This is often the first question we are asked by foreign residents who are interested in purchasing an apartment in Israel. Some of them are businessmen who cannot currently travel to Israel, and the apartment they found will not wait until they take a travel break from their work.<\/p>\n

So the answer is generally yes. A real estate transaction can be carried out remotely, when the buyer is not in Israel, but this requires a different procedure than the purchase of an apartment by an Israeli resident.<\/p>\n

The purchase involves irrevocable power of attorney to an agent or the lawyer handling the purchase who will manage the transaction with the sellers. The power of attorney authorizes the agent to act fully on behalf of the buyer, including signing the purchase agreement, registering their rights in the land registry and representing them in all the necessary actions.<\/p>\n

As a general rule, a buyer who is a foreign resident can pay for the transaction through a bank transfer from abroad. Only if they are interested in getting a mortgage to purchase the property, they must open an Israeli bank account from where the mortgage charges will be deducted.<\/p>\n

Opening a bank account for a foreign resident or foreign citizen is a complex procedure, due to the restrictions that have come into effect in recent years, with the State of Israel entering international treaties intended to reduce money laundering and encourage mutual reporting on foreign accounts between tax authorities.<\/p>\n

If in the past a passport + additional ID was required to open a bank account, today the customer must sign various statements related to tax reports in their country of residence and sometimes also required to produce documents verifying the correctness of the tax reports in their place of residence in order to allow them to transfer to Israel the funds intended for the purchase of the apartment.<\/p>\n

One of the existing solutions in the case of the purchase of an apartment by a foreign resident, is the opening of an escrow account by the lawyer handling the transaction, a designated account for the purpose of the transaction only. To this account the buyer will transfer the payments required to effect the transaction.<\/p>\n