What you need to pay attention to when buying an apartment, how to choose

May 9, 2020 GetHom expert 29,182

In each of the articles, we try to convey to you some of the knowledge and experience that we have accumulated when working with real estate. GetHom has both a legal department, which actively works in the secondary market, and a sales department for new buildings. In this article we will look at what you need to know when buying an apartment in a new building and on the secondary market in 2020.

How to check documents before purchasing, what to look for and what questions to ask the seller. How to properly organize a transaction and what is the procedure for purchasing and registering an apartment. All the most important information in a condensed form so that you can have an idea of where to start and how best to proceed.

Some of the information has already been disclosed in the articles on our blog, so if you still have questions, you can find the answers to them in similar materials. You could write a book on the topic of what you need to know when buying an apartment, this area is so vast. Let's start with the most important knowledge when buying an apartment.

The most important thing to know when buying an apartment

The most important thing when buying any real estate is the documents. Whether you are buying a new building or an apartment on the secondary market, the documents are the first thing you should pay attention to. An apartment on the secondary market means the right to own and dispose of property. An apartment from the developer before the house is commissioned is the developer’s promise to give you ownership rights after the house is put into operation.

It makes no difference where the property is located and what its value is if there are problems with the documents. This could be an apartment in the city center for 10 thousand dollars. But what difference does it make if you cannot live there due to problems with documents? Therefore, first of all, apply and check the documents and only then should you evaluate everything else and think about carrying out the transaction.

What happens if you don’t know about the documents and buy an apartment with emotions?

We agree that sometimes emotions prevail over reason and calculation. Some people find it difficult to think about documents when they like the price, the location, the view from the windows, and even the seller himself. But what happens if you buy an apartment with problematic documents? Let's tell you using a real example, which has been replicated recently on Odessa news resources.

On January 11, 2020, investigators from the prosecutor's office reported suspicions to a fraudster who, using a forged power of attorney from the owner, sold an 8-room apartment in the center of Odessa on Deribasovskaya. The cost of the mistake for the buyer was almost 3 million hryvnia or 105 thousand dollars.

And now it doesn’t matter how many rooms there were or where the apartment is located. There will be a trial in this case and in the end, most likely, the fraudster will have no property and no money either. She has already divided the total earnings with her accomplices. The buyer will most likely lose the entire amount paid for the purchase.

The transfer of ownership was formalized by a notary, and realtors were most likely present in the transaction. And as you can see from the case materials, the buyer was still left without money and without an apartment, because he could not use it - it was the property of the previous owner.

Who is to blame for the current situation with the apartment?

The perpetrators will be determined by the court, but this is, of course, a fraudster or a group of people who organized such a fraud. They face up to 12 years in prison. And all the people associated with the transaction, including the buyer himself, can be considered guilty. It is worth looking for mistakes first of all in yourself. Trust is a useful thing, but the intermediaries could have a share because they were simply selling the apartment and were interested in the transaction in order to receive their commission.

The buyer simply did not have the knowledge that scams on the secondary and primary markets in Ukraine are not uncommon and it is worth checking the documents before purchasing. But things happen in life and no one is perfect. All comes with experience. It turned out to be a very expensive experience.

A notary, if he was not among the fraudster’s accomplices, cannot be directly accused. According to Article 27 of the Law of Ukraine “On Notaries”, a notary is not liable if he is provided with knowingly false data. These may be forged, invalid documents, false information, false evidence regarding persons whose rights and interests may be infringed - children, spouses, relatives.

His task was to carry out the transaction and simply formalize the transfer of ownership, which, as we see, is what happened. And then, if such situations arise, the apartment is simply seized and further actions are determined by the court. According to statistics for 2019, every 10 apartment in Ukraine is a risky investment. But people still fall into the hands of scammers because they don’t care about their documents.

Other significant parameters

Before buying an apartment, you should evaluate some other important points:

the area where the house is being built, as it must have developed infrastructure and transport accessibility;
the floor on which the apartment is located, and usually the most affordable premises are those located on the first or last floor;
the presence of centralized or autonomous heating, and developers often install heating boilers in each apartment, which allows property owners to independently regulate the heating of the premises;
if a family with children purchases housing, then the availability of playgrounds, kindergartens and schools must be taken into account so that there are no difficulties with the development of the children;
the material for building a house is assessed, with apartments in brick buildings considered the most popular, but properties in panel houses are available;
the number of rooms is selected depending on the number of family members;
the layout of the premises is taken into account, which should be convenient for residents.

If you know what to look for when buying an apartment from a developer, you can get truly comfortable housing at an affordable price. At the same time, you can be sure that the developer will not declare himself bankrupt or use various fraudulent schemes to deceive shareholders.

What you need to understand before buying an apartment

You must clearly understand for yourself that only you are responsible and responsible for all your actions. It depends only on you what kind of apartment you buy and what people you trust. But you have to trust, because we all deal with people. You cannot have all the knowledge in every area.

Not all people are good, not all are bad, but if everything is checked sufficiently, the risks can be minimized. Avoid money loss and fraud.

It is important to understand that a realtor is only a seller of goods. The notary formalizes the transaction and certifies the transfer of ownership. If you contact real estate lawyers, they will assess the risks and help you avoid them. The real estate seller himself is no less important. It is important to evaluate the seller and his reputation if it is a developer.

Someone wants to make money from you, someone wants to help you, someone is just trying to sell an apartment, and someone is a scammer and is thinking about how to deceive you. In the world of real estate, as in life, there are all types of personalities. Therefore, we advise you to contact people you can trust and who are on your side.

Your task is to identify them, or try to understand everything sufficiently on your own. In any case, it is better to have at least a minimal idea of the main points before purchasing an apartment. This way you will know what to do at each stage and who to consult.

What you need to know when buying an apartment in a new building

When buying an apartment in a new building, you need to know that you are not buying an apartment. You buy the right to receive it after putting the house into operation. But it’s not a fact that the house will be rented out and that everything will end well. It's like an investment in business. Reliable companies with reliable documents are more likely to sell the house. Companies that have not been on the market for a long time and have just started to engage in the construction business are less likely to complete a house.

It’s not for nothing that the buyer of an apartment on the primary market is called an investor. You invest your money in a real estate developer's business and expect everything to end well. It is important to understand that the developer and his sales department can also believe in this and assure you of this. But as in the case of secondary real estate, first of all you should pay attention to the documents and check them yourself, without taking the developer’s word for it. Because the delivery of the house may remain a promise.

What you need to check with the developer when buying an apartment in a new building

This is a list of what needs to be studied from the documents first:

Constituent documents of the developer company
Documents for the land plot
Permits for carrying out construction work
Urban planning conditions and restrictions
Technical conditions for connecting communications
Construction license
History of the property
Arrests, bans, mortgages on real estate
Litigation regarding the developer and related parties
Seller's debts and prohibitions on the sale of real estate
Check communication between the builder, contractor and developer
Type of contract with the buyer and its conditions
Legality of the sales scheme and terms of the transaction
Powers of the person who signed the contract with you

In addition, it is worth studying the reputation of the developer and how many houses he delivered, what the delivery deadlines were and how the house was delivered in general. All this is very important. Often, even large and reliable companies do not have all the permits and expect to receive them during the construction process.

But this is a big risk, because if there is a change in the leadership of the authority issuing permits or with any change of government, difficulties may arise with this and construction will simply stop. Therefore, it is worth checking the documents with any developer during each new construction.

What you need to know when buying an apartment on the secondary market

If you buy from a developer the right to receive an apartment after the house is delivered, then on the secondary market you immediately buy ownership. It seems that there are fewer risks here, but this is only at first glance. Yes, the house has already been built and put into operation a long time ago, but there may be no less problems with documents. And if in new buildings the house may not be completed, then in secondary real estate there is a risk that the deal will be declared invalid by a court decision.

As in the example above with fraud, the seller will be required to return the money, but according to Ukrainian laws this can happen for decades. It is important to be able to correctly assess and identify risks when purchasing. They often arise as a result of the actions of the seller and related parties. There are risks that are critical and others that are not significant.

What you need to know when buying an apartment on the secondary market

The main things to check when buying an apartment on the secondary market:

Title documents for the apartment
Owners of the apartment and the right to sell the property
Analyze the history of real estate acquisition
Associated persons with the owners of the apartment - relatives, spouses, children
Check for the presence of legal proceedings regarding the apartment and owners
Check the legality of the contractual scheme for the sale of real estate
Conduct a general analysis of the sale, the terms of the transaction and the words of the seller
Identify and analyze hidden risks
Assess risks not related to documents, but affecting the transaction

Mortgages, banks, courts, divorces, powers of attorney, fresh documents, terms of the transaction, intermediaries, notaries, seller's lawyers, relatives, heirs. Here you can list for a long time how many risks there are when purchasing secondary real estate. There are apartments with clean documents and your task is to find and purchase just such a property.

We draw up a purchase and sale agreement

The first thing you need to know when buying a home is the transaction price. To avoid taxes to the federal budget, it is often underestimated within one million rubles. with the real cost of housing being 4-5 million rubles. As a result, the buyer is deprived of the tax deduction for which he could claim in accordance with the law. If there is a receipt or other evidence, a criminal case may be initiated against the parties, and the transaction may be declared invalid.

A contract can be canceled for many reasons (incapacity of the parties, problems with documents, minors). In this case, the seller returns to the buyer the amount specified in the contract - a serious temptation for a dishonest owner.

If the seller assures that the home is not encumbered with collateral or other obligations, this does not guarantee that the buyer will not have to pay debts to the lender. To check this information, an extract from Rosreestr about the absence of an encumbrance must be issued before the transaction itself.

If it is drawn up through a real estate agency, it is necessary to demand that the agreement is not concluded on the selection of a buyer for the apartment, but that the transaction is carried out on a turnkey basis, with full legal support. In this case, if realtors make mistakes, the agency can be brought in as a co-defendant in the future.

If the certificate from passport officers at the conclusion of the transaction indicates registered persons, request that the date on which these persons will be deregistered be indicated in the contract. Otherwise, provide for a large (100-200 thousand rubles) penalty against the seller.

A few words about concluding preliminary agreements. This document is a weak form of bill of sale, since the main agreement is subject to registration, but the preliminary agreement is not. And in court you will have to spend a lot of effort to conclude the main agreement. Engage two independent lawyers to draw up an agreement, specify penalties in the preliminary document if the conditions for drawing up the main agreement are not met.

Everyone who signs must read the agreement in the presence of the other party. This fact must be recorded in the contract so that subsequently no one can refer to poor eyesight or another disease that prevents understanding the essence of the document and challenge the deal in court. Since January 2020, it is not necessary to register a purchase and sale transaction, but the procedure for registering the right to own an apartment in Rosreestr is mandatory.

The main stages of the transaction procedure include:

Preparation of the necessary title documents (sale agreement, donation agreement, exchange agreement, inheritance will, certificate from the Unified State Register of Real Estate).
Receive an extract from the house register (free of charge, on the day of application).
Registration of a certificate of absence of utility debt.
Drawing up a written consent of the seller’s spouse for the sale, certified by a notary (if the housing was purchased by the owner before marriage, received by inheritance or as a gift, permission is not required).
Obtaining permission from the guardianship authorities (if there are minor children).
Registration of a certificate from the Unified State Register of Real Estate about the absence of encumbrances on housing.
Drawing up a purchase and sale agreement indicating the exact address of the property, residential and total area, price and other parameters.
Submitting a set of papers to Rosreestr (in person or through the MFC).
Payment of state duty (2 thousand rubles).
Receive ready documents after registration within up to 9 days.

The state registration extract is handed out personally to the new owner or sent electronically. From the moment the rights of the new owner are registered, the buyer receives the status of a property tax payer.

The process of concluding a real estate transaction is regulated by the civil and tax codes of the Russian Federation, as well as the federal laws “On participation in shared construction”, “On maternity capital”, “On state registration of real estate”. The latest Federal Law, which united the Unified State Register and the State Tax Register into the Unified State Register of Taxes, simplifies the procedure for state registration of such transactions. The legislation of the Russian Federation provides for a maximum limitation period in the event of a sale and purchase transaction being declared invalid - 3 years.

If the living space is not registered in the Unified State Register (objects of the old housing stock), this means its absolute legal purity, since no transactions with the object were carried out after privatization. For complete guarantee, you can submit an application to the department to confirm the owner's ownership rights.

Advice from a lawyer on what you need to know when buying an apartment

Purchasing an apartment is one of the most significant investments, so you need to take the deal seriously. The biggest danger for a home buyer is himself, or rather, his incompetent actions due to lack of sufficient experience. Think through all the nuances: the content of the contract, the process and method of payment for the purchase, the correct execution of receipts, control of the transfer of ownership of the premises.

Do not hesitate to ask the seller to provide documents to verify their authenticity. You cannot deal with copies, even if they are notarized. This is the only way to be sure of the legal purity of the apartment and the transaction, and, therefore, the absence of problems with housing in the future.

If you don’t have the strength to carry out all the actions, you can contact a reputable real estate agency. Experienced specialists will save your time and, ultimately, money.

How to check an apartment or developer before buying

You need a real estate lawyer to review the documents of a resale property or developer. We advise you not to trust people who only pretend to check documents and have little understanding of this. Realtors may know the area and price levels well, but legal issues are not their area of expertise. A lawyer who graduated from law school is also not always the best choice. Specialization in a specific area is important. There are family law lawyers, there are corporate lawyers, and there are real estate lawyers.

Our GetHom legal department specializes in document verification and risk analysis when purchasing real estate. You can contact our lawyers. It's not expensive and reliable.

Article on the topic: Checking real estate, apartments, developers. GetHom real estate lawyers

In any case, when buying real estate, it is better to start by obtaining a minimum set of knowledge and engaging a real estate lawyer to check the documents. In this case, the risk of buying distressed real estate tends to zero. Based on experience, a lawyer will immediately help you weed out problematic real estate and suggest a reliable option.

Buyer's actions when buying an apartment

When purchasing any real estate, there are three stages:

Search for apartments and best offers
Apartment viewings, inspections and negotiations
Registration and purchase

Search for an apartment and seller

This is a relatively safe stage. We advise you to look for real estate on independent websites where all offers are presented. This way you can have a rough idea of the prices and compare different options in advance. There is a lot of information garbage from intermediaries regarding secondary real estate and new buildings. We described options for deception in a separate article.

Related article: How realtors deceive

When you understand what you want and how much it costs, you can move on to the next steps. If you are looking for an offer on the secondary market, then select 5-10 offers that you would like to see. If on the primary market, then decide on several developers from whom you would like to buy an apartment.

Apartment viewings, inspections and negotiations

There are different versions of how it is more profitable to buy an apartment. We all want to save money and be safe. With experience, we have come to options that allow us to obtain more favorable conditions for the client than when he contacts the seller or developer directly.

Sometimes it is more profitable to come to a developer or seller with a market participant if it turns out to be more profitable and they offer you additional benefits. On the condition that they do not take a commission from you or help reduce it. Like we do at GetHom. Below is an article on the topic of new buildings. For secondary real estate, we help reduce costs.

Related article: Why it is profitable to buy a new building through the GetHom sales department

Should I contact regular real estate agencies and intermediaries who ask for an additional commission on the price? It is your right. But this does not remove any risks of the purchase. This is simply a selection of options and an apartment seller who will charge you up to 5% of the cost in addition to the price of the apartment.

Verification of documents

Whether you are buying an apartment on the primary market or on the secondary market, in any case it is better to engage a specialized lawyer to check the documents. This may not always be in person, but a remote inspection is possible. This turns out to be more profitable and faster. If you are buying an apartment on the secondary market, then hire a lawyer to accompany your purchase and help you choose an apartment.

If you are buying an apartment from a developer, then order a verification of the documents of the required developers whom you have previously selected. After the lawyers’ conclusions, make a choice about who will be safer to buy an apartment from and where your money will be more protected. This is the most correct option. This way you eliminate significant risks and simply choose an apartment based on location, layout and other characteristics. The documents should have already been verified by this time.

Negotiations with the seller

At this stage, your task is to obtain the most favorable conditions for the transaction. To do this, you need to understand what conditions are possible, what rules exist in the market and where you can save money. In the secondary market, these are the terms of re-registration and the commission of possible intermediaries of the seller. You can and should save money on this.

When purchasing an apartment from a developer, these are the conditions for installment plans and stage-by-stage payment. These are small details that can save you thousands of dollars if you know how to ask for it and if it's possible. Try to communicate and negotiate if you do everything on your own.

At GetHom, we build our work on the principle that a real estate lawyer deals with documents and checks them, and a GetHom consultant helps negotiate the best terms because he knows the market well. We can provide you with remote legal support in any city in Ukraine. You can contact us, but you can find someone on your own.

Registration and purchase of an apartment

If you have ordered the services of a lawyer in your city, or contacted our company, the lawyer will help you at all stages. For those who decide to go the route on their own, you need to figure out how the transaction is generally carried out and what documents will need to be signed.

In the secondary market, ownership is transferred from the seller to you. This is done by a notary. For this, you only need a passport, identification code, to whom the purchase will be made and money. The seller's ownership may vary. Main types:

Purchase and sale
Mena
Inheritance contract
Donation agreement
Donation
Rent
Lifetime maintenance
Privatization
The court's decision

The notary will formalize the transfer of ownership and issue you a certificate. It is important to choose your own notary and not agree to the seller’s offers to complete the transaction with his authorized representative. This way you will reduce risks and the transaction will be more secure.

The seller’s notary may be a fraud, but if you have checked the documents with a lawyer and he is present in the transaction, then this scenario is unlikely, because the documents are in perfect order and the lawyer will tell you who to contact.

What you need to know about paperwork when buying an apartment from a developer

Each developer has its own type of contract and scheme for selling real estate. Everyone’s agreements are different and you need to carefully read the agreement and study the real estate investment scheme. The main types used by developers:

Preliminary purchase and sale agreement
Investment agreement
Contract for the sale and purchase of property rights
Joining a housing cooperative or housing construction cooperative
Assignment agreement
Construction Financing Fund or FSF

Some contracts can be registered by a notary, while others you simply sign at the developer’s office. There, at the construction company’s office, you pay the money into the cash register and thus invest in real estate. To purchase, you only need a passport and a code.

After putting the house into operation, you will sign the transfer and acceptance certificate and the developer will issue documents to register ownership. But for this, the house must be completed and delivered. After depositing money into the cash register and signing the contract, you simply wait for the house to be delivered.

And some practical recommendations when buying a car

It is more profitable to purchase a car between December and March. At this time, the maximum number of discounts is available in the showrooms, and there are fewer buyers for used cars, so the prices for them will be more favorable; in extreme cases, you can bargain well.
If you prefer to calmly view the car in the showroom without intrusive communication with managers, then visit the car dealership closer to closing.
Bargain. Even if you buy a car at a dealership, try to negotiate for a discount. The competition among car dealerships is quite high, so the trick of having a cheaper offer from another dealership works quite often. If you are buying a used car, then remember that the seller’s price is most often indicative and it contains the opportunity to reduce prices for a specific buyer. You can save tens of thousands of rubles.
Be careful when applying for a loan directly at the car dealership. Often they offer conditions that are quite unfavorable for buyers. Therefore, it is better to study the offer for a car loan from third-party banks, and then make your final decision. It’s better to do this before you go to the car dealership, so you will be aware of the situation with car loans and will not fall for the tricks of the car dealership employees.

I hope these tips and tricks will help you purchase a comfortable, reliable first car. Good luck on the roads!

What to look for when buying an apartment

As you already figured out, first of all we look and check the documents and only after that we begin to study prices, layouts, the apartment itself and the view from the windows. Some buyers on the secondary market come into an apartment and the first thing they look at is the tiles in the bathroom or the laminate flooring. If you work with a lawyer, then you can do this because he will check the documents and you can look at what is important to you in choosing real estate.

But if you come to the apartment on your own, then first of all study the documents and only after that proceed to the other stages of viewing the apartment, negotiations and the main transaction.

Scheme of work of intermediaries

On the secondary market we often come across a situation where intermediaries say - give us an advance for an apartment, and we will do all the paperwork, because now not everything is in order, but we will resolve the issue. You shouldn't get involved in such adventures, because it will probably just be a loss of money. There are many normal options with clean documents and it is better to buy an apartment from reliable sellers.

Before checking and studying the documents, do not sign any papers and do not give your money to anyone. It might just end up being a gift of an advance to the scammers. Or simply buying a problematic apartment that you don’t need.

Choosing an apartment

Perhaps the choice of housing is one of the most time-consuming stages. After all, it is quite difficult to find an option that would perfectly suit a specific person. You should not rush in this matter, as you need to carefully familiarize yourself with all the available options, so that you can then choose the one that will not disappoint in the future. After all, you will probably have to live in an apartment for more than one decade. Therefore, the choice must be taken very seriously.

You can search for options, for example, on the Internet on special sites. Or you can contact a real estate agency to make the task easier. In any case, when you like something, you will need to carefully inspect the living space. This should only be done during the daytime, when all the flaws are clearly visible. If the seller offers to meet when it gets dark, then this should alert you.

It is necessary to check the integrity of the walls, floor, and ceiling. Make sure there is no mold or leaks. But the interior is not so important, because you are buying walls, not furniture. You can arrange the rooms to your taste, the main thing is that the layout suits you.

It is worth paying attention to both the neighbors and the location of the house. After all, it should be comfortable in all plans, so that later you don’t have to look for a new home. Once the object has been selected, it will be necessary to take care of the technical side of the issue. In order for the purchase of an apartment to be successful, you must check the documents.