When you're buying a home, there are many emotions involved and it's also a big financial decision to make. This guide to buying a home helps you get an overview and provides tips and tricks for the housing market.
You can also read our guide on the process of buying a home so you know exactly what happens and when.
There are many things to consider and decide when buying a new home. Either you're a first-time buyer or you've done it before.
No matter how many times you've tried to buy a home, no one becomes an expert in an area that we only personally come into contact with a few times in our lives. Legislation and practices change from time to time, and the market and the relationship between buyers and sellers depends on economic cycles, interest rate fluctuations and social trends.
Buying a home is many things, but it involves the purchase of a house, holiday home, condominium, cooperative housing, abandoned country house, parental purchase, etc.
There can be many reasons why you start looking for a new home. It could be that your life situation has changed, you're moving to another part of the country, you're buying a holiday home next to your year-round home, etc. It could also be that you've simply outgrown the old one and need a change of scenery, to try something new.
Whatever the reason, the natural reaction for most people will be to start looking on Boligsiden.dk, Boliga.dk or on real estate agents' websites to get an overview of the supply and price levels. These sites are a good place to start, as you can find all homes for sale on the housing market. Which portal you prefer is a matter of temperament, taste and habit. They do more or less the same thing.
Before you get too engrossed in browsing home listings, it's a good idea to contact your bank to get an indication of how much you can borrow to buy a home.
A lot is happening with the economy and therefore it is necessary for you to clarify with the bank how much you can borrow in the current market. Your bank always assumes that your financing will be completed with the current lowest fixed-rate loan with installments.
If you already own a home that you need to sell when you buy your new home, the bank will also take this into account and include the expected proceeds from the sale of your current home.
It's a good idea to start by making a budget of your finances. The budget is the first thing the bank will ask for from you. You can find tips and tricks for creating a budget for your house purchase.
The bank will also see your last 3 payslips, your annual statement and an overview of your pensions. You can download a report of your pensions at pensionsinfo.dk (You must log in with NemId/MitId). If there are several of you buying a home, the bank will of course want to see the information from both of you.
Once the bank advisor has assessed the situation, you will receive an indicative loan commitment indicating the price range in which you can buy a home. There is no exact formula for how this is calculated, but you can expect to have a maximum debt factor of 3.5 - 4.5 (debt factor is how much you can borrow in relation to your household income. Remember that car loans etc. are also counted).
In this phase of the home buying process, you should focus on what your new home should contain, how it should be built, the architecture, the land and the location. You can probably think of many other wishes or reasons for choosing a home.
However, it's important that you try to narrow down what is most important to you. There will be some things that are absolute requirements, others you can live with if other things are met and some that are “nice to have”. Keep in mind that finances are often a limiting factor too.
You should sit down and formulate the most important 4-5 criteria you want to meet when buying a new home. If you're buying a home together, take the time to establish what your common criteria are for your new home. It's important that you align your expectations so that you buy the right home for you.
There are many ways to search for the right home. We recommend that you do what suits you best. You can either search via Boligsiden, Boliga or via real estate agents' websites. On these portals, you can filter your search to find homes that match your requirements. A good tip is to start broad and see what comes up. Then try to narrow down the results by using filters.
A completely different approach is to contact the local real estate agents in the area you're looking for a home in. Talk to them about your wishes and requirements for your future home. This way, they'll contact you when something comes up for sale that matches your criteria.
The real estate agent may also have a property for sale in a so-called “drawer sale” that suits your wishes. When the seller and real estate agent choose to put the property up for sale in this way, it is not advertised publicly, so it is important to contact local real estate agents to find out about the properties in the “drawer”.
Once you've found one or more homes that meet your requirements, it's time to come out and see the home(s) in person. You can either book a viewing by contacting the seller's real estate agent or by attending an open house.
I recommend that you set aside time for a viewing where only you and the real estate agent are present. At the viewing, you'll have the opportunity to have a thorough look at the property and get answers to any questions you may have about the property. Of course, you'll also have the opportunity to have your own building expert come along and assess the house's defects and damage.
Open houses are often hectic, and in some cases there are many other interested parties. When there are several interested home buyers at an open house, it's easy to get the impression that the home is more desirable and interesting than it really is. The real estate agent plays on this, as they want you as a buyer to feel pressured to bid faster and more than you had planned.
The seller's real estate agent often uses the opportunity to gather several interested home buyers at the same time. The idea behind this is that you unconsciously raise your threshold for what you think the property is worth and thus what you are willing to pay for it. So be realistic about what you think the home is worth to you before you go to open houses.
Once you've been through the above process and you've found a home you can see yourself in, it's time to get professional help with the process. Today, you can get expert assistance to complete the deal on the best possible terms.
The experienced buyer advisors (usually real estate agents) on the market today can help you with the process of buying your dream home. Find out more about what a buyer advisor can offer in our guide entitled “What is a buyer advisor”. You can also read: “Why you need a buyer advisor”.
A buyer advisor can help you with many things. It can be negotiating the price and, not least, the terms of the deal. Your advisor will look after your interests and ensure that you get the best possible deal. If you have a professional advisor who is experienced in home buying, you are much more likely to get significantly better terms than if you negotiate the deal yourself. Remember that your advisor has no emotional involvement in the home purchase, so we can keep a cool head.
Where you get the most value from your buyer advisor is before you sign a purchase agreement. Most buyer advisors offer to negotiate the price for you. As a professional negotiator, I can often get a solid discount compared to the asking price.
Contact Nicolai Vinum for a no-obligation conversation about what I can help you with. Find out more about the cities where I've already helped buyers find their dream home.
The purchase agreement is the agreement between the seller of the property and you as the buyer of the property. It is the seller's real estate agent who prepares the purchase agreement and ensures that the parties sign the agreement. As a buyer, it's important to make sure that your buyer's advisor's approval of the purchase agreement has been reserved. The real estate agent should have written this in section 11.
In the past, the buyer and seller would meet at the real estate agent's office and the parties would put their signatures on the purchase agreement. Today, most real estate agents sign the purchase agreement digitally. As a buyer, this is free of charge, as long as you have ensured that a reservation has been inserted for your advisor's approval of the agreement.
I offer a free and non-binding screening of the purchase agreement before purchase. Simply send me the purchase agreement via this form. I will then clarify whether it is OK for you to sign the purchase agreement. I usually get back to you within 2 hours.
If you and your buyer advisor have agreed with the seller on the price and terms for buying the property, a purchase agreement must be drawn up. If your buyer advisor has negotiated the price and terms on your behalf, he or she will be the one to make arrangements with the seller's real estate agent about signing the purchase agreement. If you have negotiated terms with the seller's real estate agent yourself, it is the real estate agent with whom you must agree the signing of the purchase agreement.
Once the purchase agreement is signed by both parties, the property is yours. So it's important that this happens as soon as possible, as the seller's real estate agent must (by law) continue the sales process until there is a signed purchase agreement. You should therefore push to get the seller's signature as soon as possible so that you don't risk the property being sold to another party.
Once both you and the seller have signed, your statutory withdrawal period starts The withdrawal period is 6 business days after both parties have signed the purchase agreement. Cancellation of a house purchase costs 1% of the purchase price as a penalty to the seller. You can read more about canceling a home purchase.
The real estate agent often sets a deadline of a number of business days for the buyer's advisor and bank's approval. We believe that this deadline should not be shorter than 6 business days, because it is important that your buyer's advisor has time to review the deal documents and time to meet and explain the content to you. It's also important that you can go through the financials with the bank so you know how the home purchase will affect your finances in the future.
Once your buyer advisor has received the signed purchase agreement and all the purchase documents, you will need to have a meeting where you will be advised about the transaction. The buyer advisor will go through the property with you and answer any questions you are unsure about. It may be that the seller's real estate agent has “forgotten” to tell you important facts about the property, there may be discrepancies in the material or there may be terms in the purchase agreement that are not fair to you as a buyer.
Your buyer advisor is a professional and should be able to explain what you should be aware of about the property.
The buyer advisor's advice to you as a buyer results in you agreeing together whether the property should be purchased on the existing contract terms or whether it is necessary to change them. Your buyer advisor provides highly specialized legal advice based on many years of experience and specialized training in the field. Therefore, it is important that you do not in any way attempt to do this work yourself.
This letter your buyer's advisor prepares and sends to the seller's real estate agent is called the approval letter. The approval letter describes what terms you want changed or added to the deal before the deal can be declared final.
Just as your buyer's advisor must approve the deal, your bank must also approve the deal. Your bank will usually invite you to a meeting to go over the home's finances in relation to the budget you have for your expenses. The bank may also want an appraiser to come out and assess the value of the property before the bank can make a final commitment on the financing.
The deal is final when your buyer advisor's approval letter with any reservations is accepted by the seller and when your bank has committed to financing. Once the deal is final, neither you nor the seller will be able to walk away from the deal. You have now finally bought the property and will be notified of this, either by the seller's real estate agent or by your buyer advisor.
The next step in the home buying process is to draw up a title deed. The deed is drawn up based on the agreements in the purchase agreement. The deed must be registered in order for the property to change ownership. The seller's real estate agent is usually responsible for preparing and registering the deed. Today, this is done digitally, so you will be asked to log in to tinglysning.dk with your MitID to sign. You will receive information about this from your buyer advisor.
At the same time as you sign the deed, you must also pay the registration fee to the seller's real estate agent. There are no rules in this area, but it is usually agreed that the seller pays for the deed to be drawn up and the buyer pays for the registration of the deed. The registration fee is calculated in the sales statement under cash requirements.
Once the registration of the deed is complete, you are officially the owner of your new home.
Before you get the keys to your new home, there are a few things to remember (and don't worry, your buyer advisor will remind you).
As the buyer, you take over the risk of the property on the transfer date or on the disposition date if this is earlier than the transfer date. It is therefore important that you take out home insurance before you get the keys to the house.
Homeowner's insurance covers against hidden defects and deficiencies in the property. It is up to the seller to decide whether to use the HE scheme. If the seller has chosen to use the scheme, you will have received a condition report and an electrical installation report before you bought the house. We always recommend taking out owner change insurance when buying real estate. This insurance protects you against high costs in the event of defects and deficiencies in the property.
As a buyer, you must ensure that you notify the utility companies you wish to use of the move-in and meter readings. Otherwise, you will be supplied by the utility companies.
Unless you agree otherwise with the seller's real estate agent or the seller, you will receive the keys to the house at 12:00 on the day of takeover. However, you can contact the seller's real estate agent well in advance to see if you can arrange another time. Remember, however, that you must have taken out insurance and selected utilities before you receive the keys.
Once you've been handed the keys, the house is yours and the responsibility for the house is also yours. So if something breaks, it's your responsibility. It's also your responsibility to maintain the house.
On the day of the handover, it's also a good idea to check if the appliances that came with the house are working. Test them and let us know as soon as possible if they don't work. You took over the risk of the house on the day of takeover at 12:00 (unless otherwise agreed) and you usually have 24 hours to complain about defective appliances.
After the takeover date, a refund statement must be prepared. The reimbursement statement is an overview of the expenses the parties have incurred on the property, which covers the other party's period of ownership. The principle is that each party pays for their own period of ownership.
When the refund balance is paid, the process of buying a new home is complete. All that's left is to enjoy the new home.
At hjælptilhuskøb.dk we can help you with everything related to home buying.
Contact me to find out what and how we can help you. You can also see the most common services we offer and the price of buyer advice.
Hjælp til huskøb is locally based in East Jutland near Horsens, but I help home buyers throughout Denmark.
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