From the NSW Office of Fair Trading:

Exchanging sale contracts is the legal part of buying a home. Before exchange, the agreement is usually just verbal and not binding. Up until you exchange contracts either you or the vendor have the right to change your minds.

In other words, once you’ve exchanged, it’s all locked in. AND WE’VE JUST EXCHANGED! Man, buying a house is a pretty glacial and frustrating process. We’ve had to wait two weeks just for one bank to fax a piece of paper to another bank. But we’ve just gotten confirmation that we’re locked in, and the house is definitely going to be ours. I suppose this means that we can stop being so cagey about its location… RIGHT NEXT DOOR to our current apartment. Ha! Easiest. Move. Ever.

So now we just have to wait for settlement. Default is six weeks, but we’re hoping to get it pushed through faster so we can move in sooner. Special thanks to Andrew and Miss Fee for their advice regarding buying into a strata building. Stay tuned for the housewarming party…!