Home Buyer’s Guide

Buying a home does not start by browsing property portals. It starts by sorting three variables: your real financial situation, your timeline, and your non-negotiable priorities.

The most common mistake is to invert the order: visit first, fall in love next, and force the numbers at the end. Once the decision is emotionally made, negotiation no longer exists.

Before looking at a single property, you should know: how much you can actually finance, how much you should spend (not the same thing), how soon you need to sign, and what is non-negotiable for you — the area, the size, the light, the quiet. If you do not define these three variables now, you will define them under pressure later.

There is an important difference between what the bank approves and what you should spend. Most buyers confuse the two and buy at the maximum of their borrowing capacity.

A responsible purchase starts from a simple analysis: net monthly income, fixed non-negotiable expenses (including savings), and a reasonable effort ratio (between 30% and 35% of net income on the mortgage payment, no more).

Add to this the costs few people calculate properly: transfer tax or VAT, notary, registry, taxes, valuation. They can amount to 8% to 12% of the property price depending on the region.

A property search without criteria is emotional consumption disguised as productivity. Hundreds of listings, dozens of visits, weeks lost and no decision made.

A purposeful search defines five hard filters (area, max budget, minimum size, number of rooms, orientation if critical) and three flexible ones (condition, floor, lift) that can give way in exchange for the first ones.

Set a visit protocol: never visit anything that does not meet the hard filters. Do not waste time on "let me just take a look at this one, the price is good but it is in another area". That is noise. Noise costs weeks and sometimes opportunities.