Here is the sentence that catches first-time buyers across Europe: the fees are paid in cash, and cash is the one thing the mortgage does not cover.
A lender will happily fund 80% of the purchase price. It will not fund the transfer tax, the notary, the land registry entry, the survey or its own arrangement fee. Those come out of the same savings you were counting as the deposit.
What the extra is made of
Across most of Europe the additional cost of buying lands somewhere between 5% and 15% of the price. The components are consistent even though the rates are not:
- Transfer or registration tax. Usually the largest single item after the price. Paid to the state, varies enormously, and in some countries varies by region or by whether it is your first home.
- Notary. In much of continental Europe the notary is compulsory and the fee is a regulated sliding scale rather than a negotiation.
- Land registry. Smaller, but not nothing.
- Agency fee. In some countries the seller pays. In others the buyer does. This single difference can move your total by several thousand.
- Mortgage arrangement fee. A percentage of the loan, not the price.
- Survey. Optional in some markets, standard in others. Skipping it is the cheapest decision you can make and occasionally the most expensive.
The number to calculate first
Not the monthly payment. The cash you need on the day.
Deposit plus every fee above. That is the figure that determines whether you can complete, and it is routinely 20-40% higher than the deposit people have been saving toward.
Work it out before you view anything. It changes which price bracket you are actually shopping in, and it is far less painful to discover in a spreadsheet than three weeks before completion.
Then stress the payment
The second number is the monthly payment — but not at today's rate.
Run it at your rate plus two or three points. A payment that only works at the rate you were quoted is not an affordable payment; it is a position that depends on rates behaving. Many lenders apply exactly this test, and it is worth applying it to yourself before they do it for you.
A rough guide many lenders use: total debt repayments above roughly 45% of net income is usually refused, and above 35% is tight. These are conventions rather than rules, and they differ by country and lender.
The comparison nobody makes
After eight viewings, properties blur. The only honest way to compare two of them is price per square metre, and no agent will calculate it for you.
Do it for every property you see, alongside a consistent score for condition, light, noise and location. It takes a minute per viewing and it is what stops you buying on a feeling in a well-staged flat.
What we cannot tell you
None of the actual rates. Transfer taxes, notary scales, first-time-buyer relief, lending limits and who pays the agent are all national or regional, and most change with each budget.
So First Home does not contain them. You enter your country's rates once, from your notary or lender, and the workbook produces the cash-needed figure, the stress-tested payment and the per-square-metre comparison. That is also why it does not expire.
Not mortgage, tax or legal advice. Confirm everything with your notary, lender or adviser.