Buying a house involves a large economic investment and most people do not have the necessary liquidity to carry out the acquisition without requesting a loan. Only in December 2020, according to the INE, 26,128 home mortgages were constituted.

These credits, generally, are contracted to pay them over 25 years (or more), so it is quite common that at some point it is decided to sell the property. But how can you sell an apartment with a mortgage?

To do this, we will have to get rid of the load and to do this there may be several scenarios. In this article we tell you what they are and what you should know about each one.

1. If you have already paid the mortgage but have not cancelled it in the Registry.

This is the most favourable scenario, because we have already amortized the entire mortgage, but we must bear in mind that in order to sell we must cancel the mortgage in the Property Registry. In this way, the house can appear free of charges and can be transmitted without problems.

Now, the point is that we can take care of this process before selling or let the buyer’s bank do it. But what is the best option? Although it may seem that leaving it in the hands of the entity is the most suitable way, the truth is that for this we will pay much more money than we think.

This is due to the fact that banks and their agencies tend to request very high provisions of funds to meet the expenses of the process (notary and registry), and, in addition, they charge higher fees. Thus, in total, we could end up paying between 800 euros and 1,100 euros.

In this way, it is advisable to carry out the process of cancelling the mortgage in the Registry before selling the house. We can do this on our own and thus we would only have to pay for the notary and registration expenses, but it would imply taking care of 100% of the bureaucratic management.

And what other possibility is there? We can also go to an independent agency that, not being married to any bank, will ask us for a smaller provision of funds and will charge us cheaper fees.

For example, the agency that collaborates with Tajarat properties, for a mortgage whose original amount is 150,000 euros, can charge us about 500 euros for the entire process.

It helps you pay less to cancel your mortgage! Click and get a quote from an independent agency and you can save on average € 300.

2. If you have not paid the mortgage and the price of the apartment is higher than the debt.

This scenario is quite common, it may happen that we have not yet finished paying all the mortgage payments and we need to take the step of selling the home. In this case, if the apartment is worth more money than the debt, we have outstanding, we will have no problems selling the house.

To do this, we only have to ask our entity to issue us a certificate of pending debt that we will have to present to the notary. The buyer, for his part, will ask his bank to issue two checks: one for the entity with the amount that remains to be paid on the mortgage and another for us, with the remaining amount.

Of course, the buyer’s bank will force us to make the registration cancellation of the mortgage with them, since they will seek to ensure that the load is lifted in the Registry so that the apartment can be transmitted to their client, who is the buyer. So, this will add to the list of representative expenses that we will have to pay to sell the home.

3. If you have not paid the mortgage and the price of the apartment is less than the debt.

Now, the other scenario that we can face is that when carrying out the valuation of our apartment it is worth less money than what we still have to pay the mortgage. It is not the most common, but in the years of the housing bubble many people bought their houses at prices that do not correspond to what the properties are worth today.

In this case, the decision to sell will not depend solely on us. Our bank has to give us authorization to carry out the operation, since it has our house as collateral for the mortgage loan until we pay them in full.

For this reason, we must speak with our bank and try to negotiate so that it allows us to sell. If our financial situation is good, surely, we can contract a personal loan with the same bank to pay the amount that remains after paying a part with the money from the sale.

If this amount that we still owe is small, the bank will be more open to allowing it, since personal loans generally do not exceed 50,000 euros. Of course, the last word will be the financial institution.

3 procedures you have to do before announcing the sale of your apartment.

It is no secret to anyone that selling a house requires collecting all the paperwork. However, many sellers are putting off managing the documents, waiting to find a buyer, and the truth is that there are some that are key to promoting the sale and receiving visitors, since they indicate a lot of information that It can be decisive for a person to decide to buy a home from us.

But what are these procedures that we have to do before promoting the sale of the apartment? In this article we mention them.

1. Request the simple note in the Registry

This is one of the first steps we must take when we decide to sell the house. The simple note is an informative document, issued by the Property Registry, which tells us who is the owner of the home and if there are burdens on it, such as, for example, a mortgage, a seizure or a usufruct.

But why would we need this document? Although the simple note will also be needed by the buyer to complete the mortgage process, it is advisable that we request it to verify that there is no ownership problem or a non-existent charge that could delay or prevent the sale.

In addition, if we have it from the beginning, we can show it to those interested when they come to visit the house to show them that there is no impediment to selling the house. This can streamline the process, as the buyer will not have to ask for the note and wait for it to know that the property can be sold.

Although the issuance of this document takes little time (about 24 or 48 hours if we do it in the Registry), having it on hand can cause a buyer to leave our house having presented us with an offer.

And how do you get the simple note? The good news is that we can do it online, directly on the website of the College of Registrars and it costs just 9.02 euros. In this short video we explain, step by step, how to apply at this organization.

2. Apply for the energy efficiency certificate.

The energy certificate is a document that is mandatory to sell throughout, and the notary will ask us to sign the deed at the notary, but we will also need it to upload our sales announcements.

Although it is common to see in real estate portals that both real estate agencies and individuals indicate in their advertisements that the certificate is “in process”, the truth is that, by law, it is mandatory to put this information in advertisements to sell or rent a property.

Failure to indicate it may be a reason for financial sanction by the Administration, which may be between 300 euros and 600 euros. Fines are not common, but prevention is better than cure.

And how can we have the energy certificate of a house? For this, we must hire the services of a nova city location , with a technician who must visit the property to assess energy consumption and prepare a report with the results.

This will later have to be registered with the corresponding body of the autonomous community for it to issue the respective energy label. These data are what we will be able to in the advertisement (it goes from the letter A, more efficient, to the letter G, less efficient).

3. Obtain the certificate of occupancy.

This document is not mandatory to sell a house in all autonomous communities. In fact, it is only essential, for now, in Cantabria, La Rioja, Navarra, Catalonia, Asturias, Extremadura, the Balearic Islands, Murcia and the Valencian Community.

But what is the certificate of habitability? It is a document that certifies that the home meets all the habitability conditions established by law and that it is suitable to be used as a residence. To obtain it, as with the energy certificate, we must hire a technician.

The latter must visit the house to evaluate its conditions and prepare a report that, later, will have to be presented to the Administration. The price of this procedure is variable, since it will depend on the chosen professional, the location of the property and its dimensions, but it can cost around 100 euros.

And why would we have to ask for it before announcing the house? Because the buyer will probably want to know if the house has this document and that it does not have any infrastructure problems. This is especially important if it is an older property or a home that has been built by the owners themselves.

Thus, indicating in the advertisement that it has a valid habitability certificate and showing it to those who come to visit it can generate confidence in the interested parties to present an offer.