Dear home buyers,
I want to point you to a set of financial tools the Banque Internationale à Luxembourg has made available to its customers, many of which aren’t aware of their existence, unfortunately.
I know it can be exciting to start your search for a new home by immediately visiting as many homes as you can, but I would encourage you to pause for a moment and think about your finances first.
Many home buyers get frustrated because they’ve made several offers and still came up empty handed. The issue is often that people neglect to talk to the bank before they go shopping for a home. Think about it from the perspective of an agent for a moment; After you make an offer, the agent will have to go present the offer to the seller and convince this person that you are the ideal buyer. They will have to accept the amount of money you offer but they also have to relatively sure that you have the money or that you will be given the necessary financing by your bank.
This can only be done with a set of solid arguments, the best of which is a bank certificate saying that you can buy up to a certain amount of money. Or you could have a bank letter stating that there is a good chance that a bank loan up to a certain amount will be approved.
Without any of that, a seller may refuse your offer, even if your offer was the highest. It doesn’t do the seller any good to accept a huge offer that the bank won’t end up financing. This will waste precious time as a home becomes less attractive to buyers the longer it stays on the market.
And on the other hand, if you have solid proof of your financing options, you may even allow yourself to put in a lower offer, knowing that the safety of your financing is going to weigh in on the sellers decision.
To get a better idea of your financial situation, you can use one of three tools you’ll find on BILs my|HOME page.
my|PROJECT – is a simulator that lets you calculate how much house you can afford
my|PROPERT – helps you decide to rent or buy
my|COST – helps you add up your acquisition costs
These are excellent tools to get you started and a visit to your banker will fill in the blanks. With this information on hand, you can then go shopping for the home of your dreams knowing that your offer will stand a good chance of being accepted.
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