Buying a house in Denmark?

Hi everyone,

This is Andrea from Wisconsin.  I'm an attorney now and have been one for over 15 years, but I'm walking away from my career and leaving my good job behind because I want my kids to grow up in a country that, well, is more in line with the values that my husband and I have (education, gun control, relative wealth equality, a decent safety net for the disabled, no national debt, very little political corruption, etc.).

My husband and I are coming under the greencard scheme in April.  We have received our approval, have purchased our plane tickets, and have arranged for temporary housing for our first six weeks there, via Airbnb.com.  After that, we need to have somewhere else to live.

We have enough money saved to buy a small house in a more rural area without taking out a loan.  There is no way we could afford to buy in Copenhagen without taking out a loan, but some of these slightly dilapidated but structurally sound rural houses are incredibly inexpensive if one is capable of doing one's own construction work.

Anyway, we have been looking at real estate on the internet and have questions regarding the meaning of some words.  What are Brutto and Netto?  What fees and costs are included in Udbetaling?  Who traditionally pays the Udbetaling, the buyer or the seller? 

Why would a property have a Offentlig ejendomsværdi of 490.000 dkr but an offering price of 94.000 dkr?

Does the seller have to disclose if there has been past mold in the property?  Does the seller have to disclose if there has been a leak of toxic substances on the property?

Thank you very much!

Best regards,

Andrea

Hi Andrea
I came to Copenhagen under the Greencard scheme too and have just been here for a couple of weeks.

I can't really answer your questions but I heard it from one friend that foreign nationals can't buy a real estate unless he/she legally resides in Denmark for more than 5 years.  My friend is a foreigner who has been studying in DTU and is working now, and just bought a flat in Copenhagen.

Maybe it would better for u to check about that.
Good luck !

Hi there,
You,ve definatley picked the right country to bring up children. So if your looking for a house on Zealand you need to be looking around Koge or a little south, No further than Nestved. Koge is about a 20 min commute to Cph.

Once you get registered here and have tempory lodgings then you can buy a house.
you must have the visa, CPR number, Bank account address etc before you can buy.

Udbetaling: Is basically the deposit for buying the house (paperwork & lawyer/estate agent fees)
Brutto and Netto: Gross & net costs. if your buying cash then this does not apply. Its if you take out a bank loan.You can deduct the interest in tax. but only if you borrow money.
Offentlig ejendomsværdi: this is basically what the house & land are worth according to the Kommune. Its what you will pay community tax of. The lower the ejendomsvaedi the lower the monthly tax on your property.

so if the property was worth 490K and they are asking 94K. its a good price. Although 94K is a very small amount for a property. Id check into it more. ie: what kind of property. its not a house  price, not here anyway.

Finally the estate agent will have all documents regarding the property. mold, mines etc. Most houses get a survey anyway prior to selling. The seller normally gets this done. nobody would touch a house without it unless its a bankrupt house.
If you need anymore help just ask.

Regards

lee

SelvEstate.dk/en is a site that I can recommend to search properties in DK. The interface is neat and the info is useful. And I love it as it's also in English. :)

Andrea, unless you tell me the link of the house, I cannot answer you but I would guess it's some sort of andel (co-op) where you pay some money up front and keep paying monthly.

Non PR in Denmark can buy properties, it's just that they need to get permission from the Justice Ministry (just a formality)