Buying a bigger house, or even buying your first house? Well, that will hurt your wallet a little bit! It’ll be one of the biggest things you’ve EVER bought in your whole life. But there are some things that you can do to save some money. Check out these tips from the real estate professionals.
How To Make Offers?
Just seen a house which you really like? Just make an offer, but start low. It’s like buying things in the little markets here in Spain. For example: You see nice earrings for €15, you’ll say… “for €10 I’ll take them!”, then the seller says “Final price €12”. That’s how it goes in the house market as well.
When the offer is too low, he will not accept it and maybe even think that you’ve gone bananas. But when it’s close to the asked price, he will or accept it or return you another offer.
When visiting the house you like, try to take with you a friend, who maybe knows something from the market (maybe even a realtor friend), or who is an architect, to “search” the little bad things what needs to be fixed and use those things as an argument together with your offer.
Extra tip: Study well the area in which you want to buy. Check out and compare similar houses on the real estate webpages (in Spain: Idealista, pisos.com, Etc). And you can use that to the owner as well like “Hey, this house is the same price as yours, but with a terrace and 1 bedroom more”, or “This house has been for sale for over a year and yours looks like that so I think my offer is a very reasonable one”
Buy The House For NOW, Not For in The Future
Do you have plans to get a big family in about 5 or 10 years? Great, love that idea. But start small. A couple doesn’t need a 3-floor apartment for just the two of them. A big house like that would be nice for sure, but if you’re only “using” the half of it, you’re actually paying too much per €/m2.
Besides that: Cleaning the house, heating up the house in the winter or turning air-conditioning on in the summer. More meter square = more costs. You could better save that money in those past 3 years to buy later a bigger house for the big family you will have.
Buying Bigger & Better
Right, so now you’ve lived in a small nice apartment for about a few years, but you want to live bigger now. Good… You can, of course, sell your apartment, or if your money and savings let you, buy the bigger and better house and let the “old” house pay off its mortgage with renters.
Try to keep an eye on the market. Nobody wants to lose money, we only want to earn money. If you bought the house for a very cheap price, and in a few years, you see the prices have raised a lot, you can decide to sell it. Then wait until the market is lowering again (like now for example, during COVID-19), and invest again. If you bought it for an expensive price, and you see the market is low, just wait with selling if it’s not really necessary. Search for a good renter, maybe even lower his rent so he won’t leave. In a couple of years almost for sure, it will be more worth again.
It’s better to earn something than nothing.
Get The Most Out Of Your House
Decided to sell your apartment in a “bad” time? Do everything possible to get the most out of it. Get rid of humidity, little spots on the walls, the floor needs to be perfect, freshly new painted, etc. So the buyers can not complain about those things.
Home Staging WORKS! It’s better to show an apartment which has furniture, than when the apartment is empty. Why?
When people visit your home, and it´s empty, it´s very difficult for them to imagine themselves living there. I don´t mean that you have to have a lot of furniture, but just the necessary things like a sofa and a bed are good. Maybe some plants and/ or flowers and you will be all- OK.
Click here to read 8 Tips To Get More Money For Your House!
