The sales agreement is one of the steps to go through when acquiring real estate, whether it is your main residence or a rental investment. It is through this sales agreement that the commitment between the seller and the buyer is sealed. Even if from a purely legal point of view, the purchase offer and its acceptance already constitute a commitment, this compromise materializes much more the financial transaction to come between the current owner and the buyer in the making.
The steps preceding the signing of the sales agreement are numerous, so I will only mention the 2 main ones here:
The first stage is undoubtedly the most complicated and the longest. The property sought must meet a certain number of criteria, specific to each one, ranging from the target region to the interior layout, from the purchase price to the size of the garden… In short, it is up to each person to define their parameters, to each their rare pearl! As far as I’m concerned, my objective was to invest in rental real estate. Without going into detail, the points to consider were:
No, I haven’t found this though. But I found one that comes very close, because modulo some work, which I will have done as soon as the deed of sale is signed, it meets these few criteria and offers some advantages that seem relevant to me, particularly in the context of generation of the most passive income possible. I will come back to the description of this apartment building in more detail in a future post.
And so I moved on to the second stage, the purchase offer and the associated negotiation. The discovery of the building and the follow-up of the case were carried out through a real estate agency. The point is important, because it means that you have 2 areas of negotiation : the net selling price and the agency fees. Think about it! In short, once seller and buyer agree on the price, all that remains is to sign the sales agreement.
It was therefore last Monday that I went to sign this sales agreement, armed in particular with a delegation of power to sign in place of my wife who could not free herself. Same thing for the seller, who was signing for himself and his sister. After shared reading of the compromise, after adjustment of notary fees (increase from March 1st… sniff..), it was after nearly 2 hours of appointment that everything was completed and signed. Not to mention the multiple initials to operate on all the documents backed by the compromise: diagnosis, cadastre plan, … But I’m satisfied that I left this meeting, a crucial step in one of my 2014 objectives, rental investment, had just been crossed! Like the authors of a blog that I consult regularly, that of Mr & Mrs P, I enter the straight line!
From a purely legal point of view, I still have the possibility of withdrawing within the next 7 days . This is obviously not my wish. After this period, I will be obliged to acquire the property, except in the event of non-fulfilment of one of the conditions precedent specified in the sales agreement. For my file, the only one positioned is that relating to obtaining credit. The appointments with my bank and my broker are already fixed, I don’t worry about obtaining the loan (I touch wood anyway, you never know…). It’s up to me to get the most advantageous offer, but that’s another story!
For your part, have you already asserted a condition precedent specified on your sales agreement? Do you foresee this year a real estate investment which will therefore go through the signing of a compromise?