Finding an Agent

 

Walk into any bar on the Costa del Sol and mention that you have a property to sell and all of a sudden you will be surrounded by experts, the same goes if you are looking to purchase.

If you were looking to sell your property back home who would you go to for the best advice, a professional real estate agent, so why even consider doing anything else in a different country?

The real estate agent you choose must know the local market well and preferably have been living and running their business for a good few years on the coast. Good agents will always walk you through the whole process from marketing the property, arranging viewings, negotiating final price, arranging the contract, securing the deposit and completing at the notary.

At Property Options Spain, we have a wealth of experience in the market, having been established for many years and employing the very best in not only consultancy expertise but systems and software which enable most of the other real estate companies on the coast and their clients to see your property.

We invest a lot of money marketing our listed properties on many, many property portals and websites.

We have a network of agents and professional bodies all over Europe as well as the world to try and provide maximum exposure for the properties we have for sale.

The Asking Price

You can research the pricing of similar properties in your area and along with your agent you should have a pretty good idea of the market value, one thing to remember though, there is often a difference, sometimes quite substantial between what prices you see advertised and to what the actual price a particular property sold for.

This is where your agents knowledge is invaluable, there is no public register in Spain to find out who paid what for a property, however a good and highly respected agent will have many contacts to enable them to find out realistically how much clients are paying for property in your area.

The chances are, if a property has been on the market at a particular price for several months then there is something wrong and the majority of the time the property is too expensive and the owner is not prepared to lower their price.

A number of things to remember:                            

1. Your agent cannot perform miracles nor can they force clients to even view your property let alone buy it if the price is too high
2. Your agent can only feed their family if they sell property, it is of no benefit to them whatsoever to take clients to properties which are overpriced and therefore have no chance of selling
3. Clients are not stupid, they do their own research along with taking the advice from professional agents, think about what you would be doing if you were looking to buy and do not expect anyone else to be doing things differently
4. Clients do not care how much you paid for the property and therefore what it stands you at, what the exchange rate was when you bought, how much money you have spent on it etc. they are looking for the best possible deal for a property within their budget and in the location they have chosen
5. Just because you feel you have the best property in the area does not mean that this is the case, everyone has a passion for the property they own but when it comes to selling it is the buyer and the agent you should be listening to
6. Always present your property immaculately, so many times vendors expect people to be interested in their property when they cannot even be bothered to present it neatly and tidy, we know you are busy and have a family to run as well as work etc. however you have made the decision to sell and therefore it’s the vendors who make the effort and go the extra mile who are successful in selling their property
7. All those little repairs, painting and things you never seem to get around to fixing which can make the property look a little bit tired, make the effort to sort them out, any small faults will suggest to a potential buyer that larger, more expensive faults lie elsewhere, investing a bit of time and money at this stage will reap its rewards.
8. Remove any clutter in the house to give the potential buyers the best chance to see the space available and imagine what they would do with it, should you have an excess of bulky furniture, make the effort to store it away from the house
9. Your agent really does want to sell your property, it is how they earn their living, they do not get paid for doing “viewings” so help them to help you

Selling costs:

As well as your well earned agents fees you will also have some other costs of selling:

1. Lawyer’s fees – Generally 1% of the selling price and if you do not have one the chances are your agent can recommend a good lawyer to help the sales process run smoothly. Property Options Spain have a very professional Spanish lawyer who is also fluent in English and will only charge 0.50% for any of our clients
2. Capital gains tax – since 2007 this has now been fixed for both residents and non residents at 18%
3. Plus Valia – This is set by the local authorities and based on the increase of the value of the property from the date the existing owner purchased to the time of the present sale.

The local authorities determine the amount of tax to be paid depending on the area where the property is located and the market value or sales price of the property does not have an effect on the plus valia tax as it is calculated according to the rateable value of the property and the number of years it has been in the ownership of the vendor.

1. Retention – At the time of completion it is the legal obligation of the purchasers lawyer to retain 3% of the purchase price to make sure that the seller does not just take the money and run

Paperwork

Whilst some so-called agents may tell you that this is not important it is a legal obligation for any real estate agent or individual involved with marketing and selling a property to have in their possession the following or risk a substantial fine from the Spanish authorities:

1. Escritura – Title deed
2. Nota Simple – Land registry document no older than 3 months
3. The last paid IBI tax receipt
4. The last paid Basura receipt
5. Community fee charges
6. An official sales/listing agreement signed by the owners

Offers to purchase

As real estate agents we are always obliged to pass on any offers made by clients however low they may be, please do not think your agent is not working hard on your behalf to achieve the best possible price for your property, however the final decision does come down to you and if the agent is creating viewings and offers are forthcoming then they are definitely doing something right.

When an offer is accepted the normal procedure will be for the real estate agent to take a €6,000 initial reservation deposit.

This initial deposit can either be held in the agents client account and deducted from their fees on completion or passed on to the vendors lawyer AT NO STAGE IS THIS INITIAL DEPOSIT PAID DIRECTLY TO THE VENDOR!

Once the initial reservation documentation has been completed by both parties i.e. a price has been agreed and initial deposit paid, this is then passed on to the vendors lawyer to prepare the private purchase contract.

The private purchase contract is normally ready to be signed by both parties within 10 – 14 days after the initial reservation and is designed to protect both the vendor and the purchaser, it is also at this time a minimum of 10% (less the initial reservation fee) becomes payable to the vendors lawyer.

Please note – Should the purchaser pull out of the sale after this purchase contract has been signed they will lose their deposit and if the vendor pulls out of the sale they will have to pay to the purchaser a sum equivalent to twice the amount of the 10% deposit as compensation.

Completion

Completion of the sale will take place on a mutually convenient date agreed by both the purchaser and the vendor, normally within 4 weeks of signing the private purchase contract but can also be a lot sooner.

Power of attorney

It is always worth providing your lawyer with a power of attorney which enables them to complete the purchase on your behalf without you being present.

Quite often times and dates need to be re-arranged for many different reasons and if your lawyer has power of attorney this takes the pressure off any future travel arrangements you may need to make.

AND FINALLY

Enjoy the fact that you have made someone very happy by enabling them to realise one of their dreams when they purchased your property.