Useful advices for real estate purchase

You need to pay attention to:

How much money I have?

How much I'm willing to spend and can I afford it?

You also must pay attention to costs of real estate you're buying : heating bills (gas, electricity..), water bills, insurance costs.

How to find corresponding real estate?

There are many ways which can help you with real estate purchase – hire a real estate agent, look up for advertisements, contact construction companies directly for the details about new real estates they are building on that area.

What to do when the offer is accepted?

When the owner accepts your offer, you have to consider:
- if it's possible to pay the deposit for property, real estate
- if compensation is required
- who will take care of work with transmission
- if you want to buy real estate with someone.

Although you can be thrilled with a certain house or a flat, but try to ignore excitement and stick to the basic rool : Ownership – check the ownership documents when you're buying the house. You can check for illegal construction in a land-registry office.

When you've established „clean papers“, you have to think about the real estate location. Try to imagine how would your day look like if you'd lived there? How far away is the tram stop? How often does bus drive? You have to think practically, how many nurseries, schools and libraries are there? How long will take you to get to work?

Maybe you haven't think about the neighbourhood; perhaps if there are a lot of young families with children, or a big shopping center is building in your neighbourhood? You also have to pay attention to construction quality, if walls, bricks and wood are old? Is there humidity – this is a problem which is difficult to fight with. Also, it's very important to know if the real estate has all the necessary connections – water, electricity, gas, sewage system. For the ones who have car, garage or parking space is more than welcome.

Interior decoration – would you have to invest in furniture, bathroom, parquet? These are not small expenses, especially when you have to buy all this at once. When all conditions are fulfilled and you are thrilled with your flat – think if this flat pays you off?

If you're going to move for some reasons, is this flat going to be profitable? Is it going to be possible to sell it in ten years from now for at least the same price you paid?

Useful advices for real estate sale

You need to pay attention to:

You are selling a real estate, a house, a flat? To hire a real estate agent or sell it by yourself?

Before you decide for one of the options, try to calculate how much it's going to cost you. If you hire an agent for real estate sale, it's going to cost you more but he's going to have to take responsibility for advertisements, showing the real estate to potential buyers and price negotiation. In every case, this is the better option!

How to determine the price?

If you've decided to find the buyer yourself, first you have to determine the price for your real estate. Many of real estate agents make real estate value estimation for free, so it's better to hire two or more of them. If you want to know the real value of your real estate, you can hire agent to make a detailed plan of rooms, squares and determine the price for you. You can find out real estate prices yourself in local advertisements and advertisements of real estate agencies. Before you finally determine the price, first consider: - do the necessary work or decorate the house which can help rise it's price; - hire someone to check for possible problems which can influence the price (for example, facade is falling off).

You have to decide whether to sell carpets, kitchen elements, hanging lamps with the house. The price for these additions can be calculated in real estate price or it can be sold separately. If you don't sell anything from the furniture, you have to point that out to the potential buyer. If you didn't take all the furniture away, you should make a list of the things you're leaving in the house, so the buyers know what they are buying. Buyer always tries to take the price down so you have to be prepared for it and rise the price so you can have space for lower price.

You should find out what's the advertising price for house sale and decide how much you'll spend for advertising, what's the advertisement size, when to publish and for how long. Make sure you put your phone number on the advertisement. Put as much information as possible – squares, number of rooms, what furniture is calculated in the price etc. Also, pay attention to internet advertisements which can be useful for real estate photos or videos, that is presentation of the real estate you're selling.

Five times lower household cost

A building of the future is constructing. A very good isolation, special bricks, vacuum panels, thermal bridges and solar walls will make household costs lower. Square is more expensive, but payable

OSIJEK – Since December of this year, 15 families in Osijek will move in first low-energy and self-keeping building which will have five times lower total costs than the average Croatian household, Jutarnji list writes. House of the future is building at the Reisner street, square price is 200 Euros more than in comon building in the neighbourhood, and it's estimated that investment on more expensive square will pay off in 3 to 5 years. Just in case of breakdown, temperature is 16 °C "We guarantee that temperature in the flat will not drop below 16 degrees of Celsius, and that will happen when all pumps and solar systems fail at the same time, which is impossible. This self-keeping system is more expensive than the standard constructing up to 15%, but it pays it off in 3 to 5 years", says projecter Glasnović. Smart building project is made for the first time in Croatia as Swiss example where Minergie standard is successfully applying.Its application on building of the future has came up by Chemistry and Technology University from Zagreb in cooperation with Swiss institute. Chief projecter dr.Zvonimir Glasnović claims that Minergie standard limits the total household consumption on heating, cooling, hot water and electricity to 3 liters of light cyan per year. "Entrepeneur Janoš Seleški told me at one symposium that his company Agria wants to build the first low-energy business-residential building in Croatia. We immediately agreed to turn one part of the complex in the Raisner street into house of the future. 200 meter probe is deeper, and concrete construction is building. Now follows the most tense part because constructors have to build everything as planned to get all the necessary certificates.“, says Glasnović. They achieved five times lower household costs by using methods of building active and passive low-energy houses with geo-thermal crane which is buried 215 meters below ground. For extremely good isolation, special brick, vacuum panels, thermal bridges and main sewer you need to use 42 kW h/m2 energy power per year. Investor Janoš Seleški fromiz Agria company said that he believed in this modern system efficiency which experts built and he will also live in that low-energy building, Jutarnji list writes. Croats pay 22.000 kunas per year on heating and electricity One quarter of expenses in average Croatian 4-member family is going away on household costs, that is 1600 to 1800 kunas per month or 19.200 to 21.600 kunas per year (Independent Croatian Union research and GfK agency research). For example, on heating of a 100m2 flat by using electricity, family will spend averagely 12.000 kunas; on heating by using light cyan they'll spend 7500, and on heating by using natural gas they'll spend around 4000, and by using woods 2500 kunas. Families in passive and active houses spend 2000 to 8000 kunas per year on all the household costs; heating, cooling, hot water and electricity. Depending on the way of heating (electricity, gas or woods) you can save up to 2 or 6 times more, and families that live in houses of the future say that average savings are five times higher.

Isolated house saves three times more energy than classic house

Level of energy power spent on heating in standard isolated house can be used in 3 or 4 economical houses or even 8 passive houses.

Old buildings spend 250 kWh energy power per m2 in just one year, new buildings 150kWh and economical ones up to 90 kWh. With 8 to 10 cm of thermo-isolation on external wall, energy consumption decreases for four times.

Numbers are cruel. Buildings spend more than 40 % of total energy power, and thermal losses through windows and external wall make 70 % of total thermal losses.

According to new technical regulations, constructors have to build economical houses, so investors must have thermal protection project of building in order to get construction permit. That means that no longer is allowed to construct buildings without facade thermo-isolation and double-glass windows because only these products guarantee power savings.

Experts claim that stories about thick walls and double-glass windows, that isolate better than new constructions, are fake. Old 60 cm brick wall isolates better than 30 cm wall or concrete one, but 30 cm brick wall with 10 cm of thermo-isolation is much better protection than the old, thick wall.

When we talk about thermo-isolation, it's very important to isolate inner space from external part and other, cold spaces.

If living room is above the basement, you need to isolate living room floor, that is basement ceiling. But if the flat roof or cold attic is above the ceiling, you have to isolate it also to prevent heat loss in winter, and space overheating in summer, when you spend a lot of energy power on cooling.

Besides materials, for good thermal isolation are also important layout and house position. Whenever is possible, you need to build house orientated towards the sun, so the house is not in shadow and also is protected from strong winds.

Professor Jasenka Bertol-Vrček, head of Architectonic Construction and Building Department at University of Architecture in Zagreb says that economical house must not have too many open external surfaces in order to prevent heat losses. Living room should be faced south, and house must be as much compact as possible.

Željko Štromar, director of Building Institute at Croatian Construction Institute says that house isolation depends of house location. In Nothern Croatia, wall isolation and entire building isolation is very important, and in Southern Croatia, window shading is important because in south you spend more energy power on cooling than on heating.

Štromar alerts that is the best for good house isolation to hire experts who will exactly determine how big is energy loss and how to save energy.

Isolation blinds

Passive house sets strict demands for carpenter work and good isolation. Plastic carpenter work filled with foam is the most corresponding. It is a product of Thyssen Polymers company, known for steel production, and is offered in combination with tripple glass, in colours, and blind boxes are also with isolation.

How to save money with little investments?

* seal the windows and outside doors
* isolate radiator receptors and blind boxes
* isolate ceiling below non-heating attic
* install thermostatic valves on radiators
* install saving electric bulb
* buy economical household contents (class A)

How to save money without investments?

* turn heating off at night and when nobody is at home
* drop the blinds at night and close the curtains
* do not cover radiators with curtains
* use natural light whenever is possible
* turn the light off in rooms you don't stay in
* turn washing machine on at night