contact his/her bank to find out whether or not s/he qualifies for a home loan and if so, what amount s/he qualifies for;
make sure that s/he can afford the monthly loan repayments and other costs like, rates and taxes, water and electricity, insurance premiums and so on;
find out about any once off costs, for example, legal costs, transfer duty or value added tax, loan administration, initiation and registration fees and so on;
consider his/her future needs, for example, whether the property that s/he intends to buy is close to his/her work, shops, schools, hospitals and so on;
examine the property s/he intends to buy thoroughly for any defects or potential defects, for example, cracks in the walls, damage to the roof, faulty plumbing and so on. The defects may be taken into consideration when negotiating the purchase price of the property; and
ask the person selling the property (“seller”) to provide him/her with the following documents: copies of the title deed and diagram; any existing lease agreements; approved building plans; and any other relevant information (such as zoning, town planning or municipality requirements). These documents must also be taken into consideration when negotiating the purchase price of the property.
After examining the property and perusing the documentation, the buyer must decide whether or not s/he is interested in buying the property. If the buyer is interested in buying the seller’s property, s/he can make an offer to the seller or his/her estate agent.
When the terms and conditions of an offer to purchase are being negotiated, the buyer will be asked for the date that s/he intends to move into the property (occupation date). If no date is set, the seller has the right to remain in the property until the property has been registered (transferred) into the buyer’s name and the seller has received the purchase price.
After the buyer and seller have reached an agreement on the terms and conditions of the sale, the offer to purchase must be reduced to writing (if not already done so) and signed by both the buyer and the seller in acceptance; a sale agreement comes into existence.
Any change to the sale agreement must be done in writing and signed by both the buyer and the seller.
