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This will depend upon the arrangement with your agent, but generally not.

Entering into a selling agency agreement with your preferred real estate agent is not usually a spur-of-the-moment decision. Rather, prospective sellers have normally made a definitive decision to sell and have researched the various agents who are best placed to assist in the sales process.

Selling agency agreements have an agreed time period, however the seller has the right to withdraw their property from the market at any time. If the seller provides this instruction, the agent would cease marketing the property for sale.

Withdrawing the property from the market does not terminate the selling agency agreement, rather it just places the agreement on hold until the seller is ready. It’s important to note that withdrawing the property from the market does not provide the seller with the right to enter into a selling agency agreement with another agent until the initial agreement has terminated.

Once your property is listed with an agent, the agent immediately engages in a strategic marketing process so that your property hits the market with the greatest impact to ensure the property sells at the highest price on the best possible terms and conditions in the shortest possible time.

We recommend you list your property ‘For sale’ only when you are ready to sell and you have selected your preferred agent.

Before committing to buying a property, consider including a building inspection as part of your contract for the purchase so you can avoid any nasty surprises once you’ve moved in.

A good building inspection will provide you with information that could ultimately influence your decision to purchase the property.

It will assess things like whether the house is structurally sound and whether you can expect major expenditures in the future.

This inspection should be carried out ASAP and prior to your contract going unconditional. Your contract unconditional date will be stated in you contract

In the event of a negative report, the pre-purchase inspection condition should offer the seller the option of fixing the problems within a set time frame. If the seller refuses to comply, the buyer should have the option of terminating the contract.

No matter how excited you are about purchasing your new house or unit, it is prudent to undertake a final inspection to ensure that the property is still in the same condition it was when you negotiated the deal.

You should check that all the fixtures and fittings included in the contract are still present and that the previous residents did not cause any damage when moving out of the property.

So you’ve made the decision to jump off the rental merry-go-round and are now looking to buy your first home, but where do you start?

Entering the property market for the first time can be extremely daunting, with a lot of new real estate jargon to get your head around and big decisions to make.

To help make your first steps towards buying a little less complicated, we’ve compiled a list of what you need to get in order before making an offer and signing on the dotted line.

Market research – The old saying ‘knowledge is power’ applies ten-fold to the process of buying property. A sound understanding of the property market you’re buying in will give you an advantage when searching for your first home.

Budgeting and saving – To put yourself in the best possible financial position to purchase your first home, make sure you have a solid saving plan in process that will help build you a substantial deposit. The better your deposit, the less you need to borrow. Ideally, you’d want to save around 10 to 20 per cent of the purchase price of the home. If you do manage to save 20 per cent of the purchase price for your deposit, you will also avoid paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance.

Finance approval – One of biggest benefits of being a first home buyer is that you don’t have the added responsibility of needing to sell your current home to purchase a new home. With this in mind, consider applying for pre-approval of your home loan. This puts you in a much stronger position to buy and you’ll feel more confident of your limitations when making an offer.

We recommend looking at enough properties to gain an understanding of the current market you are looking in.

Having the right knowledge enables you to work out if the property you are interested in buying represents value for money. It is important to feel confident about your eventual purchase, so viewing properties online is a good way to research the market efficiently.