Representative engagements: each is composed from the shape of files our advisory team handles, with no individual client's details. Outcomes from named engagements are published only with the client's written consent.
- Family
- Husband, wife, two children under 18
- Invested
- US$450,000
- Start to finish
- 7 months
- Afterwards
- Let on a twelve-month tenancy since handover; the family visits twice a year.
Why this, and what was rejected
The budget cleared the threshold with room to spare, which mattered more than it sounds: a valuation a few percent under USD 400,000 fails the application outright, and pricing to the threshold exactly leaves nothing for that.
A two-bedroom in a completed building was chosen over a larger off-plan unit. Off-plan would have bought more space for the money, but delivery risk sits on the application as well as on the asset.
Two smaller units were considered and rejected — two valuations, two sets of transfer costs, and two units competing with each other on resale in the same building.
What went wrong
One birth certificate was apostilled but not translated by a sworn translator, which was returned and cost about three weeks. It is the single commonest reason a file stalls, and it has nothing to do with money.