Buying property online and also selling has become a very important parts of many people’s lives. It allows them to shop from the comfort of their homes and have the items delivered. The global pandemic has rocketed online sales like never before and is constantly increasing year on year. Buying online can save you time, money and effort as prices are readily available with many sellers to choose from. You search what you want, click the “buy” button, and get a package delivered to your door. Simple.

But these transactions don’t always go so smoothly. According to FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center almost 50% of sales gets a complaint or is involved in a scam. Buying online is no longer limited to apparels, gadgets and white goods — the real estate market also trying to follow this trend too.

Can we say buying property online is safe as buying any other products?

Well, the answer is NO…

Unless of course you know the property, location, the estate agent that you will work with, and you have a good lawyer. Saying that buying online doesn’t mean paying the full 100 % purchase price, especially before your lawyer gets all the paperwork in place and correct. You should only pay a deposit online just to reserve that will give you and your lawyer a time to check out ıf everything is legal and good as promised by the agent. Before you go to that Deposit stage, you must agree with the agent the terms of holding the deposit because deposits are normally not refundable. But you can make it refundable subject to terms and conditions should a deal not follow through for certain stipulated reasons.

It is advisable to get an opinion from the lawyer before you pay the deposit and hope your lawyer will handle the rest of the legal work. Never give or make final payment to estate agent or developer but only through your lawyer. In most cases deposits are payable only to estate agents and that’s pretty normal but make sure you never pay more than 5%, and ıf ıts a luxury property over 300,000, we think 3% is a reasonable deposit to pay. Also always make payments via bank transfers and ask for receipts.

Buying online can be very convenient and rewarding, but you always have to protect yourself. If a deal looks too good to be true, then usually it is. Double check the details and ask yourself why it is cheap. We will explain more about this subject in our 2nd stage video episode.

To cut the story short it’s not recommended to pay an advance deposit unless you know the area, property and most importantly you trust the agent and your lawyer very well….

NO 1 METHOD

Open House for sale

Buying after viewing…

As they Are seeing is believing or shall we say, “believing is seeing.” Seeing is believing, By the Cambridge dictionary said to mean that if you see something yourself, you will believe it to exist or be true, despite the fact that it is extremely unusual or unexpected:

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. —Albert Einstein

Visual illusions can distort our perception so that what we “see” does not correspond with what is physically there. Basically, seeing and then buying a property is the usual and safer way to purchase, but you still need to consider and ask some questions before you buy. And more importantly you must know how to choose an estate agent and a lawyer who will work on your behalf for you giving you the best guidance to make things work smoothly without hindrance.

We will cover on our second section.

See you then!