How to buy an apartment and not regret it: expert advice

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Together with a real estate expert, we figured out what to consider when buying, why take it and how to act if there are minors among the owners.

What to look for when choosing a home

District infrastructure

The area should be self-sufficient so that most of the objects that you will regularly visit are, if not within walking distance, then at least one or two stops from your home. The minimum set is a supermarket (and preferably several at once, so as not to stand in lines), a pharmacy and a clinic. If the family already has or is expected to have children, there should also be a school and a kindergarten nearby. Look further according to your needs. Someone needs a fitness club not far from home, someone needs a jogging park or an equipped playground where you can walk and train your dog.

When examining an apartment, I advise you to act from general to specific. First, we look at the area (general), then the house and its surroundings, and only then the apartment (private). Find out what is in the neighborhood, if there is the necessary infrastructure and green places nearby. Make sure that there are no harmful industries in the neighborhood.

Infrastructure around secondary housing is often better than in new areas. If you buy a home in a new building, check how the area will develop. It is good if the developer took care of the comfort of the buyers and provided in the project not only shops on the first floors of houses, but also a school with a kindergarten within walking distance.

Avito has collected more about the sale of apartments from all over Russia - there are new buildings and secondary housing from the owners. Using filters, you can quickly find a convenient option: select the area of the city, the area of the apartment and the number of rooms, the type of house and the desired floor - only suitable offers will appear in the search results.

Look for ads labeled "Online Display": this means that the seller or owner is ready to take you on a tour of the apartment using a video link via a channel of your convenience - for example, Skype or WhatsApp. In addition, you can ask the owner of the property to demonstrate the state of the entrance, elevator, and adjoining territory.

Transport accessibility

When you have to get home with three transfers, it negates all the joy of the money saved and the successful layout of the apartment. Locations isolated from the main transport arteries may not be as attractive as the seller promised. Relatively speaking, if only one road leads to the area, get ready for regular traffic jams. In the morning and in the evening, it will be completely packed with cars.

Try commuting from your future home to work and back during peak hours, and see if public transport runs regularly. This is worth doing, even if you mainly travel by private car. Sometimes it's easier to save time and get home by bus than to get stuck in traffic. But keep in mind that in big cities, the chances of getting into a traffic jam are very high on surface public transport. In this case, focus on how quickly and conveniently you can get there by metro or train.

Finally, look at the area through the eyes of a permanent resident, not a guest. Is it easy to walk from the nearest bus stop and metro station to your home, or do you have to wade through a wasteland where there are no lanterns? Is there an organized parking or is the yard full of cars? All these are trifles, but they affect the comfort of living, so sometimes it is better not to save money and choose an option, albeit more expensive, but in a convenient area.

House condition

Do not limit yourself to inspecting the apartment and thoroughly study the entrance, the house and the surrounding area.

Alena Kvach

Examine the house from the outside, determine where the apartment is, and check for any damage to the walls. Look where the windows face, if there are catering facilities and round-the-clock establishments nearby, disturbing the peace.

Pay attention to the condition of the access roads and sidewalk - even if you have to maneuver between potholes in the warm season, in winter the road will turn into an obstacle course. See how the courtyard is arranged: are there benches and a place for sports, a playground.

Alena Kvach

It will not be superfluous to communicate with immediate neighbors from nearby apartments and see what contingent is the population of the house. Pay attention to the condition of the lift groups and elevators. If the house has a garbage chute, then you should check with the neighbors if there are insects and rodents, and also find out how the utilities and the HOA or the management company work.

Apartment condition

Do not get fooled by fresh repairs - faulty wiring, leaking pipes or illegal redevelopment can be hidden behind it. Inspect the apartment during daylight hours: this way you can appreciate the natural light and notice minor defects such as traces of leaks. By the way, it is better to choose options with windows to the south-west or south-east, if you want the rooms to be light during the day.

Alena Kvach

Inside the apartment, pay attention to possible leaks and redevelopments that violate the structural elements of the room. Check the flow of cold and hot water - in some homes this is an irreparable problem. I recommend looking at the receipts for utility bills and overhaul for several months. Some homeowners' associations include options such as video surveillance or security and cleaning in utilities. This results in a substantial amount of monthly installments.

If you are inspecting an apartment during the cold season, touch the batteries and run your hand along the walls that border the street - they should not breathe cold. Ventilation should be checked in the kitchen and bathroom. Attach a piece of paper to the vent - if it is attracted to the vent, then everything is in order.

Examine the windows and balcony. Please note that there are no streaks and traces of mold around the window openings, and there is no blowing from the cracks. Check if it is easy to open the frames completely and switch to ventilation mode. If the windows face a noisy street, make sure they are good at drowning out sounds from outside.

Look at the condition of the floor, walls, and ceiling. If there are strange stains and streaks on the ceiling, these are most likely the consequences of a flood. You can still negotiate with the neighbors from above, but when the apartment is on the top floor and the leaking roof is to blame, it will be more difficult to rectify the situation. Walk through the rooms and check that the floor does not creak or sag under your feet. Examine the corners - if you see gray spots on the wallpaper, it's mold. We'll have to take it out and make repairs again.

What to check before buying

Extract from the USRN

Without taking into account the information from the Unified State Register of Real Estate, you risk losing money if, for example, housing is sold without notifying one of the owners. An extract will help you find out how many owners the apartment actually has and what its characteristics are: this way you can find out the exact footage and compare the room with the technical plan - you never know, suddenly the owners arranged an uncoordinated redevelopment.

Alena Kvach

It is important to understand what an inconsistent redevelopment is. If it was carried out at the expense of internal partitions in the apartment, and the load-bearing walls are not affected, you need to order a new technical passport from the Bureau of Technical Inventory (BTI), which will confirm the integrity of the structural elements. When a house with a gas stove combines the kitchen with a room, the layout can only be legitimized by returning the kitchen to its original isolated appearance - for example, by restoring the doors and walls.

If wet zones have been transferred in the apartment, such changes cannot be legalized. In the future, this threatens with the fact that when selling a home on a mortgage, the appraiser of an independent appraisal company will refuse to approve the object. We'll have to wait for people who are ready to buy an apartment with redevelopment for cash. Because of this, the market value of the property is decreasing and the circle of buyers is narrowing - 80% of real estate transactions are carried out with the participation of mortgages.

An extract will also show whether the housing has any encumbrances. For example, real estate can be seized for debts or pledged to a bank. It will not work to buy such an apartment.

Avito protects the interests of sellers and buyers and ensures that transactions are fair and transparent. Before buying, you can check the property here: a report from the USRN and make sure that everything is in order with the apartment. The report will help you find out the cadastral value of the object, on the basis of which the property tax is calculated, will show the number of owners and the history of their change, as well as the presence of encumbrances - for example, a mortgage, an arrest or a lease agreement. All this will help reduce the risks when buying. For the buyer, the report costs 299 rubles.

For sellers, the issuance of an extract will be free, all costs are covered by Avito. Personal data in the report is not disclosed: there is no apartment number or the names of the owners. Such an extract will help to quickly and profitably sell a home - if the buyer sees that everything is clean with the object, he is more likely to agree to the deal.

Identity documents of the owner

This is insurance against collisions with scammers: if you buy an apartment from a person who pretends to be its owner, then you will have to deal with the real owner of the property. The Ministry of Internal Affairs has one with which you can check if the passport is valid. Make sure that its series and number, as well as the last name, first name and patronymic of the owner match those indicated in the documents for the apartment. If, after buying a home, the owner changed his passport, look at his penultimate page - it contains information about previously issued passports.

Check that with the marital status of the owner. If he bought an apartment while he was married, then the apartment is considered joint property. Selling an apartment without your spouse's permission will not work, so ask for a notarized consent to the sale. If the owner is divorced, then a court decision on the division of joint property will also come in handy.

Alena Kvach

Here you need to pay attention not only to when the apartment was bought, but also what was the form of payment. If a house was purchased a week before the wedding on a mortgage or installment plan, and in marriage the spouses made payments together, then for such an apartment the consent of the husband or wife is necessary, since part of the funds to pay off the debt was used from the general budget. The limitation period after divorce is three years, after this period no consent is required.

An exception is situations when the current owner received an apartment as a gift or inherited it while he was married. Such property belongs only to him.

For minor owners, it is worth checking the birth certificate or passport and comparing the data with the information in the housing documents.

Alena Kvach

If minor children are registered in the apartment, then before the transaction they can be discharged to any other place. At the same time, it is necessary to indicate an alternative address, the child cannot be discharged “to nowhere”. If the parents have different registration addresses, then the consent of the second parent is required to discharge the child.

When minor children are the owners of a share of real estate or an object in full, the permission of the guardianship authorities is required. They will make sure that the new housing does not worsen the living conditions of the child and has appropriate technical and other characteristics, such as the area of the apartment, the area of its location, and access to educational institutions.

Title Deeds

They are also the legal ones. For example, if the owner of a home has privatized it, such a document will be an agreement on the transfer of the apartment into ownership. When buying an object, the ownership is confirmed by the purchase and sale agreement concluded with the previous owner. It must be accompanied by an act of acceptance and transfer of real estate and a receipt from the former owner in receipt of money.

If the owner of the apartment bought it while the house was just being built, the document of title will be an agreement on equity participation in the construction with an act of acceptance and transfer of the finished housing.

In cases where the ownership is confirmed by a donation agreement or a certificate of inheritance, it is better to consult with a lawyer before buying. For example, unaccounted heirs may appear who claim a share in an apartment, and a fraudulent scheme may be disguised as a gift agreement.

Inquiries about registered in the apartment

You will need a certificate of registration in form No. 9 - it shows who is registered in the room right now. You can also issue an archival certificate to find out who was registered in the apartment earlier, and check if there are any temporarily discharged people among these people. If there are any, it is better to contact a lawyer.

You also need a certificate of deregistration in form No. 12. There are listed people who, for one reason or another, were discharged from the apartment: for example, they are in a medical institution, are serving time in prison, or have gone missing. If each column contains "no", everything is in order, otherwise check with the owner what is happening to these people now.

Alena Kvach

If, upon receipt of a certificate in form No. 12, it turned out that a person is registered in the apartment who is currently in prison, I would recommend not to deal with this object. Having served his sentence, a citizen has the right to register for his former place of residence.

Certificates of legal capacity

If the seller was limited by the court in legal capacity or did not understand the meaning of his actions, the transaction may be declared null and void.

Alena Kvach

If the person registered in the apartment turns out to be incapacitated, it should be borne in mind that this category of people undergoes the examination procedure in court. During the examination, the citizen's incapacity must be recognized. In addition, a guardian is also appointed who represents the interests of the ward and ensures that the resettlement is carried out in accordance with the law.

To be on the safe side, ask the apartment owner for a certificate from a psychiatrist and a narcologist - this is evidence that he is in a sober mind and is not registered. You can invite a specialist to conduct a survey right on the transaction.

Power of attorney

It is rather risky to buy an apartment not from the owner, but from his representative authorized to dispose of the property. But if there are no other options, make sure that everything is in order with the power of attorney. It must be notarized, and you can eliminate doubts about the authenticity of the document with the help of the Federal Notary Chamber. Compare the details of the principal and representative with what is indicated in their passports. If the principal cannot come to the deal and show the passport, ask to send a notarized copy. Be sure to pay attention to the validity period of the power of attorney and find out what powers the representative has - perhaps he is not entitled to conclude transactions on behalf of the principal.