Buying an apartment in Israel from abroadMany people purchase apartments inIsraelwhile living abroad. To many this seems like a daunting task since many questions arise about the technicalities of the transaction. How will you sign the contract if you are not inIsrael? How will you make the payments? How will you sign the mortgage documents? Who will pick up the keys to the apartment at the close of the deal? All these questions have answers as you will see below:
- Find a good, trustworthy real estate agent. Give this person your wish list. The real estate agent will send you pictures and even videos of relevant properties and assist you in negotiating a good price and a fair deal. Should you feel the need to see the property with your own eyes, hop on a plane and come over for a few days to check it out.
- Find an Israeli Real Estate attorney to assist you in the deal. This attorney will prepare and send you a power of attorney to sign and have notarized before the Israeli Consul nearest your home. If there is no Israeli Consulate nearby you can have a local notary notarize your signature and then an “appostille” has to be put on this. An appostille is a notarization of the local notary’s signature based on an International treaty signed by most countries in the world. Every country has its own system of Appostille. It should be noted that for countries who are not signatories to this treaty, such asCanadafor example, a different process for the notarization of signatures of local notaries is in place. Your Israeli Real Estate attorney can help you figure all this out. If you happen to be inIsraelwhen you find your property then you can sign the power of attorney in the presence of your attorney.
- Your Israeli Real Estate attorney can then sign documents in your name such as the contract, deed of sale and mortgage documents.
- Your Israeli Real Estate attorney can assist you in finding an engineer to check the property out. Your attorney can help you find the other professionals needed to check that the property is built to code and see what is going on in the vicinity of the property. Should you wish to renovate or redesign the home, your attorney can disburse payments to the various professionals and stores involved. Your attorney can also assist you in finding an interior designer to support and advise you in all this.
- Your Israeli real estate attorney can open up an escrow account in your name. You wire the money necessary for the transaction to the account and your attorney converts the money toNISand disburses the payments in accordance with the contract. Your attorney will keep copies of all receipts and should send you a spread sheet with updates as to what was paid and how much money is left in the account. Some of the things that your attorney will pay from this account are any taxes owed on the deal, the other professionals involved in the deal, land registry fees and of course your seller.
- Should you wish to take a mortgage from an Israeli mortgage bank it is a smart idea to contact an Israeli mortgage broker or consultant. The mortgage broker negotiates with the mortgage banks in order to find you a mortgage that best suits your needs and under the best possible conditions. When the mortgage broker has decided which mortgage you are to take and from which bank your attorney will go and sign all the mortgage documents and help facilitate the process.
- At the close of the deal your attorney will make sure that all the documents for the transfer of title are in place and he or she will take care of registering title in your name.
- In addition to this, your attorney or the real estate agent can accept the keys to the apartment for you and transfer the utilities to your name.
At the end of this process all you need to do is to come, move in and enjoy your new home inIsrael.
