The first step in your purchasing decision is to determine your budget. For this, three essential elements must be taken into account:
Your income and expenses will be used to calculate your borrowing capacity . To do this, simply deduct your fixed charges from your monthly net income, which gives you your remaining living expenses. It is on this basis that your lending institution will determine the amount that it can theoretically lend you as part of your home purchase .
Your income includes your professional, financial and rental income. Your expenses correspond to your fixed expenses, such as your rent or home loan maturities, other consumer loans, possible alimony payments… By relating your income to your expenses, we obtain the effort rate. The latter makes it possible to define your borrowing capacity, insofar as it must always be less than 35% of your remainder to live , according to the latest Note that banks generally prefer to stay below the 33% mark to limit the risk of default and over-indebtedness for the borrower.
Finally, your personal contribution (from savings, for example with passbooks or company investments) is also essential in calculating your purchasing capacity. Please note that the two should not be confused. Borrowing capacity concerns the amount you can borrow, while purchasing capacity concerns the total amount of the acquisition. It is therefore the price of the property to which must be added the acquisition costs (notary fees), as well as administrative costs, without forgetting the borrower’s insurance and any work to be planned… Generally, banking establishments require a contribution of 10%, to cover at least the notary fees , but the more this will be, the more your file will gain in stability.
Learn about the local real estate market
Once you have determined a price range for your home, you will need to choose its location. You probably already have an idea of the sector where you want to settle, but within the same city, or even the same district, all places are not equal and as real estate agents repeat, nothing is more important than location! So do not hesitate to consult the SeLoger price map to compare the different districts.
Get closer to real estate agencies in the area you are looking for, their expertise will help you find the property that meets your criteria.
The purchase offer
That’s it, you’ve found your ideal home, it’s now time to make an offer to purchase! It is a document that commits you to the seller for the purchase of his property . Its writing must therefore respect certain rules.
You must indicate that the offer to purchase will be canceled if it has not been accepted by the seller within the time indicated.
You can also indicate the type of property in question and describe it (area, number of rooms, etc.).
Please note: remember to add suspensive clauses to be able to withdraw from the sale if an unforeseen event occurs beyond your withdrawal period (such as a poor assessment of the condition of the property, for example).
The signing of the sales agreement
Good news: the seller has accepted your purchase offer ! It is now a question of signing the sales agreement. This is a preliminary contract between seller and buyer, who undertake to sell the property after agreeing on its price. The sales agreement is the most secure preliminary contract, because legally it is worth selling the property.
You can choose to write it without an intermediary, when the seller sells the property to you directly, for example, without going through a notary. You can then write it freely or using a standard contract. However, you will have to have the compromise recorded “by a deed under private signature registered with the tax office , within 10 days of its acceptance by the beneficiary”, according to the site of the Notaries of France .
But be careful: if you make mistakes, which can easily happen given the rapid changes in legislation, the sale will be invalidated. It is therefore advisable to entrust its drafting to a notary , who will take care of all the administrative procedures related to the sale for you (registration, collection of all the necessary documents, verification of the suspensive clauses, etc.).
The security deposit
In addition, keep in mind that the sales agreement must be accompanied by a security deposit that protects the seller throughout the duration of the sale, which generally takes between 3 and 6 months depending on the case. Its amount is usually between 5 and 10% of the sale price of the property.
It is used to compensate the seller who immobilized his property for you. If you decide to retract and cancel the sale, the security deposit made when signing the compromise will be returned to him. But if the sale goes through to completion, the amount of this deposit will be deducted from the total cost of the sale.
If the sale is canceled due to one of the suspensive clauses of the sales agreement, the security deposit will be returned to you.
Obtaining mortgage
One of the main suspensive clauses of the sales agreement is the non-obtaining of the mortgage, in the vast majority of cases, necessary to acquire a property. But your goal is for it to be accepted! So to put the odds on your side and have the best chance of getting your loan, here are the essential elements for your mortgage file :
Proof of identity and certain personal information (identity card or passport, family record book if you have children, proof of address less than three months old, marriage contract or PACS certificate for borrowers as a couple).