From the moment your offer is accepted to the day you hold the keys is typically six to twelve weeks. Here is what happens in between, and where things go wrong.
First, which kind of sale is it
This determines everything that follows.
Private treaty. A listed price, negotiation, and a contract you can usually make conditional on finance and a satisfactory building inspection. Most states then give a short cooling off period.
Auction. Unconditional. The hammer falls, you sign, you pay the deposit that day. No cooling off, no finance clause, no inspection contingency. Everything must be done before you raise your hand: unconditional finance approval, building and pest inspection completed, contract reviewed by your conveyancer, strata report read.
Bidding at auction with only conditional pre-approval. If finance falls through afterwards you can lose your deposit, commonly 10% of the purchase price, and remain liable for more. Pre-approval is not approval.
Days 1 to 3: the deposit and the clock
You pay the deposit, usually 10% of the purchase price, held in the agent's trust account rather than paid to the seller. Contracts are exchanged. Every deadline in the contract now runs from this date, so write them all down on day one. Your conveyancer will track them, but missing a condition date is your problem, not theirs.
Days 3 to 14: inspections and conditions
If your contract is conditional, this is when the building and pest inspection happens and when your finance condition must be satisfied. Attend the inspection if you can. A report tells you what is wrong. Walking through with the inspector tells you what matters, what is cosmetic, and what they would worry about in five years.
Findings give you grounds to renegotiate the price, request repairs, or withdraw under the relevant condition. A price reduction is usually cleaner than requested repairs, because you control who does the work.
Days 7 to 30: formal approval and valuation
Your lender orders a valuation and moves to unconditional approval. Expect requests for documents you thought you had already provided. Respond quickly, because assessment queues restart every time the lender is waiting on you.
Two things commonly derail this stage, and both are in your control. Opening new credit or making a large purchase changes your serviceability mid-process. An unexplained large deposit stalls the file. Buy no furniture, open no accounts, change no jobs until you have keys.
The week before settlement
Your conveyancer prepares the transfer and calculates adjustments, meaning the split of council rates, water and strata levies between you and the seller for the current period. You arrange building insurance, effective from settlement day or earlier depending on your state, and provide proof to the lender.
Be alert to payment redirection fraud, which specifically targets property settlements. Confirm any account details verbally with your conveyancer on a number you looked up yourself, never a number or account taken from an email.
The pre-settlement inspection
Usually in the final few days. You are checking three things: agreed repairs done, nothing broken since you last visited, and the property vacant with the seller's belongings gone. Run the taps, test the heating and cooling, check the power, open the windows. This is your last practical leverage.
Settlement day
Most settlements now happen electronically, which means you generally do not need to be anywhere. Funds transfer, title transfers, and the agent releases the keys. Occasionally it is delayed by a few hours or a day for administrative reasons, which is frustrating and usually not a sign of anything wrong.
Then keep your contract, the vendor statement and the settlement statement somewhere you will find them in ten years. You will want them if you sell, refinance, or claim anything at tax time.