The real estate agent is responsible for drafting the offer, which needs to include all applicable fees and taxes. All of the purchase details are outlined in a form called Kostenaufstellung, which is attached to the formal offer.
Once the offer is drafted, it is given to the seller. They then have a deadline to either sign or reject the offer. If nothing is done by the agreed date, the offer expires. If the seller signs the offer, none of its details can be changed.
Cooling period
However, there is a cooling period of 10 days before a final contract can be signed. According to Austrian law, buyers have 10 days to decide not to carry on with a property purchase, even after the offer has been signed by the seller.
Once the cooling period is over, buyers must prove that they either have a mortgage or enough funds to purchase the estate. When this happens, a contract is drafted by a notary and signed by all parties. The sale of the house is now concrete. Then, funds must be sent to the seller's trust account.
While this seems like a long process, buying a home can be fairly quick, taking as little as six weeks for the purchase to be completed.