Tips about buying new apartments: 1. Bad quality of construction

Investment in a new apartment is one of the most important moments in the economic life of everyone of us. Statistics say that we usually buy 1 – 3 dwellings during our life, so every mistake counts. There are tens of people I know who bought an apartment in new block. Unfortunately for 30% of them, when they received their new home, their feelings were ranging between despair and anger. Very bad quality of finishings, many structural problems, several lies comparing to the promised quality. The result: They had to invest some extra 5.000 – 30.000 euro, in order to fix the mess, if it could be fixed. How can you be protected against cases like this?

by Daniela Ralea in category Editorial

Published on 2/15/2010 | 388 readers | 0 comments

1. Include in your budget the costs for architect, lawyer and Real Estate consultant
 

You know better what you can do and what you can not. But stop pretending that you know all and decide to pay some small amounts of money (comparing to the overall investment) to people who are better experts than you in their domains.

• An architect is needed so as to thoroughly check any property you will decide to purchase. He will tell you the problems you don’t see yourself. Before inking the contract, you can ask for solutions and you may succeed. If you discover the problems after, usually you should prepare for new payments…

• A lawyer will protect you while working on the contract of purchase. You can not imagine how many terms are included there. They usually tell you “sign here and it’s over”, but its better to pay someone 300 – 500 euro so as to avoid losing many thousands of euro in the near future.

• An honest Real Estate consultant will tell you what the market says about the project, the advantages and disadvantages of the area, the options you have etc. You are not supposed to know all the rumors and discussions in the market, but your agent should. This worths some hundreds of euro for consulting. It will save you much more.

(In the end of the day, it is better to lose 1.000 euro and save yourself from a wrong investment of 50.000 – 100.000 euro).


2. Be skeptical when you read… “excellent quality of construction” and the price is 800 – 1.000 euro / sq.m. O fcourse exceptions always exist

When we talk about already built projects, we should have in mind that these were developed on lands bought during 2005 – 2006 (or early 2007) with the construction having started in 2007 or 2008. The later the developer bought the land, the more expensive he paid for it. Also, whoever paid costs of construction during the second half of 2007 and all 2008, he got trapped paying the most expensive prices of the decade. The prices fell only during 2009. So, sometimes many developers tried to reduce the cost of finishings, recovering the loss. Most of them have a total overall cost exceeding 1.000 euro / sq.m.
(including financing, soft costs etc).

            So you have to check VERY carefully the quality of construction. A lowe price can
be sometimes an honest decision by the developer, or his try to “make up” an bad construction, trying to make you focus only on the price.


3. Ask the developer NOT to install the finishings, if this is possible

I know, it does not sound so nice. But if you want to buy an apartment
in a project and you don’t feel safe for the quality of finishings, it is
better for you to do something else. You have the right to ask and receive by
the developer the list of materials (and the work) which will be installed
inside the apartment. This list is supposed to have a cost. It is better for
you to ask him to reduce this cost and deliver the apartment as it is. Right
after, you will finish it using the materials you wish and the workers you
choose, having saved the payment of the costs for the initial developer’s work.


Don’t think that you want to avoid this trouble. I can give you plenty of examples
where the clients bought the apartment “finished”, paying all its finishings.
Right after they invested so much money so as to refurbish it...
 

4. Include in your contract all the guarantees you wish regarding the quality of construction. Crosscheck them one by one upon delivery, before approving.


Many people negotiate a price and then they just sign the contract. This
is wrong, by default. Read carefully the contract and include in it all the improvements,
materials and potential “guarantees” that someone promised to you. Be very
careful during the “hand over protocol”. Do not sign it without crosschecking
everything, slowly and carefully. Be sure that right after you sign it, you
will not have any chance to ask for changes or to force the developer to accept
mistakes, if he did. Many times you will come across people who will be in a
hurry, who will be telling you “just give me a signature here because I have to
go”. Ignore them. They do their job, you do yours. One hour of delay won’t
change their life. But it can change yours.

 
5. Claim your rights even after all the papers are signed.

Not all developer have bad intentions. There are many serious, the
majority actually. But there are always small or big mistakes that one may not
notice in time. If a developer is serious, he will recognize his mistake and
will try to compensate his client even after the first weeks from the client’s
move into his new home. Leaking pipes? Walls with cracks? Bad isolation? Report
them officially and demand a solution. This is your new home for the next 20 –
30 years and any serious seller will accept his mistake and fix it. He has a specialized
team for this, you don’t. And normally he would not like bad publicity for a
broken pipe…


Important notice: It is one thing to claim your rights and another one to search for problems where they don’t exist.  As we noticed several developers delivering bad quality of properties, we also saw many clients trying to fight, searching for excuses, just so as to cut costs or simply to cancel the transaction. The developer runs a company and he invested resources, time and some years of his life so as to deliver to you the apartment. If he sees you trying to trick him, he will fight back (and he will have all the
rights to do so…)

To read more, please access:  www.realinromania-blog.com