How to buy or sell an apartment without an intermediary?

In order to sell an apartment without the participation of intermediaries, you need to have the talent of a marketer, the mind of a financial analyst and free time. This is what most hypothetical sellers think. In fact, selling an apartment on your own is much easier than buying it without the help of realtors and lawyers.

We have deeply immersed ourselves in the problem, discovered all the pitfalls, and are ready to talk about how you can easily and naturally get rid of an unnecessary apartment.

How to get started?

So, you have decided that the old apartment is small for you, and it’s time to expand. Either they received a sudden inheritance, or they decided to sell the apartment for other reasons – there is no difference. The algorithm of action is the same.

• Spend a couple of evenings watching ads on virtual real estate sites. Stock up on a notebook, pen (or spreadsheet in Excel) and tea and cookies. Find similar options in your area. Similar apartments in similar buildings, with identical layouts and approximately the same renovation age – these are the main search criteria. Consider the number of floors – according to established prejudices, people prefer not to buy (or buy much cheaper) apartments on the first and last floors.
• Immediately dismiss options that are criminally cheap (there are probably some hidden difficulties there), and apartments whose owners do not measure their mansions with the real state of affairs. Apartment in a residential area at the price of a designer penthouse very clearly characterizes the seller of square meters, and you don’t need the same characteristic for a successful sale, even if you really need money.
• Select “hospital average temperature” to get the cost per square meter of housing in your area. The simplest thing is to multiply the area of ​​​​the apartment by the amount received, and voila, the average price is found. However, you can contact a qualified appraiser. For a fee, he will conduct an analysis on his own and give you a reasonable cost of the apartment.
• If you would like to get more for an apartment, find some advantages of your housing: a stunning view from the window, a sane management organization (which is very important), good neighbors, proximity to a transport interchange, and so on. This will allow you to slightly add to the cost, and increase the chance of selling the apartment at a price slightly higher than the average market price.
• The reverse situation with the disadvantages of housing. If from your window, instead of Red Square, you can see the smoky chimney of some candle factory, or you need to overcome wasteland, impassibility and your own fears to the nearest regular bus, be prepared to lower the price a little so as not to delay the sale.
• If you do not live in an apartment and want to present it in the most favorable light, evaluate the need for a small cosmetic repair. It is clear that new tenants are likely to bring the apartment in line with their sense of beauty, but the first impression is very important. Therefore, you can, for example, re-paste the wallpaper on a budget, eliminate traces of the life of previous residents (wash the greasy, change the broken, paint the peeling).
  
  

Prepare documents for sale

No secret manipulations are needed to make a deal. The owner enters into a contract with the buyer. At the same time, the owner needs to confirm that he is he, and that the apartment really belongs to him. All you need for this is:

• passport of the owner (or owners) of the apartment
• title documents (these are documents confirming that the designated person is the owner. There are several types of such documents that tell how the person became the owner: a contract of sale, a certificate of the right to inheritance by law or by will, a gift, a life maintenance agreement with a dependent , an exchange agreement, an agreement on the transfer of housing to the ownership of citizens in the order of privatization… One of these documents establishes the right of ownership.
• extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate. This is the main document that confirms that title deeds are still valid. These extracts indicate who is listed as the owner of the apartment at the current moment.

It was the basic package of documents. The following papers may be added to the basic one, depending on the life situation:

• if the seller is married and at the same time has not entered into a marriage contract, according to which he solely disposes of the property, then the transaction requires a notarized consent of the spouse
• if there are minors among the owners, it is necessary to obtain permission to sell the apartment from the guardianship and guardianship authorities, and provide the original birth certificate to fill out the contract;
• if the apartment was bought with a mortgage and the loan has not yet been repaid, then the bank’s consent to the transaction;
• if you are selling a share in an apartment, then information is required that the owners of the remaining shares have waived the right of first refusal at the offered price.

We also recommend that you stock up on a sales contract template. You can find a quality option online, or contact a lawyer, and he will select the right contract for you, based on your situation. All you have to do is enter the details of the buyer there, and you can conclude a deal.