Is buying an apartment difficult? Not at all!If you approach the issue with knowledge, buying real estate can turn into an exciting, but extremely exciting event. This article contains important tips that will certainly help you Many of us begin to dream of our own home in our teenage years. Unfortunately, more often than not, it remains just a dream for a long time. And the reason for this is the main aspect of buying real estate - its cost. It does not matter whether you are buying your first apartment in your life or expanding, selling the old and small for a new and large one: it is always expensive. Moreover, you need to be well versed in the process of buying and selling housing in order to minimize all surprises. In today's material, we will try to touch on the main provisions related to the process of buying your own apartment, and prove to you that it is quite possible to buy a home and not go crazy.
1. Should you give up renting in favor of buying?
We have been actively convinced for many years thatown home is an ideal investment and that we need to stop throwing money away and move out of our rented apartment today. Let's look at a real-life example. Imagine yourself in a well-furnished, practically new rented one-room apartment. It has everything (from a wardrobe to a microwave oven), and even the renovations were done not so long ago. You pay the owner 45,000 rubles a month for beauty and comfort. But you are not satisfied, you want everything (from the front door to the window frames) to be yours, so you go to the bank and take out a mortgage. Let's start calculating. Let's imagine that you liked an apartment in a new building in the same area where you rented it. It is also a one-room apartment. With renovations, but empty. The developer is asking 7,300,000 rubles for it, and the bank wants 15% in cash as a down payment. Let's say you have this money, and you take out a loan for the remaining 6,205,000 rubles for 20 years at 12%. The bank tells you the monthly payment amount: 68,322 rubles. And now, every month for 20 years, you will part with this amount. Let's say you are not impressionable, earn well, are confident in the future, and a five-digit sum does not scare you. But the apartment is empty. That is, furniture, appliances, and a lot of little things need to be purchased now. And you will also have to pay housing and communal services, property and land taxes, make contributions to the HOA, etc. every month. Do you still want to buy your own apartment?
2. Hire an agent
If you are serious about buyingyour own home and the above calculations do not scare you, hire an experienced realtor. This respectable person in a suit will help you navigate the market, avoid a lot of pitfalls, find “that” apartment and conduct negotiations correctly. Of course, all this is possible only with a competent and very experienced agent. So look carefully and be prepared to generously pay for his efforts (on average, this is about 3-6% of the transaction amount). There is also a more rosy option - 1.5%, but here everything depends on your luck and the appetites of the realtor.
3. Choose an option that suits your budget
You shouldn't expect that in a couple of years youryour financial situation will improve, and you will be able to decorate a 300-meter apartment with dignity, but for now you will have to make do with a mattress and a couple of stools. It is better to soberly assess your prospects, live in a rented apartment for a few years and save up enough for everything you need. If you do not want to wait a couple of years, find an expense calculator online that will help you figure out how much you can put aside monthly, and live for a few months under the proposed conditions.
4. Choose an apartment in a good area
Very unexpected advice, isn't it?Of course, your first impulse will be to look for options near the metro, shopping centers and other amenities within walking distance. Now ask yourself: is there a good school, kindergarten, clinic in the chosen area? Because if you ever want to change the city or even the country, then when selling the apartment, the arguments given can positively affect its cost. Think about it.
5. Talk to the seller
Even if only yours is involved in the negotiationsagent, take the time to talk to a person who knows almost everything about your future home. Of course, they are unlikely to tell you any terrible secrets about the music lover and night owl downstairs and the constantly leaking pipes of the neighbor upstairs. But they will tell you long and enthusiastically about the local infrastructure, shops, clubs, schools and inconspicuous but very useful places.
6. Hire a contractor before purchasing
When the apartment is found and its originalthe price has been agreed upon, it is time to begin constructive bargaining. Find an experienced builder who can inspect the house for various defects, breakdowns and other weak points. Then find a specialist who can estimate the cost of repair work and fixing all the problems. After that, continue the negotiations using new arguments.
7. Don't be afraid to leave
Unfortunately, there are negotiators in the world,unable to compromise. If the price does not suit you, and the seller is not going to make fair concessions, leave. Yes, you have already fallen in love with the area and started fantasizing about the future interior, but happiness will not happen if you agree to pay more than it is worth. You will always regret it, and the thought “I should have insisted on my own” will visit you at every opportunity. Sometimes your refusal to deal can make the seller think and make concessions. In any case, the last word should be yours.
8. Don't rush with repairs
Of course, burst into a new apartment with a brushat the ready is very tempting. You have probably already dreamed about the new furnishings, you have looked at the kitchen set and know exactly how to arrange the bed in the bedroom. But wait. In order to understand what a new apartment needs, you need to live in it. Take a closer look, for example, at how the lighting changes during the day, and with it, the furnishings. And soon you will discover a lot of subtleties that you had no idea about before.
9. Save up for repairs
And not only for repairs:Unforeseen circumstances are a common occurrence for new homeowners. Once you decide to buy your own home, start saving money: it will never hurt to have it.
apartmenttherapy.com, remodelista.com, freshome.com
