Strata Units/Villas/ Town Houses - What Is Involved If Purchased?

In Australia, Strata Units or Strata Town Houses are basically not that complicated as it may sound, yet it is said quickly.

The Oxford Dictionary meaning for 'Strata' is  (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com) is very simply - the Plural word for 'Stratum'. And then the Oxford Dictionary meaning for 'Stratum' is:

noun (plural strata /-tə/)

• 1a layer or a series of layers of rock in the ground:a stratum of flint
•  a thin layer within any structure:thin strata of air

• 2a level or class to which people are assigned according to their social status, education, or income:members of other social strata
•  Statistics a group into which members of a population are divided in stratified sampling:allocation of sample units to strata

Origin:

late 16th century (in the sense 'layer or coat of a substance'): modern Latin, from Latin, literally 'something spread or laid down', neuter past participle of sternere 'strew'

In Latin the word stratum is singular and its plural form is strata. In English this distinction is maintained—it is incorrect to use strata as a singular or to create the form stratas as the plural: a series of overlying strata not a series of overlying stratas, and a new stratum was uncovered not a new strata was uncovered.

So now are you confused? Well, I was uneducated until 2 

weeks ago. Now I am semi-qualified to explain to you  how 

it works in Australia.

Basically in means that you don't pay for Building

insurance when you own a Strata Titled property,  as you 

are sharing a common property. Yet Quarterly levies need

to be paid, which covers  building insurance and 

maintenance and repair of property. Improvement for 

anything related to the property need to be approved by a 

the owners corporation.

For further information you can research the following 

websites, for assistance:

NSW Fair Trading - Strata Schemes 

Strata Community Organisation

So Strata Units are  are Strata Titled units commonly 

known as a block of Units and Strata Town House can be

 joined or freestanding.


Type of Strata Units:

                                                         

Types of Strata Townhouses: 

First one is sharing a common wall, the second one is free-

standing.

          

How Much Deposit Do I Need Before I Purchase A Real Estate!

 This will depend on the saving you have and  how much savings you are allocating towards your property purchased, allowing for what type of costs you will be incurring.

There is costs previously mentioned before: solicitors costs, Stamp duty, moving in costs and depending how much you borrow, you may be asked to take out mortgage insurance, based on the level of borrowings required against the purchase price.

So for example if you are purchasing a property for $430,000 in NSW the stamp duty cost is currently $14,840.00.

Click here for a sample of mortgage Stamp Duty Based on your area  *This calculator also calculates the mortgage registration fee and transfer fee.

Based on the level of borrowings against your purchase price, we will use 2 examples if you borrow $400,00 on the property purchase of  $430,000 - the extra mortgage insurance is $12,000. If is  borrowings of $43,000 and the purchase price is the same then
there is no mortgage insurance is usually payable for  loan to value ratio of 80 percent or below (always check with your mortgage lender to confirm).

Click Here for a Mortgage Insurance calculator


So this gives you and idea of what deposit is required. A suggestion is to get a pre-approval loan from your mortgage lender, before shopping around!

How Do You Choose Your Agent When Purchasing A Property?

The simple answer is there is no necessity to choose a real estate agent, to purchase a real estate property unless you have had good dealings with a real estate through your own personal dealings, families or friends.

The real estate property you eventually buy may even be from a real estate agent you may not even know about, yet.

Some Real Estate agents are under 'time pressure' to talk to you, and sell the property, unless they see and feel that your are the interested buyer. This depends on the questions you ask and the interest you show.

My experience in buying properties is limited: 50 percent actually searching for a property via any real estate agent and 50 per cent knowing which property to purchase and the agent came with it!

You're probably thinking what does that mean? Well all I can say is our first property purchased (my wife and myself), we had to search and look for properties  and the real estate agent drove us to the property to have a look at and it was purchased.

The second and third properties, we had seen ourselves as they were around our vicinity all the agent had to do was show us.

The recent one we have purchased, was like the first  one we purchased, we had to search and look around until we were happy, the agent that we had purchased the recent property, had the time, patience and allowed genuine 'thinking time' as we thought about deciding to purchase. This was a great feeling  that I had never experienced as real estate is  the  most important purchase in any one's life! The reason I found out is she  is a 'one-woman real estate business' so she is not pressured for time!

Next question is do you trust the agent or go by your first house inspection or even both?

Click on this blog for possible answers

Factors That Contribute Property Purchase Decisions

It is a general goal in life that when growing up in Australia, we all want to own your home. No one can blame you for that but that will depend on many choices you have made or are making and  people around you that have raised you to the person  you are today.

It will also depend om your financial status and if this is one of your life goals which you will definitely aim for. 

As discussed in previous posts there maybe some hurdles to overcome, to ascertain if you are ready to purchase with take home loans.

Once you sort factors like estimate purchase price,saving, expected expenses and calculate the viability of ensuring home loan repayments can be made.

On the other side, emotionally and psychologically, you have to be prepared to bid for the future property that you may be happy to  bid with your partner, with the property most liked. And if not successful, don't be disheartened if you don't get it. Maybe next one will get you there!

Do it with passion and love, that will make it easy to deal with!