Three home buying fees you should know about

First home buying is a thrilling prospect for anyone. You're about to launch yourself into the property owner game, and are making a long-term commitment to a place that may be your home for many years to come. You may have your first home buyer loan approved and found the house of your dreams, but there can be more hidden fees that sting you along the way. It is important to be prepared, so here are three that you should know about. 

Registration fees

These fees are paid to the land registry in your state every time you submit documents through the home buying process. Depending on the state, the registration fee charged by the state government that  transfers title to you can be quite a sting – sometimes well over $1,000. Make sure you have investigated these registration fees well before you embark on the process. 

Escrow fees

Escrow is a method of transferring funds to the seller of the home, releasing funds to the seller once certain conditions are met. In the case of buying a home, this would be satisfaction with the property, or the buyer (that's you!) not pulling out of the purchase during the cooling down period, usually 5-10 days. Escrow Angel, a Melbourne-based service, calculates the escrow fee on a $500,000 home purchase at $3,900 – make sure you take this into account if you are buying property.

Conveyancing fees

A solicitor or Law Society-approved conveyancer will often be the one conducting the actual transfer of the title, and depending on the location, they can charge you upwards of $800 for the task. Nobody said home buying was easy!

There is no one set of rules across Australia when buying a home, as each state has its own government legislation, real estate institute and law institute. Of course, before you get down to these fees you will want to talk to us about organising your home loan so you can take the first steps to being a home owner!