Sounds like you could have had a better agent that covered the basics. Unfortunately they are rare now days as most are just in for the quick buck then move on…

The purchase date is normally flexible as is the right to split the costs or ask the seller toput right any fualts found via the inspection. BUT you need them in the contract first! You can try later but a lot harder.

We have brought a few homes in NZ, most have been easy, all had the subject to inspection clause, a few needed work that the seller sorted as they would have lost the sale otherwise :-)

Yes the banks have a frinedly face but it can be unclear to what fees , charges “MAY ” be impossed. In one case we needed to sale quickly to avoid a squeeze in income due to moving from a regular job to self empolyed. We took the responsible step of down grading house quickly to cope as the new bussiness started to grow.
The bank decided to enforce its early repayment fees of $3500NZD with disregard to the fact that we were refinancing with them on the smaller house……….. At the time that was 6 months of payments!

Have fun in Nelson, it is a magic spot that we hope to move to after a few more years of our OE