This article covers the most effective ways to search for properties to buy in the Czech Republic on the internet. Most readers will be familiar with the feeling of fatigue and frustration from long hours of often unsuccessful internet surfing. If you follow the procedures below, you may not experience this feeling quite so strongly (I won’t give you a guarantee that you won’t experience it at all, I would say that it just comes with the search). A prerequisite for success is that we have a realistic idea of what we are looking for and for how much. If you don’t, then even the process below won’t help you.
In the Czech real estate market you basically have only two ways of searching. The first one is picking up on all the tempting news. The second way is to work with the so-called lagers. In the first way we have to be quick and sometimes we have to take no prisoners; in the second way we have to be patient and be good negotiators.
Picking up the news
Set up a watchdog on the portals below and keep an eye on 99% of new offers on the internet. The watchdog is a feature that will email you newly published offers that match your requirements, so you won’t have to constantly scroll through several portals to discover the news, and you’ll save quite a bit of time. It should be added that good news doesn’t stay on the portals for long, so without a watchdog you have little chance of finding it in time before another bidder finds it and blows it away.
Set up such a service on these Czech portals:
- Sreality.cz, you can set it up here
- Reality.idnes.cz, you can set it up here
- Realingo (monitors 22 portals), you can set it up here
- Bezrealitky.cz, you can set it up here
Once you find a good offer, I recommend the following procedure:
- Take action. Use the watchdog to be one of the first to know about new offers, take advantage of this opportunity and act immediately. And I mean really right away – as soon as you hear about it, call the broker (don’t send an email) and ask for a viewing. Ask for the earliest possible date, don’t be afraid to go the same day, and cancel any other appointments. With well priced properties, every hour counts.
- Be decisive. Ask for a booking contract in advance and express your willingness to sign it very soon. On your own, study the data recorded in the land registry. Be prepared to increase the price by a little if you see that it might help you to get the property. You must remember that many other people will be interested in the advert and some of them will certainly be experienced buyers, so there is no time for indecision.
- Go for a viewing. In the best-case scenario, you come to the viewing first, make an appointment and you’re done. But it may be that the estate agent or seller will do a viewing with all the interested parties, of which there will be no shortage, and hold an auction to get the highest price. In such a case, I recommend not to participate in the auction, as the price will usually increase significantly, and the offer will lose its attractiveness.
Working with lagers
A significant proportion of offers on the internet are lagers advertised for many months until the seller discounts to market level or meets a bidder who is able to agree on a market price, and we all have this opportunity. The most common mistake we make is that we don’t go for more expensive than market priced properties, because they don’t attract us. So, my tip is to cover the price with the advert and ask yourself “is this an offer I like?”. If the answer is yes, go for a viewing. If you are still interested in the property after the physical inspection, it is your turn to negotiate the price with the seller. Not every seller will want to negotiate with you, it will depend on their current financial and personal situation (and mood). However, I can say that at least 20% of properties will be negotiable. And that, in my opinion, is worth repeated attempts.
Photo: kazuma seki, Getty Images via Canva.com
