Real Estate Matters | The Most Important Questions To Ask…….. Final Part

Juliet Risdon

Juliet Risdon is a Director of JML Property and a property investor.
Having established the company in 1994, JML Property offers Investment Property & Homes. It specializes in managing properties for owners and investors, and providing attractive and comfortable homes for tenants.

Over the last two weeks we have covered 11 important questions for buyers to ask. In case you missed the earlier articles, here is a quick reminder about the series:
All property transactions are sizeable when compared with most other decisions. It follows that you would give these transactions the time and effort that they warrant, but this does not always happen. It sometimes isn’t so much an issue of motivation, but rather a case of now knowing the right questions to ask.
This series deals with the key questions for each party. Knowing the answers to these questions should help to avoid misunderstandings and in many cases will save time, money or both.

When you are buying a property
Making a few notes on the questions below may save you hundreds of thousands of dollars on the price of property, but more importantly they may save you from making a bad decision one way or the other.
We have already covered 11 important questions. If you missed them, please do send us an e mail at the address at the bottom of the page and we will be happy to send them through to you.

1. What offers have they had so far?
The agent is likely tell you if there have been other offers, but may not tell you how much they were.
They have a big incentive to agree a price and make a deal happen, so they may drop some hints or just come out and tell what’s on the table.
If you can find out about the other offers, it obviously makes it easier to know what you should offer.

2. When do the sellers have to move out?
Have the sellers found another home yet ?
If not you may be able to offer extended closing terms to give them more time, and help your negotiations in the meantime.

3. Do you have noisy neighbors?
If the homeowner has lodged any complaints with the police about neighbors, they should disclose this fact to you.
Even with good neighbors, there is no guarantee they are going to stay that way, but its better that you know the facts so you can make an informed decision.

4. Before paying a deposit, ask if there are similar properties available ?
If there are similar properties on the market and the price is less, now is the time to find out.
If you pay a deposit and then change your mind, it’s too late……under Macau Law you will forfeit the deposit if you pull out of the deal.

5. Before signing a contract, ask if furniture is included ? If the answer is yes, ask what furniture is included and what isn’t ?
Knowing which pieces of furniture are included in the deal is important, and can save you a lot of headaches.
As the buyer, you can specify what stays and what goes, and the more clear you are with this, the better.
Don’t forget that one of the major costs in Macau is demolition and removal.
The limited space, cost of transport and people makes any such exercise a difficult one, unlike other parts of the world where a large skip can be left outside the building with relative ease, and all rubbish dumped in there over the course of the removal.

6. Once a contract is signed, ask the lawyer if they are going to pay the stamp duty for you ?
Stamp duty must be paid within 30 days of signing an agreement.
The law office should take care of this for you, but bearing in that the government will impose a penalty on anyone not paying within the 30 days and the duty is quite expensive (approx 3% of the purchase price), it would be a VERY costly mistake to make.

That concludes this series of important questions for buyers. Over the coming weeks we will be looking at other important questions for tenants, landlords and sellers.

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