deposit is paid. Not after a few days of thinking it over. When acceptance is communicated.

And there is no cooling-off period in Western Australia. Once you are in a binding contract, you are in it. The only way out is through the conditions written into the contract itself, and if all of those are satisfied, you are committed to settling.

Be honest with yourself about what that means. There is no cooling-off period to fall back on if you get cold feet, and WA has no mandatory vendor statement handed to you before you commit the way some states do. That is not a reason to be nervous. It is a reason to do your homework, ask your questions, and get your advice before you sign, not after. It is a very different world to the eastern states, and we will come back to it.

Why the deposit still matters

Here is something that surprises people. The deposit does not create the contract.The contract is formed when acceptance is communicated. The deposit is then payable under that existing contract, usually within a set number of days. If a buyer fails to pay it on time, they are not tearing up a contract that never existed. They are in breach of one that already does.

That is why, when something goes wrong, one of the first questions a settlement agent or lawyer asks is whether the deposit has been paid. The answer tells them whether the buyer is already in default, whether a notice can be issued, and how much money is sitting in trust.So while the deposit does not form the contract, it does several important jobs:

• It shows the buyer is committed.
• It is held in trust and gives the seller security.
• It forms part of the purchase price at settlement.
• If the buyer defaults, it may be forfeited under the contract.

On that last point, there is a rule worth knowing. A deposit of up to 10 percent is a standard and recognised genuine deposit that a seller can keep if the buyer defaults. Push much beyond that and a court may treat the excess as a penalty and refuse to enforce it. Ten percent is the standard for a reason.

Finance, cash and subject-to-sale offers

One of the most common conditions in a WA contract is finance approval. If finance is included, the contract will usually name the lender or broker, the amount required, and the date by which finance must be approved.

The wording of a finance clause matters more than people think. “Subject to finance” is not a simple phrase. Whether a buyer can walk away, and whether a seller can end the contract, depends on exactly what the clause says and whether the buyer has met their obligations under it.

A cash offer removes that whole layer of risk, which is part of why a clean cash offer can be so attractive to a seller even when it is not the highest number on the table. For more information, please see our ‘Subject to Sale’ guide.

Building and pest inspections are not automatic

This one catches a lot of first home buyers.

A building inspection is not automatically included in a WA contract. Neither is a timber pest inspection. If you want either, you generally need to have a proper condition included before your offer is accepted.

Once the seller has accepted, you cannot simply decide you would now like to add a building inspection or a longer finance period. Any change after that needs both parties to agree. If you want a protection in the contract, ask for it before you sign, not after.

Why the selling agent cannot choose your protections for you

There is a reason your seller’s agent will not build your offer’s protections for you, and it is worth understanding.

I act for the seller. The seller is my client, so I cannot advise a buyer which conditions to include, or design an offer around the buyer’s interests. I can explain what the standard parts of the form do, and I can accurately record the terms a buyer instructs me to put forward. But deciding what legal protections a buyer needs is a matter for the buyer and their own settlement agent or lawyer. While the real estate agent acts strictly for the seller and cannot provide legal or strategic advice to the buyer or design conditions for the buyer’s benefit, the agent remains legally bound to act with honesty, fairness, and accurate disclosure toward all parties.

None of that means I get to play you. I will always be straight with you and I will never mislead you. But I am not your representative in the deal, and you should not expect me to be. That is not a gap in the service. It is the same single-minded representation you would want on your own side the day you are the one selling.

Which is why my best advice to any buyer is simple. If you are in any doubt about a condition, or about anything you are signing, speak to your own settlement agent or solicitor before the offer is written, not after. Once your offer is accepted there is no cooling-off period in Western Australia and no easy way to add a protection you left out. The time to get that advice is before you sign, and the call costs you very little.

What we have to tell you, and what you should ask

People from the eastern states often assume that because WA has no vendor disclosure statement, there is no disclosure here at all. That is wrong, and it is worth understanding properly.

Two duties sit over every sale. Agents must not mislead buyers, and they may be required to disclose known facts that would be material to a buyer’s decision, even where the seller would prefer the information not to be raised. Alongside that sits the Australian Consumer Law, which says we cannot engage in conduct that is misleading or deceptive. The second duty is broader than most people realise.

In WA this is not just general law that applies to everyone. The Code of Conduct that agents work under here spells out that an agent must act honestly and must not engage in conduct that is misleading or deceptive, and that Code is legally enforceable under WA’s real estate regulatory framework. So the duty to be straight with you is written into the rules of my licence, not only into consumer law generally.

Under that law, you do not have to intend to mislead someone to be caught by it. The test is the effect on the buyer, judged by what a reasonable person would take from it, not whether the agent meant any harm. And conduct can mislead by silence or by omission, by leaving something out that creates a false impression, not only by an outright false statement, where the circumstances reasonably called for it to be disclosed.

Here is the kind of thing that catches agents out. A home is advertised as exceptionally quiet, a whisper quiet cul-de-sac with photos of a peaceful backyard, while a nearby source of substantial and regular noise, say a main flight path, is knowingly left out. Depending on the circumstances, advertising the peace while withholding the noise can create a misleading overall impression, and that can expose the agent to a compensation claim from the buyer and to action from the regulator. “It was just a turn of phrase” is not much of a defence, because the test is the impression the advertising created, not what was intended.

Consumer Protection WA gives an even plainer example of the same idea: advertising “beachfront lots” for land that does not actually front the beach. If the words paint a picture the property does not match, that is misleading, no matter how it was meant.

Direct questions work the same way. If a buyer asks me straight out whether a home is under the flight path, I cannot tell them no when the answer is yes. If the seller has told us about an easement on the title, asbestos, an unapproved structure, or something that is not in working order, that gets disclosed in writing too.

A common example is an unapproved structure. Say a previous owner built a granny flat or a large patio without council approval. We disclose in the contract that the structure is unapproved, so the buyer goes in with their eyes open. But disclosure is not the end of it. An unapproved structure can still carry an obligation with the local council that a contract clause does not make disappear. So we disclose it, and we tell the buyer plainly to make their own enquiries with the council and their settlement agent about what it means for them before they commit.

What the law does not do is turn your seller’s agent into your adviser, or ask us to guess at things we do not know. So the responsibility runs both ways. We will declare what we are required to declare, and we will answer your questions honestly. You should ask your questions, all of them, and get your own advice from your settlement agent or solicitor before you sign. Never assume that not asking is the same as there being nothing to find.

How special conditions work

The standard contract covers most ordinary sales. Special conditions deal with everything else, and this is where each transaction becomes unique.

Special conditions can address almost any lawful matter the buyer and seller agree on. But “almost anything” is not “anything.” A special condition still has to be lawful, clear, capable of being carried out, and consistent with the rest of the contract. Careless wording is where disputes are born.

One point that trips up even some agents. The Joint Form of General Conditions applies except where it is varied by the special conditions. That means a special condition can deliberately override a general condition, which is fine when it is done on purpose and clearly. Where a special condition is intended to alter or replace a standard general condition in the Joint Form of General Conditions, the special condition should explicitly state which standard clause is being varied or overridden, to prevent contractual ambiguity. The danger is the accidental contradiction, where it is unclear which clause was meant to win. That is where deals fall over.

A good special condition answers four questions:

• What has to happen?
• Who has to do it?
• By when?
• What happens if it does not?

Get those four right and the condition protects everyone. Get them wrong and it creates the exact fight it was meant to prevent. When a condition is unusual or commercially serious, it is worth having a property lawyer draft or review the wording.

The strangest condition I have ever written

After more than 1,500 sales, you see some unusual requests.

One stands out.A buyer wanted the property to settle at exactly 11:45 in the morning on a particular day, because in her belief that was the moment the moon and stars aligned and the home would bring her peace. Normally that might sound far fetched. But contracts are not there to judge why people want things. They are there to document what has been agreed.

The seller was happy to accommodate it. The risk was obvious though. If the buyer did anything to delay settlement, by their own actions, the exact time could be missed. So we tied the deposit directly to the settlement timing obligation. Both parties agreed that if the buyer caused settlement not to occur as agreed, the deposit was at risk. It was a standard ten percent deposit and a cash purchase with no finance involved, so the chance of an outside delay was very low.The property settled exactly as agreed. The lesson is not that unusual conditions are a good idea. It is that a condition does not have to be common. It has to be clear, and for anything this specific, drafted with care and ideally a lawyer’s eye. It is worth being plain about the risk, too. Specifying a settlement time down to the exact minute creates real practical and legal risk under modern electronic conveyancing, where administrative and banking delays of minutes or hours are common. Trying to trigger an automatic forfeiture of a 10 percent deposit over a minor timing delay is vulnerable to challenge as an unenforceable penalty, particularly since standard contract terms require default notices and cure periods before termination.

Why more conditions usually means a weaker offer

Buyers often assume that adding conditions makes their offer safer, and therefore stronger. Usually the opposite is true.

Every extra condition is another way the contract can fall over, and sellers know it. Imagine two offers at the same price:

• Offer A: finance, building inspection, timber pest inspection, subject to the sale of another property, and an extended settlement.
• Offer B: finance only.

All other things being reasonably equal, most sellers will take Offer B. Not because the price is better, but because there are fewer ways for it to collapse.

That does not mean strip out protections you actually need. It means every condition should earn its place. A seller comparing offers is not only weighing the price. They are weighing finance risk, inspection risk, settlement timing, the size of the deposit, and how many ways the buyer could walk. The cleanest offer often wins, even when it is not the highest.

A warning most sellers never hear

Here is one that has caught good people out over the years.

If you are selling in order to buy your next home, and you need finance to buy that next place, sort your finance out and get your approval in hand before you sign a contract to sell.

I have seen sellers accept an offer, then discover they cannot get the finance to buy their onward property, and try to pull out. Unfortunately the contract does not work that way. As long as the buyer keeps meeting their obligations through to settlement, the seller cannot terminate simply because their own next purchase has fallen through. The finance clause protects the buyer. There is no equivalent escape hatch for a seller who has not sorted their own funding.

Accepting an offer is a commitment. Make sure your side of the puzzle is in place before you make it.

This touches on financial matters. Speak to your bank, broker or financial adviser about your own situation before you commit.

How WA compares to the rest of Australia

The table below is a general guide to a typical residential private-treaty sale in each state and territory. Processes vary within each jurisdiction, so treat it as a starting picture, not a rule for your own transaction. The biggest practical differences are when a contract becomes binding, whether there is a cooling-off period, and how much disclosure and legal preparation happens before you sign.

Cooling-off figures below were current as at July 2026. These rules change, so check the current position for your state before relying on them.

State or territory	Who typically prepares the contract	Cooling-off period (private treaty)	Who typically handles settlement
Western Australia	Real estate agent (standard O and A)	None, unless the parties insert one	Licensed settlement agent or lawyer
New South Wales	Solicitor or conveyancer, before marketing	5 business days	Solicitor or conveyancer
Victoria	Solicitor or conveyancer (with a section 32 statement)	3 clear business days	Solicitor or conveyancer
Queensland	Agent completes a standard contract; solicitor-led conveyancing	5 business days	Solicitor (conveyancers less common)
South Australia	Conveyancer or solicitor (with a Form 1 statement)	2 clear business days	Conveyancer or solicitor
Australian Capital Territory	Seller’s contract pack prepared before sale	5 business days	Solicitor or conveyancer
Northern Territory	Agent, conveyancer or solicitor (approved form)	4 business days, unless waived, reduced or extended by agreement	Conveyancer or solicitor
Tasmania	Property agent or legal representative	No general statutory cooling-off period identified for ordinary private-treaty sales; check the contract terms	Conveyancer or solicitor

Two things stand out from that table for anyone used to the eastern states.

First, cooling-off. Most eastern jurisdictions give a buyer a few days to change their mind after signing a private treaty sale. WA does not. Here, once your offer is accepted and acceptance is communicated, you are bound.

Second, and this is the part people rarely connect, that lack of cooling-off is part of what makes auctions attractive over east. In states where private-treaty buyers ordinarily receive cooling-off rights, those rights generally do not apply at auction. An auction therefore gives the seller an unconditional contract with no cooling-off period once the property is knocked down to the successful bidder. That is one practical attraction of auctions in those markets, alongside others like market culture, competition and local pricing customs. WA already provides no general statutory cooling-off period on an ordinary private-treaty contract, so we reach that same certainty without needing an auction to get it, although auction and private-treaty sales still differ in other ways.

Disclosure is the other divide. Victoria has its section 32 statement, South Australia it’s Form 1, and Queensland now has a mandatory seller disclosure regime. WA has no universal vendor disclosure statement of that kind. As covered earlier, sellers and agents here still have a real duty to disclose known material facts and to avoid misleading conduct, but the process carries less compulsory paperwork before signing.

This catches people from interstate, and it catches people from overseas even more. If you have bought a home in England, the United States, or anywhere else, the process there almost certainly worked differently again. Different contract, different protections, different timing. That is the point worth holding onto. Whatever you are used to, at home or interstate, do not assume it carries over here. Western Australia has its own way of doing things, and the smartest thing any buyer from outside the state can do is treat the WA process as new, ask how it works, and get local advice before signing rather than after. That is not a criticism of how it is done anywhere else. It is simply the reality of buying here.

Final thoughts

The Offer and Acceptance contract is far more than paperwork. It records the agreement between buyer and seller. Every figure, every date, every condition, every obligation.

In Western Australia, that agreement becomes binding the moment acceptance is communicated, with no cooling-off period to fall back on. That makes understanding the contract before signing especially important in WA.

After more than two decades and more than 1,500 sales, I can tell you that most contract problems do not happen because someone was dishonest. They happen because someone did not fully understand what they were agreeing to before they signed.

If you are buying or selling in the Perth Hills and you would like someone to walk you through the process in plain English before you sign anything, get in touch. Happy to help.

This article provides general information only and is not legal, financial or tax advice. For advice on your specific situation, speak to a qualified professional.

By Brendan Leahy, Naked Real Estate

For most buyers, the final inspection is one of the most exciting parts of buying a home. Settlement is only days away, the paperwork is nearly done, and before long you will be collecting the keys. 

It is also the stage where small misunderstandings can create unnecessary stress. The good news is that a final inspection is a very simple process once you understand what it is actually for. 

What a final inspection is 

A final inspection is not another home open, and it is not another building inspection. 

Its purpose is narrow and specific: to let the buyer confirm that the seller has met their obligations under the contract before settlement. In plain terms, that the property is in the same state and condition it was in when you agreed to buy it, and that the things the seller warranted to be in working order actually are. 

Under the Joint Form of General Conditions used in Western Australia, the buyer is entitled to one inspection within five business days before the possession date, and the seller must give access for it. The inspection has to take place on a business day between 9am and 4pm. The buyer may be accompanied by two other people, so three of you in total.

There is also a second inspection right that many people do not know about. If your first inspection turns up something the seller has to put right under the contract, you can give notice of it, and you are entitled to one further inspection to check that it has been fixed before possession.

In most cases the inspection takes about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the size of the home. 

The defining thing: warranted services and equipment, not plug-in items 

Here is the point buyers most often get wrong. The inspection is about the services and equipment the seller has actually warranted, the electrical, gas and plumbing systems, hard-wired appliances, and the fixed and included items listed in the contract. It generally does not extend to things that are simply plugged into a power point, or to the buyer’s own belongings, or to cosmetic matters. 

• So you are there to check things like: 
• Lights and power points work. 
• The hot water system works. 
• The oven, cooktop and rangehood work (oven lights and rangehood lights are usually excluded). 
• Hard-wired air conditioning operates. 
• Toilets flush and do not leak. 
• Taps run freely and there are no obvious leaks under the sinks. 
• The garage door works. 
• Gas appliances that are included operate. 
• A dishwasher, if it is included in the sale. 
• Where the home runs on a bore or rainwater, the pressure pump and water supply work. Septic systems and leach drains, where the home has them. 

Many Western Australian contracts include a Limited Warranty Annexure, under which the seller warrants that these listed items are in working order at settlement unless the contract says otherwise. That annexure is the backstop for exactly which items are covered, and it is worth reading before you inspect so you know what you are entitled to check. That list is broader than just the mains-connected services, which is why “warranted items” is the right way to think about it rather than “mains.”

What a final inspection is not 

This is where people get confused. 

It is not a chance to decide whether you still like the house. It is not the time to start picking at cosmetic things that were already there when you first inspected. You are generally not there to raise: 

• Small cracks that were already visible. 
• The pitch of the driveway. 
• The way the tiles were laid. 
• Minor wear and tear. 
• Leaves that blew into the gutters overnight. 
• Anything else that was part of the property when you decided to buy it. 

Remember, you are not buying a brand-new home. Many homes throughout the Perth Hills and Foothills are 40, 50, even 100 years old. Older homes have character, quirks and signs of age. Those things do not suddenly become contractual issues because settlement is close. The standard is simple: the home should be in the same state and condition it was in when you agreed to buy it. 

One lesson I have never forgotten 

Years ago I sold a lovely home in the hills to a young couple. They loved it. Before they made their offer, the buyer’s mother and stepfather looked through it and were very happy. 

Come the final inspection, though, another family member turned up who had not been involved in the purchase at all. Within minutes he was pointing out leaves in the gutters, complaining the driveway was too steep, and finding fault with all sorts of things that had never been raised before. 

By the end of it the young buyer looked deflated. He genuinely felt he had made a terrible mistake. The reality was that nothing had changed. The home was exactly what he had agreed to buy. It was simply a case of someone else’s opinions overshadowing what should have been one of the happiest days of his life. 

Family and friends almost always mean well. But too many opinions at the final inspection can create doubts where there were none. 

If you find something that genuinely needs attention

Occasionally something real does turn up. If it does, do not argue with the seller and do not try to negotiate in the driveway. Do not try to sort out who is right or wrong on the spot. 

Make a note of it and email it to both your settlement agent and your selling agent. Your settlement agent will deal with the seller’s settlement agent, and the matter gets handled under the terms of the contract. That process protects both sides and takes the emotion out of it. 

Sellers have responsibilities too 

The final inspection is not only about buyers. 

If you are selling and you know something has stopped working before settlement, do not hope nobody notices. This is not the moment to say the air conditioner has not worked for years, or that the hallway light stopped working, or that the bore pump failed last week. 

If those items are covered by the contract or the warranty you have given, they generally need to be repaired before settlement, or the parties agree an appropriate price adjustment through their settlement agents. It is almost always easier to organise repairs before the inspection than to scramble for tradespeople in the last few days. 

My advice to every seller 

Before the final inspection, have an electrician go through the home. Make sure every light and every power point works and the hard-wired appliances operate. It is a small cost that removes a lot of last-minute stress. 

Before settlement, sellers should make sure the property complies with Western Australia’s smoke alarm and RCD laws. In most residential sales that means compliant mains-powered smoke alarms that are in working order and less than 10 years old, together with the required RCD protection on the power and lighting circuits. If you are not sure whether your property complies, have a licensed electrician check it well before the final inspection. 

One myth worth clearing up. Selling an older home does not mean every hard-wired appliance, the oven, the air conditioner, the hot water system, has to be put on an RCD. That broader requirement applies to new electrical work, not to every existing house at the point of sale. A licensed electrician can tell you exactly what your home needs, and it is often less than people fear. 

WA law does not require an electrical compliance certificate, but I recommend getting one anyway. It is independent evidence that the smoke alarms and RCDs were checked before settlement, and it protects you if a question is ever raised later.

A note for hills properties 

Selling throughout Bedfordale, Roleystone, Mount Richon and the Kelmscott hills often involves equipment that many city homes do not have. If the property relies on a rainwater tank, a pressure pump, a household bore, a septic system or similar, those systems are part of how the home runs. If they are included in the sale, the buyer is entitled to expect them to be working at settlement. 

That includes the bore. If a home is sold with a working bore, the seller cannot say at the last minute that it stopped working a few weeks ago and leave it there. It needs to be repaired before settlement, or an adjustment made so the buyer can sort it afterwards. 

Do not expect a display home 

By the time you do your final inspection, the sellers are usually in the middle of moving. There may be boxes stacked everywhere, furniture already gone, cupboards empty. The home may not look as neat as it did at the home open. That is completely normal. The question is not whether the house is beautifully presented. It is whether the seller has met their obligations under the contract. 

The bottom line 

A final inspection should be one of the more enjoyable parts of buying a home. In most cases it takes less than fifteen minutes. If buyers understand what they are checking, sellers prepare properly, and everyone follows the contract, there is usually very little to worry about. 

After all, the next time you walk into the property should be to collect the keys and start the next chapter. 

Please feel free to view or download our Final Inspection Checklist by clicking on the PDF icon below:

This article is general information only and is not legal advice. Every contract is different. If you are unsure about your rights or obligations, speak to your settlement agent or a lawyer before settlement.

Article written by Brendan Leahy

There is a question almost nobody asks their agent, and it is the one I would ask first if I were selling. 

Do you, or anyone connected to you, have any interest in buying my home? 

Most of the time the answer is a straightforward no, and that is the end of it. But it is worth asking out loud, and it is worth understanding why, because an agent’s job is to get you the highest price, and a buyer’s job is to pay the lowest. Nobody can genuinely do both at once. The moment those two roles sit in the same person, your interests and theirs are pulling in opposite directions.

That is not a small technicality. It goes to the heart of the relationship between a seller and their agent. 

Where it matters most 

This matters most when the seller is not in a position to fight for themselves. An elderly owner selling alone. Someone selling after their partner has passed. A family dealing with a deceased estate from another state. A home that has been let go and the owner is tired and just wants it over with. 

Those are the exact situations where an honest agent should be doing more to protect you, not less. 

What the rules actually say in Western Australia

You do not have to take my word for any of this. It is in the law. 

Agents in WA operate under the Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 and a Code of Conduct. A few things sit at the heart of it: 

An agent is required to act in your best interests, to comply with the Real Estate and Business Agents Act and the Code of Conduct, and to properly manage any conflict of interest. 

An agent must act fairly and honestly, exercise due skill, care and diligence, and must not engage in misleading, deceptive, harsh or unconscionable conduct. 

Conflicts of interest must be disclosed. Consumer Protection WA is explicit that where a conflict arises, an agent has to disclose it and obtain consent. 

And it is stronger than most people realise. Section 64 of the Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978, headed “Conflicts of interest of agents”, says an agent must not have any interest, direct or indirect, in a transaction they are acting in, unless the client has 

given prior written consent. There is a penalty for breaching it, and a court can order the agent to hand over any profit they made. In other words, the law already forbids the exact thing this article is about, unless you have signed off on it in advance. 

And this is the part most people miss: consent does not wipe the slate clean. Even after a conflict is disclosed and consented to, the agent must still act in your best interests, and your consent does not stop you pursuing a claim later if you have been disadvantaged. 

So the framework is there to protect you. What it relies on is you knowing to ask, and the agent being straight with you.

The five questions worth asking any agent 

Ask them of me. Ask them of anyone you are considering. Save this list, or send it to whoever is helping you decide. 

1. Do you, your family, your staff, or any company you are connected to have any interest in buying my property? 
2. Will you tell me about every genuine offer that comes in, not just the ones you think I should take? 
3. If a conflict of interest ever arises, exactly how will you handle it? 
4. Would you recommend I get independent legal advice if anyone connected to your agency ever wanted to buy my property? 
5. Can my family sit in on our meetings and contact you directly? 

You are entitled to a clear answer to every one of those. If any of them get a vague answer, or a “don’t worry about that”, that is your answer. 

Our policy, in writing 

I will put ours on the record, because I think you should be able to hold us to it. 

Our standing policy is simple. Naked Real Estate® does not buy the properties we are engaged to sell. Not personally, not through family, not through a company. 

If some exceptional circumstance ever arose, we would not lean on a signature and call it fair. It would require full written disclosure, an independent licensed valuation obtained independently of us, independent legal advice for the seller, and a purchase price no lower than ten per cent above that valuation. Depending on the situation, we would also consider stepping aside as the selling agent altogether, so the owner has completely independent representation. In more than two decades, that situation has arisen once. 

Why ten per cent above an independent valuation, rather than at it? Because if there is even a hint that the person selling your home might benefit from it going cheaply, the only fair answer is to remove the incentive entirely, and then some. A discount is exactly what should never happen. 

I would rather tell you all of that up front than have you wonder. 

Bring your family into the room 

Here is the other half of it, and I mean this genuinely.

If your children, your family or your friends want to be part of the conversation, bring them. If they want to sit with us and go through everything together, or ring me directly and ask me whatever they like, that is fine by me any time. I will happily explain the price, the strategy, the fee and the process to anyone you want in the room. 

An agent who wants you on your own is telling you something. An agent with nothing to hide has no reason to mind who is listening. 

If something does not feel right 

• You have somewhere to go, and you should use it. 
• You can check whether an agent is licensed, and their status, through Consumer Protection WA. 
• You can make a complaint to Consumer Protection WA if you believe an agent has breached their obligations. 
• Complaints can be referred to the State Administrative Tribunal, which has power to discipline agents, including reprimands, fines, and suspending or cancelling a licence or registration. 
• If real money is at stake, see a lawyer. Do not just hope it works out. 

Why I have bothered writing this 

Most agents you deal with in these hills are decent people doing an honest job. This is not a piece about them. 

It is a piece about the fact that you are selling the biggest asset you own, often at the hardest moment of your life, and you should not have to take anyone’s character on faith. Ask the question. Get the answer. Write it down. 

Our whole business is built on being able to answer questions like these without flinching. If you are thinking of selling in the Perth Hills and you want a straight conversation about what your home is worth and how we would go about it, with whoever you like in the room, get in touch. 

Ask the question. Get the answer. Write it down. The right agent will not be offended by any of it. They will expect it. 

Book a free, no-obligation appraisal

Important note 

This article is general information about a seller’s position in Western Australia. It is not legal advice and does not take your circumstances into account. Rules and codes change, so check the current requirements with Consumer Protection WA, and if you are concerned about a transaction, seek advice from a qualified lawyer.

By Brendan Leahy, Naked Real Estate®  

I have sat in a lot of kitchens over more than two decades in these hills, having the same conversation. It usually starts with someone quietly saying, “the place is getting a bit much.” And it usually ends with them deciding to think about it for another year. 

I understand why. But if there is one thing I could tell every hills family, it is this: the hardest part of downsizing is not the move. It is the timing. 

You are not selling a house 

Let’s be honest about what is really going on, because the practical stuff is not what stops people. 

You look out at the backyard and you see the spot where your son came off the swing and split his knee open. You see where the dog used to tear around. You see the 21st, the wedding, the Christmases where the whole family somehow fitted around one table. That is not a floor plan. That is your life. 

Nobody sells that easily. Anyone who tells you it is just a house has not been doing this long enough. 

Why the hills make this harder than most places 

This is not a general downsizing article, because our situation here is genuinely different. 

Our blocks are big. Half an acre in Mount Nasura or Mount Richon, a bigger original block up in the Kelmscott hills, acreage in Bedfordale or Roleystone with a paddock and a shed. That is exactly why you moved here, and it is exactly what becomes unmanageable first. A courtyard on a cottage block does not do this to you. Half an acre on a slope does. 

And the public transport is what it is. It exists, but it was never built for someone who cannot drive. So if a licence goes, or driving gets hard, the shops and the doctor and the family suddenly depend on cabs, an Uber, or someone else’s schedule. In a lot of Perth you can age in place. Out here it is a harder proposition, and it is worth being honest with yourself about that while you still have every option open. 

The honest case for staying 

I am not going to pretend this only runs one way, because it does not. 

If you are well, if the place is still manageable with a bit of help, and if living here is the thing that gets you out of bed, then staying is a perfectly good decision. Moving costs money. It costs energy. It costs the thing you cannot price, which is thirty years of knowing exactly where everything is and who everyone is. Plenty of people have looked at all of it and decided the trade is not worth it, and they were right for them. 

So the question is not whether staying is valid. It is whether you are choosing it, or drifting into it. Those feel identical from the inside and they end up in very different places. 

What the waiting actually costs 

There comes a point where a property gets away from you. It is never one big moment. It is gradual. 

The gutters do not get done. Then the roof gets a couple of leaks that do not get fixed straight away. The paint goes. The garden gets ahead of you, and then the cuttings pile up out the back because there is no easy way to shift them. 

And the house fills up. This is the one nobody thinks about. Every year seems to add another cupboard, another box in the roof space, another corner of the shed. Sorting through forty years of it is hard enough. Sorting through forty-five is harder again, and you will have less energy for it then than you have today. 

Meanwhile the home is quietly losing ground against every other property on the market. Not because the market moved. Because it stopped being maintained, and buyers price that in fast. I have walked into homes that were immaculate five years ago and are now worth a lot less than they should be,

for no other reason than time and tiredness. 

And at the other end, the place you would be moving into, the lower-maintenance home, the unit, the villa, is not waiting for you. In my experience those homes have not got any easier to buy. 

So the gap can widen from both ends. That is the part that sneaks up on people. 

“The kids will help” 

I hear this a lot, and it is almost always said with complete sincerity by everyone involved. 

The kids genuinely mean it. But they have jobs, and their own kids, and some of them are fly in fly out, and some of them live an hour away. So the help that was going to be every weekend becomes once a month, and once a month does not maintain a half-acre block in the hills. That is not a criticism of anyone. It is just what life does. 

I have also had children tell their parents not to sell, because it is still their family home too. That comes from a good place. But wanting the house to stay in the family is not the same as being able to look after it, and mum and dad are the ones living with the difference. 

Bring your family into it. Please. 

This is something I say to everyone, so I will say it here too, and I mean it as an open invitation. 

If your children, your family or your friends want to be part of this conversation, bring them. If they want to sit down and go through it all together, or ring me themselves and ask me anything at all, I have no problem with that at any time. Just let me know. 

This is not a decision anyone should be making alone in a kitchen with an agent they have just met. The more people who love you that are in the room, the better the decision usually is. I have never once minded being asked hard questions by someone’s daughter. 

The people who love you, and love your house 

Here is one almost nobody talks about, and I want to be careful how I say it. 

You have wonderful friends who come up for morning tea. They sit on the verandah, they look out at the trees and the view, and they say, “oh, don’t sell this, it’s beautiful. Why would you ever leave?” 

They mean every word, and they are not wrong. They can see something real. This place is beautiful, and they know you, and their view belongs in the room. 

Just be clear about what they are weighing. They get the cuppa, the birds, the view on a perfect morning. They are not there for the gutters, the roof, the ride-on that will not start, or the days when the place quietly asks more of you than you have got. They see the best of it. You live all of it. 

So take their love for what it is, which is real, and listen to them properly. Just make sure the person carrying the work gets a say too, and that person is you. 

The part people do not say out loud 

There is a fear underneath all of this that has nothing to do with money. 

If I move, I have to make new friends. At my age. Will they like me? Will I like them? Do I even want to start again? You have known your neighbours for thirty years. You know which checkout person asks after your grandkids. 

That is real, and it deserves to be taken seriously rather than brushed aside. But it is also worth asking honestly whether it is easier to build that new life at seventy or at eighty-five. From what I have seen, the difficulty of change does not stay flat. 

And when one partner passes and the other is left in a house they built a life in together, everything gets harder again. There is guilt in leaving. There is guilt in staying. There is nothing simple about it, and there is no version of this where a stranger should be pushing you. 

So what do I actually reckon? 

Not advice. Just the pattern I have watched for more than two decades. 

The people who do this well tend to move six or twelve months before they had to. While they are well. While they can still drive. While they can still walk the block and make the decisions themselves and enjoy the place they move to. They sold a home in good condition, they had choices, and they had a bit of fun with the next chapter. 

The people who struggle are the ones who waited for a reason to move. Because by the time the reason arrives, it is often a health event, and now you are making a very big decision in the worst possible circumstances, with a house that needs work and no time to do it. 

A change of mind is fine, by the way. I have had people go back and forth for months, and that is completely normal. This is not a transaction, it is an upheaval. Anyone who rushes you through it should not be in your kitchen.

Where to start: a checklist for the kitchen table 

You do not have to decide anything today. But these are the questions worth sitting down with, together, before the years decide for you. Do we actually know what this place is worth today, or are we guessing? 

• Have we been honest about what the block needs each month, and who is really doing it? 
• If we stay, what has to change to make staying work, and who is doing that? 
• If we move, what does the next chapter actually look like? Not the address. The days. 
• What would the next place realistically cost, and what would be left over? 
• Have we spoken to a financial adviser about how a move affects our position? 
• Have we had one conversation with the family all together, rather than five different phone calls? 
• Are we choosing to stay, or just putting it off again? 

This is a starting point for conversations with your family and your financial adviser. It is not a substitute for their advice. 

Where I fit in 

I am not going to tell you to sell. I have talked people out of it more than once, because it was not the right time for them. That is not a line. It is the job. 

What I will do is give you a straight answer about what it is worth today, what it would take to present it properly, and what the realistic options look like, so you can make the decision with real information instead of guesswork. Then you take that to your family, your accountant and your financial adviser, who are the right people for the money and the aged-care side of it. 

No pressure, no obligation, and no timeline from me. If the answer is “not yet”, that is a perfectly good answer. At least it is a decision you made, rather than one the years made for you. 

If you are in the hills and you have started wondering about it, even quietly, that is usually the sign it is worth a conversation. Book a free, no-obligation appraisal or just give me a call for a chat. 

Truth. Strategy. Sold. 

Send this to someone who needs it 

If this sounds like someone in your family, send it to them. Sometimes the hardest conversation is not about selling. It is about knowing when to start talking. 

Frequently asked questions 

When is the right time to downsize? 

There is no single right age. From what I have seen in the hills, the people who do it well tend to move while they are still well and still driving, six or twelve months before they had to, rather than waiting for a reason. The people who struggle are usually the ones who waited, because the reason that finally arrives is often a health event, and that is the worst possible time to be making a big decision. 

Is it better to downsize early or wait? 

Waiting is a perfectly valid choice if you are well, the place is manageable and living there is what you want. The risk is not waiting itself, it is drifting rather than choosing. A home that stops being maintained loses ground against the market quickly, and the lower-maintenance homes people move into have not got any easier to buy. 

What happens to a big hills block when it stops being maintained? 

It is gradual and it is expensive. Gutters, roof, paint and garden all slip, and buyers price that in fast. I have walked into homes that were immaculate five years earlier and were worth a lot less than they should have been, for no reason other than time and tiredness. 

Should my family be involved in the conversation? 

Yes, and I actively encourage it. Bring your children, your family or your friends, or have them ring me directly and ask me anything. Nobody should be making this decision alone in a kitchen with an agent they have just met. 

About the author: Brendan Leahy has been selling homes across the Perth Hills and Foothills since 2002, with more than 1,500 personal sales. [Link to author page.]

This article is general information based on my experience as a local agent. It is not financial, legal or aged-care advice, and it does not take your circumstances into account. Decisions about downsizing, retirement living, pensions and aged care should be made with a qualified financial adviser and, where relevant, a lawyer.

Is My House Overpriced? How to Read What the Market Is Telling You

There is a home not far from me that has been on the market, on and off, for more than five years.

I appraised it five years ago. I told the owners it was worth somewhere around 1.4 to 1.5 million. They did not want to hear that, and I understand why.
Nobody wants to be told their home is worth less than they hoped. So they went with another agent who put it on at 2 million. It did not sell. They tried again with someone else, still at 2 million. It did not sell. Then it went on at offers over 2 million. Then offers over 2.5 million. Every campaign, for five years, sat in front of the market rather than in it.

It has finally just gone under offer, marketed in the mid 2 millions. Five years to get there.
Here is the part most people miss. In that same time, I sold home after home just a couple of streets away, because buyers who walked through that overpriced house then looked at mine and saw good value by comparison. Fighting the market does not just cost you price. It costs you years.

Price is not an opinion. It is evidence.

Most sellers think pricing a home is about finding the right opinion. Yours, mine, or another agent’s. It is not.

In a shifting market, price is about evidence, and the evidence comes from buyers. Not what you hope the home is worth. Not what another agent promised to win your listing. Not even what I think on the day I walk through. What buyers actually do once the home is live.

And they tell you fast. After two or three weeks on the market I usually know far more than I did on launch day, not because my opinion changed, but because buyers have shown me theirs. Every inspection, every second inspection, every offer, and every bit of silence, it all says something. The trick is being willing to listen.

Over the years I have found almost every home lands in one of three situations.
Situation one: no inspections, no offers This is the easiest one to read, and the clearest message the market can send.

Buyers have seen your home online and decided not to even come and look. It has not made their shortlist. Think about how people buy today. They scroll everything in their price range online, line every home up against each other on beds, bathrooms, block size, shed, side access and condition, then pick a handful to go and see. If nobody is walking through your door, your home has not made that handful.

Here is something a lot of sellers have not caught up to. The first inspection now happens online. People view your home on their phone, and that is where they decide whether it is worth seeing in person.

So your photography, your video and your presentation have to be spot on, because if one of them is weak, buyers scroll straight past and you never even know they were there.

That means no inspections is not always about price. Sometimes the price is fine and the marketing let buyers rule you out before they walked in. I hear this most when I take over a listing another agent could not sell. Buyers tell me they did not really notice the home the first time around. That is almost never something wrong with the house. It is that the price was chasing the market, the marketing did not do it justice, or both. But if the marketing is strong and they are still not coming, then you are simply sitting above where buyers see value.

I had one a while back that we appraised at 1.4 million. The owners did a lovely job getting it ready, so good that I said, let’s be a bit ambitious, put it on at 1.5 and see what the market does. Twenty-one days later we had had almost nobody through and no offers. To their credit, they listened. They dropped it to offers from 1.4. Within eight days we had three offers, and it sold for just over 1.5 million.

Same home. The only thing that changed was that we moved back into the range buyers were prepared to consider, and they came straight away. Testing a
slightly ambitious price for a couple of weeks is fine. Sitting on it for months is not.

Situation two: plenty of inspections, but no offers

This is where a lot of sellers get caught, because it feels close.

People are coming through. The home opens are busy. There is interest. But no second inspections, no real negotiation, no offers. What that tells me is your home has made the shortlist but not the top three. Buyers like it. They just like something else more, usually because that something else is priced better for what it offers.

I took on another listed at 1.6 million. The owners were adamant on that figure, and there was a reason. Their bank had done a desktop valuation, done from a computer without anyone setting foot on the property, and told them it was worth 1.6 to 1.65. So that is the number they anchored to. We put it on at 1.6, and we had people coming through, but not one offer.

I kept telling them the market was talking. First they let me try 1.55, still near the top. Still nothing. It took ninety days before they finally accepted where the market actually was and let me put it on from 1.5. Within a week we had two offers, and it sold for 1.525 million.

Ninety days of stress for a result we could have had in the first month.

And notice where that wrong number came from in the first place: a valuation done off a screen by someone who never saw the home. A computer cannot
see what buyers actually pay for. It gives you a figure that feels official and sends you off in the wrong direction.

It works the other way too. More and more, buyers turn up already armed with a number, from a website or from asking an AI what your home and your area are worth. They come better researched than buyers ever have, and that is not a bad thing. But that number has the same blind spot the bank’s desktop did. It cannot see your block, your view, your shed, or what makes your home different from the one down the road. Part of the job now is showing a buyer what the machine could not, so a figure that was never right does not quietly cap what they are prepared to pay.

Situation three: strong inspections, strong offers

This is where every seller wants to be, and when you see it, you know the price is right.

I had a beautiful home we put on from 800,000. That figure was our honest midpoint estimate of where it would land, and I will be straight with you, I was even a little nervous it might be ambitious. But the owners presented it superbly, the marketing came up a treat, and we ran it through our Select Date Sale® system. We held the first home open on the Sunday and had thirty-eight groups of buyers through. By that afternoon we had six offers. I spent that night presenting them, it was a late one. It sold for 1.003 million, all done inside seven days.

That result did not come from underpricing. It came from presenting the home well, bringing the right buyers together at once, and letting genuine competition do the work. At that point price is not being set by anyone’s opinion any more. It is being set by competition. One buyer negotiates. Several buyers compete. There is an enormous difference between the two, and competition is what produces the results that beat expectations.

The biggest mistake is arguing with the market

The market does not care what you paid for the home. It does not care what you spent renovating. It does not care what another agent promised you to win the listing. It only cares what buyers are prepared to pay today.

At any time there are several thousand homes on the market across Perth, and far more agents than there are listings to go around. When agents are that
hungry for stock, a lot of them will tell a seller almost anything to win the listing, because the trade teaches you to get the listing first and work the price down later.

So sellers get told a big, exciting number, they sign, and then the slow grind down to reality begins. That is not honest, and it is not strategy. It is hope. Hope is a terrible way to sell a house.

The truly expensive part is not even the price. It is where those sellers were trying to move to. While they spent months or years chasing a number their home was never going to get, the homes they wanted to buy kept moving. For the ones who held out longest, the goalposts moved so far that even selling at their dream price would not get them where they were trying to go. They did not just lose time. They lost the plan.

So how do you know if your home is priced right?

Stop asking for opinions and start watching buyers.

If they are not inspecting, the market is telling you something. If they are inspecting but not offering, the market is telling you something. If they are competing, the market is telling you something good. Buyer feedback is not criticism. It is evidence, and evidence beats opinion every time.

There is really only one honest question a seller needs to answer before going to market. Do you want to sell in this market, or do you want to wait for a different one? If your number only works in a market that does not exist yet, then now might not be your time, and a good agent should be willing to tell you that rather than list you and let you find out the hard way over five years. If you do want to sell now, then price it to meet the market, watch what buyers do, and be prepared to move quickly if they tell you to.

My job is not to tell you the highest number so you will sign with me. It is to tell you the truth, and then run the strategy that creates genuine competition for your home, which is exactly what our Select Date Sale® method is built to do. The right price brings buyers. Competition between them is what lifts the result.

Find out what the market is really telling you

If your home is on the market and not doing what you hoped, or you are thinking about selling and want the truth on price before you commit, I am happy to walk you through what the evidence is actually saying and what strategy gives you the best chance of a premium result.

It is free, and there is no pressure. It is backed by our Best Service Guarantee.
Call the office on 08 6254 6333, or get in touch with me directly. Book your free appraisal today.

Truth. Strategy. Sold.

This article is general information based on more than two decades of selling property across the Perth Hills and Foothills. It is not formal valuation or
financial advice. Every property and every market is different, and the examples above relate to specific sales. For a figure you can rely on, get an appraisal
of your own home.

By Brendan Leahy, Naked Real Estate®

After more than two decades selling homes in the Perth Hills, I have watched the “Bank of
Mum and Dad” go from the occasional helping hand to one of the biggest forces in the
market. More and more parents are using the equity in their home, or their savings, to get a
son or daughter onto the property ladder. It makes sense. Property has been good to a lot of hills families, and helping your kids is one of the most natural things in the world.

But I have also seen how badly it can go when it is done on a handshake. So this is a plain-
English look at what tends to go wrong, and the one simple step that protects everyone  before a cent changes hands.

First, the important bit. I am a real estate agent, not a lawyer or an accountant. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice. It is general information from someone who has watched a lot of these arrangements up close. When it comes to your own family, get proper advice. I will say that more than once, because it matters.

Why “we’ll sort it out later” is where the trouble starts

The common thread in almost every one of these situations is the same. The money moved, and the paperwork did not. Everyone was close, everyone trusted each other, and nobody wanted to make it awkward by writing things down. Then something changed, a relationship, a marriage, a death, an illness, and suddenly two people remember the same conversation completely differently.
Australian courts have dealt with plenty of these cases, and a few patterns come up again
and again. A loan that was never really treated as a loan. If parents lend money but never ask for a repayment or set any terms, a court can later decide it was in fact a gift. What you call it matters far less than how you behave over the years that follow. In fact, Australian law generally starts from the opposite of what most people expect: money from a parent to a child is presumed to be a gift unless there is clear evidence, set up at the time, that it was a loan. That is a big reason lawyers are so firm about documenting these arrangements
properly, and then actually sticking to the terms.

One person thought it was a loan, the other thought it bought them a share of the house.
Without something in writing, that disagreement can end up being settled in court, years
later, from memory.
Money put toward a “granny flat” or the right to live somewhere for life, with nothing to
formalise it. In one Queensland Supreme Court case, Cook v Alderson (2025), an older
woman sold her own home and put her savings into her daughter and son-in-law’s property on the understanding that she could live there for the rest of her life. That arrangement was never documented as a legal interest in the property. When the relationship broke down, she had to go to court, and the court awarded her more than $400,000 to compensate for the loss of that right. She got there in the end, but only after years of stress and legal cost that a clear agreement up front would very likely have avoided.

Sweat equity that counts for nothing. If a family member puts in months of labour instead of cash, expecting to be repaid, they are often shocked to learn that unpaid work, without an agreement, can carry little or no legal weight when a property is eventually split.
None of these people set out to end up in court. They just trusted that it would never come
to that.

The one step that protects everyone

Here is the part I can say plainly, because it is common sense rather than legal advice. Put it in writing, before the money moves, with proper help.
A lawyer can document whether the money is a gift or a loan, what happens if the property
is sold, what happens if a relationship ends, and what rights each person actually has. An
accountant can walk you through the tax side. Lawyers who work in this area often point out that the cost of drafting a clear agreement is a tiny fraction of what a dispute costs later. From what I have seen, they are right.

And write it down at the time, not afterwards. Agreements made when everyone is happy
and on the same page carry far more weight than ones reconstructed later, once memories
have drifted apart.

One option worth raising with your lawyer

If you are going to own the property together, how you own it matters, and it is worth asking about early. In Australia, co-owners generally hold property in one of two ways. As joint tenants, everyone owns the whole thing equally, and if one owner dies their share passes automatically to the others. As tenants in common, each person owns a defined share, and it does not have to be equal. Parents and a child could hold a third each, for example, or any split that reflects what each of them put in, and each person’s share forms part of their own estate rather than passing automatically to the others. Neither is right or wrong. Which one suits your family is a legal question, so raise it with your lawyer or settlement agent before you buy, not after.

Where a real estate agent actually fits in

I cannot draft your agreement, and I would not try. But there is one thing that sits at the
front of every one of these decisions, and it is the thing I can help with. Knowing what the property is really worth.

Almost every Bank of Mum and Dad decision starts with a number. How much equity is
genuinely in the family home. What a property might sell for if the plans change. What a fair share looks like when more than one person is contributing. Guess that number, or get it wrong, and every decision built on top of it is shaky.

So if you are a hills family weighing up helping the kids, or thinking about selling to free up
equity, the sensible first move is an honest, current valuation of your home. Not an online
estimate, a real appraisal from someone who knows these streets. That gives you and your
advisers solid ground to build on.

We have been doing exactly that across the Perth Hills since 2002, from our office on
Brookton Highway. No pressure, no obligation. Just a straight answer on what your home is worth, so you can make good decisions with the people who matter most.

Before you help the kids buy: a starting checklist

• Have we had a current, honest appraisal of our home, so every decision starts from a
  real number?
• Have we spoken to our accountant about the tax side?
• Have we spoken to a lawyer about how to set this up?
• Have we agreed, and can we show, whether this is a gift or a loan?
• Does everyone involved understand the arrangement the same way?
• Has it been documented properly, at the time, not later?
• Have we talked through what happens if someone dies, a relationship ends, or someonewants to sell?

This checklist is a starting point for conversations with your lawyer and accountant, not asubstitute for their advice.
Book a free, no-obligation appraisal

Important disclaimer

This article is general information only and does not take your personal circumstances into
account. It is not legal, financial or tax advice. Naked Real Estate® is a licensed real estate
agency, not a law firm or a financial adviser. Before lending, gifting or co-owning property with family, please seek advice from a qualified lawyer and accountant.

Source note
The case referred to, Cook v Alderson, was decided in the Supreme Court of Queensland in
2025 and has been reported by multiple Australian news outlets. The full judgment is
available on the public court record.

I will buy your home, but only if mine sells first.

That, in plain terms, is a subject to sale offer. And the question behind it is one of the most common we hear from homeowners across Bedfordale, Kelmscott, Roleystone, Mount Nasura, Mount Richon, Seville Grove and the wider Perth Hills and Foothills. Should we buy first, or sell first?

The honest answer is that it depends on you. Sometimes buying first is exactly the right move. Other times it turns into an expensive mistake. After personally helping people buy and sell more than 1,500 homes since 2002, I have seen both approaches work, and I have seen both go badly wrong. Here is how to tell which one you are looking at.

The short answer

If your finances allow it, selling first usually puts you in the strongest position. You know exactly what your home has sold for. You know how much equity you have to work with. You know your budget with certainty. And you become a far stronger buyer, because you can make an offer without needing to sell anything first.

But life is not always that tidy. You may have found the home you really want. You may want to avoid moving twice. Or you may need the money from your current home to fund the next one. That is where a subject to sale offer comes in. The important thing is understanding exactly how it works before you sign anything.

Here is how the three paths compare at a glance:

What is a subject to sale offer?

A subject to sale offer lets you make an offer on another property that only becomes unconditional once your own home is sold. It can be an excellent solution. It also carries risks that a lot of people do not fully understand until they are in the middle of one.

The truth about subject to sale offers

These offers have picked up a bad reputation over the years, and in my experience it is mostly undeserved.

We do a lot of them, partly because of where we are. In the Hills there is a steady stream of people moving up from the flats into a bigger home on a bigger block, and most of them need to sell before they can buy. Across my own sales over more than two decades, and I have handled hundreds of these, roughly three in four of the buyers we work with are also sellers. That is a figure from my own records, not a market statistic, and it is simply how this part of the market moves.

So why do so many agents dislike them? Because they are more work. They need careful planning, constant communication, realistic pricing and someone actively managing two transactions instead of one. It is easier to deal with a straightforward cash or financeapproved buyer.

Here is the part I have never understood. A lot of agents will flatly refuse. No, we do not take subject sales on this home. I take them on, and I win a good number of listings precisely because the agent down the road would not. Helping people move is the job. For a lot of ffamilies, a subject to sale offer is simply the most practical way to make that move happen.

These offers can benefit sellers too

A buyer who has finally found the home they want, and who needs that exact property to make their move work, will sometimes pay a premium for the chance to buy it subject to the sale of their own home.

From the seller’s side, accepting a well prepared subject to sale offer is not always a disadvantage. If the buyer’s home is ready for sale, their price expectations are realistic and the deal is managed properly, the seller can come out ahead of where another buyer would have left them. Like most things in real estate, it is not about whether a subject to sale offer is good or bad. It is about how well it is structured.

A recent example from Bedfordale shows how this works in practice. I had clients who had found the home they wanted in Bedfordale but needed to sell their own place first. Rather than lock them into a 48-hour clause, I sat down with the sellers and walked them through the situation. They were happy to give my clients a few weeks without the 48-hour clause being invoked, so my clients had room to get their own home ready and onto the market properly.

They trusted the advice. We got the home ready. We launched it. Nine days later it was  sold. Both sides came out happy: the sellers in Bedfordale got their result, and my clients secured the home they had moved for. No scramble, no two-business-day countdown hanging over anyone. Just a prepared buyer, a reasonable seller and an agent willing to negotiate the breathing room. Planning beat panic.

Pricing your home honestly is what makes it work

This is make or break, and it is where most failed subject to sale deals actually fail. When one falls over, it is almost always because the home was overpriced. It sits, it takes too long, sometimes it does not sell at all, and the buyer loses their dream home in the process. That is not the fault of the strategy. It is the fault of an agent who would not sit across from the seller and tell them the truth on price.

Remember why you are moving. A bigger block. Room for the kids. A workshop. A bigger kitchen for the cook in the family. Keep your eyes on that and the pricing decision gets a lot easier. Your goal here is not to set a suburb record. Your goal is to move.

Sometimes that means accepting that chasing your absolute top number is the expensive option, not the safe one. The seller who holds out for the last five or six per cent and loses the home they were moving for walks away worse off on both ends of the deal. Pricing to sell is how you protect the thing you actually came for.

Have your home ready to go, that day

One of the biggest mistakes buyers make is finding their dream home before getting their own property ready.

When you sign an offer with a subject to sale condition, the contract says your home goes on the market straight away, that day, at a set price. You do not get two or three weeks to get it ready. A week to declutter and tidy is fine. A full renovation to chase a higher price is not, and trying to squeeze one in is how people lose the home they were moving for.

So before you go looking, have it all lined up. Photography, marketing, presentation and price, ready to launch on day one. The faster your home hits the market, the better your chance of securing your next one.

Not ready to call yet? Before you do anything else, find out what your home is actually worth. It is free, it takes the guesswork out, and it is the one number every other decision depends on. Book a free appraisal

What is the 48-hour clause?

Many subject to sale contracts include a special condition commonly called the 48-hour clause. The name is misleading and the detail matters.

It lets the seller of the home you want keep marketing their property while your sale is pending. If they receive another offer they want to accept, usually an unconditional one, they must formally notify you. From that notice you get two business days, not a literal 48 hours, to do one of three things: waive your subject to sale condition and go unconditional, secure a contract on your own home, or arrange home to home finance (what used to be called bridging finance). If you cannot do any of those inside the two business days, the contract is cancelled, your deposit is returned to you, and the seller is free to accept the other offer.

Here is the part most agents will not tell you. That clause is negotiable. It is not automatic and it is not compulsory. When I represent the seller of a home a subject to sale buyer wants, and the offer in front of me is genuinely strong, I will often advise my seller to give that buyer three to four weeks with no 48-hour clause at all. The reasoning is simple. A buyer who was instead subject to finance would tie the property up for three to four weeks anyway. So a well prepared subject to sale buyer, with a realistically priced home ready to launch, is not necessarily exposed to the pressure people fear. That is my own practice, not a rule, and clause wording varies from contract to contract, so always read yours and get advice before you sign it.

Choosing the right agent matters more here than anywhere

If you are buying before selling, the agent you choose becomes the whole game. You are not just looking for someone to advertise your home. You need someone who will actually take a subject sale on, who will tell you the honest truth on price, who understands how these transactions work, who can communicate properly with the agent on the other side, who already has buyers to bring through your home, and who can keep two deals moving toward settlement at the same time. Experience is the difference.

Are there other options?

Depending on your financial position, alternatives can include:

• Negotiating a longer settlement so you have time to sell.
• A rent-back arrangement after settlement.
• Home to home (bridging) finance.
• Selling first, then negotiating a longer settlement on your purchase.
• Selling with a strategy built to create buyer competition, such as our Select Date Sale® method.

Every situation is different, which is exactly why strategy comes before paperwork.

So, should you buy before selling?

Sometimes. If you are financially comfortable and you understand the risks, it can work extremely well. If your finances are tight and your home is not ready for market, selling first is usually the safer road. There is no one size fits all answer. The right call depends on your equity, your borrowing capacity, the current market, the property you are chasing, and your appetite for risk.

Before you fall in love with another property, know three things:

• What your current home is worth.
• What it is realistically likely to sell for in today’s market.
• Which selling strategy gives you the best chance of success.

Those three answers remove most of the uncertainty. They are also completely free to find
out.

Thinking about your next move?

If you are planning a move anywhere across the Perth Hills or Foothills, we are happy to talk it through. We will explain the strategies open to you, give you an honest estimate of what your current home is worth, and help you decide whether buying before selling is the right move for you.

No pressure. Just straight advice backed by more than 1,500 personal home sales since 2002.

Call the office on 08 6254 6333, or get in touch with me directly.

Truth. Strategy. Sold.

Book your free appraisal today.

This article is general information based on more than two decades of selling property in the Perth Hills. It is not legal advice. Subject to sale and 48-hour clause wording varies from contract to contract. For your own situation, especially anything involving the contract terms, finance or settlement, speak to a licensed settlement agent or a property lawyer.

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About the author: Brendan Leahy has been selling homes across the Perth Hills and Foothills since 2002, with more than 1,500 personal sales. Read more about Brendan.

Most agents are vague about what it costs to sell a house. There is a reason for that: one of
the biggest costs is their own fee, and the less you think about it, the better for them. We would rather just show you the lot. Here is every cost a WA seller actually faces, what each one roughly runs to, and the one big cost most people brace for that is not yours to pay at all.

First, the cost that is not yours: stamp duty

A lot of sellers worry about stamp duty. On the home you are selling, you can cross it straight off your list. In Western Australia, transfer duty (stamp duty) is paid by the buyer, not the seller.

It only becomes your cost when you buy your next home, and there it is one of the biggest upfront numbers you will face. On a $750,000 purchase the duty is around $29,740 at the time of writing, money you need on top of your deposit. It is genuinely one of the biggest things that holds people back from making their next move, so it is worth knowing your number before you start. You can work it out in seconds with our stamp duty calculator. Hold that $29,740 figure in mind. It matters again in a moment.

A quick aside: where stamp duty came from

It is worth knowing what that $29,740 actually is, because it puts the whole thing in perspective. Stamp duty began in colonial Australia as a small tax on legal documents, with some duties charged as low as one shilling. Property conveyance duty, though, was value-
based from the early colonial period, charged as a few shillings per hundred pounds of value, and it has grown from there into a major state revenue source.

Today, transfer duty raises WA roughly three billion dollars a year, somewhere around six to seven per cent of the entire state budget. That is why it has survived. Economists across the political spectrum regard stamp duty as one of the least efficient taxes in the country, because it punishes people for moving house, downsizing or relocating for work. But replacing several billion dollars of annual revenue is politically difficult, so the tax endures, and the bill keeps landing on the buyer at every sale.

None of which you can do anything about as a seller. But it is worth understanding that the single biggest cost in the whole transaction is not your agent. It is the tax the government collects from your buyer for processing the transfer.

The costs you do pay

1. Agent commission
There is no regulated or fixed commission rate in WA. It is negotiable and varies between agents, commonly somewhere around 2% to 3% of the sale price. Our rate is 2.5%, and it
includes GST.

On a $750,000 sale, that 2.5% works out to about $18,750. We will always show you that figure in dollars, not just a percentage, because you deserve to see exactly what you are
paying.

Now here is the part most agents will never point out. On that same $750,000 home, the buyer hands the WA government around $29,740 in stamp duty (the figure from above). The government collects roughly eleven thousand dollars more than your agent does, for processing the transfer, while your agent does the actual work of marketing the home, creating buyer competition, negotiating and getting it sold.

We do not raise that to make light of our fee. We raise it because a cost only means anything in context. The real question is never “what is the percentage.” It is “what do I walk away with, and who gets me the best result for it.” More on the right way to weigh commission in our guide to agent commissions, and the warning signs in.

2. Marketing and advertising
Marketing is usually charged separately from commission. The cost depends entirely on the campaign: professional photography, video, floorplans, portal listings on the major sites, a signboard, and any print or social advertising. A modest campaign might be a few hundred dollars; a full premium campaign on a higher-value home can run to several thousand.

Two honest points. First, ask any agent for the marketing cost in writing before you sign, not after. Second, with us you are not locked in: under our Best Service Guarantee you can cancel at any time and only pay for the marketing actually spent.

3. Settlement agent or conveyancer
You engage your own settlement agent to handle the legal transfer of the property. Conveyancing fees in Australia typically run somewhere between $500 and $2,000, depending on the complexity of the transaction. It is worth getting a quote up front so there are no surprises at settlement.

4. Mortgage discharge (if you have a loan)
If there is a mortgage on the property, it has to be discharged at settlement. That involves two small costs: a discharge administration fee charged by your lender (varies by lender, usually a few hundred dollars), and a fee to register the discharge of mortgage with Landgate (a set government fee, around $200 at the time of writing and indexed each July). Your lender and settlement agent will confirm the current amounts.

5. Rates and water adjustments
This one is not really a fee, but it affects what you walk away with. At settlement, council rates, water rates and any strata levies are adjusted between you and the buyer so each side pays only for the portion of the period they owned the home. You settle your share up to settlement day. It is an adjustment, not a charge, but it comes out of your proceeds.

Costs that apply only in some situations

• Capital gains tax. If the property is your family home (your main residence), it is generally exempt. CGT usually only applies if you are selling an investment or rental property. The rules are detailed and currently under review at a federal level, so this is a question for your accountant, not your agent. We are not tax advisers.
• Fixed-rate loan break costs. If your home loan is on a fixed rate and you break it early,
  your lender may charge a break fee. Ask your lender before you list.
• Presentation and repairs. Optional, but often worth it. What pays off and what does not is covered in should I renovate before selling.

So what does it actually add up to?

Here is an illustrative example on a $750,000 sale. Your numbers will differ, but it shows the
shape of it.

In a typical sale, the costs beyond commission come to a few thousand dollars. The single
largest cost, by a wide margin, is the commission, and the single largest variable is the sale
price the commission is charged on.

The honest point most agents will not make

The cost that actually matters is not any one line on that list. It is your net: the sale price
minus everything above.

A cheaper agent who sells your home for less can leave you thousands worse off than a better agent who gets a higher price. That is exactly what our Select Date Sale method is built to do. Instead of locking your home to a single fixed asking price, which can sit too high and go stale or too low and leave money on the table, it creates genuine competition
between qualified buyers to find the real top price. Two thousand dollars saved on a fee
means nothing if the same agent leaves twenty thousand on the table.

So by all means understand every cost. Then judge an agent on the number that counts,
what you are left with at the end, not the fee they advertise at the start. You can model your own numbers with our cost of selling calculator, and if you want the real figures for your home, that is what an appraisal is for.

Want the exact numbers for your home?

Book a free, no-obligation appraisal with Brendan Leahy. We will give you a realistic sale price for your property and suburb, walk you through the costs that actually apply to you, and show you your likely net in writing. Fifteen to thirty minutes, no pressure, whether you are selling soon or just want to know where you stand. Selling property across the Perth Hills and Foothills since 2002.

Truth. Strategy. Sold.

Book a free appraisal | 08 6254 6333 | Unit 1/198 Brookton Highway, Kelmscott WA 6111

One of the first questions homeowners ask when considering selling is:

“How long will it take to sell my house?”

The honest answer is simple:

It depends.

 

Some homes sell within days of hitting the market. Others can take weeks or even months.

Many articles quote average days on market statistics as though they apply to every property.

The reality is they don’t.

As a guide, Perth’s median selling time has ranged from almost two months during slower markets to as little as seven days during some of the strongest seller’s markets in recent years.

Yet two homes can come to market on the same day and sell weeks apart.

Why?

Because the factors that influence selling time go far beyond the Perth average.

The good news is that many of those factors can be managed or improved.

There Is No One-Size-Fits-All Answer

While average days on market figures for Perth can provide a useful benchmark, they should never be used to predict how long an individual property will take to sell.

A family home in Seville Grove may attract a completely different buyer pool to an acreage property in Bedfordale or a lifestyle property in Roleystone.

Different suburbs, different price points and different property types often sell at very different speeds.

That’s why local market knowledge matters.

The Five Biggest Factors That Affect Sale Time

1. Price

Pricing is generally the biggest factor you can control when it comes to how quickly a property sells.

Properties priced correctly for the current market generally attract more buyer interest and inspections.

Properties priced too high often sit on the market while buyers move on to competing homes.

Many sellers believe starting high gives them room to negotiate.

In reality, overpricing often reduces enquiry levels and can ultimately lead to a lower sale price.

2. Buyer Demand

Some suburbs simply have more buyers than others.

When buyer demand is strong, properties typically sell faster.

When buyer demand is weaker, properties can take longer to find the right purchaser.

Demand can also change throughout the year depending on:

• Interest rates
• Economic conditions
• School terms
• Consumer confidence
• Local supply levels

3. Presentation

First impressions matter.

Well-presented homes generally attract more inspections and stronger offers.

Simple improvements such as:

• Decluttering
• Fresh paint
• Garden maintenance
• Minor repairs
• Professional photography

can significantly improve buyer interest.

4. Marketing Strategy

A property with poor marketing may struggle to reach enough buyers.

A property exposed to the largest possible buyer audience often generates more competition and stronger results.

Good marketing should include:

• Professional photography
• Strong online exposure
• Social media promotion
• Database marketing
• Clear pricing strategy

5. Property Type

Some property types naturally take longer to sell.

For example:

• Entry-level homes often attract larger buyer pools.
• Unique acreage properties can require a more specialised buyer.
• Luxury homes may have fewer potential purchasers.

That doesn’t mean these properties won’t sell well.

It simply means finding the right buyer may take longer.

How Long Does It Take To Sell In The Perth Hills?

The Perth Hills market is unique.

Suburbs such as Bedfordale, Roleystone, Mount Richon and Mount Nasura contain many properties that are unlike anything else available in Perth.

Buyers aren’t simply comparing bedrooms and bathrooms.

They’re comparing:

• Views
• Land usability
• Workshops
• Horse facilities
• Water supply
• Lifestyle features
• Privacy

Because of this, some Hills properties can attract immediate competition while others require a longer marketing period to connect with the right buyer.

The mistake many Hills sellers make is comparing their property to a standard suburban home.

Unique properties often attract fewer buyers, but the right buyer may be willing to pay significantly more once they see the value in the lifestyle on offer.

Why The First Few Weeks Matter Most

When the pricing, marketing and negotiation are all right, your strongest offers almost always arrive in the first three to four weeks.

That’s when a listing is fresh and buyer interest is at its peak.

In most markets, that early window is when a well-prepared home sells.

After that, the pattern often changes.

Buyers begin to wonder why a property hasn’t sold.

Interest can cool.

Later offers are often no stronger — and sometimes weaker — than the offers available during the first few weeks.

It’s worth asking yourself a practical question too.

Keeping a home show-ready is hard work.

Especially with children, pets or a busy household.

Do you really want to maintain that level of readiness for months, only to achieve a similar result that may have been available much earlier?

This is the thinking behind our Select Date Sale® method.

It’s designed to concentrate genuine buyer competition into that early, high-interest period so the strongest price has the best opportunity to surface while your property is still fresh.

Can You Speed Up The Selling Process?

Yes.

The fastest sales usually happen when five things align:

• Accurate pricing
• Professional presentation
• Maximum buyer exposure
• Strong negotiation
• Genuine buyer competition

These are the factors that create urgency.

And when buyers feel urgency and competition, decisions tend to happen faster.

Does Selling Faster Mean Accepting Less?

Not necessarily.

One of the biggest myths in real estate is that a quick sale automatically means a lower sale price.

In reality, many of the strongest sale prices occur when multiple buyers compete for the same property early in the campaign.

The key is not how quickly the property sells.

The key is whether the marketing strategy creates enough buyer competition to achieve the best possible outcome.

So What’s The Real Answer?

Some properties sell in a matter of days.

Some take several weeks.

Others take longer.

The time it takes to sell depends on your property, your suburb, market conditions, pricing strategy and buyer demand.

The best way to understand how long your property may take to sell is to speak with an experienced local agent who understands your market and can assess your property’s individual strengths.

And remember:

A home has no recommended retail price.

There is no sticker on it.

What it sells for — and how fast — comes down to the strategy behind the campaign and the agent running it.

Get both right and you give yourself the best possible opportunity to achieve an exceptional result.

Want To Know How Long Your Property Could Take To Sell?

Book a no-obligation appraisal with Brendan Leahy and the team at Naked Real Estate®.

We’ll provide honest advice on your property’s likely value, current buyer demand and the strategy most likely to achieve the best result.

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Related Reading

• Why Bedfordale Online Valuations Are Often Wrong
• What Factors Actually Affect Your Property’s Appraisal Value?
• How Accurate Are Online Property Valuations?
• Do I Really Need A Property Appraisal Before Selling?

Truth. Strategy. Sold.