Common mistakes when concluding transactions with suburban real estate

Recommendation points

• The main mistakes of buyers of country cottages
• Study of the technical condition of the house
• Legal registration of the transaction
• Surrounding area
• Choice of two “identical” cottages
• The main mistakes of sellers of suburban real estate
• Overpriced object
• Pre-sale preparation of the house
• Psychological moments
• Hiding information
• Let’s sum up

The summer season is in full swing, many, if they have not yet purchased their country house, are already thinking about buying it. However, quite often, when buying suburban real estate, our compatriots, paying attention to the remoteness of the site from the forest, the presence of communications and water bodies, ignore very important points.

Marc Chagall. Above the city. 1918

Sellers of country houses, who are very often in a hurry to sell real estate and, as a result, make some serious mistakes when concluding transactions, also sin with carelessness and blunders..

In this article, we will consider the most common mistakes buyers and sellers make when concluding transactions with suburban real estate.

The main mistakes of buyers of country cottages

Study of the technical condition of the house

If we consider in terms of prevalence, that the most common mistake that can be safely put in the first place is an inattentive examination of the house. When choosing a house, potential buyers very often do not pay attention to the condition of its foundation. Inspection of the cottage is usually limited to examining the condition of the facade and interior decoration. Buyers carefully study the layout of the house, and bypass the foundation. But if you think carefully, then in reality in 90% of cases it is cheaper, easier and faster to make a new layout than to restore a destroyed foundation. Most buyers, when inspecting a country house, do not check the condition of the floors and window frames. But if a cottage is built with violations of technology and is of poor quality, and there are quite a few similar buildings in the suburban market near Moscow, then in 10 years the house may become completely unusable for housing.

Note that the technical examination of the building costs about $ 500-2000, moreover, buying a country house in the Moscow region will cost from $ 300,000. Small expenses for expertise in this case are justified and even necessary – in the future they can help you save much more, given that the issue price in dollar terms is several hundred thousand.

Legal registration of the transaction

In the second place among the most common mistakes of modern buyers is to put irresponsible and negligent attitude to legal issues. In the suburban real estate market, oral preliminary agreements are now very common. Our people are used to trusting their word, and even when concluding rather large and expensive deals, many questions are based on an oral agreement until the very end. And sometimes it concerns very important points, for example, the timing of the re-registration and release of the house, the removal of old furniture and much, much more. At the same time, lawyers note that such nuances of a real estate transaction, of course, are more convenient to register in an agreement. This will avoid many problems in the future. In addition, it will not take much time to draw up an agreement, and in the end, both parties will be much calmer..

It is important to legally resolve the issue with the connection of all necessary engineering networks.

A competent approach from the legal side is also important when purchasing a country house in the primary market. It is especially important to legally resolve the issue of connecting all the necessary engineering networks. A situation often arises when the developer promised that he will connect communications in a week, but some developers often do not keep their word. To avoid this, we recommend that you take this issue with full seriousness and demand that the exact terms of connection of communications be reflected in the work contract, as well as provide for penalties for delay.

Surrounding area

In third place, perhaps, are errors associated with a careless attitude to the study of the surrounding area. The buyer should not only carefully examine the plot offered to him, but also explore the area around the property being sold.

Mstislav Dobuzhinsky. Garden. 1915

Unfortunately, the situation on the market is such that not all realtors warn their clients about unwanted proximity to landfills and high-voltage power lines..

Choice of two “identical” cottages

We also note another rather important point – the assessment and selection of a suburban real estate object. In fact, two similar cottages, which at first glance look exactly the same, may be at different stages of completion. It is quite difficult for a person who is very far from the construction business to understand how and what work has already been carried out at the facility. How and with what material are the walls insulated? Was the foundation waterproofed? In reality, this is difficult for a layman to see. Later in the process of using the house, the buyer will fully experience this for himself. However, a professional expert can easily determine the quality of the house and tell you its actual cost. Note that the difference in the real cost of compared objects, which at first glance look the same, can be 100 or even 200%.

This is where many potential buyers make another mistake, choosing a cheaper cottage in a similar situation, which is not always correct. To obtain a reliable assessment of the proposed objects, it is recommended to conduct a technical examination of similar objects, and only then make your final choice.

The main mistakes of sellers of suburban real estate

Very often, the owners of suburban real estate, selling their cottage or land, make gross mistakes that negatively affect the timing of transactions, the value of the object, and sometimes even lead to the loss of a potential buyer. Let’s try to highlight a few of the most popular mistakes made by sellers in the implementation of transactions with suburban real estate.

Overpriced object

The first and, perhaps, the most common is the overvalued cost of the object being sold. Most of the owners of country houses, first of all, it concerns elite class objects, are sure that their country house is a unique work of art and there is no other such in the world anymore. It is, in principle, possible to understand such sellers, however, if the market situation is not taken into account when forming the price, the sale process can be very seriously delayed. At the same time, it often happens that the owner of the cottage realizes that he seriously overstated the selling price only six months later, or even much longer, after the house was put up for sale. As a rule, owners of elite suburban real estate do not hear criticism about the very high price, or simply ignore it. In principle, there is nothing wrong with this error, unless, of course, a quick sale of the object is required. The only problem is that the seller, making such a mistake, freezes his funds, which at that time could work for him, bringing some, sometimes quite significant, income.

Pre-sale preparation of the house

Errors associated with pre-sales preparation should be put in second place. The unpresentable appearance of a country house for sale can seriously complicate its sale for the owner.

Vincent Van Gogh. Thatched Cottages at Cordeville. 1890

Sometimes it is enough just to fix a jammed lock, remove garbage from the yard, clean stairs from snow or dirt, grease a creaky door, make minor cosmetic repairs. In reality, these are small investments, but they can seriously speed up the process of selling an object and even significantly raise its value..

In third place, you can put the error associated with a completely opposite situation. Some owners of country cottages, starting small cosmetic repairs, then get very carried away. As a result, they move on to overhaul. There are cottage owners who are firmly convinced that a fundamental renovation can raise the price of their country house by about 30%. However, this approach is completely wrong, not every finish actually guarantees an increase in the market value of the cottage being sold..

Psychological moments

The fourth position is occupied by the psychological error of sellers. Very often for people, participation in the show becomes a rather difficult psychological test. There can be a lot of reasons: for someone it is stress from the very operation of the sale and purchase, for another it is a usual attachment to housing. For such sellers, the statements of a potential buyer about his country house may sound like a personal insult. And as a result, this can lead to a breakdown of the track. In this case, we can only recommend one thing – it is better for the seller not to be present directly at the shows, and the realtor can solve all the questions that arise with the seller by phone.

Hiding information

Another mistake, which we ranked fifth in our rating, is that the owner of a suburban real estate object is hiding from potential buyers some information about the house being sold. Often they hide debts, the area of ​​the site or house, the size of utility bills. Such “dark sides”, in most cases, are eventually revealed, and lead to the failure of the transaction.

Let’s sum up

As you can see, both buyers and sellers, when carrying out transactions with suburban real estate, very often, due to their carelessness or frivolous approach, make serious mistakes that lead to monetary losses. In conclusion, let’s try to give some tips..

Firstly, both buyers and sellers must carefully examine the condition of the house and adequately assess its technical condition. Buyers are primarily obliged to pay attention to the quality of the used building materials and the technical condition of the building. Sellers, in turn, must create a presentable look and bring the object to the proper “marketable” condition.

When carrying out such transactions, it is imperative to conduct a technical examination of the building, which will provide reliable information about the condition of the property, which is difficult to obtain from the results of a superficial external examination of the house..

Secondly, when concluding transactions with suburban real estate, you need to seriously approach the legal registration of the purchase and sale of a country cottage or land. The contract must include all the nuances, even those moments that at first glance seem insignificant to you. In the future, such a competent approach to the execution of the transaction will help you avoid many problems..