Selling Your House in Spain

[BENIDORM]

Loads and loads of property on offer in Spain at the moment, and some absolute bargains...so how can you make your property 'stand out in a crowd' ?...
Well of course it depends on whether your house is old or modern, the price , and of course location, and if you are still living in it..
In my opinion, if you are unable to attend any viewings , and are relying on your agent to deal totally with the sale, then it would be a good idea to pay a third party to look after your house, making sure that everything is clean and tidy, before any viewings, the agent has enough to do, without having to try and clean up ..as well. I believe that it is very important to have your property presented in a clean and tidy condition, buyers are 'thin on the ground'...why put negative thoughts into their minds?

First impressions really do count , so I would suggest that ..for instance leaving a tatty old mailbox, with its door hanging off, will immediately alarm a prospective buyer, they may think that security is an issue with the property.
Then there are the door handles throughout the house, that are either hanging off or missing completely, cheap and easy to fix, and of course there are many other 'little' items like this, that are so easily corrected..Much better to put positive thoughts into the prospective buyers minds, so the more problem areas that you deal with, the more chance that you have of securing a sale.

I've had to deal with some horrendous Spanish owned properties , in my time, really embarrassing to show anyone around...Piles of junk in every room ..damp, dirty rooms which smell as if they contain a dead body....Toilets with ancient turds floating in them, sinks with dead cockroaches...got the picture ?
I know that you should see beyond all of these 'little' problems, but believe me, I've seen many buyers walk out in disgust.
So basically all I'm suggesting is that if you want to secure a sale on your property, then I believe that it is most important to present it in as clean and tidy condition as possible.
The most memorable bad selling point that I have ever witnessed, was when I had made an appointment to view a house, and the old man had 'passed away' during the night, but when we arrived , his Wife insisted on showing us around the property, and the old man was still lying on the bed, covered with a sheet,, it was the fastest viewing that we have ever done, and we didn't go back.....

So...what is the worst thing that you have seen when viewing a house, and did it put you off ?
And what do you think is necessary and the best way to show a property for sale....?

Just all thoughts and observations from my own experiences....of course...

Gordon......

[gavilan]

Benidorm ... you forgot to mention the smell of coffee brewing and home made bread baking in the oven!!!

[BENIDORM]

Gavilan... ...and of course a copy of your book left strategically placed on the coffee table..

[katy]

Many Spanish houses have that "smell" don't they. Mixture of sewers, damp, rotting food! I have sometimes been in a queue and smelt peoples clothes similarly.

[olive]

We were shown an empty country finca in need of substantial renovation. The coreador opened the door with the "hidden "key. On the table was knife and a length of salsichon that a fly had just left. He and the agent had a chunk , we declined.

The next place had a sloughed snake skin on the staircase from a very, very large snake.

olive

[mirandamac]

Probably the worst thing we've seen (actually it was the smell rather than the sight in a way) was a couple of years ago when I was looking with my daughter. We went to a lovely town house and came out onto a terrace which led off one of the bedrooms and the smell hit us. We then realised there were 2 dogs in a small crate. Not sure exactly what the smell was but definitely a combination of unmentionable things. The agent we were with went off and made some phone calls.

[ICCSL]

Trying to get Spanish owners to clean out all the rubbish from a house is like extracting teeth.

Sometimes I have had to doctor pictures of Brit houses to remove the general untidiness of the houses and just have to hope that when they have viewings they will take on board that it is best to clean up beforehand. Having said that most of what I say falls on deaf ears because a Brit always knows best

[alexander1]

Ye Gods! I'm glad we bought from new! I feel rather unwell after reading these!

[BENIDORM]

Despite all of the 'make over' programmes on tv, it still never fails to amaze me that some people attempting to sell their properties will not put any effort into preparing their property correctly..
If you are trying to sell a property at present it really is so important to offer your house in a clean and well maintained condition, and even if you can't afford to spend much on repairs and decorations, it still should be possible to enhance the property without spending much more than your own time.
I know that sometimes it is difficult , when you have lived in a property for a long time, to actually spot problems, so I would suggest asking a friend to help you with ideas, and to point out any bad points.
One thing I hate ,when viewing a house, is when my nostrils are attacked by over zealous spraying of cheap air freshener,.... fresh air is always best..get all of the windows and doors open.!..Or light a couple of joss sticks/ incense sticks..but be careful where you buy them, I recently had some that had the odour from an illegal substance..!
Plants and fresh flowers are also a great addition...gives the house a nice homely feel....

So what lengths have you gone to ...to sell your house..?..Any good tips, to pass on....?

[bob]

homely ?

[katy]

When I view a house I don't care about tidiness and cleanliness. Those are the things you can easily correct. More important are location and condition of the building.

Only time using gimmicks to sell is useful if there are identical houses to yours on sale, as in a Wimpy estate etc.

[mirandamac]

When I view a house I don't care about tidiness and cleanliness. Those are the things you can easily correct. More important are location and condition of the building.

Whilst I agree with Katy in that those are things you can change, I think the cleanliness and even, to a certain extent the tidiness do have an effect on me. A dirty messy house can often be indicative of a lack of care generally and I don't fancy buying a house that I have to start by scrubbing. We're busy this morning having a bit of a clean and throwing all the windows open as we have someone coming to look at our house this afternoon. We haven't put it on the market yet but it's some relation of work acquaintances of our neighbours so I'm probably thinking that if there's anything wrong it'll get back to our neighbours!! Just paranoid really but at least we only have 1 neighbour apart from cows and horses in the fields round us and they don't care anyway.

[Cassandra]

The most memorable bad selling point that I have ever witnessed, was when I had made an appointment to view a house, and the old man had 'passed away' during the night, but when we arrived , his Wife insisted on showing us around the property, and the old man was still lying on the bed, covered with a sheet,, it was the fastest viewing that we have ever done, and we didn't go back.....

Ooh, maybe it's time I took granny out of her rocking chair then

Shame, I thought she looked so sweet, sitting in the guest room 'looking' at the wonderful view down to the coast

[BENIDORM]

As I mentioned previously I am well aware that you should look beyond the mess and dirt, however in my eyes the property would be devalued considerably and I would make a very low offer..
I believe presentation is of the upmost importance, not only with house selling, and although untidy is acceptable, dirt is not, I have visited houses where I have had to wipe my feet on leaving....

Gordon..