It's been so long since I've been to the bank to draw a bank cheque!

Well, that's what we did and at the same time, we saw our savings dwindle away, all for a good cause of course!

We arrived back at our solicitors office with our signed land contract and our 10% deposit cheque.

It all happened so quickly because there really wasn't anything else that was required!

We also had to provide proof of identification for the stamp duty exemption. I didn't have all the information available but I was able to email it over the next day or so.

Our solicitor advised us that he will keep us updated everytime something came through, I'll just have to make sure that I check our mailbox! haha

Just remember to get your solicitor to photocopy your cheque and get it signed and verified as proof. Good to have a copy handy just in case something happens!

So let's hope for good news and that our land registers on time!

In between everything else, I received a phone call from our Solicitor to advise that he had received our land contract and that we had to go in and review the contract with him.

I'd say we had about a week to visit him, talk about the contract, and come back and sign it along with our 10% deposit cheque!

I thought it was a bit rushed, until I realised that they had sent us a letter through snail mail about a week ago to contact them to organise an appointment.

So, NOTE: check your mail every day! I don't know if it's a solicitor thing but they still do things old school!

When we arrived for our appointment it was fairly straight forward. The solicitor told us that it was going to tae about a half an hour to go through things. I wasn't so sure once I saw the thick pad of paper which was our contract!

He bascically had everything marked with the just the main things for us to talk about. These were things like the sunset clause, where the sewers were and if they were correct on the diagram, the design guidelines for our estate and I think that was it.

There were more important things, but I've forgotten them so far!

Once we went through it and all was ok, we were given the contract to take home and look through again, as well as signing the contract to return a couple of days after.

We also had to make sure that we had a 10% cheque payable to the solicitors (which is -$1000 you paid at the sales centre). This had to be a cheque unfortunately!

So the fun began reading the contract. I guess I just re-read what the solicitor reviewed with us. Everything else was straight forward.

Also because we were a first home owner, we don't have to pay stamp duty (YAY!), so we were given more documents to sign for that.

It ended up being not so complicated in the end...!

*hand up in the air* yep, we're first home buyers. I'm not going to lie, I didn't know what we needed a solicitor or conveyancer for. Lucky for us, Eden Brae provided us with a timeline of what we required during the process. As soon as you put your $2000 deposit during at the sales centre, they ask if you have a solictor or conveyancer to review contracts. My friend initially referred us to a conveyancer, but I didn't really know of them (like I would be contacting solicitors' all the time anyway)!

The salesperson then gave us a business card of a conveyancer. There was no pressure for us to use them, but I think I felt more confident with their referral for some reason! So we ended up going with them.

I thought the conveyancer was supposed to look over both building and land contracts, but it turns out that it was just for the land. I guess, how were we supposed to know?

I asked the conveyancer when we saw them if they were required to look over the house contracts, but he said that it was a standard HIA contract and that you will just need to review they that didn't leave anything out (structural changes, additions), and make sure that the prices are the same (no overcharging) as discussed at your tender presentation. I guess they can review it and answer any of your questions, but it is straight forward.

You get given a standard HIA contract at the sales centre so review over before your tender presentation. To be honest, I read about 4 pages and got over it!

So yes, make sure you find a decent solicitor or conveyancer if you are buying a house and land package. It's good to be prepared because we weren't!