Rely on professional help on the housing market

Set your sights on your dream home and have the moving boxes ready? It is easiest to begin the process of buying a new home by contacting a real estate agent.

Managing a housing deal is a major affair, so you should partner up with a professional. We recommend inviting a real estate agent over immediately when you start planning buying a new home. Long experience, solid professional skills and extensive knowledge of the local housing market provide the expertise for making a reliable estimate of the price of the flat. When the price estimate is made correctly, the plans for financing your new home will succeed and things will keep in schedule.

If you wish to sell your home by yourself, you not only have to take care of the pricing; you also need to acquire the required documents, prepare a sales advertisement, arrange showings, make the actual deal, and handle all the related duties, such as paying the asset transfer tax and handle the registration of the title to the property.

Get a loan promise ready

In order not to miss your chance to buy your dream home, we recommend negotiating with the bank about your loan amount well in advance of visiting flat showings. After you have found a suitable home, you can make an offer with a condition for the sale of your own home. The deal will then be cancelled if you are unable to sell your old home.
Depending on the housing type, you should also include items such as the asset transfer tax, maintenance charges, possible renovation costs and moving costs to the price of the home and the cost of living.

Information based on housing type

The seller is responsible for information which could affect the buyer's decision, even when a real estate agent is hired to assist, or a condition inspection of the property to be sold is commissioned. If, for example, the seller fails to mention a defect in the flat, he or she may later become liable for it.

The seller of an owner-occupied flat must be aware of the issues discussed at the shareholders' meeting, even if he or she was not present in the meeting. In the real estate trade, the seller has an extensive statutory obligation  to disclose information that applies not only to the building, but also the lot and area where the property is located.

The housing type also affects the buyer's obligations before and after the deal.

In addition to the flat, the buyer of an owner-occupied flat buys a share of the housing corporation, so it is important to familiarise oneself with the housing corporation's finances and its management of affairs as well as the flat itself and its condition. For example, if the building is several decades old, and no pipeline renovation has been done yet, one can usually be expected.

The owner of a detached house is responsible for the condition and repairs of his or her house, so the buyer should carefully go through the documents of the property, the condition of the house, and the lot and the surrounding area.

Checklist for a buyer of a share in a housing corporation

  • What are the flat's selling price and debt-free selling price?
  • Can you pay off your share of a possible housing corporation loan? If you can, when?
  • When does the flat become available?
  • What is the status of town planning in the residential area? How about transport connections?
  • What kind of limitations on the use or assignment of the flat are related to the share?
  • What kind of repairs and renovations are upcoming at the housing corporation?
  • What are the living costs of the flat?

Checklist for a buyer of a real estate property

  • Is the sale for a parcel or a subdivided lot?
  • Is the lot owned or leased?
  • Is there any unused building right?
  • What is the status of town planning in the area?
  • Is the property connected to the municipal water and sewer network?
  • What is the heating system like and what are its costs?
  • What easements and encumbrances does the property have?