A Business That You Could start without Experience !

[BENIDORM]

I was reading through some business for sale adverts, and found a business for sale on the Costa del Sol.....

Estate Agency For Sale......No experience necessary..!...

Now that about 'sums up' many of the 'Estate Agents' that I have come across in Andalucia....And I wonder how many buyers have put themselves in the hands of these totally inexperienced 'Agents' ?..
Many of the 'Agents' that I have met are genuine people,but really shouldn't be allowed to be let loose with all your hard earned funds....

If I was going to use an agent in Spain, I think I would want to meet up with at least 3 of their 'satisfied customers'...!!!!

[pete_l]

...If I was going to use an agent in Spain, I think I would want to meet up with at least 3 of their 'satisfied customers'...!!!!

That's one of the strange things I noticed about estate agencies in spain,
esp. their internet sites. If I was selling a house, I'd want to see a
fair few "sold" stamps across properties they were advertising. It gives
confidence that they can actually shift stuff.
In practice I almost never see these - though when I was buying, it
turned out that a lot of the properties I saw on the websites were not
available when I enquired about them.

Even worse, a year after I bought my place, I re-checked the same web
sites and surprise! a lot of the same properties I had enquired about were
still being shown.
I can only conclude that:
a.) most of the properties shown on websites are to draw you in. This
may be to stop other agencies poaching their best prospects.
b.) the portfolio of available properties is smaller and less desirable than
they want you to beleive.
c.) maybe the reason they don't display"sold" signs is that they haven't
actually sold anything?
d.) a large proportion of agencies don't/can't update their websites
e.) someone doesn't understand marketing - possibly me. Their customers
are the people with properties to sell, not the people who buy them.
I'd've thought they should be pitching at sellers as much as buyers.

[Grouser]

'a' and 'b' are certainly true. When we were house hunting I don't think we were shown a single one of the properties we had seen posted on the web sites of the various estate agents we contacted. Instead a common technique seemed to be to try and take us off for the day to view stuff that didn't fit our description of what we wanted in places that we didn't want to be.

[mary b]

Here we go again slagging off the poor old estate agent .Though i will agree that some of them do not have the experience .,and hopefully go out of business .I have found after being in the business for 30 years that experience does count .Many agents do not have everything on site ,so sites ,do not let you put sold up ,not an option .Let us not forget that there are many clients who do not know what they want ,I will know when I see it ,is not very helpfull .The more info you can give to your agent the better .I for one do not want to spend all day trudging around showing people property that theydo not want,waste of everyones time .However some people change their spec mid search ,as do prices .
Some sites keep the same stuff up too long ,guilty as charged ,however some clients print out the details and try to go around the agent .so let us have more honesty on both sides and use a good lawyer

Mary Beker

[Grouser]

Mary we were quite clear about what we wanted and where we wanted it. Not slagging off estate agents merely reporting an experience. We did meet some straightforward people too, but the bulk of our interaction resulted in a lot of wasted time until we got the message and were very firm. The other aspect I noticed, which I found somewhat reprehensible, was the way certain agents would pick up on other agents property and advertise it with their commission on top of the first agents. In the case of one particular property where we were negotiating directly with the owner she had placed it with one agent. We found the same property advertised by several agents and the further away they were from where the property was the bigger the markup. Presumably this was to feed an ever growing chain of commissions. We saw it advertised in one estate agents window at twice the owner's asking price.

[mary b]

Absolutely no excuse for that ,properties should be advertised at the same price ,however we have no way of knowing if the seller changes the price without informing us ..Our normal fee is 5 percent as most agents in the region no matter how far it is .I do not think it excessive as we do a lot more work for the client .I spent all morning sorting out changing bills to a new owners name ,and still help people where I can years later ,course they know how to find me .If you choose to buy without an agent ,at least get yourself a good lawyer ,if it is in the country ,one who knows the pitfallls ,and probably the people involved

[Kmoppz]

We have just completed on our first Spanish house in the last hour!

The bought via an agent, not sure I should name them? But they were excellent, I have had contact with a few estate agents over the last 2 years, we decided to rent while we found the ideal home!

Most of the agents we had contact with, had an agenda to sell us their hot property! didn't seem to matter that it was in the wrong area, wrong price, not the type of property that we wanted.

The agent we used to purchase our house has been excellent, from the word go! showed us what we wanted to look at in the areas we wanted.

We found the right house, put offers forward, the agent played a pivotal role in getting what the seller wanted and a price that I was willing to pay. We all came away happy with the price.

They have also put up with us wanting to go back to measure up, take family to look, and builders to do a quote for some security work. Each visit on a different day, and the agent met us at the property at the time agreed

In the end, they found a builder and obtained quotes on our behalf, at around 30% cheaper than we had managed.

Each and every request, has been fulfilled.

They tell us they have been around for 20 odd years, and have sold the same property's in some cases several times, now that seems a sign of a good agent!

Top fella from a top company

ps. I'm not looking for a job with them!

[Colinm]

Congratulations Kmoppz Many happy years!
Perhaps if you posted the area where you purchased then people who were interested could mail you for the name of your recommended agent.

[Kmoppz]

Cheers

We bought in Mijas, and the agent is based in Fuengirola

[mary b]

This is as it should be ,give the agent a headsup ,he deserves it ,and via versa when you recive bad service .It is the best way to keep it clean and expose the agents who give us all a bad name

Mary

[katy]

I think the best option is not to let one agent latch on to you. Choose the specific houses you are interested in viewing and if they can't show them to you move on. I am sure that there are some good agents around! But remember they aren't going to be your new best friend, they are running a business.

[spaniola]

What I don't understand is why don't people use Spanish estate agents.

They charge 1.5% to both buyer and seller. THey don't rip off the English and overinflate prices as do our own countrymen the good old English in Spain.

I've known house prices doubled and nearly tripled. A lot put on 5%, 8%, 10%.

If you see houses on different sites with diferent price - that's probably the %age difference that's added.

My advice? Get a translator and use a Spanish chain of estate agents.

Really good to work with, thorough and local. I'm talking through experience and about the Jaen area.

[Scarlet Pimpernel]

Go on, tell us you are having a laugh!

You are...... aren't you?

[spaniola]

Absolutely not!

What makes you so sceptical?

My experience is mine, let's hear yours.

[katy]

I don´t know any spanish agents that charge so low a comission, please let us know their names.

[Don]

Well I used a Spanish agent to find this place and I paid nothing to them. The seller paid whatever and I just negotiated the buy price. I did have a less than perfect service but this is real life and things rarely go perfectly. A also used a Spanish agent in the first place to rent an apartment and of course I paid a agency contract fee but in the end I had a very good landlord for 4 years.

So far the "British" agents we have asked for viewings have been way short of a full picnic so we look in our own time in our own way. I did hear quite definitively from a seller that the agent had upped the advert price by some 30k (euros) against the request of the seller as he wanted to sell but the agent wanted extra commission.

You pays your money and ......

[Alan-LaCala]

Well I used a Spanish agent to find this place and I paid nothing to them.

Yes but if the price the sellers wanted was inflated to account for the estate agents commission then you did pay them albeit indirectly.

Alan

[Don]

This much is true Alan, but I did not have to add anything to the purchase price as an agents fee as some others are suggesting.

[Lesley01]

The agent we used was excellent, but 15 months afer we'd bought our house I saw it advertised on the website of another local estate agency, so I emailed and made an appointment to view.

On the day, the agent offered the excuse that the owners had gone on holiday and had forgotten to leave him a key so we couldn't get access, but said that he had several other similar houses he could show me instead. I didn' tell him I already owned the house, but refused his offer of alternative viewings and asked him to contact me once he got hold of a key.

A couple of weeks later I was on the roof terrace when I heard him giving the same story to someone else just outside my front door. The guy nearly died when I opened the door and asked if I could help. The agent seemed to have been struck dumb, but the couple explained they'd come for a viewing. It gave me great satisfaction to see the agent squirm when I told them I'd bought the house 15 months previously and had absolutely no plans to sell, but I did feel sorry for the prospective purchasers though. My house was removed from the website the next day.

6 years later I still see the agent round the village frequently pointing out this and that to various people ... but for some reason he always avoids me like the plague!!!

[mijasmagic]

We , like an earlier post, bought in Mijas using a Fuengirola agent. I wonder if it is the same one? They are English-run and have been based here for 18 years.
When we moved to Costa del Sol we found three agents on the web and gave each a wish list with 15 criteria. We came over for a long weekend under our own steam and met each agent. Two of them practically ignored our wish list and took us to properties it seems were more urgent/attractive for them to sell. One of our requests was that the property be within an hour´s drive of Malaga Airport. The first property we saw was in Casares and, yes, we were whisked down the AP7 at a steady 150k/h and got there with moments to spare!!!
The agent we bought from fulfilled 11 of our criteria, gave us no pressure at all and all went completely smoothly.
If anyone wants their details (and I promise we have no professional or personal connection with them whatsoever) please drop me a personal email.