Buyer's expenses when buying a real estate

BUYER'S COSTS WHEN BUYING AND SELLING REAL ESTATE

You have decided to buy a property, but you are not sure what costs await you? The costs are explained below.

The biggest cost is the purchase price of the real estate you want to buy. You should carefully approach the purchase of real estate in this sense, especially if it is purchased through bank loan. In this case, before the purchase itself, you should talk to the banker to see what options are offered to you and under what conditions.

Another cost that comes after buying and selling real estate is real estate sales tax. It is paid once to the state. This tax is exclusively paid by the buyer, not the seller. The amount of the tax is 3% of the total purchase price specified in the purchase contract.

In most cases, the tax administration accepts the amount as such, however there are exceptions when the amount from the purchase agreement is not accepted because it is lower than the market price, so a decision can be issued to pay taxes at a higher price based on the assessment of the market value of similar properties in the same area.

There is an exception when the buyer is not obliged to pay real estate transfer tax, and that is when the real estate is purchased from a legal entity that is in the VAT system. In this case, given that there must be no double taxation in the Republic of Croatia, the buyer does not bear the cost of the tax, because the seller already pays a certain tax.

Given that the sellers are mostly private individuals, and the buyers mostly have the obligation to pay taxes, this expense should definitely be included in the total list of expenses.

If you have decided to hire a real estate agency, then you pay an intermediary fee for its work. The brokerage fee is determined by the brokerage contract and is always stated as a percentage.

With some agencies, as well as with us, the lawyer's costs for drawing up the pre-contract and/or the purchase agreement and the transfer of ownership, as well as the notary's costs for signature certification, are included in the fee that is charged after the work is carried out. In addition to the stated costs, the agency offers many other services, such as transferring invoices to the customer's name, searching for real estate based on the customer's wishes and conditions, document review, and the like.

If you buy through credit, there is one more, and also the last, cost - solemnization of the sales contract at the notary public, and that cost is borne by the buyer. The price of solemnization depends on the amount of the loan, and a more precise estimate of this cost should be consulted with a notary public or, if you have engaged an agency with your agent.

Apart from the above, there are no additional costs.