Planning for your post virus purchase

Buying a property is exciting and terrifying all at the same time. After all, this is the biggest financial move most people will ever make.

There can be a lot of room for error, and even tiny mistakes can translate to tens of thousands of euros down the drain. The lesson here – even the most seasoned home buyer should get some guidance on what to do, but also what not to do – especially when you are buying a property which is located outside of your home country.

Today we highlight the most common mistakes buyers make so you can avoid the same fate.

Don’t look for a property without using a real estate agent

We all know that property searches start online as it is a great way to see what is on the market, but when it comes time to get serious about buying, you should find a professional – such as Portugal Property Hub – to help you out.

We will help you to turn your dreams into reality. We will guide you through every step of the process—from finding the right property, making a winning offer, introducing you to the best lawyers and currency exchange companies so that your purchase is stress free and you can sail through to the day of the deeds. 

Don’t understate your budget

It might sound strange, but a number of clients we speak to make the mistake of hiding their true budget from us. Some people are afraid that we will only show them properties at the top end of their budget so they understate their price range. We won’t – we listen to all of your property requirements, including your budget, and show you the best options we have which meet your needs.

If you’re not upfront about your price range you might miss out on a great house.
Also following on from this point let us know at the outset if you are looking to finance your purchase with a mortgage. In Portugal mortgages are available but the process can take a few weeks. If we know at the start that you are looking for finance we can point you in the best direction to banks who are offering the best deals – and we can take this into account when negotiating with the vendors. 

Don’t hold out for the ‚perfect‘ house

We always talk about buying your dream home in the sun, maybe we shouldn’t, as there may not always be the perfect property for every buyer. This is the reason we ask you for your property requirements and from that list we then ask what are your must haves and which bits can you compromise on. With this knowledge we can go and find you options which best suit your needs – obviously we will try to find you options that match all of your criteria, but it’s good to know what can be compromised on just in case we can’t.  

Don’t make really low offers

We know that you are looking to get a bargain, but by making really low offers on properties you could lose out. In a recent survey from Inman 15% of real estate agents in America said that the third largest mistake people make when buying a home is offering too little for a property (the second was not talking to a bank first about a mortgage and in first place was waiting too long to make an offer).

Imagine you were trying to sell your property, how would you react to a low offer?

Trust us to help you assess the value of a property and to negotiate a winning offer.

Don’t forget to budget for purchase costs

There are a few costs for the vendor to pay when selling, but as the buyer you have the (unfortunate) pleasure of shouldering the lion’s share of the purchase costs. We will explain the buying costs to you at the start of the process and let you know how much you should expect to pay – generally budget for 10% of the purchase price to cover all costs, but in most cases the purchase costs will be significantly less than this – and you can then let us know if your budget is inclusive of buying costs or excludes them.

Don’t transfer your money through the bank

Baks are great for a lot of things, but transferring money into euros is not one of them. We would always recommend speaking to a currency exchange company when it comes to moving money from one currency into euros. They can save you up to 4% which could go towards the purchase costs or even fitting out your new property with brand new furniture. They currency company can also give you a great idea of what your budget translates to in euros and can go through all the ways of securing the best rate to make your money go as far as it can.

So with all of that in mind, why not check out all the properties we have – www.portugalpropertyhub.com – and get in touch so that we can help guide you through the next stages of your property search.