You do not buy a house or apartment every day. If you have found an interesting property, it is worthwhile for you to prepare well for the contract negotiations. We will give you 5 tips on how to succeed in buying a house Houston house buyers.

The seller has set a selling price. He wants to take as much as possible for the house or apartment, you want to pay for it as little as possible. The truth is, as so often, somewhere in between. For the price negotiations, you need good arguments, which is why you want to pay less. The preparation will cost you some time and money, but is guaranteed to pay off. If you want to buy a property for one million francs and you can trade the purchase price down five percent, you save 50,000 francs. At an 80 percent loan and a three percent mortgage rate, this is mortgage interest for two years.

1. Well informed is half won

First, get a market overview. Compare the house or apartment with similar nearby properties advertised in the newspaper or online. Ask at the Building Department or at local real estate agents about the average square meter prices and talk to neighbors. They often know how many comparable houses or apartments have been sold in the neighborhood.

2. Take a close look at the property

Usefully with an appraiser, who appreciates the possible remediation effort and in turn proposes a fair price. If this is below the selling price, name your arguments. Reasons for a discount may be moisture in the basement or in the rooms, road or aircraft noise in the vicinity or poor insulation of the facade.

3. Do not buy under pressure

Now the negotiations can begin. The most important tip: Take your time and do not let yourself be rushed to a decision. A broker’s wisdom puts it in a nutshell: “A home purchase that has not been done is at best regretted for a week at most, a carelessly bought house for a lifetime.”

4. Negotiate depending on the negotiating position

Try to find out the negotiating position of the seller. How does he react when you list your arguments for a discount? If he dodges, there may be other prospects. But if he meets you without long discussions, you are in a better position. He probably has to sell because he needs the money or the object is (too) long on the market.

If the seller does not want to meet you, or only slightly, you are dealing with tangible assets. For example, internals, the full oil tank or the acquisition of brokerage fees. Or offer him a faster payment of the purchase price and calculate his interest loss if he turns down your offer and the house or apartment remains even longer on the market. That’s fast a few thousand francs.

5. Put everything on a card

If you do not have good arguments for a discount, put everything on a card. Make the seller a non-negotiable and time-limited offer. If he answers, you have won something despite missing arguments. If he does not respond, you will lose little time and can look for another house or apartment.

Your own home is usually the largest purchase that is made in life. So, before you decide on a house, everything has to be right from mortgage lending to real estate. With our tips you avoid problems and mistakes on the way to your own home Houston house buyers.

Tip 1: Prepare your real estate financing

In the popular regions of Germany, we are currently on a seller’s market. Anyone who wants to sell a property is in a good position due to high demand and high property prices. On the other hand, this means for buyers that they have to be well prepared, because there are many more interested parties. The most important step is the preparation of real estate financing.

Use a household calculator to find out how much money is available to you on a monthly basis for the real estate loan.

Then use the budget calculator to calculate the maximum purchase price you can afford considering your equity.

Make a non-binding financing request to find out if a bank would grant you a mortgage loan in the desired amount.

Only when you know that you are getting a loan should you go for a real estate search. This saves you a lot of time and you know exactly which houses are suitable for you. You can tell the real estate agent or seller about your preparation, so that the seriousness of your purchase interest is substantiated and you may be preferred to other buyers.

Tip 2: Determine your requirements for a house

On the one hand you need to know how much house you can afford at the most, on the other hand you have to make clear what conditions your property has to fulfill. The following questions should be discussed before buying a house:

• Where would you like to live?
• How must the connection to bus and train be?
• Do you want to renovate and buy something old or should everything be ready for occupancy?
• How big should the property be?
• Do you need a large garden?
• Does house construction also come into question?

Tip 3: Search and find the right property

You know what you are looking for and how much money you can spend on your home. Now it’s up to the real estate search. Look on real estate portals and hire regional real estate agents to find a suitable property. Even when walking through your desired neighborhood, you can find properties for sale.

Tip 4: Check the location of the house

You have found a nice house that suits your ideas? First, take a close look at the situation. The dream house could turn out to be a failure if the situation does not fit your ideas or disadvantageous aspects such as noise pollution or poor access to public transport complicate later home sales.

Even if you may want to live in your house for life: Unforeseen events can make a sale necessary. With a house in a good location you are in case of a fall on the safe side. In addition, you can expect more value appreciation potential.

Tip 5: Check the house thoroughly

Since a property is an expensive purchase with great consequences on the one hand and on the other your new home in which you spend a lot of time, the house should be thoroughly checked before purchase. Inform yourself before acquiring a used property (mainly years of construction until about 1980) in general on the topics:

• Energy efficiency
• Humidity
• Mold
• Sponge
• Pollutants (PCB, wood preservatives, formaldehyde)
• Asbestos

Other important aspects are included in our House Purchase Checklist, which helps you identify major weaknesses in the home. This results in valuable clues for the possibly necessary remediation requirements and the associated cost planning.

The neighborhood of the house also plays an important role: address neighbors and get to know the people in your potential new neighborhood. If you discover that your immediate neighbors are offensive to you right away, then you should consider your buying considerations.

Tip 6: Request all important documents about the house

You like the location and the house has no serious damage? Then go into detail and ask the seller or broker for all important documents. These help to clarify outstanding issues and are sometimes also required for the financing request from the bank. This includes:

• Floor plans, site plans, construction documents (if available)
• At leasehold: lease
• Deed
• In case of community property (terraced house / condominium): declaration of division, certificate of secrecy, community order, distribution plan, minutes of recent owners’ meetings
• Energy certificate
• Possibly. Excerpt from the occupancy register (especially important for pipe stems)

Tip 7: Negotiate the best purchase price and make sure you finance

If you have found a property that you want to buy, financing and price must be fixed.

As a general rule, there is some room for negotiation in the estimated offer price. Of course, it depends on the location of the property. In popular regions with high demand is usually less time and room to play poker at the real estate price. Anyone who assumes that he is the only interested party can quietly give a little longer time to think and make a bolder bid.

To estimate the offer price, send the object’s exposé to your financial advisor, who will determine the market value and the mortgage lending value for you from the perspective of the bank. Furthermore, you can inform yourself in our guide with real estate price mirror on the local square meter prices. Also, an online search with comparison objects makes sense to check the purchase price.

It is important that as soon as you want to buy, the financing is provided. Only when you hold a financing commitment of the bank in hand, the notary appointment can be arranged. Gather all the important documents for financing at an early stage. Under checklist documents you will find out what you need.

Tip 8: Familiarize yourself with the bureaucracy

The moment you have decided on a house, the bureaucratic act of buying a home begins. So that you do not have to deal with completely new terms and processes, it is worthwhile to inform yourself in advance about the course of a home purchase. On our home purchase page, you will learn how the purchase of real estate is progressing step by step.

Tip 9: Read the purchase agreement carefully

If you have agreed with the seller on the purchase price and is the financing in dry cloths, the notary appointed by you or the seller sets up the purchase contract. This should be available to you at least two weeks before the notary’s appointment, so that you can examine it in peace. In addition to the usual information about the property and the handover, the following should also be listed in the purchase contract for the house:

Information on fixtures that are sold with (e.g. fitted kitchen, garage, fireplace, awnings)

Assurance by the seller that he is not aware of any contaminated sites, such as pollutants, that are not mentioned in the purchase contract.

Tip 10: Pay attention to the contractual handover

The notarial contract regulates when the transfer takes place and which parts of the house are transferred to the buyer. Make sure that all agreements are met. It is therefore best to make a settlement with the purchase contract before the appointment, which fixtures you take over. The following documents should also be handed out to you on the day of the transfer:

• All keys (also for cellar etc.)
• Housing insurance documents (this will be sent to you first)
• Documents on building services such as maintenance contracts, operating instructions (boiler, etc.)
• Documents about other installations or equipment that you have taken over.