Tips about buying new apartments:4. Old Buildings do “talk”. What do they say about the apartment you want to buy? | Ilias Papageorgiadis’ blog for Real Estate in Romania (and not only)

Tips about buying new apartments:
4. Old Buildings do “talk”. What do they say about the apartment you want to buy?

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Investment in a new apartment is one of the most important moments in the economic life of each and every one of us. Statistics say that we usually buy 1 - 3 dwellings during our life, so every mistake counts. Many times we focus on the apartment’s interior (also important) but this is not the only part of our investment. We buy an apartment in a specific building, whose “signs” can “tell” us a lot about it, its developer, our future neighbors and more. If we ignore this part of our investment, we may end up into big trouble, regretting the moment we entered into a “bad experience”.

1. Ask your architect to check the building inside out

First of all, when you will ask your architect (or other expert) to inspect the apartment, you will also ask him to have a look at the building, inside and around. I avoided buying an “excellent apartment” in very good area, as the architect showed me the scratches of 5 - 7 centimeters width. They were in the back of the building. The owner was upset because we found them…

2. A “building’s circle of life” is 30 - 40 years

Yes, exactly as you read it. This is viable even for today’s buildings, extended for one more decade when the construction is good (20 - 30% of projects). What happens after this period? It requires consolidation, either wise its value and endurance will be diminished.

3. Find out if the building was consolidated.

If you are interested in buying an old building, find out if the building was consolidated. Usually it is not, or it was just planned to be. Someone will have to support these costs and (surprise!) this someone is you, together with the other owners of apartments in this building.

4. There are many old buildings where you can see the steel coming out of cement structure

And this is visible to your eyes! If you see this, you’d better run. You already have your own problems, you don’t want one more. The building requires serious structural reinforcement and “make up”. Without it, you risk. Doing it, you invest an extra amount on a very old property.

(Quality of construction is always important. Check out the tips about it: http://www.realinromania-blog.com/tips-about-buying-new-apartments1-bad-quality-of-construction/)

5. Banks prefer buildings which are no more than 30 years old.

If you discuss with bankers, they will confirm all the above and they will tell you that they usually don’t finance apartments older than 30 years. They know something better, as they risk their bank’s money.

(More about Banks and how to protect from high costs charged by them: http://www.realinromania-blog.com/tips-about-buying-new-apartments2-how-to-deal-with-the-banks-and-their-hidden-costs-3/)

6. 30 + 25 = 55 (Have you thought of that?)

So if you wish to invest in an apartment already 30 years old, please do not forget that when your housing loan will expire (in about 25 - 30 years from now) this apartment will be 55 years old and its value will reflect to this age.

7. Check for potential “red bullet” status.

After the earthquake of 1977, there are still hundreds of buildings with this sign, which means that the building may fall at the next quake. The insurance companies never insure a building with red bullet. If someone tells you the opposite, he is a liar.

8. Are you sure that the building has all the basic facilities at your disposal? Some of them don’t have proper heating, or whatever else, for 1.000 reasons. Make a list and ask. You should better sound “weird” than to curse yourself when you will have shower with cold water “because even if you replaced all the pipes and systems, there are still problems at the neighbor’s home. And he doesn’t want to break his wall so as to fix them”.

9. If the building looks like a… “pig farm”, with dirty staircase, destroyed pipes, bad smell etc, but the apartment looks good as it was renovated, think twice: You will not feel good while you will be out of there, plus you will suffer to convince the next one to buy it from you. Also, you are an adult. You can easily figure out why this place ended up in this status.

10. Ask your architect for periods and areas

I am not an expert on this, but I have heard many times “that period the constructions were good” or “in this area the buildings were better built”. 80% he will not tell you something you don’t know. But this 20% can make the difference.

10 + 1. As you see it from across the street, do you like to spend a serious part of your life into it?

I know it sounds as a simple and obvious question. But half of my friends who bought old apartments did not do it. Ok, you want to buy the apartment, you find the building “acceptable”, everything is how you expect it to be. Why don’t you go across the street and look at the building? You will be watching this view every day over the following years to come.

(And what should be the criteria to choose an apartment? http://www.realinromania-blog.com/tips-about-buying-new-apartments3-what-should-be-the-criteria-to-choose-an-apartment/)

On Monday, 15^th of March:

Buying new apartments: Avoid the traps and change your life for good