otthonai.huotthonai.hu
HomeMarketplaceSellReports
Sign in
otthonai.hu
Legal noticeTerms of ServicePrivacyImprintContact and data requestsVoice information line
From the owner onlyWe never copy from elsewhereWith you on the decision
⌂Home▦Browse✚Sell▤Reports
Saturday, 3 October 2026 · Budapest

Welcome to otthonai.hu.

Analyze a property — type a Hungarian address, enter the details yourself, or browse owner listings.

Buyer's guide

The road to your home

We walk you through the whole purchase step by step — what to do when, which documents to obtain, and when to bring in which professional.

Your journey, personalized:Turning the conditions on and off rearranges the steps.
1
Stage 1 / 8 · you are here

Preparation and budget

Before you start viewing in earnest: work out what you have to spend, and what you qualify for.

0/3 tasks done
Set your budget and your own fundsOn top of the purchase price, allow roughly 6–8% for the costs around it: transfer tax, lawyer's fee, land registry fees, moving. Set the conditions above — whether you are buying with a mortgage, and whether this is your first home: they decide which steps this guide shows you.Your own taskWork out your price band →
Bank pre-approval (preliminary credit assessment)your answerAt many banks it is free, and it commits you to nothing — in return it gives you a realistic picture of the loan size you can expect. You can work the band out here first: that is an estimate, not a bank's offer. At the end you can also ask for a “verified buyer” seal: it lasts 90 days, and all the seller sees from it is that the purchase price is not a question mark for you — never your figures or your income. If you want, we can also hand you to a contracted mortgage broker: that costs you nothing.Handled at your bankWork out what you can carry →
Check your CSOK Plusz and Babaváró eligibilityThese are the Hungarian state's family support schemes, and they can mean reduced transfer tax or none at all — worth settling before you make an offer.Handled at your bank

Documents for this stage

Proof of incomeyour answerfor the bank's pre-approval
Statement of your existing savingsto evidence your own funds

Who does what

Roles in this stage

YouSettling the budget and own funds, starting the pre-approval
BankPreliminary credit assessment, indicating the borrowing limit
2
Stage 2 / 8

Search and analysis

Narrow your list down, and get a data-driven picture of every serious candidate before you fall in love with one.

0/4 tasks done
Gathering and narrowing your candidatesYour Candidates are the properties you have already analyzed — each one with its verdict score next to it. The list lives in your account: you can mark one as primary and drop the rest. This is not the favourites list: there you save listings, here you collect analyses.Browse homes →Your candidates →visible once you sign in
Set up a price watch and a saved searchOn a home's page you can ask us to tell you when its price drops, or when it falls below the fair estimate, and you can save your search so we write to you about new matches. Both sit together in your account. We only watch what the listing itself shows, and only from the moment you switch it on — we do not put together a price history from before that.Saved searches and price watches →visible once you sign in
AI analysis of the property you have your eye onPricing, condition, neighbourhood, transport — a detailed analysis, with one summary assessment. Where the data is missing, the report marks it unavailable rather than guessing in its place. Indicative AI analysis — not a certified appraisal.Start an AI analysis →
Booking a viewingFor properties listed on otthonai.hu you can book a slot on the listing's own page. For a property listed anywhere else, you arrange the viewing with the seller. With a “verified buyer” seal you get first pick of the times wherever the seller has opened priority slots.Handled with the other party or an outside professionalBook a time →not specific to a home of yours

Documents for this stage

AI analysis reportcan be reopened at any time once it is ready

Who does what

Roles in this stage

YouNarrowing the candidates, viewing, recording impressions
otthonai.huData-driven analysis of pricing, condition and the neighbourhood
3
Stage 3 / 8

Due diligence

This is where everything the listing does not tell you comes out: charges on the property, the legal position, the building's condition. This is not the stage to save time on.

0/7 tasks done
Request the title deed (tulajdoni lap), electronically authenticatedYou can request it online at magyarorszag.hu, signing in with your Ügyfélkapu (the state's citizen login). Check who the owner is — and whether that is exactly who is selling it to you.Handled at the land registryRequest a title deed ↗needs Ügyfélkapu sign-in
Check the charges on the title deedA mortgage, a debt enforcement charge (végrehajtási jog), a lifelong right of use (haszonélvezet), a right of pre-emption (elővásárlási jog) — any one of them changes the deal from the ground up.Handled at the land registryRequest a title deed ↗needs Ügyfélkapu sign-in
Waiver of pre-emption from the co-owner (lemondó nyilatkozat)your answerWhere the property is in undivided common ownership (osztatlan közös tulajdon), your co-owner — at a semi-detached house usually the neighbour on the other side — has a right of pre-emption, and has to waive it in writing, or the contract can be challenged. Check on the title deed whether this really is undivided common ownership: at a semi-detached house it is common, but not a given.Handled with the other party or an outside professional
Ask for the use-division agreement (használati megosztási megállapodás)your answerThis records which parts of the shared plot and building you alone get to use. If you are taking a mortgage, the bank will typically ask for it too.Handled with the other party or an outside professional
Check the energy certificateThe seller is required to hand it over — it is also a reference point for estimating the heating costs you can expect.Handled with the other party or an outside professionalCertificate register ↗
Ask for the condominium paperworkIn a condominium, ask the building manager (közös képviselő) for the founding deed (alapító okirat), the house rules (SZMSZ), the general-meeting decisions of the last few years, and above all a certificate that the flat carries no common-cost arrears. The debt attaches to the FLAT, not to the seller: whatever is left on it will be collected from you. Read the decisions on planned renovation too — your share may already have been voted through. For a detached house this step falls away.Handled with the other party or an outside professionalCondominium information ↗needs Ügyfélkapu sign-in
Walk the property with a surveyorDamp, insulation, the roof, the electrical wiring — a building surveyor spots faults that do not show up on a viewing. You engage one yourself; this is not something you can order from us.Handled with the other party or an outside professional
⚠Semi-detached house, undivided common ownership: getting the waiver can take weeks if the co-owner is hard to reach. Start before you make your offer — without it the land registry will not register your ownership.

Documents for this stage

Title deed (tulajdoni lap), electronically authenticatedcan be requested at magyarorszag.hu, for a fee
Map copy (térképmásolat)to check the plot boundaries
Waiver (lemondó nyilatkozat)your answerof the co-owner's right of pre-emption
Use-division agreement (használati megosztási megállapodás)your answercountersigned by a lawyer
Energy certificatefrom the seller

Who does what

Roles in this stage

YouRequesting the documents, arranging the survey visit
SellerHanding over the certificate and the agreements
SurveyorSurveying the building's condition
4
Stage 4 / 8

Offer and deposit (foglaló)

A written offer and the foglaló are real legal commitments: this is where the price is settled, and the first point at which your money is genuinely at risk.

0/5 tasks done
Put your negotiating strategy togetherOn the report's own page you can ask for an indicative offer range and a few talking points — derived strictly from that report's pricing and condition findings, and generated only on request. It is indicative: before you say any of it out loud, have a human look it over.Open the analysis →run an analysis first
Signal your interest to buy on otthonai.huFor a property listed on otthonai.hu you can set out what you would offer, how you would finance it, and when you would want to take possession. This is an expression of interest: non-binding, it creates no agreement on its own, and the seller is free to decide how to respond. It is the opening move of the negotiation — the written offer that carries ajánlati kötöttség is a separate step of its own, and it comes after this one.Signal your interest to buy →not specific to a home of yours
Make a written purchase offer (vételi ajánlat)Put down the price, the payment schedule, and how long you will hold your offer open. A written offer binds you (ajánlati kötöttség): if the seller accepts it within the deadline you named, the agreement is made. Registering your ownership still takes the sale contract, countersigned by a lawyer.Handled with the other party or an outside professional
Talking it through with the seller by messageMost of the negotiating happens in messages. For a property listed on otthonai.hu the messages stay in one place, so who wrote what, and when, can be looked up later. For a property listed anywhere else the same conversation happens by phone or email — there too it is worth putting what you agree in writing.Open your messages →visible once you sign in
Settle the foglaló and the advance payment (előleg)If you do not have a lawyer yet, now is the time — the foglaló wording is already theirs to draft. Whoever is responsible for the deal falling through loses the foglaló — if that is the seller, it comes back to you twice over; if neither of you is responsible, it simply comes back. The előleg is different: if the deal falls through, it is returned. The foglaló has no statutory rate; 10% of the purchase price is the custom — that is a matter of agreement.Handled with your lawyer
⚠Foglaló ≠ előleg: the contract should say in so many words which of the two this money is, and what happens to it if the deal falls through. It is not the name that decides — it is what the contract says the money is, and the whole foglaló rides on that. The wording is the lawyer's job; which of the two you want is yours to tell them.

Documents for this stage

Purchase offer (vételi ajánlat), in writingprice, payment schedule, how long it stays open
Receipt for the deposit (foglaló)if you hand the foglaló over with the offer itself

Who does what

Roles in this stage

YouMaking the offer and negotiating
otthonai.huAn indicative offer range and talking points from the report's findings
SellerAccepting, countering or declining
5
Stage 5 / 8

Lawyer and contract

The land registry (földhivatal) will only register your ownership on a contract countersigned by a lawyer — or on a deed drawn up by a public notary (közjegyző). This guide follows the lawyer's route: the buyer customarily chooses and pays the lawyer, but that too is a matter of agreement.

0/6 tasks done
Choose a lawyer and engage themChoose a lawyer who works in property law. There is no statutory rate for the lawyer's fee: 0.5–1% of the purchase price is the custom, but it is settled by agreement when you engage them — ask up front what the fee covers.Handled with your lawyerLawyer search (MÜK) ↗
Share the analysis with your lawyerOn the report's own page you can create a link to share: your lawyer or your partner sees the same findings you do, without signing in. You can revoke the link at any time. The analysis is indicative: it does not replace the due diligence or the lawyer's own review.Share this analysis →run an analysis first
Read through the draft sale contract (adásvételi szerződés)The payment schedule, the handover date, what happens if the deal falls through — all of it is settled here. With a mortgage, fit the payment deadlines to your bank’s disbursement turnaround and to the notary’s appointment: ask about both before you sign, because being late is on you. The wording is the lawyer's job, but what goes into it is yours to decide: read it through before you sign, and ask about anything you do not understand.Handled with your lawyer
Signing and the lawyer's countersignature (ellenjegyzés)Before you sign, request a fresh title deed: a new charge may have landed in the weeks since your due diligence. Every party signs, the lawyer identifies the parties, and the lawyer countersigns the contract — it is the countersignature that makes the document one the land registry can act on.Handled with your lawyer
Filing at the land registry (széljegy)Your lawyer files the application within 30 days of the contract's date — you can check when that deadline starts from the date on your own contract. On the title deed (tulajdoni lap), the széljegy is the note marking that your acquisition of ownership is in progress; the registration itself comes later.Handled at the land registryRequest a title deed ↗needs Ügyfélkapu sign-in
Ask for the registration to be held (függőben tartás)your answerThis does not happen by itself: it has to be asked for, and the contract has to provide for it. Where it is in place, the land registry holds the registration of your ownership until the full purchase price is paid, while the széljegy already keeps your application's place in the queue. With a mortgage this is the usual arrangement — what exactly your own bank requires is for the bank to tell you.Handled at the land registry

Documents for this stage

Sale contract (adásvételi szerződés)drawn up and countersigned by the lawyer
ID documents and tax identification number (adóazonosító jel)from every party to the contract
Waiver (lemondó nyilatkozat), the originalyour answerfrom the co-owner, as an annex to the contract

Who does what

Roles in this stage

LawyerThe contract, the countersignature, filing at the land registry — escrow, if you agree on it
YouChoosing the lawyer, approving the contract's terms
SellerProviding the documents, signing
6
Stage 6 / 8

Payment and loan disbursement

The purchase price moves on the schedule set out in the contract: what you have to pay and when is for your own contract to tell you. With a mortgage the bank only transfers once the disbursement conditions have been met in full — allow for that in advance against the contract's payment deadlines.

0/6 tasks done
Submitting the loan applicationyour answerA pre-approval is not an application. You submit the real one with the signed sale contract and the bank's document list — and that is what starts the appraisal too. Ask your bank how long it takes in total from submission to disbursement: that number is what decides the payment deadline you can safely agree to in the contract.Handled at your bank
The bank's appraisal of the property (értékbecslés)your answerThe bank has the property appraised under its own procedure, and sizes the loan to that value — not to the purchase price. If the appraisal comes in below the purchase price, the difference is yours to find. Whether the appraisal carries a fee, and whether it is refunded, differs from bank to bank: ask your own bank up front.Handled at your bank
Signing the loan contract (before a public notary, közjegyző)your answerBanks typically have the loan contract, or a declaration acknowledging the debt (tartozáselismerő nyilatkozat), put into a notarial deed (közjegyzői okirat) — what exactly your own bank asks for is for the bank to tell you. The notary's fee is a separate cost, and it is not part of the lawyer's fee: ask your bank and the notary up front what to expect. It takes time, too — fit the notary's appointment to the payment deadline in your contract.Handled at a notaryNotary search (MOKK) ↗
Meeting the disbursement conditionsyour answerTypically: the széljegy on the title deed (tulajdoni lap) marking that your application is in, a home insurance policy taken out — most banks also ask to be named as the beneficiary on it — and evidence that you have paid your own funds. This is an example, not your list: your own loan contract and the bank's disbursement notice are what set yours out item by item. The bank transfers once the last condition is met, and disbursement takes time to go through: ask up front how long, so that it fits inside your contract's deadline.Handled at your bank
Transferring the money on the contract's scheduleAlways to the account named in the contract, by the deadline named in the contract, and always so that it leaves a trace. Keep the transfer receipts: they are how you evidence that the purchase price was paid — to the lawyer, to the bank, and at the registration of your ownership. With a mortgage this is your own funds; without one, the whole purchase price moves this way.Handled at your bank
Check that the seller's charges get cleared (tehermentesítés)If there is a mortgage on the title deed (tulajdoni lap), it has to be paid off out of the purchase price first, and the seller's bank has to consent in writing to the charge being deleted. Do not let the money start moving while that is unsettled. The usual instrument is escrow: the lawyer holding it pays the seller's bank out of the purchase price and holds the rest back until the bank's deletion consent (törlési engedély) arrives — but escrow does not come with the engagement: it has to be agreed, and the contract has to provide for it.Handled at your bank

Documents for this stage

Home insurance policyyour answerthe bank will typically ask for it as a disbursement condition
Transfer receiptsfor every instalment you pay — your evidence that the purchase price was paid

Who does what

Roles in this stage

BankThe appraisal, and disbursement once the conditions are met
LawyerHandling the discharge of the charges — escrow, if you agree on it
YouPaying on the schedule, keeping the receipts — with a mortgage, taking out the insurance
7
Stage 7 / 8

Transfer tax and ownership

NAV (the tax authority) assesses the transfer tax (vagyonszerzési illeték), and the land registry registers your ownership. From here on it is mostly waiting — and paying.

0/3 tasks done
Transfer tax: 4%It is not payable when you sign the contract: NAV assesses it after the application is filed at the land registry, in a separate decision (határozat) — this typically takes months, so set the money aside for it. You then have 30 days from receiving it to pay. The 4% is charged on the market value NAV establishes (forgalmi érték), which is usually — but not always — the purchase price.Handled at NAV (the tax authority)NAV — buying and selling property ↗
Clarify whether you qualify for any transfer-tax relief or exemptionyour answerAs a young, first-home buyer you may qualify for relief, and alongside CSOK Plusz (the state's family support scheme) even a full exemption from the transfer tax can come into play — but each has its conditions: your age, this genuinely being your first home, and a ceiling on the property's value. The conditions and the rates are set by legislation, and they change from time to time, so we do not calculate a specific figure for you here. Before you sign the contract, check with your lawyer whether you qualify — the final amount is stated by NAV's decision (határozat). If it is hard to pay in one go, you can ask NAV to let you pay in instalments.Handled at NAV (the tax authority)NAV — transfer duty ↗
Tracking the registration of your ownershipThe land registry issues a decision on the registration, and your lawyer notifies you of it. Once it is made, request a fresh title deed: that is where you see that you really are the owner, and that the seller’s charges were deleted. If the contract provides for the registration to be held (függőben tartás) — with a mortgage this is the usual arrangement — the registration waits until payment of the full purchase price has been evidenced; without it, the application proceeds in the order it was filed. Until the registration is made, the széljegy on the title deed (tulajdoni lap) marks that your case is in progress.Handled at the land registryRequest a title deed ↗needs Ügyfélkapu sign-in

Documents for this stage

NAV transfer-tax decision (illetékhatározat)sent by NAV — by post or electronically
Registration decision (bejegyző határozat)from the land registry, via your lawyer

Who does what

Roles in this stage

NAVAssessing the transfer tax in a decision
Land registryRegistering the ownership
LawyerFiling, tracking, and supplying anything missing

What does it cost altogether?

An illustrative example for a 50 million forint purchase — not calculated for your own property.

Purchase price (in the example)50 000 000 Ft
Transfer tax (4%)2 000 000 Ft
Lawyer's fee (0.5–1%, by agreement)250 000 – 500 000 Ft
Land registry procedure fee~7 000 Ft
Title deed and certificates~10 000 Ft
Costs around the purchase~2 300 000 – 2 500 000 Ft

An illustrative example: it works with the full 4% and no relief — as a first-home buyer yours may come out lower. The transfer-tax rules and the official fees change, and the lawyer's fee is a matter of agreement. It does not include moving, renovation, or the bank's costs on a mortgage. What you actually have to pay is stated by NAV's decision (határozat).

8
Stage 8 / 8

Handover and moving in

Handing over the keys is not a formality: it is recording the handover record (birtokbaadási jegyzőkönyv) and the meter readings that protects you in any dispute later on.

0/5 tasks done
Draw up the handover recordRecord the condition of the property, the fixtures left behind, the number of keys handed over, and any defects — signed by both parties. This is what proves later what condition you took the flat over in.Handled with the other party or an outside professional
Record the meter readingsElectricity, gas, water — photograph every meter, and write the readings into the handover record as well. These decide up to which point the consumption is the seller's, and from which point it is yours.Your own task
Transfer the utility contractsWith the meter readings, register the transfer with every provider. The deadline and the process differ from one provider to the next, so deal with it as soon as you can after the handover — that way the consumption stops running on the seller's name.Handled with the other party or an outside professional
Register your addressYou can register your new address at the kormányablak (the government one-stop office), and that is where you get your new address card (lakcímkártya). See to it as soon as you can after moving in.Handled at a public officeReport your change of address ↗needs Ügyfélkapu sign-in
Common cost and condominium noticeIf you have bought in a condominium, report the change of owner to the building's manager (közös képviselő) so that the common cost and the accounting move onto you. For a detached house this step falls away.Handled with the other party or an outside professional

Documents for this stage

Handover record (birtokbaadási jegyzőkönyv)signed by both parties
Meter-reading photoselectricity · gas · water

Who does what

Roles in this stage

You + SellerThe walk-through together, drawing up the handover record
ProvidersThe transfer, based on the meter readings
Kormányablak (government one-stop office)Issuing the address card

This guide is for information only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. In Hungary a lawyer's involvement is mandatory to draw up and countersign the sale contract — always seek your own lawyer's opinion on your specific case.