Buying with Notar
Buying a home is both a major and important investment. Notar helps you find your dream home and ensures that the purchase is a safe and pleasant experience. Notar makes it easy with our six-step model that guides you to your new home. We also offer several checklists that can be useful when buying a home.
Step 1: Search for your dream home
Finding your dream home and buying a home can be easier said than done. At Notar we have therefore developed a search engine that makes it easy for you to find what you are looking for. With personal settings and optimised search functions, we make the search for your dream home more fun and less time-consuming.
Home Search service
At notar.se you can easily create a Home Search profile, thereby allowing us to monitor the market and search for your dream home on your behalf. We will then provide you with tips about the properties that best match your preferences. Simply put, we search the market for you, enabling you to spend more time on other things.
Pay us a visit
You are always welcome to visit one of our local offices to check out the homes that are available in a specific area. We will be delighted to discuss your plans and answer your questions over a relaxing cup of coffee. Our estate agents can also assist in setting up a personal Home Search profile so that we can monitor the market on your behalf.
Given our generous opening hours, we hope that you will be able to visit one of our local offices at a time when our staff are on site to provide assistance. However, if you are unable to visit us during opening hours, please feel free to stop by and check out our display window for details of the latest homes for sale.
Social media
You can always visit our social media, where you can see the latest ads for homes for sale, book a valuation or submit questions to our estate agents.
Step 2: Financing
It can be a good idea to arrange the financing of your home purchase before attending a viewing, as the subsequent steps in the process can often proceed extremely quickly. Pre-arranged financing also makes it easier for you to enter the bidding process at a good price level.
Step 3: Attend viewings
When you have found properties that interest you and your financing is arranged, it is time to attend viewings. Attending viewings enables you to gain a better understanding of how you want to live in the future and the features that are of greatest importance to your enjoyment of your new home.
Many viewings are arranged on a Sunday, with an opportunity for a repeat viewing on the following Monday or Tuesday.
Step 4: Bidding process
When you have found a property that feels just right for you, it is time to submit a bid. Our estate agent will always call you after a viewing to discuss any terms and conditions for the bid, obtain details of your bank officer, inform you of how many other bidders are involved, and find out your preferences regarding date of possession.
It is important to know that the estate agent is always impartial during a bidding process, which is positive for both the buyer and the seller.
It is always up to the seller to decide when the bidding process is over and who may purchase the property. In other words, it is not necessarily the person who submits the highest bid who may purchase the property. The bidding process may therefore end at any time, although it usually lasts between a couple of days and a week.
Consequently, if you are interested in a property following a viewing, it is important that you contact the estate agent as soon as possible. If you wish, you can always receive details of the latest bids via text message, and details of the current highest bid are shown under the property listing on notar.se.
The estate agent is obligated to forward all new bids until the contract has been signed. The seller may also cancel the sale at any time prior to the signing of the contract. It is thus in the best interests of both the buyer and the seller to be able to sign the contract at short notice.
On the date of possession, you are entitled to receive the bidding schedule with details of all bids that have been submitted and who has submitted the bids. More information about the bidding process is available on the website of Fastighetsmäklarnämnden (the Swedish Board of Real Estate Agents).
Step 5: Contract
The contract is a very important part of the process, but it doesn’t just signal the end of the bidding process. The contract sets out all financial terms and conditions for the transaction, such as the amount to be paid, and when. This includes any deposit/down payment as well as the final purchase price.
When it is time to sign the contract, the buyer, seller and estate agent meet and go through the contract to ensure that all parties are in agreement regarding all clauses in the contract. You are also welcome to contact the estate agent at any time if you have any questions regarding the contract.
Deposit/down payment
Once the contract has been signed, it is time to pay the deposit/down payment. This is usually set at 10% of the total purchase price and must be paid within seven days of the date on which the contract is signed, unless something else has been agreed between the parties. To ensure adequate security for you and the seller, you will be asked to transfer the deposit/down payment to the estate agent’s client account. The estate agent will then release these funds when it has been confirmed that all contractual terms and conditions have been satisfied.
Step 6: Possession
In conjunction with the signing of the contract, you are confirmed as the buyer of the property. It is also at this point that you and the seller agree on the date when you will move in, in other words, the date of possession. Possession can either occur at your bank or at Notar’s office. In practical terms, possession means that you, the seller and the estate agent meet to arrange transfer (payment) of the remainder of the purchase price and the handover of keys.
However, before this can happen, it must be ensured that all terms and conditions have been satisfied, for example, that you have been approved by the tenant-owner association if you are buying a tenant-owner apartment. Notar will help you to check and make sure that all terms and conditions have been satisfied. When you have received the keys to your new home, it is important that you inspect the quality of the final cleaning performed or arranged by the previous owner, and that you contact us if something has been missed or performed to a sub-standard level. It is also important to ensure that all requisite notifications of changes of address and movements of subscriptions have been correctly registered.
Price statistics
It can be a good idea to gain an understanding of the price levels and price trends in different areas before you start looking for a new home. A good way to do this is to contact an estate agent in your area who can tell you more about the long-term statistics and price trends in the area. The estate agent will also be able to answer any questions you may have.