Second-hand house inspections, selection of houses, and decision-making "small pits continue"

The reporter's first-hand experience of second-hand house sales

　　Our reporter Zhang Shoukun

　　Fake owners, selling more than one house, buying a "haunted house"... In recent years, there have been a lot of chaos in the second-hand housing market, and relevant departments have also stepped up crackdowns, effectively purifying the market environment.

　　However, due to the complicated process of second-hand housing sales and intermediary agencies, there are still many "pitfalls" in the process of second-hand housing sales.

Not long ago, a reporter from the "Rule of Law Daily" spent two months looking at houses in Beijing to select houses. After changing intermediary agencies three times and going through more than a hundred house inspections, they finally signed a second-hand house sales contract and handled online signing.

　　Looking back on the entire experience of buying a house is also a process of "avoiding pitfalls".

　　Real estate information is difficult to distinguish

　　According to relevant statistics, by 2022, there will be nearly 20,000 housing estates in Beijing.

Half of the stock housing communities are distributed in four districts: Chaoyang, Haidian, Xicheng, and Fengtai.

How to choose the house you like in the massive second-hand housing market?

For most house buyers, choosing a house online is undoubtedly a more convenient way.

　　During the house selection process, the reporter found that there are currently many websites and apps in the market that can search for housing sources based on keywords such as budget, house age, location, whether there is an elevator, whether it is "the only one full five", and some of these websites and apps are based on their own. Some are formulated by the agent's listings, and some are listings information on the market collected by a third party.

　　After determining the needs and budget, the reporter began to choose houses online, but found many problems.

For example, when using an intermediary app to search, I saw that there are more than a dozen houses in a community that meet the requirements, but after careful identification, I found that these are actually the same house, but the recommenders are different.

What is "weird" is that after the reporter went to the intermediary agency for on-site consultation, he opened the favorites and found that the original duplicate listings had disappeared.

　　For house buyers, the ownership of the house, whether it is "full five only", whether it is a brick-concrete structure or a steel-concrete structure, these few pieces of information are particularly important.

The use of houses as apartments, commercial offices, etc. means that there are problems with property rights and settlements. Houses that are not "full five only" means more taxes to be paid, and steel-concrete structures mean longer loan periods and more loan amounts.

However, the reporter found that the most basic housing information was full of errors on some intermediary websites or apps.

　　It is worth noting that due to historical reasons, some houses have not issued real estate certificates, or the time on the real estate certificates and land use right certificates cannot reflect the real age of the house. In practice, this situation is generally determined by the housing appraisal agency. , while the age of the house affects the life of the mortgage.

　　The reporter originally took a fancy to a house, but the intermediary has always said that it was built in 2000, and the combination of "provident fund + commercial loan" can be used for a loan of 25 years.

The reporter was ready to buy it, but after checking the valuation of the house sold in the same building in the previous two months, it was found that the year of construction was 1996.

The intermediary immediately stated that it would update the data on the app, and until the reporter finished buying houses in other communities, the construction age of the above-mentioned houses displayed on the app would not change.

When asking the agent online, the other party still said it was a house in 2000.

　　Some intermediary literacy is not high

　　During the viewing process of the reporter, many intermediaries are often shown together, and at most there are 5 intermediaries at a time.

　　Generally speaking, the house source maintainers and the intermediaries near the community they are looking at know the advantages and disadvantages of the house and the surrounding facilities best, but often because of their understanding, they may tell some "little lies" in order to facilitate the transaction as soon as possible.

　　An old community in Chaoyang District is the reporter's intention to buy a house.

During the viewing process, many agents told reporters that the community is going to undergo renovation of the old community. At present, the ground floor of several buildings has been renovated, and a shopping mall and office building are being built nearby, which has great potential for appreciation in the future.

When the reporter passed by, he saw that the ground floor of some buildings in the community had indeed been repainted.

　　However, when the reporter came to the community alone to ask the residents of the community and the staff of the neighborhood committee, it was discovered that this was not the case: the so-called renovation was just a repainting of the exterior walls, and the community would not be included in the renovation list of old communities in the near future, and the nearby construction site was not a shopping mall but a vegetable market.

Residential properties that were praised by the intermediary were also complained by residents that "things are broken and repairs are slow", "usually no one can be found", etc.

　　Another time, the reporter took a fancy to a community whose average price was much lower than that of surrounding communities. After visiting it, he found that many merchants rented it, and the staff was mixed.

The intermediary told reporters during the house inspection that in 2021, the property of the community expressly stipulates that no new tenants are allowed to settle in, and the original tenants will not renew their leases after expiration.

But when the reporter turned around and asked about the property and merchants in the community, he was informed that "it didn't happen".

　　The reporter noticed that some intermediary personnel are not professionally qualified, and some of them don't even know whether the interest rate of the mortgage is based on the time of signing the contract or the time of transfer.

To the reporter's question, "If the contract cannot be performed due to reasons other than the buyer and seller's failure to approve the bank loan, whether the buyer and the seller are not responsible", many intermediaries are unable to answer, but in fact there are relevant provisions in the standard contract.

　　Oral promises are hard to keep

　　After more than a hundred viewings, the reporter finally selected a house and decided to ask the owner for an interview.

On the afternoon of the interview, the reporter communicated with his family on the phone outside the intermediary store, during which he became the focus of several other intermediary agencies nearby.

　　Immediately afterwards, the intermediary who took the reporter to see the house before and the intermediary agency that had never been in contact with each other called one after another, and answered 12 calls within half an hour.

The content of the conversation is mostly "Be careful when buying a house", "We have a few new houses here", "The prices of the houses I have seen before can still be negotiated" and so on.

The intermediary that the reporter selected the housing source said that it is very common for such intermediaries to do everything possible to "block" each other's transactions.

　　On the second day after signing the contract, the seller told the reporter that she also received calls from other intermediary agencies, saying that her house was sold too cheaply, and even if they broke the contract and paid double the deposit, they would guarantee that the buyer would earn more money.

And the reporter also received calls from other intermediaries, most of which were "Your house is too expensive, even if the deposit is not refundable, I can help you find a lower price and more suitable house."

　　After negotiating the price, the intermediary agreed to lower the intermediary fee by 5,000 yuan, saying that it would be paid according to the negotiation.

At the insistence of the reporter, on the second day after signing the contract, the intermediary took the contract with the reporter to find the seller, and revised the amount of the intermediary fee in the three-party contract, and the three parties signed it for confirmation.

　　When signing the contract, for the list and models of the original furniture and appliances in the house, the quantity in the contract is 0.

The seller told the reporter that there was nothing in the house, except for the water heater and air conditioner, which were relatively new. Ming Ming, when the contract was signed, the seller verbally said that it could be rented or not. The reporter asked that the house be vacant, and the other party agreed.

　　However, a few days after the contract was signed, the intermediary called and said that between now and before the transfer, the seller wanted to rent out the house, and it was not certain whether the electrical appliances would be kept or not.

Because there is no black and white, verbal agreement is difficult to achieve.

　　Looking back on the whole process of buying a house, the reporter deeply felt that the buying and selling of second-hand houses is different from that of new houses, and the intermediate process is complicated, so you should do your homework before buying a house.

During the whole transaction, the reporter felt that he was completely led by the intermediary. The quotation of the second-hand house and all the information of the second-hand house were controlled by the intermediary. Didn't meet the seller until the final signing of the contract.

Looking forward to establishing a more healthy and standardized real estate transaction market and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

(Rule of Law Daily)