Tired of paying a huge amount every month for the rental of your apartment? Well, we feel you. My husband and I just moved here January last year. And since he was an off-shore consultant that time, we didn’t have to worry about the rent. But after his contract ended, we decided to stay here for good and that means we have to get our own place.

We started looking for apartments and we were dumbfounded by the cost of renting one. Those that are in the city center cost around 11-13,000 DDK for a tiny 1 bedroom apartment and the deposit fee is 5 months minimum with no guarantee of return even if you give back the apartment in an amazing condition which sadly happened to our friends.  I am sure there are prices that are cheaper but it is extremely hard to find one.

So my husband and I just decided to buy our own apartment instead. A friend of ours offered us a room to crash while we are looking for our own, and we are extremely grateful because it gave us more opportunity to save up for the downpayment.

We will move into our new place this February and we are beyond excited! If you want to buy your own place as well, here are the things that we did.

Here are the steps on how to buy your own apartment/house:

1. Check out websites and start looking for the house/apartment you want. You can’t believe the number of apartment listings we check out every day. We tried to filter our search but it didn’t help that much. We have decided to go for ejerleglidhed, minimum of 2 bedrooms and within Gladsaxe Kommune, but the options are still so many! But do not be bothered, the more options the better! Just be very patient and enjoy the experience. 🙂 Here are some things we ask the real estate agents every time we check and apartment. a. How old is the apartment b. are there schools and grocery nearby c. heating d. common fee for the building.

Here are the websites we checked out.

Home.dk

Danbolig
Mæglercomaniet.dk (this is where we got our apartment from)

boligsiden.dk

boliga.dk

edc.dk

2. Start searching for banks. This may seem like an easy process. Not. It is really not that easy to find a bank that will give you a low down payment because you are an expat. At least this is based on our experience. They have this fear that expats can just leave and they’ll be in big trouble so they will always ask for a bigger downpayment, more than what is mandated by the law which is 5%. But I have some recommendations for banks as well. Ours is Arbejdenes Landsbank in Herlev, they are beyond amazing, really! You can also try Jysk and then another expat recommended Nordea as well. Surprisingly, they gave him an amazing deal. The bank that really asked too much from us was Danske Bank. But I am not discouraging you from checking them out, although if I were you I will manage my expectations.

Here are the requirements you are required to give the bank.

• Yellow card/CPR number
• residence card
• payroll slip (3 months)
• recent bank statement
• insurance (if applicable)

3. Get an approval from the Justice Ministry. If you have been here in Denmark for less than 5 years, you have to send an email to the Justice Ministry asking for permission to buy a property. But don’t be worried. This step is actually really simple. Once you have decided which house/apartment you would really love to buy, tell the real estate personnel about it so they can ‘reserve’ the property for you and send an email to the Justice Ministry stating what will you be using the property for and attach your yellow card and residence permit. Wait for 2 weeks and you will get the decision.

4. Meeting with the bank. You have to meet with the bank that you have chosen and discuss the terms of your loan. This will be a long and grueling meeting so come prepared. Also, ask all the questions that you can think of to you loan handler, it will really help you have more idea of what to expect in the months to come. Oh, in this meeting you will discuss whether you will go for a fix or variable loan so start learning more about these two now and decide which do you think is better for you.

5. Get a lawyer. Your lawyer will process everything for you and make sure that you get the most out of the deal. The lawyer will also make sure that you are getting your money’s worth because he/she will do a thorough background check of the property and advise you if this is a good buy or not. If you have a lawyer and then the deal will not fall through because the bank for some reason declined it or something, your lawyer will make sure that you will not be held responsible as well. I know that getting a lawyer here in Denmark but we found a really good one but cheapest price possible. The usual price for a lawyer here is 10,000 DKK. We got ours half of that price. 🙂

Here are the details of our lawyer. Kindly tell him you were referred by Hannah, so he will give you teh same rate as he gave us.

Jeppe Steen Hansen, Advokatfuldmægtig

T: +45 50 78 20 70      

M: jsh@mettehojberg.dk

And then, you will wait…Just wait for the turnover. ❤

I hope this helps. 🙂 Feel free to comment if you have any question or if you need help. 🙂