Making an offer on an apartment

[ArrynField]

Take your time. There's an oversupply of property. There's no need to rush. The buyer is King.

It’s a waiting game. If you have a cash/mortgage offer in principal you are in a strong position and can buy whenever you want.

Tell the Agent, you’ve decided not to buy, but if they have someone below market value that you would consider.

Give them the feeling that you don't want to buy.

Ignore the Asking price.

Do some research. Look at the transactions for similar-sized units in the same development, as well as similar developments closely. Not only are sellers competing with similar units in the same block, but they are also competing with similar units in the vicinity.

Get 3 different valuations. Look at the lowest valuation and start with 20% lower than the lowest valuation and start negotiating from there.

https://www.hsbc.com.hk/mortgages/to...rty-valuation/

https://www.sc.com/hk/others/property-valuation.html

https://www.hkbea.com/html/en/bea-mo...valuation.html

https://evalhk.cushmanwakefield.com..../Home/Index/en

https://www.bochk.com/m/en/mortgage/expert/expert2.html

[Hkemail888]

Best way to handle this is you wait one year, buy 10% cheaper and use the money you saved to go on multiple holidays

[Pumpkinpina]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I think I'll use these couples months to wait out the market, let my lease run up, and prepare renovation design ideas

[traineeinvestor]

If you end up making an offer for one that has a tenant in it and you want vacant possession on completion make sure you put that in the provisional agreement when you make your offer.

If you bid on a property with a tenant and are happy to take with the tenant in place, include a provision that the seller will transfer the tenant's deposit to you in full on completion.

If you want your contractors to have access to the property before completion make sure that is in the contract (and do not accept any qualifications such as "will use reasonable efforts").

I'm not familiar with the area but with many HK properties it pays to take a look around the neighbourhood - I've seen a few advertised as having great views ... with no mention of the new apartment building about to be put up right in front of them.

[mwong222]

Lowball the offer. It is common practice to negotiate. If the valuation is lower than the asking, the better. If not, then forget the valuation. I bought an apartment last year for 20% below valuation as the owner was urgent. It was about 15% below asking. The valuation is only 1 factor for price. Urgent owner is another. I am pretty sure I overpaid.

Getting a lawyer is easy. I found a lawyer online after I signed the prelim and got everything settled within 2 days. Agent can help but prices are all around the same ballpark so better to find your own. The lawyer can help with negotiating a final walk through before closing but it is standard practice anyways. I didn't bother as I was doing a full reno and tore everything down.

Getting a mortgage would be the bigger issue. Took me 2 months to get one. You should look into this first.

If you are doing renovations, you should probably factor that a bit into the price. My full renovation is costing about 1.5k per sqft (w/o appliances). A relative is going to renovate half her apartment and the quotes are about 1.2k per sq ft (w/ appliances).