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Acquiring Real Estate: an important step that raises many questions.
Buying a property is often the most important purchase you can make in your life. It can sometimes require some patience, a methodology and an accumulation of procedures.
In any case, what is certain is that it will have consequences on your future, at almost every level: a different budgetary commitment, new expenses, an investment of time, new responsibilities, a change in your living environment, etc.
Evaluating your budget is a very important step. In addition to the purchase price, it is also necessary to add the acquisition costs (with an average of 2 to 3% of the price for a new home and 8% for old properties), any renovations and the cost of organization (such as the furniture).
If you wish to have recourse to a loan, do not hesitate to consult the numerous online simulators in addition to your banker, in order to calculate your debt capacity and your monthly repayments.
This will enable you to refine your search.
When looking for your property, in addition to the numerous advertising media you have at your disposal, if you are appealing to a professional, he will also provide an "off-market" selection, as well as properties that you may have missed.
With the help of the data at his disposal and his knowledge regarding the product, the building and the sector, he will avoid certain mistakes, save you precious time and advise you by proposing a selection that corresponds to your expectations.
Afterwards, we will organise visits of the selected properties and start discussions on the one(s) you are interested in.
As soon as you have made your decision, you will have to formalise in writing and submitting a buying offer to the seller. The estate agent will help you to draft it with a reminder of the main conditions of your offer, in particular price and payment method, possible suspensive conditions such as financing, works, ...
Once received, the seller will have the option of refusing it, making a counter-offer or accepting it. Once the negotiation is completed and the agreement between the two parties is signed, we will be happy to accompany you to formalise your future purchase before a notary.
The preliminary sales agreement commits you as well as the seller: legally, it is equivalent to a sale.
This deed can be done under private contract with the help of a professional or at a notary's office, which is strongly recommended. This deed will clearly and precisely define all the sale's conditions.
You will have to pay a deposit, which will be deducted from the price when the deed will be signed: this is freely fixed and generally represents 5 to 10% of the sale price.
After signing the compromise, you have a ten-day cooling-off period to withdraw from the purchase at no cost, contrary to the seller who will be bound from the moment he signs.
Apart from the non-fulfilment of a suspensive condition, you will be obliged to proceed with the purchase under penalty of having your deposit retained and possibly being subject to other legal proceedings such as the payment of compensatory damages.
On the other hand, if one of the suspensive conditions specified in the preliminary sales agreement is not fulfilled, such as obtaining a loan or an administrative authorisation, you will be free to decide whether you wish to continue with the sale or withdraw without any costs or penalties.
In order fix a date for signing the deed of sale before the notary, the conditions precedent must have been entirely fulfilled or you will have to renounce them.
One of the most common conditions precedent is that of obtaining a loan. Once the file is complete and approved by your lending institution, you will still need to obtain a guarantee agreement, which ensures payment of the property loan in the event of the borrower's default.
This can take several forms:
It is at this point that your credit institution will send you a loan offer summarising the conditions of the contract (nature of the loan, total cost, overall effective rate, duration, etc.). From the time you receive this letter, you have a ten-day cooling-off period to accept or refuse the terms of the mortgage. On the eleventh day - and not before, otherwise you will have to start all over again - you will return your signed offer.
On reception, the institution will release the funds and contact the notary to transfer them to him for signing.
Between the bank's eventual loan agreement (between thirty and forty-five days), the possible purging of the right of pre-emption (maximum eight weeks), and the steps taken by the notary who gathers the information and documents necessary to constitute the sale file (civil status deeds, mortgage status, cadastral extract, town planning file, technical diagnosis, property management questionnaire, etc.), you will need to allow for approximately three months from the signing of the compromis before you can sign the deed.
As soon as you sign the contract with yourself and the vendor, responsibility will be transferred and you will become the owner of the property within the meaning of the law, with the right to use it as set out in the deed.
A property deed will be issued to you at a later date after the transcription of the deed at the mortgage office. Legally, as long as the deed has not been filed for transcription, "third parties", i.e. persons other than the parties to the deed, cannot take cognizance of it. Thus, between the deed of sale and its transcription, the sold property could still be subject to seizure by the seller's creditors. It is to avoid such difficulties that deeds are always filed very quickly for transcription.
The transcription of the deed of sale is also important for tenants: the owner who has just bought his property and wants to occupy it personally can only give his notice to the tenant after the deed of sale has been filed with the mortgage office for transcription.
Once the signing before the notary is done, the keys will be solemnly handed over to you.
Notarised certificates of ownership will be made available to you by the notary. They will be very useful for completing your administrative procedures (water, gas, electricity, telephone, fire insurance, enrolling your children in school, etc.).
Being assisted by a real estate professional is still the ideal solution when you start buying a property. In addition to the tools and our network to find the property that corresponds to your criteria much more easily and quickly, we also have a lot of technical and legal knowledge and will be able to answer your questions.
This accompanying up to the signature of the final deed of purchase at the notary's office ensures you a guarantee of seriousness and a valid procedure until the handing over of the keys of your apartment.
Don't wait any longer, contact us without commitment and in complete confidentiality to talk about your project and we will be delighted to help you make it real by guiding you through the different stages.
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