# Making an offer on a Queensland home: from first figure to signed contract
In Queensland an offer is usually a signed contract waiting for the seller's signature. How price, conditions, deposit and competing offers work before the deal becomes binding.
---
Most of the advice a buyer hears is about finding the right home. Much less is said about the hour in which the buyer tells the agent a number, and what happens between that moment and a contract that binds both sides. In Queensland that stretch has its own habits, and some of them surprise people who have bought elsewhere or have not bought for years.
The main one is this. An offer on a Queensland home sold by private treaty is not usually a letter or a phone call. It is the contract itself, filled in and signed by the buyer, handed to the agent to put in front of the seller. Everything the buyer wants, the price, the conditions, the dates, has to be in that document before it leaves their hands. This guide follows an offer from the first figure to the signed contract, using the Queensland Government's home-buying guidance, the Office of Fair Trading's rules and the Real Estate Institute of Queensland's published guidance to agents.
5 daysbusiness days of cooling-off after signing
0.25%most a buyer can lose by cooling off
5pmthe hour contract deadlines usually expire
Queensland Government home-buying guidance and Office of Fair Trading guidance on the cooling-off period.
## An offer is usually a signed contract
Private treaty sales of houses, units and residential land in Queensland are almost all made on one standard form, the Contract for the Sale and Purchase of Residential Real Estate, published jointly by the Real Estate Institute of Queensland and the Queensland Law Society. The Law Society's journal, Proctor, reported that the current form took effect on 1 August 2025, replacing separate contracts for houses and for units.
When a buyer is ready to offer, the agent prepares that form with the buyer's details and terms. The buyer signs. The agent takes it to the seller, who can sign it as it stands, reject it, or change it and send it back.
A conversation about price before that point is a negotiation, not an agreement. Agents do pass verbal figures to their sellers, and it can be a useful way to find out whether the two sides are in range. But a seller who says yes to a figure on the phone has not sold, and a buyer who names one has not bought.
Before signing
A verbal offer and a verbal acceptance bind nobody
A sale of land has long had to be in writing and signed to be enforced. Until both parties have signed the same document, the seller can accept someone else and the buyer can walk away.
The practical consequence is that the buyer's signature is the serious step. A signed contract in the agent's hands is an offer the seller can accept by signing, without coming back to the buyer first. It should not be signed as a way of showing interest.
## What to have ready before naming a figure
Because the offer and the contract are the same document, the preparation has to come first. Four things are worth having in place.
The first is the seller's paperwork. Since 1 August 2025 a Queensland seller must give the buyer a disclosure statement and prescribed certificates before the buyer signs. The Queensland Government's summary lists what the statement covers, including title details, encumbrances, zoning and, for a unit, body corporate information. It also lists what it does not cover: the structural soundness of the building, the property's flooding history and past building and development approvals. A buyer can ask for the statement at any time, and reading it before settling on a price is the point of it.
The second is finance. A buyer who knows what a lender is prepared to advance can set the finance date in the contract with some confidence, and can judge how much of the offer depends on the bank's valuation of the property.
The third is a solicitor or conveyancing firm. A contract can be signed within an hour of an offer being discussed, and the deadlines in it begin to run at once. A buyer who has already chosen a firm can send the draft for a quick read before signing, which is the only stage at which changes are free.
The fourth is identification. From 1 July 2026, federal anti-money-laundering law extends to real estate agents, and agencies will be verifying the identity of buyers as part of a sale. Having photo identification to hand avoids a delay at the moment speed matters.
## Whose side the agent is on
The agent who shows the home, answers questions and writes up the offer works for the seller. The seller appointed them and the seller pays them. That does not make the agent the buyer's opponent, but it defines what the buyer can expect.
The Real Estate Institute of Queensland sets out the position in guidance to its members that it last updated on 1 January 2026. Under section 22 of the Property Occupations Regulation 2014, an agent must act in accordance with the seller's instructions, unless doing so would breach the conduct rules. The institute describes the agent's task as obtaining the maximum sale price for the seller while treating buyers honestly.
The honesty is a legal duty, not a courtesy. The same guidance points to the Australian Consumer Law, which prohibits conduct in trade or commerce that is misleading or deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive. An agent may decline to answer a question. An agent may not invent an answer.
For a buyer this has three practical meanings. What the buyer tells the agent, including how high they could go and how badly they want the house, is information the agent may pass to the seller. What the agent says about the property and about other interest must be true. And the agent cannot accept an offer; only the seller can. According to the institute's guidance, agents must tell their seller about every offer promptly, so a buyer can expect a written offer to be presented even if the agent thinks it too low.
## Settling on the price
No rule fixes how an asking price relates to the price a seller will take. A home may be advertised with a single figure, with a phrase such as "offers over", or with no price at all. Each is a starting position chosen by the seller.
The evidence a buyer can use is public. Recent sales of comparable homes in the same suburb show what buyers have paid. The length of time the property has been advertised, and whether its price has been changed, indicate how the campaign is going. The disclosure statement and any inspection reports reveal costs that belong in the calculation.
A lender's view is a second test. A loan is approved against the bank's valuation, not the contract price. If the valuation comes in below what the buyer agreed to pay, the buyer has to cover the gap from savings or rely on a finance condition to leave the contract. An offer well above comparable sales carries that risk with it.
How a buyer pitches the first figure is a matter of judgement and circumstance, and this guide does not suggest a formula. What can be said is that price is only one of the things a seller weighs, and the next two sections cover the others.
## Conditions are half the offer
Two offers at the same price are not the same offer. A seller comparing them looks at how likely each is to reach settlement, and how soon. That depends on the conditions.
The Queensland Government's guidance says a contract can be made conditional on matters such as finance approval, a satisfactory building and pest inspection, or the sale of the buyer's existing home. It adds the warning that matters most at this stage: the buyer must check that each condition they want actually appears in the contract when they sign. A condition that was discussed with the agent and not written in has no legal force.
In the standard contract, finance and building and pest inspection are built in and switched on by filling in the reference schedule. The finance condition operates only if the schedule names the amount, the lender and the date. Leave those boxes blank and the contract is not subject to finance, whatever was said in conversation. Anything else, such as the sale of another property or a period of due diligence, needs a special condition, and the Law Society's and the institute's shared view is that special conditions should be drafted by a lawyer.
What a written offer contains
Part of the offer
Where it goes
What the seller reads into it
Price
Reference schedule
The headline, but not the whole comparison
Deposit
Reference schedule: amount, due date, holder
How committed the buyer is
Finance
Schedule: amount, lender, date
Whether the sale depends on a bank, and until when
Building and pest
Schedule: inspection date
How long before the buyer is locked in
Settlement date
Reference schedule
Whether the timing suits the seller's own move
Anything else
Special conditions
Extra risk, or extra flexibility
Based on the structure of the REIQ and Queensland Law Society residential contract as described by the Law Society and the Queensland Law Handbook. General summary only.
Each condition has a date and, usually, a 5pm deadline. Short dates make an offer more attractive to a seller and harder for the buyer to meet. An inspector has to be booked, attend and report before the inspection date, and a lender has to value the property and issue approval before the finance date. A date the buyer cannot meet is not a strong offer. It is a problem deferred by a fortnight.
Leaving conditions out altogether makes the cleanest offer, and it removes the buyer's protection if the bank says no or the inspector finds termites. In a competitive sale some buyers do it deliberately, after arranging finance and inspecting beforehand. It is a decision to make with eyes open, not a box to leave blank because the agent seemed in a hurry.
## The deposit
The reference schedule records how much the deposit is, whether it is paid in one amount or as an initial deposit and a balance, when each part is due and who holds it. The holder is usually the seller's agent, who keeps it in a trust account until settlement.
The Queensland Government's guidance says deposits typically fall due within two or three days of the contract becoming binding, depending on its terms. It also deals with a common misunderstanding: money handed over with an offer, before both parties have signed, does not reserve the property.
The due date is one of the strictest in the contract. Solicitors' commentary on the standard form describes payment of the deposit on time as an essential term. A buyer who pays late can find the seller entitled to end the contract and keep what has been paid. Daily transfer limits on bank accounts are the usual cause of trouble, so a buyer offering a large deposit on a short date should check with their bank that the amount can move in one day.
Sellers tend to read a larger deposit as a sign of a buyer who will complete. There is no set percentage in the law for a private treaty sale. The amount is whatever the two sides agree and write into the schedule.
## When several buyers offer at once
A popular home can attract more than one written offer in the same few days. The institute's guidance to agents describes how that should be handled, and knowing the procedure helps a buyer understand what they are being asked to do.
The agent should tell each prospective buyer that multiple offers have been received and ask for a written acknowledgement. A standard acknowledgement form exists for the purpose. The agent must not disclose the details of one buyer's offer to another. Buyers are commonly asked to submit their best and final offer by a set time, and the offers are then presented to the seller together.
How a multiple-offer process usually runs
NoticeThe agent tells each buyer that other offers exist and asks them to acknowledge it in writing.
DeadlineBuyers are invited to submit a best and final offer by a stated time.
Sealed offersEach buyer signs a contract with their terms. Amounts are not shared between buyers.
PresentationThe agent puts every offer in front of the seller.
DecisionThe seller signs one contract, or none. Price is not the only test.
Three points in the institute's guidance protect buyers in this process. An agent must not claim that a higher offer exists when it does not, or when it has lapsed or been rejected. An agent must not play buyers against each other to push prices up artificially. And a best and final offer is meant to be exactly that: the guidance says it should not be used as a way of starting a further round of negotiation.
The seller, for their part, is free to choose. The guidance is clear that the seller can accept any offer, provided the instructions given to the agent are lawful. The highest price does not always win. A slightly lower offer with no finance condition and a settlement date that suits the seller can be the better one from the other side of the table.
A buyer in this position has one chance, and no view of the competition. The only figure worth writing is the one the buyer would not regret, either way, when the result is known.
## Counter-offers and the moment of contract
A seller who likes most of an offer but not all of it will often change the document and return it. A price is struck out and a new one written in, or a settlement date is moved, and the changes are initialled.
A changed contract is a counter-offer. The buyer's original offer is gone, and the buyer is now the one deciding whether to accept. Nothing is agreed until every change has been initialled by both sides, so that one document carries both parties' assent to the same terms. Several rounds are common, and with electronic signing they can happen in an afternoon.
Once both have signed identical terms, there is a contract. The Queensland Government's guidance ties the next step to a specific event: the cooling-off period starts when the buyer receives a copy of the contract signed by both parties. A buyer should note the day and time that copy arrives, because several clocks start with it.
Until that moment either side may withdraw. A buyer can withdraw a signed offer before the seller signs, and should do so in writing through the agent. A seller can stop negotiating at any time and deal with someone else.
## The first five days after acceptance
A signed contract is binding, but for a short period the buyer keeps a right to leave it. The Office of Fair Trading's guidance says a buyer under a standard residential contract has five business days to change their mind, ending at 5pm on the fifth day. A buyer who uses the right gets the deposit back, less a penalty of up to 0.25 per cent of the purchase price. On a $900,000 purchase that is at most $2,250.
The period can be shortened or waived in writing, and a buyer should know before signing whether a waiver has been included with the offer. Sellers sometimes ask for one in a multiple-offer sale.
Those five days are also when the other obligations begin. The deposit falls due on the date in the schedule. The Queensland Government advises that a buyer should, in most cases, take out home insurance from the contract date. The Queensland Law Handbook, published by Caxton Legal Centre, explains why: under the standard contract the property is at the buyer's risk from 5pm on the first business day after the contract is made, although the seller still owns and occupies it.
Inspections need to be booked immediately. The Queensland Government's guidance lists building, pest, swimming pool and solar system inspections as the ones to consider, and the building and pest condition has its own date, which is often only a week or two away. The finance application should go to the lender with the signed contract on the first day.
## When the home is going to auction
Everything above concerns private treaty. A property being sold by auction follows different rules, and they change what an offer means.
The Office of Fair Trading states that there is no cooling-off period for a property bought at auction, and auction contracts are unconditional: no finance clause and no inspection clause. A buyer who wants a building and pest report has to commission it during the campaign.
Buyers do make offers before auction day, and sellers are free to consider them. A seller weighing one may want terms close to auction terms, since the alternative is to let the auction run. Whether a contract signed in the days before or after an auction carries a cooling-off period depends on the circumstances, and the exceptions are detailed enough that a buyer in that position should have their solicitor confirm it before signing.
## Mistakes that are easy to avoid
Most of what goes wrong at the offer stage comes from treating the contract as a formality to be tidied up later. A short list covers the usual errors.
- Signing to "hold" a property, on the assumption that the offer can be withdrawn after the seller accepts it.
- Relying on a condition that was agreed verbally and never written into the schedule or the special conditions.
- Setting a finance or inspection date that the lender or inspector cannot meet.
- Paying the deposit late because of a bank transfer limit.
- Waiving the cooling-off period without noticing the form among the papers.
- Leaving insurance until settlement.
None of these requires legal training to avoid. Each requires reading the document that is about to be signed, and asking what a blank box means before leaving it blank.
> In Queensland the offer and the contract are one document. The time to get it right is before the buyer signs it, because the seller's signature may be the next thing that happens.