Real estate exchange is not the easiest and most convenient way to change and improve housing conditions. Nevertheless, the question of how to exchange an apartment for an apartment will always be relevant. An alternative transaction of such a plan implies a much faster move to a new place, and the participants are much less concerned with preparing and completing a transaction. There are a variety of possibilities and many ways to exchange an apartment for an apartment. There are probably no real estate experts who would not discuss and classify each case. This article will provide a list of the usual package of documents that will have to be collected before exchanging an apartment for an apartment.
Reasons for sharing and goals
The reasons for the exchange can be listed on a long list, and all of them with great force encourage individual citizens to exchange their housing, to change their usual place of residence. And so there were many ways of how to exchange an apartment for an apartment, depending on the conditions in each individual case. Exchange has its advantages and disadvantages. The most common reason for housing exchanges is the need to improve housing conditions, that is, expanding the living space (for example, the family has replenished, needs have grown or greater comfort is needed), and then an option is sought in which it becomes possible to exchange your own real estate.
The exchange of an apartment for an apartment, according to realtors, may be required to correct the financial situation, when a large living space is exchanged for less with an additional charge. In this case, a place to live is saved, and funds appear to improve the quality of this life. But much more often the opposite has been happening lately - while preserving real estate, people make the exchange of an apartment for an apartment from a smaller to a larger one, adding space in the form of additional square meters. No less often one large apartment is exchanged for two smaller ones if the family decides to leave. This happens with divorces, of which there are a lot now, with the division of the inheritance or the resettlement of adult children in separate housing. For example, exchanging a 1-room apartment for a 1-room apartment is less common. Here, the reason may be a change of area to a more prestigious or series of houses with a more convenient layout.
Options
In Soviet times, apartments were practically not for sale, since almost all were, as they say now, in municipal ownership. Because such an operation with real estate as an exchange prevailed. Equivalent was then not uncommon, especially when moving, when the exchange of apartments city to city. Usually this happened when changing jobs, when changing life circumstances. Intercity exchange was a lifesaver, although it took an incredible amount of time and effort. And now he does not get rid of the search for a buyer in his own city, the search for an apartment in someone else's. And only a good real estate agency helps people in these efforts. Such an exchange is usually made through a sale and subsequent purchase. There are alternative transactions, as well as direct exchange of apartments (secondary housing), but much less often. These three options are most often used by real estate agencies.
The first option is the simplest, and therefore it is most often used. If the owner of the apartment has sufficient experience working with real estate, he may not be attracted by a professional realtor. In this case, the process is divided into two operations: searching for a buyer and selling your apartment, at the same time, new housing is being looked at that meets all the claims. An ordinary person is unlikely to cope with direct exchange without a realtor. Here, a realtor is needed quite experienced, who knows how to exchange both privatized and non-privatized apartments. Difficulties arise from the fact that there are always several times more willing people to sell housing than there are people who want to exchange. A little more than those who want to make an exchange of an apartment for an apartment with a surcharge.
The risks
Nevertheless, the choice remains extremely narrow for each of the parties to the transaction. An alternative transaction is carried out only by experienced realtors, as financial risks for participants are very high. The buyer of the apartment gives an advance, and the seller of the housing makes an egeo for the apartment that he intends to buy. Thus, the price of apartments is fixed and the seriousness of intentions is confirmed (after making an advance it is difficult to refuse the transaction).
The instability of the financial situation in the country creates special risks for those who exchange the apartment through sale and subsequent purchase. This is especially true for people who decided to make an exchange of an apartment for an apartment with a surcharge. As many cases as you like, when a sudden jump in prices caught people after selling their old apartment and before buying a new one. There is not enough money, but nowhere to live. An alternative transaction eliminates this risk. There is another way, tested by metropolitan realtors and used quite often when an exchange of apartments in Moscow takes place.
Trade-in
This method is called Trade-in, in which the client exchanging housing quickly moves to a new building, and his old apartment is accepted as payment. Currently, in the capital, this method is quite in demand. The method is convenient and fast - the whole transaction takes three days at most. Of course, the secondary market still prevails in the number of transactions, but more and more people want to exchange the old house for a new building, and this method is increasingly being practiced, which makes it even more profitable to exchange a 1-room apartment for a 1-room one.
Moscow renovation is now moving in the same direction. There is also an exchange using surcharges from maternity capital, and today such a deal is not exotic at all. A similar service is on the list of any self-respecting real estate agency. The exchange of apartments in Moscow is very widely represented by transactions with maternity capital (but this can be done if the child to whom the funds belong has already reached the age of three).
Mortgage Exchange
Questions on the exchange of apartments, which are in the mortgage, are raised quite often. This is another quite complex form of working with real estate, and over time, it is becoming more common, since a very significant proportion of apartments are bought on credit. This operation requires not only approval, but also the direct participation of the bank that credited the purchase of housing.
The technical side of this transaction is that there are not one but two contracts concluded at a time: one of them is for sale, and the second is for purchase. When buying an apartment, the buyer must pay the debt to the bank instead of the seller, or debt obligations are transferred to him. The latter banks are doing more than reluctantly. In addition, the bank imposes a burden on the apartment at the same time as renewal, and this in the future will not allow the new owner to sell this property until the full settlement of the debt.
Exchange with municipal property
Another variation is the exchange of one's own apartment for a municipal one, and vice versa. I must say that a huge part of real estate, even in the capitals, has not yet passed into private ownership, and in city funds there is a lot of municipal property. This, of course, does not mean that such an apartment cannot be exchanged. All citizens of the country have the same right to apply for the best living conditions. You can change the area or expand the living space, but the only way to do this is to exchange the apartment for a new one.
Buying and selling methods cannot work here. Even the exchange in this case will be quite difficult compared to privatized apartments. A lot of papers will have to be collected by the owner of the municipal housing, and the owner of the privatized will receive practically no benefit from the exchange. The apartment exchange agreement is supported by the social rental agreement, which governs living in a municipal apartment, and the owner of a private living space will have to renew it for himself. And the owner of the municipal apartment gets a new one in full ownership. Those who want to change their living conditions, apartment owners can choose from a variety of those listed, that is, use an exchange of a larger apartment for a smaller one, counting on an additional payment, or apply a sales agreement, exchange agreements and the like. Living in a municipal apartment are in completely different conditions - only exchange works here. Many first privatize housing, and then they sell it and exchange it, itโs easier and more profitable.

Tax and package of documents
And one of the most important aspects of apartment exchange is taxation. The tax code does not regulate the direct apartment exchange tax in any way, but the Civil Code in article 567 says that the exchange agreement is subject to the same taxation rules as the sale. The party transferring the ownership rights is recognized by the seller, and the other side by the buyer, and therefore the tax payment for each of the apartments will be calculated according to the natural form of the cost of housing, which is reflected in the exchange agreement. Exchange tax is not levied only if the apartment is owned by this owner for more than three years.
The content list is best described with a list of documents:
1. Documents determining the ownership of the living space.
2. Cadastral passport.
3. A copy of the personal account and extract from the house book.
4. The document is the appraised value of the apartment after real estate appraisal.
5. Identification documents (birth certificates and passports of residents).
6. Certificate of divorce or marriage (if the property was purchased before the divorce, the transaction requires the written consent of the former spouses).
7. Certificate from the department of guardianship of minors (if any are registered on the housing or have shares).
Guarantees
Transactions involving the exchange of one real estate for another are always more complex than the usual sale. This procedure will certainly require a professional approach, but even in this case there are certain risks. A large amount of time is lost and much more effort is made.
Only attracting the services of a competent realtor in some way saves time and nerves. Special risks exist in the verification of documents. A specialist from a real estate agency will be able to prevent at least these troubles associated with the exchange of secondary housing. Indeed, several owners have probably changed here, and therefore there is a danger of invalidating the transaction if someone elseโs rights have been violated.
Intercity Exchange
Especially the risk concerns long-distance transactions, even if there is an exchange of apartments for the suburbs. This is a rather difficult task within the same city, since it is the most complex type of housing operations. And here, the owners and objects are distant from each other purely geographically, and in different places the practice of real estate transactions is different, and it is good if it is just noticeably different, and not dramatically.
But there is also the last option, which seriously affects the final result of this enterprise. The organization of such transactions is extremely complex. The simplest questions with registration and discharge, with the physical release of the apartment, to solve even by agreement is not so simple. But almost always the case concerns much more difficult tasks.
Direct exchange and alternative
There are two main ways of apartment exchange between cities - by direct and alternative technologies. A direct exchange has been known since Soviet times and is carried out according to the mutual interest of the parties, that is, for example, Moscow residents who want to move to Ryazan must find those who want to move to the capital in Ryazan, so that the living quarters meet the wishes of both parties. The hardest part is finding options. All existing search methods are not effective enough, even via the Internet. Therefore, only the first stage of exchange most often lasts for years. The second method is a counter purchase (alternative). This is a market option that provides a high probability of a successful transaction. The bottom line is that you first need to sell an apartment in Moscow, and then buy in Ryazan.
The exchange is made through direct finances, and therefore, things will go faster and better, although there is no way to do without certain difficulties (time to buy new housing, when the old one needs to be freed, for example, or re-registration). One of the most important circumstances is the timing of all stages of the transaction, which must be prepared so that no delay occurs at any of its stages. Also a key point is the calculation. Most often (and this is the best option), a bank cell is used. The entire amount intended for the purchase of an apartment, on the day of signing the documents and the contract, is put in the cell to which the seller gets access only after the state registration of the contract, after which he automatically becomes the owner of this living space.