Benchmark the price
Real comparable sales from the tax authority's records — not the brochure number.
Independent buyer-side advisory · Israel
Buying property in Israel?
Buying property in Israel?
Nobody in the room is on your side.
The broker works for the seller. The lawyer handles the paperwork. We work only for you — the buyer. We vet the price, the contractor, and the contract, and we quarterback the lawyer, the mortgage, and the money transfer from your side of the table.
Book a 30-minute consultation
$250 · credits in full toward your engagement if we work together
Flat fee — never a percentage
Paid only by you
On your side of the table
When an American buys an apartment in Israel from abroad, every “expert” in the room is paid by someone else. It isn't malice — it's information asymmetry. The Israeli side of the table has the comparable sales memorized, the contract clauses read every week, the tax brackets and Madad indexation in muscle memory. You have a translated brochure and a flight home.
That gap is the whole problem. We close it.
The seller's side of the table
The developer (kablan)
builds & sells the units
The sales office
paid by the developer
The broker
paid by the seller
Your lawyer
papers the deal — not the price
Your side
You
the buyer
Sela
paid only by you
What we do
Three jobs, one person on your side
Read the contract first
Index linkage (Madad), penalty clauses, bank guarantees and delivery dates — flagged before the lawyer.
Quarterback your side
Lawyer, mortgage advisor, inspector (bedek bayit), money transfer — translated back into plain English.
What's at stake
The numbers nobody puts in front of you early
The contract price is only the start. These are the figures that quietly decide whether an Israeli purchase goes well — and the ones an overseas buyer is least equipped to see coming.
~8%
Purchase tax (mas rechisha) a non-resident pays — from the very first shekel
How it works
2–4%
Typical spread on a default bank wire — vs. 0.3–0.7% done right
The FX trap
10–12%
How far the all-in cost runs above the sticker price, on average
The real cost
~50%
The most an Israeli bank typically lends a non-resident (loan-to-value)
Financing reality
Representative mid-2026 figures, for orientation — your exact numbers depend on your status, the property, and the rates in effect when you sign.
How we are paid
We are not a broker. We are not a lawyer. We are never paid by contractors, sellers, or sales offices. We are paid only by you, on a flat fee — never as a percentage of the purchase price.
Our whole job is to help you pay less. A percentage of price would put us on the wrong side of that. Reputation is the entire business.
A percentage advisor — earns more when you pay more
Sela — one flat fee, whatever the price
No broker's license — by design
No seller commissions
No referral fees, ever
How it works
From first call to keys in hand
No mystery, no commitment ladder. This is the whole arc — and you decide whether to go past step one.
-
1
One honest call
A 30-minute consultation on your situation — what's realistic, what it costs all-in, and whether you need us at all.
$250, credited -
2
The independent read
We benchmark the price against real closed sales, vet the contractor, and red-flag the contract's commercial terms.
Before you sign -
3
You decide
Above market, at market, or walk away — you choose with real numbers in front of you, not a brochure.
Your call -
4
We quarterback to keys
Lawyer, mortgage, money transfer, inspection — one point of contact until your name is on the Tabu (land registry).
Through handover
From the blog
Plain-English field notes
The questions American buyers ask us most, written down. No jargon for its own sake, no pressure — just the parts of an Israeli purchase that tend to surprise people.
The broker showing you the apartment doesn't work for you
Almost everyone in the room is paid by the seller. A plain-English map of who works for whom — and why a buyer-side advisor changes the math.
ReadHow do you know if you're paying a fair price?
There's no Israeli MLS and no Zillow. How comparable-sale data actually works here, why per-meter pricing misleads, and what a real benchmark involves.
ReadThe real cost of buying: tax, FX, and fees
The contract price is not the deal. For most American buyers the all-in cost runs 10–12% over the sticker — and the biggest line items are the unexpected ones.
Read
Common questions
The things buyers ask first
- Can I really do this from the United States?
- Yes. You don't need Israeli citizenship or residency, and most of our clients complete the purchase from abroad — flying in for a viewing trip and the handover. The friction isn't legal; it's process and translation, and that's the part we handle.
- What does Sela cost?
- Consultations start at $250 for a 30-minute call. A full engagement is a flat fee that depends on scope, and the consultation credits toward it if you decide to work with us. We are never paid as a percentage of the purchase price.
- Do I still need an Israeli lawyer?
- Yes — always. Israeli law requires a real estate lawyer (orech din) to draft the contract and register the deal at the Tabu (land registry). We work alongside your lawyer, not in place of one: they handle the legal side, we read the deal itself.
- Are you ever paid by contractors or brokers?
- No. The buyer is the only person who pays us, and the fee is flat. No referral fees, no commissions, no payment from anyone else in the transaction. That structure is the reason the advice can be honest.
Get started
One honest conversation
We'll walk through your situation, the realistic next steps, and whether we're the right fit for each other. Consultations start at $250 and credit toward a full engagement if you decide to work with us.
No pressure. No pitch deck.