בידקו את חוזה רכישת הדירה

You found an apartment. Congratulations. You hired a lawyer and paid them good money for peace of mind regarding the apartment purchase process.

Stop This is too big a deal to trust someone else to take care of it for you. Just as a slight stomach ache is enough for a family doctor, but before a complicated surgery, it's worth getting a second opinion, so too here, because it's about so much money, you should be involved in reviewing the contract. The good news: it won't cost you any money. All you'll need is to dedicate a little time to carefully read the contract.

Why check a real estate purchase agreement?

Here’s an example from one of the deals I closed: The lawyers (for the seller and for me) agreed on three payments. I took out a mortgage for 75% of the apartment’s value (When investing in apartments, it's advisable to take out the maximum possible loan from the bank. (But that is a topic for a separate article.) The bank stipulates that before using the bank’s funds (a mortgage), all personal funds must be paid in full (in this case, as mentioned, 25% of the apartment’s value).

However, the contract specified a payment schedule that contradicted the bank’s guidelines. Specifically, the contract stipulated that 10% of the apartment’s price would be paid upon signing the contract, 10% with Registering a caveat in the Land Registry and 80% upon receiving the keys to the apartment. On the surface, this is a better contract (for the buyer) than is customary, since 80% of the money is paid only upon actually taking possession of the apartment. In reality, under these terms, it was impossible to obtain a mortgage due to the requirement to pay 25% (the down payment) before receiving the mortgage.

In this case, we had to ask the sellers to accept part of the payment in advance to bring the total to 75%. The sellers agreed to accept the money early, and everything worked out.

It's not always that easy. Sellers are sometimes suspicious, unfriendly, and use statements like "It's written in the contract, so that's how we'll do it..." or they might simply be abroad or busy. In this case, you could get stuck in a situation that might cause a delay in payment to the sellers and the fines associated with late payment.

I suggest you read the contract and draw a timeline on paper, along with the key events on the timeline as written in the contract. For example:

1. Contract signing date 4/1/2022. First payment in the amount of…
2. According to the contract, up to 14 days after that, we will write a warning note: we will register April 14, 2022, second payment in the amount of...
3. 30 days later, you receive the key to the apartment: Third payment in the amount of...

Of course, the timeline should also include all the actions we need to take to reach the third payment after we have received the mortgage and have the money in hand.

The schedule must be critically reviewed before signing the contract to ensure there is enough time to obtain a mortgage according to the method The efficient mortgage.