What should I ask during a viewing in Castillo Grande?

Buy property in Cartagena

What to ask on a property viewing in Castillo Grande Here is what changes in this sector, which kind of property fits and what to check before signing.

A viewing exists to uncover what photographs hide, and that calls for arriving with questions rather than impressions alone. This differs from comparing apartments afterward, which is desk work: here you are standing inside the place with someone to ask. Worth probing: how long it has been for sale and why it is being sold, who lived there before, whether work was done and by whom, when the air conditioning and water heater were last replaced, whether there have been leaks and how they were resolved. On the condominium side: what the monthly fee is and what it covers, whether special assessments are approved or under discussion, and what the rules say about pets, renovations, and short stays. It also pays to run the taps, switch on every air unit, look under the sinks, open the electrical panel, and go see the storage room and the parking space, which is usually the last thing anyone looks at. If possible, coming back at another hour is revealing, because noise and sun change completely. Dimare Collection arranges those viewings and prepares the questions.

What Castillo Grande is, and what changes there

In Castillogrande the typical deal is not a unit in a condominium but a house and its lot, which puts the weight of the file back on the chain of title to the land: you climb through the deeds to the parcelación, the original subdivision that created the block, because those platting deeds registered conditions, setbacks and easements that still bind and that are invisible from the street. There is no building manager to issue a paz y salvo, a no-arrears certificate, and no assembly to settle anything, so boundary questions with a neighbor are argued between private parties and what governs is the title and the survey, not a set of house rules. The counterparty is usually an old city family and, fairly often, a family company that owns the property: then you must decide whether to buy the real estate or the company's shares, two different transactions with different paperwork and different exposure, and request the certificado de existencia y representación, the corporate good-standing and signing-authority certificate, together with the resolution approving the sale. And because the neighborhood is fully built out, any construction is permitted on an already developed lot, with neighbors entitled to take part in the proceeding.

Canadian buyer

The money usually leaves in Canadian dollars and arrives converted, so the transfer crosses two banks and a currency conversion before it enters the Colombian exchange market with its declaración de cambio. Ask your bank in writing which beneficiary details it requires, and ask the Banco de la República how registration of foreign investment works, because a transfer that arrives wrongly recorded is fixed afterwards and at a cost. The power of attorney for signing from abroad is granted either before a Colombian consul or before a notary in your province and then apostilled; since the apostille depends on the country being party to the Hague Convention, the Cancillería is who confirms which seal your document needs and which provincial office issues it. Visas and the cédula de extranjería are a question for Migración Colombia, not something to infer from what another buyer told you. The tax question to settle is whether a treaty exists between Colombia and your country and what it says about rental income and about ganancia ocasional, and it is settled with an accountant in each country before you sign the promesa de compraventa, not in next year's return.

The next step

Write to us with what you are looking for and we will send you what is available. Availability, price and the terms of each property are confirmed before any offer.

Back to Buy property in Cartagena