How to bid on real estate in Norway?

The bidding process in Norway is quite different from a lot of other countries.

First – bid is binding – there are no regrets.  As soon as the seller has received the bid it is binding for you.

Read:   Remember that the bid is binding when you buy a home in Norway

The next thing to remember is that we are using the auction principle.

The highest bid gets the property, and the bidding rounds goes amazingly fast.

The asking price is just something that the seller hopes to get for the property.

Unfortunately, many realtors put a very low asking price in the market, so the bidding rounds have a tendency to be very busy.

In the bidding round, it is a risk that you will follow another bidder far over the market level.  This is not good because you are risking losing money later.  Therefore, you should have a good knowledge about the local housing prices before you give a bid.  The realtor is working mainly for the seller to get as high price as possible and will certainly not warn you if you are rising your bids to much!

Get help to find the correct purchase price.

I can help you to indicate the correct buying price.  I have the same databases as the realtors and will analyse the house or apartment you want to buy and compare them with other similar houses sold in the area.

A couple of hours consultation at the cost of NOK 2.200 is much cheaper than paying for example NOK 400.000 over the market price.  Don’t you think?

If you buy my consulting package all the price estimates for the properties, we are looking at will be included.  Sorry for all the commercial inside an informative blog.  My point is that you should not give a bid on your own if you do not know the Norwegian market and system.

Unfortunately, I have been contacted by a lot of people who want me to help them to clear up problems after the bidding round.  Problems like not putting reservations in the bid, they have paid high over the market level or misunderstood the whole process.

This happens with some Norwegians also.  But if you don’t know the language, it is much easier to overlook important elements.

OK, here you have some words in the bidding form you must be aware of.  

Whether you use paper form or electronic.

Kjøpesum:
Purchase amount –

Do you have you enough knowledge to tell what the property is worth?

Dette budet er bindende for undertegnede frem til og med:
This bid is binding for undersigned until  – date – and time.

Seller are allowed to accept bid earliest at 12.00 noon the day after the last viewing (open house)
There are some exceptions with bids directly to seller, but the main rule is as described over.

After the first-time limit, 12.00 noon the time limit is usually 30 min.

Eventuelle forbehold
Possible reservations

This is very important to write down if you have any.

It could for example be:

We want the washing machine included.

We will have a confirmation that the leakage in the roof will be fixed by the insurance company.

The parking space is included.

If you forget to put reservations in writing it will be difficult to prove later that you made them.

Reservations about financing

If you put a reservation about financing the purchase your bid will probably not be accepted.  So this is rarely used.

Ønsket overtakelse:
Take over date – (your wish)

This is a part of the bidding negotiations.  You should ask the realtor what the seller prefer.  If you can put the same date as seller’s preference it would be an advantage for you.

But if you are stretching the price upwards you should demand a take over date that suits you best.

Financing

You must fix the financing in advance and your bank contact or other official person  must confirm that you are able to pay the bidding amount.

You put this in the bidding form:

Kjøpet vil bli finansiert slik:
The purchase will be financed this way:

Fill in contact information to the bank contact.

You must fill out your personal information and sign the bidding form (or electronic with bank id)

If you use the paper form, you also must send picture of your passport to the realtor.

The realtor will help you with filling out details.

But please do not tell him about your credit limit or budget. Or send any document about this.

He/she will use it to get a higher bid.  The only thing the realtor should know is confirmation that you can finance your bid!

This was a brief overvview of how to give a bid on property in Norway.

It is so many details that can emerge in the process, so it it not possible to tell you everything.

Please contact me if you have any doubts before giving a bid.

To be honest, I prefer that you contact me before the bidding round.  Probably it will be to late you if you already have given the bid.😊

Read: Househunting in a new country is quite challenging