How to buy an apartment without a realtor: step-by-step instructions

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When purchasing a home, you can act independently, or seek the help of a notary or lawyer, or hire an intermediary - a real estate agency or private broker.

Responsibilities of a realtor

Typically, the real estate agency commission is 3–5% of the transaction amount, in some cases the fee increases to 7–10%. Let us list the responsibilities of a realtor in order to determine his place in a real estate transaction.

The Realtor performs the following duties:

carries out work on the purchase, sale or rental of real estate on behalf and on behalf of clients;
receives and processes information about the property being sold or leased and the requirements of potential buyers or tenants;
studies supply and demand in the real estate market;
registers incoming proposals for the sale or lease of real estate, conducts their familiarization inspection;
in some cases, concludes exclusive agreements between the owners and the agency;
searches for potential buyers and tenants, establishes business contacts with them;
organizes familiarization of buyers or tenants with the property being sold or rented out;
fills out buyer requests, selects or offers options for sales or rental;
coordinates contractual terms, formalizes real estate transactions;
assists clients in collecting documents and completing transactions;
informs clients about suitable proposals received, advises on issues related to the characteristics of the real estate under consideration and the degree of compliance with certain requirements;
organizes the signing of contracts for the sale or lease of real estate;
facilitates the timely preparation of documents necessary for clients to conclude a transaction and ensures their safety;
represents the interests of clients when concluding a transaction, ensures the safety of documents, and provides assistance in interacting with other specialists from the agency and other institutions involved in processing transactions.

In fact, the realtor (or his assistant) makes an initial assessment of the property and draws up its presentation for sale or a kind of search characteristic when buying a home. A real estate market specialist must find the most advantageous offer for the client. The realtor helps in preparing documents, advises and accompanies the client until the end of the transaction, and coordinates the actions of all participants in the transaction.

The realtor is subject to disciplinary and financial liability for improper performance (or non-performance) of his official duties and causing material damage.

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Benefits of working with a professional real estate agency

Protection of the seller from crime. By advertising “I will sell an apartment without intermediaries,” instead of meeting the buyer, you risk running into scammers.
Protection of the economic and legal interests of the seller. The experience and professionalism of our staff guarantees the successful completion of the transaction.
Real assessment of the apartment. An agent who simply heard a description of your apartment over the phone and immediately named the price is not a professional. Our specialists daily analyze supply and demand, real sales prices, and not the supply prices indicated in advertising. For example, a client called real estate agency “A”, where an employee over the phone determined the cost of an apartment at three million rubles. Having called agency “B”, the client received an answer about the cost of his apartment: three million two hundred thousand rubles. When the client asks why agency “B” gives him two hundred thousand rubles more for his apartment, our professionals answer: in fact, as a rule, real estate agencies do not buy apartments themselves, but only professionally look for buyers for this apartment. But it’s up to you to choose professionals.
Saving time and unpleasant contacts. A seller who has called all real estate agencies in a row is like a person who stands in the city center and shouts: “I’m selling an apartment.” In this case, there is also a high risk of attracting the attention of scammers. By entrusting the sale of an apartment to an agency, you reduce the number of unnecessary risky contacts.
You get an effective advertising scheme. Advertising your apartment covers the maximum number of information sources. It should be taken into account that advertising is expensive and it is not you who pay for it, but the real estate agency.
Opportunity to sell your apartment at a favorable price. The buyer knows that the history of the apartment has been carefully checked, and therefore is ready to pay more for such an apartment.

Contact real estate agencies that are members of professional communities, that is, the Association of Realtors of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, who use professional standards in their work and value their reputation in the real estate market. Contact real estate agencies that have well-established technologies, own reputable offices, and work exclusively on contractual relationships with clients. Together with you, dear clients, we can make the real estate market more civilized and safe for all participants in this process.

Come - we will be happy to help you!

Closed bases

If you want to buy an apartment, then most likely you already have an idea of what it should be like. Knowing your own financial capabilities and life needs, you can easily turn to those advertisements that are posted in open sources.

There are a sufficient number of sites on the Internet that post advertisements for the sale of real estate. Although, if we are talking about purchasing luxury (or specific) real estate, contacting realtors will be more productive, since such databases are maintained only by the agencies themselves and you cannot gain access to them.

The buyer himself makes the decision about whether an assistant - a realtor or a lawyer - is needed to conclude a transaction; the bank has the right to insistently demand that the buyer engage a realtor only when purchasing housing in a new building using borrowed funds (mortgage loan)

In fact, the realtor analyzes market offers, focusing on your preferences, which you express to him. However, you yourself can work with such a filter, because no matter how a realtor navigates the real estate market, no matter what his own client base he maintains, he does not fully know what exactly you are looking for. It is quite possible that you will not choose the ideal option, but it will be the one that is right for you and your family.

By the way, you can also use closed real estate databases by paying for access to them, for example, for a month.

When selling a home, you can also prepare and post your offer in the same open sources. The question here is rather about call processing - whether you can receive and process calls from potential buyers, devoting the necessary time to each of them.

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Where to begin?

After you have selected all the advertisements you like, you need to call the apartment owners, clarify the information and arrange a meeting to view the properties.

Be prepared that the ad may contain incorrect, incomplete or untrue information. For example, they may tell you that the apartment is not on the top floor of the house, because there is still an attic or a technical floor.

Prepare yourself a notebook with a list of questions. Briefly write down your counterpart's answers, this will help you compare the available offers later. For example, you can clarify the price for which an apartment is being sold and ask whether bargaining is possible; ask questions about housing options you are interested in that are not listed in the ad; clarify the situation regarding title documents and housing history.

It is also advisable to go to view an apartment with a notepad, or even better, use a phone video camera (in this case, you must definitely ask permission from the apartment owners to film). Don’t be shy to ask questions - owners who want to sell their home will talk to you, and if they don’t want to tell you, there may simply be a problem with the property for sale.

Please note that when viewing almost every apartment you will be rushed to answer. Realtors usually try to create a stir in this way, to show that there is a huge demand for this particular apartment. However, you should not rush, although the process of searching for an apartment can take a lot of time.

Even if you really like the apartment, do not forget that there is another very important stage ahead - checking its legal purity.

Please note that sometimes scammers try to sell the same square meters to several buyers, showing high-quality copies in order to abscond with the money before the deal is concluded

How to avoid fraud?

If you are buying an apartment in a new building, checking the legal purity of the transaction will not take much time. The same will happen in cases where we are not talking about the resale chain.

First, check whether the owner is selling the apartment or whether you are communicating with his authorized representative. Ask for the seller’s passport and title documents for the apartment.

If, nevertheless, the apartment is being sold by an intermediary, you need to talk with the owner by phone, or even better, on Skype, in order to see the person.

Study the power of attorney, it is issued for a time (that is, its validity period is limited) and assumes that the authorized person can carry out a strictly defined list of actions. If the power of attorney does not say anything about the sale of the principal's real estate, do not agree to the transaction.

Secondly, study the title documents for the apartment (for example, an agreement with the developer on the transfer of ownership of the apartment, a certificate of ownership received during the privatization of housing, as well as purchase and sale agreements, donations, lifelong maintenance with dependents, a certificate of state registration of rights) .

Thirdly, you can (and should) obtain an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate (USRN) about the transfer of rights to a property in the territorial division of Rosreestr. From this extract it will be clear how many owners the apartment has changed, as well as who owns it now. In addition, if there are encumbrances on the apartment (a lien has been imposed, for example), this will also be indicated in the extract.

Finally, you need to ask the owner to show you a recent extract from the house register (it can be ordered at the multifunctional center, or you can view the information online if the seller is registered on the Public Services Portal). This way you will receive information about who is permanently or temporarily registered in the apartment, whether there are any “secret” (such as a distant relative serving a sentence in prison) or problematic (for example, minor children) residents.

Always pay attention to the date of issue of all documents: they must be received five to seven days ago maximum. At the stage of checking the apartment, it is better to use the help of professionals. Most often, realtors and specialized lawyers have contacts in law enforcement agencies who are involved in confirming the purity of the proposed transaction.

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How to reduce the price?

Opinions differ regarding the ability of realtors to reduce the price for a client. On the one hand, the realtor has little interest in bargaining, which is understandable - his remuneration depends on the transaction amount. On the other hand, a client satisfied with the price will recommend his realtor to friends and acquaintances and write a good review about cooperation on the Internet. This means that such a realtor will provide himself with new clients and potential earnings.

In any case, rely on a realtor, but don’t make a mistake yourself. When buying an apartment on the secondary market, you can bargain about the condition of the property (“I really didn’t want to do renovations right after moving, but now I have to”), about the distance from the metro, about the floor, etc.

When purchasing a home in a new building, experienced sellers suggest paying attention to the following points.

First, just ask about the possibility of a discount; very often this simple question is enough for the seller (or his representative) to make some concessions. When buying a home in a new building, the chance to get a discount is higher at the end of the quarter (or year), when sellers need to fulfill the plan.

Pay attention to how the sequence of payments is set out: wait not only for the agreement to be certified, but also for the moment the previous owners of the living space vacate; all payments made must be documented

Secondly, compare the price of apartments of the same layout on different floors (if you are purchasing housing in a new building). Very often, tens of thousands of rubles are not worth the additional meters, but the view from the window or the distance from the elevator. Assess what is more important to you - the ability to see a square from the window or an immediate purchase, for example, of household appliances for a new apartment.

Thirdly, you can ask for a discount for a mortgage or prepayment, since in this case the seller will receive his money immediately, he will not have to wait. The faster the developer receives money from the buyer (and the larger the amount), the more profitable it is. This can be used when negotiating with the seller.

If you are buying an apartment in installments, check what the maximum term is. You need to know this, because if you have the opportunity to pay the cost of the apartment faster, you can ask for a discount.

Finally, additional purchases (car space) can be used as a reason for bargaining, but you don’t need to talk about it right away.

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Good reasons to contact a realtor

A good realtor is not only a realtor. He is also a psychologist, lawyer, engineer, marketer, manager, accountant and photographer. Myslo learned from Dmitry Vorobiev about how a realtor can help when buying or selling real estate and what risks there are when concluding a deal on your own.

Dmitry graduated from the Russian Law Academy with honors in 2009, and in 2010 he first entered the real estate field. Currently he is the head of the sales department at. Helped many families improve their living conditions.

– Professional realtors with extensive experience know the real estate market inside and out. They have answers to all questions, they will tell you all the pros and cons of this or that housing, they will be able to reduce the price of an apartment when buying, and when selling, keep it, and sometimes they have more options for apartments in new buildings than the developer,” explains Dmitriy.

Whether you are buying or selling, in both cases the process is not quick and complicated if you are thinking about doing it yourself. But if you want to save time and still get benefits, then there is no better way than to let a professional realtor do his job.

What will be the benefit? Narrated by Dmitry Vorobyov.

1. Purity of each transaction. The task of any self-respecting realtor is to keep the client calm and satisfied. That is why any transaction, whether buying, selling or renting, is checked for safety. The legal department will find out whether there are any encumbrances on the object, rights of third parties, prohibitions on sale and other pitfalls.

We give our clients a guarantee of transaction security, which is stated in the contract.

2. Uniqueness of the offer. A realtor always has more options for apartments, even when it comes to new buildings. The fact is that in some residential complexes there are apartments from contractors, and the developer can no longer offer them. But a realtor can.

In addition, often unique and profitable offers on the secondary market do not even have time to reach the public level and can only be learned about from a realtor. And who, if not the realtor, will tell you the latest news?

3. Lowest mortgage interest rate. Mortgage brokers, working in a team with a realtor, will select the best mortgage offers. No down payment? No problem. Don't know what package of documents is needed? We'll tell you. There is a mortgage department where you can send applications to 15 banks at once in a “one window” mode. How long will it take you to contact so many banks?

In addition, partner banks provide an additional discount of 0.1 to 0.5% to our agency, which means that a mortgage loan issued through us will be cheaper.

4. Expertise.

To view all the real estate offers on your own, you will spend a lot of time, since there are a lot of advertising platforms and you don’t even know about some of them.

The realtor acts here more as an assistant and expert. Tell him what criteria you are looking for an apartment by, and he will easily select the best options for you and justify all the pros and cons.

5. Save time. You are relaxing, and your realtor is working, looking for options, communicating with potential buyers, collecting and preparing a full package of documents. Prepares a preliminary agreement, receipts, the main purchase and sale agreement, orders an appraisal, helps with insurance.

Do you know how many fake offers there are on the Internet? Don’t waste your time, entrust these tasks to a realtor. And about the exclusion of trips to banks in case of contacting a realtor, it was already mentioned above.

6. Saving money. The realtor bears all advertising costs, including paid Internet platforms, posting advertisements, banners, telephone and fuel costs. Having a clear knowledge of the features of the property, its location and the psychology of communication with the client, a realtor will help maintain the original price when selling real estate. He will be able to correctly determine the pros and cons of your property, help, if necessary, eliminate the shortcomings and competently present all the advantages, taking upon himself all issues of communication with potential buyers.

If we are talking about a purchase, he will be able to reasonably explain to the seller why the apartment should be cheaper than the offered price, and competently reduce it to an acceptable price, thereby saving your money at the time of bargaining.

And coupled with favorable mortgages and insurance, the advantage of a realtor’s services becomes even more obvious!

7. Objectivity and reliability . A realtor will always reliably tell you about all the new buildings in the city and the developers themselves, about their history, experience and already completed real estate properties, practically reducing to zero the risk of encountering unfinished construction.

At the same time, prices for apartments in any new building in the city will be the same as the developer’s prices.

An important role will be played by the objectivity of the realtor and his independence from the developer when assessing a particular new building.

8. A buyer will be found faster. It is possible to independently post information about sales on ad sites. But in addition to this, a realtor has a lot of options in his arsenal for disseminating information and presenting it correctly. And having many more options in the list of your objects, you will be able to redirect others who have applied specifically to your object. Therefore, he will find a buyer for your apartment much faster.

In addition, he already has his own client base, among which there are those who may be ready to purchase your apartment right now. And the ability to take the right beautiful photos and write a selling text is another undeniable advantage when selling.

9. Security in payments. For your peace of mind, a realtor will definitely help in collecting documents for selling an apartment, accompanying the transaction and, of course, the entire payment procedure. He will explain what secure payment systems are available and organize the entire process of transferring money for a property so that the seller does not worry about the moment of receiving the money, and the buyer is calm about the timely registration of his rights to the new property.

At the same time, the realtor will advise you on taxation when selling real estate, and if you did not receive a property tax deduction when buying an apartment, he will explain to you in detail how you can return up to 260 thousand rubles from the purchase of an apartment.

And will answer almost all your questions, including:

how to move from a Khrushchev-era apartment to a new building without additional payment?
Where is the lowest mortgage rate?
What is more profitable: mortgage or rent?
how to exchange an apartment in one day?
how to exchange a one-room apartment for a house?
how to buy an apartment for a new building for 1.5 million rubles?
how to exchange one apartment for two without a mortgage?

Dmitry Vorobyov is always ready to answer these and many other questions related to real estate.

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Dmitry Vorobiev

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VKontakte: vk.com/vorobievdv_realty

Who should I turn to for help?

You shouldn’t completely refuse help in buying a home. If you do not want to use the services of a realtor, there are also specialized lawyers and notaries.

There is no doubt that notarization of an agreement is one of the safest ways to conclude a transaction. Due to the fact that every notary must take out professional liability insurance and bear liability (including property), your sales contract will be under reliable protection. Even in cases where litigation cannot be avoided, the notary will be on your side and will be summoned to court as a third party. The forms used by the notary are subject to registration in the notary chamber of the region, which means that it is extremely difficult to forge them (and accordingly, the authenticity can be verified quite easily).

Even if you draw up the text of the contract yourself, the notary (or his assistant) will definitely check it, but most often you will be offered to use the text that was compiled by professionals. According to the law, notaries advise those who apply for their service on certifying legally significant actions, this means that they will explain to you the legal essence of the actions you are performing and warn you against possible mistakes.

Information about the completed transaction will be entered in the register of notarial actions. One of the copies of the document certifying the transaction remains on file with the notary along with copies of title and other documents. In case of loss or damage to the original documents, the notary will issue a duplicate upon your request.

The disadvantages of contacting a notary are that you will have to collect all the documents yourself, since neither the notary himself nor his assistant performs these functions. And the notary can only assess the legal capacity of the parties visually, so when concluding a transaction, it would be useful to request from the seller a certificate from a psychoneurological and drug treatment clinic, as well as provide video recording of the process of signing the contract.

Another option for those who do not want to contact real estate agents is to find a lawyer who specializes in real estate. Such specialists can be found in legal advice.

Legal support of the transaction will consist of the following:

verification of title and other documents for the apartment (consent of the spouse, legality of redevelopment; absence of rent arrears;
obtaining the necessary extracts from the Unified State Register of Real Estate, confirming the absence of claims to the apartment, for example, from possible heirs, as well as the number of previous sales of this housing (although this can be done by absolutely any interested person by submitting an identification document and an application to Rosreestr, provided payment of the appropriate duty);
assistance in obtaining the consent of the guardianship authorities if the real estate seller has minor children;
drawing up an agreement taking into account possible pitfalls (penalties for failure to comply with deadlines for vacating an apartment, penalties for refusal to sell housing in the middle of the transaction).

It is absolutely necessary to seek legal advice if you are purchasing a property under a life occupancy agreement.

Finally, you may need the help of an independent appraiser who can clarify the value of the apartment you are planning to purchase. This will be especially true if you plan to use a mortgage loan to purchase a home or if the price stated by the seller is significantly lower than the market average. True, in this case, the specialists of the bank’s credit department will most likely insist on contacting “their” appraisers, whose objectivity there is no doubt.

What is included in the services of a realtor when buying an apartment?

A general list of what is the responsibility of a realtor when a client approaches him to buy an apartment looks like this:

Consulting on the current situation in the real estate market: familiarization with average prices per sq. m. m. of housing, offers and ratings of developers. The specialist can recommend the most optimal area of residence depending on the amount the client owns.
Search for suitable real estate options. Having decided on the territory in which options for purchasing real estate will be considered, the realtor begins searching for an apartment.
Searching for suitable mortgage programs, interacting with banks, explaining their conditions to the client.
Negotiating with the buyer. A specialist can represent the interests of the buyer without his participation.
Preparation of all documents: purchase and sale agreement, mortgage agreement with the bank, certificate of ownership.

Realtors provide full legal support of the transaction from the first to the last stages: prepare the necessary documents (purchase agreement, certificates for obtaining a mortgage, etc.), check the home for encumbrances, participate in the real estate purchase procedure, and subsequently register ownership in Rosreestr.

To date, there is no legal liability for real estate specialists, so the likelihood of a refund in the event of an unsatisfactory result is negligible. To avoid unpleasant consequences, it is advisable to read reviews about it before contacting an agency, and only then decide whether you need to hire a realtor, or whether it is better to do it yourself.

Pros of using a realtor

There are several reasons why many people engage realtors to complete real estate purchase and sale transactions:

Full support of the procedure from the initial stage to the actual registration of ownership of the new owner of the apartment.
Save time. Professional agencies have constantly updated housing databases, so it does not take them too much time to find suitable living space for clients. If you do this yourself, you can spend several months.
It is difficult for an ordinary person who is not experienced in legal subtleties to check a home for encumbrances. Realtors act according to already proven schemes and know which nuances should be given special attention.

Buying an apartment through an agency will indeed allow you to save your own time and purchase suitable housing in a shorter time, but do not forget that this is only possible if professionals are involved in the matter.

Negative sides

Contacting realtors has both positive and negative sides. The latter is as follows:

There are no guarantees regarding the quality of the transaction. The liability of intermediaries is not provided for by law, so if problems arise, it will be problematic to appeal everything through the court.
Most realtors have good sales skills and can convince clients to buy properties that don't meet their needs. Here everything depends only on the buyer, so you should be careful during consultations.
The cost of real estate services is quite high. In most cases, they require a deposit, a non-refundable payment. If the client changes his mind about buying a home through the company, the money cannot be returned.

How to get an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate

An extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate is a document certifying only the fact of state registration of rights. This document confirms that on the date indicated in it as the date of issue, the right specified in it was registered for the person specified in it on the basis of the documents named in it for the described property, about which a registration entry was made in the Unified State Register of Real Estate on the corresponding day under the appropriate number.

When buying or selling an apartment, you may need either an extract about the property (main characteristics and registered rights to it), or an extract about the transfer of rights to the property.

To obtain an extract, you must contact the territorial division of Rosreestr or the Cadastral Chamber in person or through an authorized representative, and you can make an appointment in advance using the online service on the department’s website. In your application you must indicate the real estate object (or objects) about which you are interested.

In addition, you can obtain an extract from multifunctional offices, as well as by mail, by sending a corresponding request or by ordering on-site service (for an additional fee). To obtain information, you only need a passport and a receipt for payment for services. The cost of an extract for individuals is 300 rubles on paper, 150 rubles in electronic form.

How to buy a home with a mortgage without realtors?

Most often, when purchasing a home with a mortgage, the services of realtors are not required at all, because banks independently ensure the legal security of the transaction without charging a fee for it. It is important for them that the client buys good housing and subsequently repays the debt on time.

In order to buy a living space and not run into trouble, you must follow all stages of the transaction.

Step 1: check the ownership of the apartment and encumbrance

To make sure that the property is being sold by the owner and there are no encumbrances on it, you can use one of the following methods:

We form a request on the Rosreestr website by entering the apartment address and cadastral number. If after confirming the transaction the address is not displayed, it means that there is no information about the property in the Unified State Register of Real Estate.
We order an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate. It reflects information about the main characteristics of the property. You can get it through electronic services or at the MFC.

Step 2: verify the identity of the owner

Everything here is quite simple: you need to check the passport data with the information contained in the certificate of ownership. To prevent the sale of an apartment by an incapacitated person, it is recommended to register the transaction with a notary.

Step 3: check the property being purchased

When checking a property, it is advisable to do the following:

Ask to see a copy of the house register. This will eliminate the presence of other registered persons in the living space.
Request a certificate of absence of debts on utility bills. It is issued by REU or UK.
Familiarize yourself with the technical passport to prevent the owner from carrying out illegal redevelopment.

Step 4: maintain security when transferring money

If a home is purchased with a mortgage, the money is transferred to the seller by bank transfer at the last stage. When buying a home with cash, you should pay in full only after registering the title. If Rosreestr employees find shortcomings and find it impossible to register the property as a property because of them, returning the banknotes will be problematic.

Money issue

Don't rush into handing over the deposit. In theory, this amount should serve as proof of a deal being concluded in the future. In practice, there are often cases when the buyer is rushed and asked to transfer a certain “guarantee” amount to the seller to confirm his intentions. They can even give you a receipt and hand over the documents for the apartment to begin the transaction process. But not the originals, but copies. And not just one potential buyer, but several.

The final payment is best made through a safe deposit box. In this case, it is necessary to make an inventory of the investment in the cell, without underestimating the amount. Otherwise, when the contract is terminated, you will not receive your money back. The seller will be able to receive his money only after he submits a registered sales agreement to the bank.