Here is the continuation of our experience buying an apartment in Tavira.
So the owners decided they were going to go on a vacation and told us they would be back in the middle of October and we could sign soon after. Meanwhile we found out from the bank that we would have 90 days from the approval to sign the deed or the approval would expire. If this happened we would have to submit current financial documents and they wouldn’t be able to use our stuff from the year before. This posed a problem because at the time we didn’t have income. Karl hadn’t started working yet and I wasn’t making anything either. We knew we had to get jobs, and we planned on it, either way but it made it a bit scary. If we weren’t able to get one, we would not get approved and would lose our deposit.
We had our lawyer ask the sellers if they would be willing to sign the deed early and offered to let them stay in the apartment until the end of october. They could let their lawyer sign and we wouldn’t have to worry about our approval expiring. They absolutely refused. So we had a couple months to figure out a job situation or risk losing a lot of money.
Fast forward a little bit and Karl got a couple of contracts! Yay, we were going to be able to go forward with it. So we just continued on with our lives waiting for October so we could sign and move. We also gave notice to our landlord that we would be moving out by November 1st.
In September, the bank asked for the updated documents. We sent them over right away and figured it would all happen quickly since it did the first time.
October came and we were told we would be signing on October 27. Yay! We had a date. We found this out on October 25. We started to pack. We packed up almost everything. Then we got a message on the 26th saying the sellers decided they didnt want to sign until November 27 and they would sign only on November 27. No sooner, no later.
We immediately called our landlord with fingers crossed that she hadn’t already gotten a new tenant. She told us there was going to be someone coming but not until December so we were ok to stay for another month. So ok, we had to wait, again.
Meanwhile, our lawyer informed us that the loan was still pending approval. It was being held up at the main branch in Lisbon. He had been in contact with the woman from the bank but she was not being very cooperative and wouldn’t give him any information. I also would try contacting her and was having no luck getting any response. Now we were worried the approval wouldn’t come in time and it would pass the deadline of the contract.
We were also still worried about the new tenant. Where would we go if it wasn’t done? Would we have to find a short term rental? What if the mortgage wasn’t approved at all? Our lawyer told us to be prepared for a fight. We had proof that they refused to sign when everything was ready but they could try to fight that we violated the contract and we could lose the deposit. He told us it could get really ugly. I was so stressed out and terrified of how this would all play out.
I was able to talk to the new tenant and she didn’t know when she would be moving in. She was waiting on her visa approval and said she didn’t mind us staying until she got there. So we at least had some time. We also had a few friends who were going to be out of town for the month of december and generously offered up their homes if needed. So at least we knew we had somewhere to stay if necessary.
November 27 and we still didn’t have approval from the bank and no news of what was going on. We received a certified letter a few days later giving us 30 days to sign or they would go after us for violating the contract. Our lawyer told us it was good news that they gave us more time. We decided to try at another bank too to see if we could get an approval from them quickly. Meanwhile, I was so upset because all of this could have been avoided if they had agreed to let us sign before. Time was ticking and my stress levels were through the roof.
Finally we got our approval on December 19! We also had a date set to sign the deed; December 27! We were so excited but also still nervous that something else would go wrong. This whole thing had been such a headache so we anticipated more problems. But I was hopeful that it would go well. I was also so tired of living out of boxes, we didn’t want to completely unpack to do it all again so we had been just pulling things out if we needed them. We had less than 2 weeks and spent the whole time hoping everything would go smoothly…
The story isn’t over yet! Stay tuned for part 3!
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