How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

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BENIDORM
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How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby BENIDORM » Wed Oct 02, 2013 8:50 am

Wow....!!!
Don't get excited, I'm just interested to know how many houses you viewed before choosing your present house.?

I ask this question because I 'bumped into' a house hunting couple the other day who told me that they had viewed over 100 houses in the last 4 weeks.. :shock:
Just how can they remember what and where they have visited , even after looking at 6 houses I was starting to get confused .
Is it really necessary to look at that many houses ?
I was beginning to think that this couple have a strange hobby, perhaps they were serial house hunters. :shock:

Anyway I could understand looking at up to 20 properties, over a realistic period, but surely it is more important to do some homework on the area first , then make a tick box list of requirements, that's what we did.
On our final house hunt we visited 5 houses over 3 days, chose the one we really liked, taking into consideration the location and amenities , viewed it twice again at different times of the day, and each time asking different questions.
Then we made our offer, had it turned down, so told them to 'stuff it', half an hour later received another call to say OK offer accepted, didn't pay a deposit, then completed and moved into the house 14 days later.
Of course I know that it's not always that easy, and we did have the advantage of having lived in Spain quite a while and have a good understanding of property transactions.

And I have to add , that I know numerous people who have applied all of the correct methods and procedures and still had many problems, so I suppose that there is always going to be an element of luck.

So how was it for you..?

Regards,
Gordon

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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby ValL » Wed Oct 02, 2013 9:22 am

I researched the area, visited it for stays of more than a week each time at different times of the year. I had 3/4 agents and some telephone numbers from houses to rent. The agents kinda ignored my short list and of course some duplications of viewings. Some were useless to say the least. Some picked what I said was the limit of my budget and boy did I see some crackers, lovely or awful ! one immaculate like a show room, price tags still on some furniture ( maybe they would have all disappeared even though that was meant to be the furnishings) I would have been scared to sit down or use anything ! another was rat and bat invested huge, place massive bathrooms, once very decadent place complete with a stage in the basement room used for flamenco dancing ! I saw a variety of house styles in several areas of the town.

Of the ones I saw through agents only one I really liked but the landlord thought he saw a gullible British woman so he got not tenant. The one I accepted was up for sale not rent but through visiting another on the street and talking to neighbours I found this one. Fair rent, good landlord ( so far) and great views. Ticked all but two boxes really. One turned out to not be so important but would still be nice. The other well I could possibly get that one ticked also but leaving it for now. I think I saw about 20 the first 10 day stop and half that amount the second.

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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby pete_l » Wed Oct 02, 2013 9:29 am

Yes, probably over 100 in a single week.
I came to Spain on a shopping trip and spent every day, 10:00 until it got dark viewing property. Since I was getting driven round by agents there was no great effort involved. I usually had one appointment in the morning and another in the afternoon. They were so eager (or was that desperate? it's a fine line) that they pretty much showed me everything that was even close to what I told them I was looking for.

Since no two properties were the same: different size, different amount of land, different state of repair, different location - it was impossible to draw comparisons; one to another.

The thing was, that while there were a *lot* of houses up for sale in 2005, very few of them were "stand-out" houses, which was really the test. At the end of the day, the only ones worth considering were the ones I had taken photos of and of them, fewer still made it through "the cut".

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Martin Page
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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby Martin Page » Wed Oct 02, 2013 9:43 am

Some people are just nosey cows and enjoy just looking at others properties. It is a sort of hobby for them....

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country boy
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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby country boy » Wed Oct 02, 2013 10:21 am

Three... and we then bought the first one we looked at, which we knew was right before we came over.
Best move we have ever made and have lived in the place for longer already than we have ever lived anywhere in our entire lives.

Ah.....contentment! :thumbup:
Last edited by country boy on Wed Oct 02, 2013 12:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby scotty » Wed Oct 02, 2013 11:57 am

One. And then bought it. Mind you, I had knowledge of the area and complex as well as the owners and state of the community accounts for over 25 years 8) .

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Julie
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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby Julie » Wed Oct 02, 2013 1:02 pm

One, we were passing through the village and saw the house, knocked on the door and asked if they would like to sell it, took 4 months for them to decide to sell, we weren't really looking to buy at the time, its just happened that way.
No soporto ver la casa sucia, ahora mismo me levanto y apago la luz.

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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby anyroads » Wed Oct 02, 2013 8:36 pm

"Then we made our offer, had it turned down, so told them to 'stuff it'"

Just for future reference, is this part of the house buying process in Spain ?

anyroads

BENIDORM
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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby BENIDORM » Wed Oct 02, 2013 9:30 pm

Anyroads requested further knowledge...And quoted...
''Then we made our offer, had it turned down, so told them to 'stuff it' ''

''Just for future reference, is this part of the house buying process in Spain ?
anyroads''..

Anyroads ..I would suggest that this is part of the buying process anywhere ... :thumbup:

So, Good to read that most members did their house viewing responsibly . :D
And for anyone considering buying in Spain, can I suggest that this really is a fantastic time to buy a property at a good price, however not all properties that have been reduced are bargains many where just really overpriced to begin with.! So beware..
Regards,
Gordon.

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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby anyroads » Thu Oct 03, 2013 12:55 pm

BENIDORM said....

Anyroads requested further knowledge...And quoted...
''Then we made our offer, had it turned down, so told them to 'stuff it' ''
''Just for future reference, is this part of the house buying process in Spain ?
anyroads''..
Anyroads ..I would suggest that this is part of the buying process anywhere ... :thumbup:

It's just being a rather genteel person, I was not familiar with the terminology !

anyroads

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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby caboodles » Fri Oct 04, 2013 9:28 am

We have seen 80 houses in just over one year. We have been unlucky because the one and only house which ticked all the boxes turned out to be totally illegal, as have most of the houses we have viewed.

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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby gus-lopez » Fri Oct 04, 2013 9:34 am

can't remember.Lots. Bought the very 1st property that we looked at in the end.
Wife said " I can see the potential"
All I could see was 2 years work ! :lol:
Todos somos Lorca.

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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby markwilding » Fri Oct 04, 2013 9:59 am

We saw about 20 in all. We made two offers on two different places, which were both turned down, then accepted after we had returned to the UK.
That was in June and we exchanged in August and we moved in about a year later.

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country boy
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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby country boy » Fri Oct 04, 2013 10:12 am

gus-lopez wrote:can't remember.Lots. Bought the very 1st property that we looked at in the end.
Wife said " I can see the potential"
All I could see was 2 years work ! :lol:
TWO YEARS ????!!! You got off light. We are still doing it, even after 13 years "Hard Labour"....and no remission. ( Loving every minute actually) :thumbup:

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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby Free at Last » Fri Oct 04, 2013 12:03 pm

We had a very narrow search area (one area in one town) and viewed about 12 or 13 houses in total, during two viewing trips. We found Spanish estate agents (as most of them were at the time in the area where we were looking, in 2002/2003) quite frustrating to work with as they mostly didn't have websites then so we would go into the office and ask about properties, giving them our requirements, and they would say "Oh yes, I have the ideal house for you" or words to that effect (not even any photographs to see!) and proceed to take us to view one house per day, which weren't remotely suitable. Not good when you have limited time available!

So we contacted a property finding company who were based not far away, run by a British couple, and they were fantastic. We saw 10 houses in the space of a day and a half with them, all within our budget and matching the basic criteria, and ended up buying the one we both immediately fell for. They knew we wanted a mortgage from a Spanish bank to buy, and therefore ruled out even showing us anything that wasn't completely legal, which was reassuring. Their service didn't cost us anything as they made their money by splitting the sales commission with the agent. After we'd agreed to buy, we saw the same house on another agent's website priced €10,000 higher. Sadly the recession put paid to their business, we recommended them to other people and they also helped a close friend of ours buy a house in the same town.

anyroads
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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby anyroads » Fri Oct 04, 2013 12:07 pm

Other side of the coin.

Bought the house, unseen, in a town I had never been to ( beat that ! ) is that "zero" ?

anyroads

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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby anyroads » Sun Oct 06, 2013 6:34 pm

anyroads said
Other side of the coin.
Bought the house, unseen, in a town I had never been to ( beat that ! ) is that "zero" ?

Hope I have not killed this......

anyroads

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country boy
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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby country boy » Sun Oct 06, 2013 6:46 pm

Why would you have killed it. We had never been to mainland Spain until the day we came to buy a property, which we did on the third day! That's the way we are...vive la difference!

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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby gavilan » Sun Oct 06, 2013 9:03 pm

I bought a pile of rubble ... does that count?!

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Re: How Many ? 10, 20 ,30 ..More ..?

Postby anyroads » Mon Oct 07, 2013 12:05 am

gavilan said..

"I bought a pile of rubble ... does that count?!"

Depends on how many times you went to see it !

anyroads


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