Just a few notes on buying an NRAS property that we discovered the hard way recently.

• Prices have definitely been jacked up, no question. Easy to verify with a property search.
• 1/3 of the rebate is lost in fees. So that 91K (Qld!?!) is closer to 60K
• Developers and vendors have taken advantage of the 'rush' to get into NRAS and as a result are taking otherwise commercially untenable positions as far as contracts and conditions are concerned.

Be very wary of the hype. One particularly unscrupulous pair are pushing properties in Qld. The selling agent 'recommends' a good conveyancing solicitor – who happens to be a mate of his – who takes your $1,200 conveyancing fees and sends you a 1-line email saying "everything is OK". When pushed to answer specific concerns, he gets narky and demands $400/hr to respond. Fortunately we took our conveyancing elsewhere and were provided with a 6-page document of problems with the contract.

Our attempts to get any questions answered were met with a resounding "take it as-is or leave it". One critical item was the conditions put on by land contract that certain provisions had to be met by the builder. They refused to add that into the contract, or even discuss it. No assurances that the property would even be built before the NRAS approval expires. They even refused to correct mistakes on the front page of the contract that our financier required before they'd sign off!!!
 
Most people would probably take the "advice" of the "recommended" solicitor and go blindly into the sale without concern. Well, we certainly weren't prepared to do that.

In hindsight, the NRAS deal isn't anywhere near as good as it sounds. The old adage "if it sounds too good to be true…" applies here. I was hanging my hopes on another government stuff-up (like the insulation scheme) but it's the developers that are the real winners here. With no control over the lease, 1/3 gone in fees, the hit up-front for the interest during development – think very, very carefully before you jump in.