Apostille (French: Apostille) is an international standardized form for filling in information about the legality of a document for presentation in countries that recognize this form of legalization.
The situation is considered in the context that a person cannot come to their homeland for some reason. The first thing to do is to prepare documents for the sale, which means finding someone to handle the matter. Usually, relatives or acquaintances are used, but if that is not possible, you can arrange with a real estate agency or a firm dealing with legal matters. And of course, you will need to issue a power of attorney to manage affairs in your home country.
To do this, you can contact a notary office at the seller's place of residence and issue a power of attorney, then translate it into Ukrainian and certify the translation's accuracy. After that, an apostille is affixed to the power of attorney – and it's ready. On the website spravkainform.com.ua the procedure for obtaining an apostille and notarization of documents is described in detail.
Do not miss this point: if the seller is married, then in the same way as the power of attorney, the spouse's consent to the sale is issued. The process may not be very fast, but at least it is faster and cheaper than traveling to another country.
To receive the money from the sale and complete the transaction, the owner often comes in person, after all, you wouldn't entrust receiving finances to an unknown person.
There is another nuance: if the purchase will be made with a mortgage loan, it is necessary to check with the bank whether it is ready for such a transaction, especially if it will be signed by power of attorney.
As for selling property located abroad, usually a person who can afford such a purchase can naturally afford to travel independently and handle all documents themselves.
Do not forget that each country has its own taxation and quite high rates for registration of property rights. In addition, you also need to budget for payments to the real estate agency, insurance, and so on. On average, such expenses can exceed 15% of the property's value.
In some countries, there are restrictions on the purchase of land and real estate by foreigners; this is usually circumvented by registering the property in the name of a legal entity. But maintaining a company abroad will also cost a considerable amount of money.
It is also worth knowing that inheritance tax in many countries is quite high and can reach 40%. But despite all the difficulties, more and more of our fellow citizens are purchasing property abroad.