Real estate cycle. What is an “alternative” when selling an apartment?

It is not always easy for a buyer to understand the terms in home sales advertisements. JCat.Real Estate will explain how a direct transaction differs from an alternative one and will help you make your choice.

In search of the ideal apartment or house, buyers often pay attention to the features of the property itself rather than to the description of the type of transaction. At the same time, the type of sale of an apartment largely influences the terms and conditions of the contract and determines the buyer’s risk.

There are three main options for transactions when buying and selling real estate:

• direct (free) - a simple selling option;
• alternative (“alternative”) - a complex type of transaction in which several types of real estate and several people take part;
• chain - several “alternatives” that occur simultaneously.

According to experts, in the Russian Federation more than 70% of real estate transactions occur according to an alternative scheme. This is due to the fact that few people can afford to simply sell their home without purchasing another living space in return. That is, in fact, in most cases, residents of Russia “exchange” apartments and houses for other real estate properties - this is exactly what the alternative sale of an apartment allows.

In order to weigh the possible risks and determine the optimal option for concluding a contract, it is necessary to clarify all the features of these types of transactions. Even if a real estate agent is looking for a property, it is important for the buyer to be aware of events - even the best agents are not immune to mistakes.

Features of an alternative transaction

Typically, the sale of an apartment is associated with certain life circumstances:

• people want to increase their living space or buy less;
• move from an apartment building to a private one and vice versa;
• exchange one apartment for several or sell several and buy one with the proceeds, and so on.

Having no available funds to purchase a new home, the desired transaction is carried out by exchanging what is available for something that suits the desired result. Since direct exchange is only possible for certain categories of real estate, sales and purchase transactions are concluded.

Often the seller has nowhere to move while searching for an apartment, so at the same time there is a search for a buyer for the old living space and a suitable home for purchase. At the time of sale of the apartment, the previous residents remain in it, the date of moving is specified in the contract.

Or, if the owner of the apartment belongs to a socially vulnerable segment of the population (minors, pensioners). It is possible to sell the property of this category of citizens on the condition that they are provided with other housing, the same or better . Alternative sale here becomes the only available option.

In all cases, the signing of the purchase and sale agreement and the transfer of documents for registration of rights are carried out at the same time - this is a feature of such transactions.

The simultaneous sale and purchase of housing forms a kind of chain.

For example, a chain of three links:

1. Buyer;
2. The seller is also the buyer;
3. Salesman.

Here a person sells his apartment and buys a new one in return. This is the simplest scheme.

Practice shows that there may be more participants in alternative sales. For example, people sell two apartments in order to buy one with a larger area in return.

It turns out:

1. Two buyers;
2. Two sellers, they are also one buyer;
3. Salesman.

In turn, the last seller can also be a buyer, that is, the chain continues. The difficulty of completing such transactions is that you need to simultaneously find one or several suitable buyers and sellers, and conclude several purchase and sale transactions that are independent of each other.

The more people are interested, the more difficult it is to organize the process. If one of the participants refuses in the process, you will have to start all over again.

What do you need to know about the “alternative”?

In an alternative transaction, you need to be extremely careful with the calculations when pawning boxes and opening letter of credit accounts (electronic boxes), because if one of the transactions is not registered, then all the money along the chain will be returned to the pawnbroker, and with a chain, the sequence of payments inside may be disrupted, and most often The last buyer pledges the amount to the first seller in the chain, Avers emphasizes.

All transaction participants will receive their settlements only after registering the entire package of transactions. In alternative transactions, it is strictly forbidden to pay in cash - the risk of non-registration of the chain is too high.

Algorithm of actions

Since finding a buyer for an apartment can take more than one month, it’s worth starting with this.

Valuation of real estate for sale

The first step is to study the supply and demand of real estate in your area (locality) in order to set an adequate price for the apartment and determine the amount of the surcharge.

Taken into account:

• housing area;
• technical condition;
• need for repairs;
• floor;
• year of construction;
• location in relation to shops, kindergartens, schools, hospitals;
• transport interchange.

These are standard parameters taken into account when selling; in fact, there may be more of them. Each buyer sets his own conditions that he needs.

You can enter into an agreement with a specialist. In this case, the contractor is required to participate in a self-regulatory organization.

The assessment will be based on documents and visual inspection. Upon completion, an official conclusion is presented. This is usually required by the bank when applying for a mortgage.

Search for a buyer and search for a new apartment

After the assessment, the advertisement for sale and photographs of the apartment are placed on special websites, in print publications, social networks, and so on. Or an agreement is concluded with a real estate agency.

An approximate selection of apartments suitable for purchase begins. It is worth having several options in stock while you are searching for a buyer; they may be sold to other people, the price may rise, or any other conditions may change.

When a buyer is found:

1. A preliminary agreement is concluded with him.
2. The period required for the seller to find a new apartment is agreed upon.

The buyer pays a deposit. The amount of the deposit is indicated in the preliminary agreement, and the buyer is given a receipt.

Conclusion of preliminary purchase and sale agreements

Since finalizing an alternative sale takes time, having a preliminary agreement is important. In this case, it becomes a guarantee that the parties will fulfill their obligations, since they are responsible for the violation.

Basic conditions, the indication of which is mandatory:

• subject of the contract;
• price;
• amount of collateral;
• the seller’s obligation to confirm the fairness of the sale;
• the final date for concluding the transaction.

A sample purchase and sale agreement can be downloaded here.

If there is no suitable option, a search for new housing is carried out within the prescribed period, and in parallel with the search, documents are prepared for the sale of your own:

1. Passport;
2. Property registration document;
3. The document on the basis of which the citizen owns the property being sold;
4. If there is a spouse, his written consent to the sale;
5. If minors - permission from the guardianship authorities;
6. If we are talking about a communal apartment - the consent of the neighbors.

After the purchase option is selected, a preliminary agreement is concluded with the seller and a deposit is paid. The sequence of actions here is the same as when selling.

Checking the apartment for legal purity

Documents are requested to check the apartment for cleanliness:

1. Technical passport - contains a detailed plan of the apartment, information about legal redevelopment, if any.
2. Cadastral passport.
3. Extract from the Unified State Register - contains information about all owners of real estate, as well as about existing legal proceedings.
4. Expanded extract from the house register , since the regular one does not display information about persons temporarily discharged from the apartment who have the right to reside. We are talking about people in special institutions. To sell the apartment you need their written consent.
5. Confirmation that there are no debts on taxes and utility bills.
6. Information about the presence or absence of an encumbrance is available on the Rosreestr website.

It is recommended to ask the seller to confirm legal capacity. To do this, he needs to obtain a certificate from a narcologist and a psychiatrist.

Calculations

Having completed the verification of documents, preparations are made for settlement of the transaction together with other participants in the chain. Usually, for this purpose, a bank rents a safe deposit box where money is placed in the presence of all interested parties.

The safe deposit box is locked by a bank employee, and only the final recipient of the funds will have access to it after fulfilling the conditions for the transfer of ownership rights.

In a simple chain, the circuit looks like this:

1. The first buyer is the main source of money. He puts in the cell an amount equal to the cost of the first apartment sold.
2. If the price of the first apartment exceeds the cost of the second, another cell is rented, where the difference is placed.
3. If the price of the first apartment is less than the second, an additional payment is placed in the second cell.
4. Sellers gain access to the cells after confirming the transfer of ownership of the living space.
5. Which cell is intended for whom , under what conditions access is provided, is established in a written agreement.

Drawing up a purchase and sale agreement, registering a transaction

After all preliminary steps, purchase and sale agreements are concluded and the transaction is registered.

This can be done in two ways:

1. Using the services of a notary . In a regular sale, a notary is contacted on a voluntary basis, although this requires additional costs and time. Mandatory if the share or property of a minor, as well as a citizen with limited legal capacity, is being sold.
2. By submitting a package of documents through the MFC. Here, MFC employees act as intermediaries, they accept and check the package of documents for the transaction, transfer them to Rosreestr, and issue certificates received from Rosreestr to citizens.

After successful registration of the transaction, the final payment is made, the buyers receive receipts from the sellers for receiving the money.

If the calculation is made using a mortgage, the procedure will remain approximately the same. Additions can be made by the lender; each bank has its own conditions for issuing a mortgage loan.

Chain of sellers and buyers

Usually, everything is much more complicated than a transaction with two apartments: the buyer of your apartment and the seller of the apartment you are buying are also looking for alternative options.

Chain of apartments

- a transaction in which several alternative apartments are sold at once. The seller of the previous apartment is also the buyer of the next apartment in the chain.

For example, the owner of a three-room apartment buys two one-room apartments, and one of the sellers buys a one-room apartment in another area. These are 4 apartments, parties and contracts.

If the apartments belong to spouses, children are registered in them, they were purchased with a mortgage, the number of participants in the transaction and fuss with papers increases.

Sometimes the number of apartments in a chain can be 5-6, sometimes up to 10 apartments are 10-20 or even more people. In practice, chains of more than 4 apartments are rare - they try to break large chains into smaller ones.

Let's say you sell your two-room apartment and your wife's one-room apartment to buy a three-room apartment. The seller of your new three-room apartment exchanges it for two, and you don’t have enough money and have to take out a mortgage. This deal will have 5 apartments and a minimum of 5 people.

The longer the chain of transaction participants, the greater the likelihood that something will go wrong and the deal will fall through. Often one of the participants refuses the deal at the very last moment: he increases the price, finds another option, or does not find the money. The remaining participants cannot conclude contracts; they have to wait and look for a new participant in the transaction.

a condition on simultaneous state registration of all contracts is added to each purchase and sale agreement.

: then if one contract is not registered, the entire chain will not be concluded.

In an alternative transaction, it is impossible to sell apartments sequentially in a chain - all contracts must be concluded simultaneously on the same day

If you don't do this, the deal may fall through or be very delayed. Formally, all purchase and sale agreements in an alternative transaction are not related to each other - they are legally independent. Therefore, the registrar can register one transfer of ownership and not register documents for other apartments - the chain will break.

For example, there will be an error in the documents of one of the participants and the entire transaction will be suspended: no one will be able to take the money or enter the apartments. We will have to suspend the signing of the remaining contracts and wait until the mistake is corrected. Sometimes registration cannot be carried out at all: for example, a forgotten owner is discovered who is against the sale.

If you sell apartments sequentially, you will have to register each apartment separately, each time transferring money from cell to cell - this is a very long time. In addition, if you break the deal in time and do not have time to buy a new one immediately after selling your old apartment, you will have to spend money on rented housing. It is much easier to conclude all contracts at once.

To prevent deals from falling through

, the easiest way is to carry out all transactions simultaneously through a notary. Notarized contracts do not need to be checked by Rosreestr, the registration period is short, and the risk of partial registration is reduced to zero. Another option is to hire an executor - a special lawyer who will register all contracts independently. He has a lot of experience, and it is easier for him alone to track and control the progress of registration. The third option is to track the progress of registration using application numbers on the Rosreestr website or by calling 8-800-100-34-34.

To prevent the chain of buyers and sellers from continuing endlessly, the transaction must involve people who simply buy and simply sell apartments without purchasing anything in return

Often, the agreement for an alternative sale stipulates a condition that the next seller must choose an apartment only for direct sale - so that the chain stops.

It is better to split transactions with a large number of apartments into parts, otherwise you will end up with a too long sales chain with many conditions being agreed upon with a large number of participants.

An example from our practice is a chain of 4 apartments
Moscow - Golitsyno - Odintsovo - Lyubertsy.
What we sell:

2-room apartment in Moscow for 7.5 million rubles.

Deal Features:

• the family inherited the apartment from the wife’s parents;
• the apartment is privatized;
• father, mother and daughter are registered;
• husband and wife divorced, husband refused privatization in favor of his wife and daughter;
• the husband lives in the apartment and does not want to move out - he has the right to live in the apartment for life, despite renouncing his share.

The husband and wife agreed to sell the apartment and buy each a new one. If the husband had not renounced his share, his share would have been worth 2.5 million. But since he does not have a share, he and his wife agreed that he would receive as much as was necessary for the purchase. In this former family's situation, alternative is the only option.

What diagram did you make?

• We found a buyer for a two-room apartment in Moscow - he is buying an apartment with a mortgage;
• found an apartment in Golitsyno for the husband (3.05 million) and in Lyubertsy (4.075 million) for the wife and child;
• the owner of an apartment in Golitsyno wants to sell housing and buy a new one in Odintsovo;
• We find an alternative for the owner of an apartment in Golitsyno in Odintsovo with 2 owners in ½ shares.
• the version found is a mess with documents: there is no document on the basis of the property, no registration certificate, there is no apartment number in the Unified State Register of Real Estate, the area of ​​the apartment differs in different documents;
• we fix a problem with documents with an apartment in Golitsyno in a week - without the help of the agency it would have taken the owner a month;
• The apartment in Lyubertsy has 1 owner, he is not looking for an alternative, but he has an outstanding mortgage.

What we did:

• drew up a transaction plan, prepared documents;
• provided the transaction plan to the credit manager at the bank.

How the deal went:

• in order not to go to the bank to sign a loan agreement, then to a notary for the conclusion and back to the bank, we found a notary who works according to the loan agreement number;
• simultaneously signed contracts with a notary in Odintsovo and Moscow. If the apartment is in shared ownership,
  the agreement must be signed by a notary. It costs 25,000 - 30,000 rubles. Moreover, each agreement must be signed in the area in which the apartment is located - notaries work geographically;
• we sign in the bank, in which the buyer of a two-room apartment in Moscow has a mortgage, purchase and sale agreements with the owners of the apartment in Golitsyno and Lyubertsy, and the buyer of the Moscow apartment simultaneously signs a loan agreement and a mortgage from the bank;
• The bank has prepared 4 cells, 3 of which contain the money of the mortgage buyer of a Moscow apartment:

1 cell - 3.05 million for the purchase of an apartment in Lyubertsy,

Cell 2 - 4.075 million for the purchase of the Golitsyn apartment

Cell 3 - 0.375 million is the difference from the sale of a Moscow apartment, the owner of the Moscow two-room apartment will take it,

Cell 4 - the seller from Golitsyno leaves an additional payment for the purchase of an apartment in Odintsovo.

Each participant in the transaction has different conditions for access to the cells - in order to withdraw money, you must show the original Unified State Register with a mark on the transfer of ownership and copies of the Unified State Register of other participants;

• they invited a field registrar, for whom they gave a notarized power of attorney in advance to submit documents to Rosreestr;
• after 9 business days, the participants in the transaction took their money from the bank;
• We signed acceptance certificates for the apartment with everyone, handed over old documents, and completed the deal.

Taxes in an alternative transaction

The proceeds from the sale of an object relate to the citizen’s income received for the entire reporting period and are subject to a 13% tax. Even if they immediately bought another home.

It follows from Article 217.1 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation that tax does not need to be paid if the property has been owned for more than three years, in the following cases:

• receiving this property as an inheritance or there was a gift agreement from a family member or close relative;
• ownership rights appeared after privatization;
• the property was transferred into ownership under the terms of a lifelong maintenance agreement.

There is no need to pay if, after acquiring the property, it was owned for more than five years before the sale.

If none of the above conditions apply, the seller is obliged to fulfill the obligation to pay taxes by July 15 of the year following the reporting year.

Paragraph 5 of the same article makes it possible to reduce the amount of the taxable amount. If the income received from the sale is less than 70% of the cadastral value of the apartment in the year of purchase, an amount equal to 70% of the cadastral value of the housing in the year of sale is taken to calculate the tax.

By the law of the subject of the Russian Federation, the listed conditions for the minimum period of ownership and reduction in size can be reduced, down to zero. In addition to the obligation to pay tax on income from the sale of real estate, the seller has the right to a property deduction corresponding to the amount of income from the sale of the apartment.

If the sold residential space was acquired through purchase, the seller has the opportunity to replace the receipt of a property deduction by reducing the taxable amount by the amount of the actual costs of purchasing this housing. Expenses are supported by documents.

For example, having bought an apartment for one million rubles and subsequently selling it for one and a half million, a citizen can reduce the taxable amount to five hundred thousand:

• 1500000*13%=195000;
• 1500000-1000000=500000;
• 500000*13%=65000.

Which of the proposed conditions is more profitable is up to the seller to decide. It is worth paying attention to the fact that the deduction is calculated in parts and it may take several years to receive it, but taxes are paid in full within a limited period.

Given the peculiarity of alternative sales, the seller simultaneously becomes a buyer. In case of purchase, the Tax Code of the Russian Federation establishes the right to receive a property deduction in the amount of money spent on the acquisition of new property, but not more than two million rubles.

This opportunity is provided to a citizen only once. It is possible, when purchasing again, to receive the remainder of the deduction if it was not received in full the first time. If the property was acquired in shares, each owner is entitled to a deduction corresponding to his share.

Those who buy housing with a mortgage are given the opportunity to receive a tax deduction on interest paid, but not more than three million rubles.

So, a citizen is obliged to pay a tax of 13% on the sale of an apartment if he owned it for less than the period established by the Tax Code.

In doing so, he can:

• reduce the taxable amount to 70% of the cadastral value;
• reduce the taxable amount by the amount of the actual costs of purchasing the property being sold;
• receive a property deduction when selling up to one million rubles;
• receive a property deduction for purchases of up to two million rubles;
• receive a property deduction for mortgage interest of up to three million rubles.

Any property deduction is provided only once.

What is free sale

A free or direct sale
is a transaction when you simply sell an apartment, get money for it and do whatever you want with it: save it, buy a car or invest in shares.
As a rule, you have other housing and do not urgently need to buy a new apartment. Often, owners sell their only home, in exchange for which they want to immediately buy another - this is an alternative transaction
.

Participants in the alternative transaction do not need money for the apartment - they need a new apartment

Pros and cons of an alternative deal

The main positive aspect of an alternative sale is the opportunity to purchase new living space without a large investment of your own funds or in the absence of them.

Another plus is that after the deal is concluded, a quick move follows. As well as the guarantee of the sale and purchase of housing, which is provided by the signing of a preliminary agreement and the reliability of settlements, supported by documents, taking place with the participation of the bank and a large number of witnesses.

The disadvantages include:

1. Complexity of the organization. Even a simple chain of three links requires a lot of effort in preparing and concluding transactions.
2. An agreed upon scheme may collapse due to the failure of one of the participants. In this case, everything will have to start all over again.
3. It takes time. It is not always possible to quickly select a suitable option; it may take more than one month.

Main stages

Generally speaking, such operations take place in 2 stages:

• searching for a buyer for an old home and selecting another apartment;
• making a counter purchase.

As we said earlier, the participation of a realtor in such transactions is necessary, since it is very difficult to prepare all the paperwork on your own and avoid problems.

So, in the first stage, several sub-points can be distinguished:

• housing assessment and price setting;
• searching for a replacement apartment;
• selling your real estate.

First you need to start selling your own home. It is extremely important to adequately evaluate the apartment, otherwise the transaction may be delayed. The best option is to focus on the average price on the real estate market and search for similar apartments. Let's say the apartment will be sold for 4 million rubles.

Now you need to find an apartment to purchase. As a rule, these are more expensive housing that have a larger area or are located in a better area. Note that the purchased object has a higher price, and therefore the difference is covered by credit funds or personal savings.

After this, you need to start selling the apartment and prepare documents. An agreement is concluded with the other party to the transaction and an advance is made. The first stage ends when a buyer for the apartment has been found and housing has been selected for a counter purchase.

Alternative realtor services

Realtor services include SELLING and BUYING - two comprehensive services.
Accordingly, the service commission is charged on both parts of the service - sale and purchase. And on the total amount there is a 0.5% discount for paired services. In total, this is 1.5% on the sum of the cost of the housing being sold and the cost of the property being purchased, but not less than 200 thousand rubles. Moreover, this is a comprehensive service for which guarantees of relevant services are provided: full transaction support, verification of purchase documents, financial guarantee for advance payment, and so on.

Physical release of the apartment

A feature of the alternative transaction is the transfer of apartments along the chain “from the end”.
That is, the lower seller releases the apartment from the property and transfers it to his buyer according to the deed. Then he has several days to move from the old to the new, and transfer the old one. And the top buyer receives his purchased apartment last in the chain. In this case, it happens that the seller wants to include several weeks for some repairs, but repairs are a highly unpredictable task, and deadlines may be violated (and not only because of repairs). This feature needs to be discussed and planned from the very beginning of the transaction. All attached alternatives must suit the upper buyer in terms of the general terms of his entry. Otherwise, he may find out about this at the time of the transaction and raise a conflict, which will be extremely painful for all participants.

Alternative sale scheme

There is a “top buyer” with money, and several sellers of apartments. Technically, there can be several “top buyers” (for example, when selling several properties at a time and moving into one apartment) or “other buyers” (if they buy an apartment in a chain).

“Bottom sellers” only sell apartments and receive money from the cells.

“Medium” both sell and buy with options:

• with additional payment with your own money or borrowed money - mortgage, subsidy;
• releasing money or
• meet the money from the sale.

“Locomotive” transactions are precisely alternative: they involve a large number of apartments, and each party is critically important for the completion of all one-time transactions. As the number of participants in a transaction increases, the complexity increases dramatically. Typically, realtors try to limit the number of participants to a point where the whole situation can be well controlled: in my practice, 5 apartments plus a buyer were involved in one transaction, and about 20 people, owners and realtors, came to the transaction.