Conclude a notarized contract only with "financing confirmation"?

Hello,

I am planning to buy an apartment.

The process was as follows:
- The property is listed on ImmobilienScout, the agent comes from a bank
- I immediately get in touch and schedule the first appointment
- I show up wearing a T-shirt and sandals because it is scorching hot (midsummer) and I think this is not a job interview
- The apartment is good, I agree to arrange a notary appointment (so that the property is reserved in the highly competitive market) and agree on a reservation (oral), oral confirmation from the agent
- Believing that I have the property, I go home and wait for the promised documents (notary assignment)
- I receive a written rejection from a colleague of the agent
- I call, furious, confront the agent, speak with the department manager, and threaten to complain to the management (reason: I was given a confirmation of a reservation, I had the first appointment, there was no buyer before me, how can he now want to assign it to the next best candidate AFTER my reservation)
- We hang up, I am about to write a complaint
- I receive an immediate call back: It is the financing department of the bank, they ask if they may switch to speakerphone, the agent is in the room --> She says: "The bank prefers owner-occupiers, the other is an investor, a public image must be maintained, tomorrow we can offer you a financing appointment"
- It becomes clear to me: only if I finance through this bank will I get the apartment
- I show up for the appointment, unfortunately a bit late, and receive a verbal offer that sounds quite reasonable. I ask for a written version; they promise to send the offer by email the same day
- They promise me 3 repayment-free years for the main loan from the bank and KFW
- I go home and wonder why nothing arrives
- I call: the offer is to be sent by post and the repayment-free period would only apply to the KFW for 3 years, the main loan only for half a year
- For me still ok because I had calculated everything beforehand, but it is starting to have a certain "taste"
- I want the apartment and remain patient
- A consent form for data transfer was supposed to arrive, instead, a data protection notice comes, I call, eventually I receive the consent form and sign and send it back, that was a few days ago
- Notary appointment is on Thursday (so tomorrow!!)
- I did not receive any ESIS information sheet or any documents of any kind during the consultation
- I submitted salary slips and self-disclosure, made a small mistake in the self-disclosure (salary misstated by €50, later corrected by email)
- KFW power of attorney given

Now the notary appointment is on Thursday.

The following financing confirmation I received from the bank after my urging (many calls were necessary), full text quote, for data protection reasons I have only replaced names, addresses, and exact euro amounts with placeholders, but left date information as it is about a real matter for which I urgently need a solution:

******************************************

"Financing Confirmation For the purchase of a condominium in , [Purchase price plus ancillary purchase costs]

Dear Mr. ,

As requested, we are pleased to confirm that we are prepared to provide financing funds in the amount of for the acquisition of the above-mentioned property.

The loan is granted under the following conditions:

loan amounting to , nominal interest rate 2.07% p.a., fixed until 30.07.2028, effective annual interest rate 2.09% p.a.. The KfW loan you requested has already been applied for. The nominal interest rate is currently 1.65% p.a. KfW reserves the right to make changes. We adhere to the interest rate of from 02.08.2018 to 16.08.2018.

The loan security is provided by the new registration of a first-ranking land charge on the purchase property , amounting to . The costs for ordering and registering the land charge are at your expense.

Kind regards



"

******************************************

I was sent a link where I could download this letter as a PDF via a provided online account of the bank. The letter is dated 02.08.2018.

Notable:
- Under "Your reference," "Your message dated:", "Our reference:", "Our message dated:" nothing is entered in the letterhead

The advisor who works with the agent (both as described above from the same bank) says that the notary appointment (which the agent arranged) would not take place at all if she had not given the financing commitment to the agent.

What makes me suspicious: I only gave consent to data transfer a few days ago. Has the bank even obtained a credit check (Schufa)? What happens if the Schufa does not meet the bank’s expectations, is the above written financing confirmation then valid? I do not yet have the loan agreement or the written confirmation, both are supposed to be sent by post. Here, too, unprofessionalism sets in: initially, I was to receive everything by email on the same day, then suddenly by post. When I called the bank, another advisor asked: "Didn’t your advisor give you that immediately?" What does the financing confirmation actually state: that the bank generally offers these conditions or that I get the financing without further conditions?

The following tactics could be used by the bank:
- Sending the loan contract is delayed so that I never receive it
- Sending the loan contract is done after 16.08., so the conditions from the financing confirmation are no longer valid, and the notary appointment has already taken place
- In both cases, the agent would receive their brokerage fee from the bank (the purchase contract was concluded), but I would have no loan

This whole thing now worries me.

- What is your opinion on this?
- How binding is the above-quoted letter from the bank?

Thank you very much,

Best regards

Immokauf2018

Hello,

it is a financing commitment. I'm not a legal expert but would consider it binding.

BUT the interest rate from the KfW is not fixed, nor is the repayment deferral. It also says that, subject to change. If they increase by 2% tomorrow or scrap the program, you’re out of luck. Your bank just forwards it, loan contracts come from the KfW.

What about special repayments or other points in the loan contract?

A contract does not consist of just one A4 page with conditions but countless pages with rights and obligations. If you don’t like something there, then what? Do you have an apartment without a loan?

That would be too stupid for me.

I am just wondering why you are getting so upset?
What I find much worse is that you almost attended a notary appointment without a signed loan agreement.

Asked differently, do you doubt your own creditworthiness? You actually got everything right. If you are at the notary tomorrow and haven’t signed the loan agreement yet, you avoid the illegal tied sale that you suspect. That’s not necessarily a bad thing at first. Have you had further financing discussions with other banks or brokers? Over 2% interest even with 100% financing locked in for 10 years is an absolutely bad condition. Why do you want to sign there if they are all just fools, the conditions are bad, and the notary appointment takes place before signing the loan? Call a broker, for example Interhyp, talk to them for an hour. Then you will immediately learn about other conditions and the feasibility with other banks. If all else fails, you just accept the offer at hand. There is still a week left (and even after that the offer is not gone ...)

Let's be honest, you should be glad that you don't have financing before the notary appointment.

With the signing of the purchase contract, you have secured the apartment and can calmly take care of financing – and you are not dependent on "that one bank." Especially if the bank is not so straightforward
If you have a normally good creditworthiness, everything is fine.

I have never finalized financing before signing the purchase contract. But I also always knew that my creditworthiness easily sufficed for financing.

Let's be honest, be glad that you don't have financing before the notary appointment.

With the signing of the purchase contract, you have secured the apartment and can calmly take care of financing - and you're not dependent on "the one bank." Especially if the bank is not so easy
If you have a normally good credit rating, everything is fine.

I have never completed financing before I signed the purchase contract. But I always knew that my credit rating was more than sufficient for financing.

unless there is a clause in the purchase contract to finance only with bank XYZ

and then