have the agents been wiped out in the property war

I do see your point Roberto, but the fire has gone out for most agents.  Most are wondering where they are going to store their office furniture instead of seeing buying signs.

To quote gloria......"What a difference a credit crunch makes" eh??

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I just bought a new trastero - 13 sq mts, and far bigger than I need, so I'll be happy to rent space to all those agents who need to store their furniture!

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If you do not like spiders stay away from Australia!  I grew up in Melbourne and we used to get huntsman spiders which are the size of my hand with really hairy legs but they are totally harmless, unlike the tiny redback which is deadly (and fond of hiding under toilet seats!)  My mother is arachnophobic and I can remember coming home from school one day and she would not let us into the house.  We waited until dad came home from work and mums first words were not the usual hi, how was your day but "get that thing out of the living room"

I did once come accross a bird eating spider when on holiday in Fiji.  That freaked me out.  It was the size of a dinner plate and made that tarantula at London Zoo look like a money spider!   I am not aware of any poisonous spiders in Spain. 

My mum uses a vacuum cleaner with a long nozzle as a spider catcher.  Dad has to empty the dust compartment though, just in case IT is still alive.

 

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Who was talking about spiders ?

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Talk about going off topic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sinbad's profile says "I'm in London & Mazarron". Think Cloud Cuckoo Land should be added to that!

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Interesting post though, Rob.  It had me Googling for poisonous spiders in Spain AND indeed there are some, too !

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Hi guys - thought I would amy tuppence worth. I aree with Gilespie, there are loads of 'buyers' and until recently I was running around like a noonoo but then I reflected and realized a lot were just out to see what there was and what deal they could get.

I have always been of the old school - you cant hard sell a property (unless you work for MRI, Ocean or any of those) without lying or duping as its simply too big a purchase. I only deal in resales as well, not put a few k down and worry about the rest later mister cos by then it will be sold on making you a fortune........!

So, I prefer to take it easy and by knowing your client you will find the right property FOR the serious client. I sold one this morning by going for a coffee with a chap I have dealt with in the past. We taked about the auction thursday, I know nothing will fit his criteria, but I had an other one just in whihc I mentioned to him. It will value perfectly, its beachside and he bought it!

All previous sales have been to Spanish - one a total cash buyer - so they are there and looking for deals, but many are not worth spending time on

However, I never pass the chance to spend time as you never know - in the future even years down the line they may purcahse!

ps most buyers are lifestylers now.

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my two cents..........

Their is no point in pretending the market is anything less than dire at the minute because it is.

The exchange rate is awful,there is uncertainty within the whole market regarding price drops and because of saturation supply is outweighing demand.

In saying that i had a client on Sunday morning that purchased a beautiful villa for 40,000€ off the price,i had a lady looking all day testerday and i have a client arriving from the UK on thursday,the common denominator with all these clients is that they don't care too much about the first 3 points and just want somewhere nice to live.

I am downsizing with the business and moving the main office to Algorfa,this is purely because of rental increases and the office here is set up around greater volumes.

It won't affect anything we do just allow us to continue if times get tougher.

The market will fall and rise and fall and rise just like it has done in the past,i have survived the cycle for the last 18 years so no doubt i will survive again.

For the people who are getting the bargains at the minute will probably tell you the market is great.

For the agents that need to sell 3 a week it will adios to Bulgaria or back to taxi rank in Blighty.

 

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How you getting on with your smoothies Georgia! Not on them yet I bet! Naughty boy!!

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Rixxy has been ".......running around like a noonoo". Morerosado, is a "noonoo" one of those poisonous spiders found in Spain???? If so, I better avoid having coffee with her, in case she bites me!

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just joined the forum and have to say i'm surprised no mention of the silly people like myself who trusted an agent and bought off plan in 2004 with the promise of a completion date 2006 when the rate was 1.44. Still no completion date in sight (maybe easter2009) What a nightmare the property will now cost me at least 20,000 more the fixtures and fittings god knows how much more . I had my pension paid into a spanish bank and have had to have it brought back home as I was loosing so much.
I had a deam to spend my retirement years in spain and made a deal which was ready afordable but now I constantly worry that this dream may not come true.
I have no chance of my deposit of 72,000 back as the builders are not liquid enough even although my contract states if they did not start to build in 18months deposit was returnable , not worth the paper it was written on ! The cost of living in Britain is so bad I have had to go back to work . I just so much wish I had bought a new or resale property and I would have been in sunny spain now .I am usually a very upbeat happy person but this has left me so dispondant

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Hi Marlyn

Firstly no one thinks you're "silly". You just got caught up in what many have done also.

Have you a Bank Guarantee which legally your builder should've given you, to protect your stage payments ? If you have, you should get that deposit back. 

Do let us know.

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Hi marlyn,

Speaking as an agent, I can sympathise with your situation.  If the builder had supplied your property on time you would not have to face this awful penalty of the declining exchange rate.

Many many decent buyers have fallen victim to this situation, I am angry about this for my clients and for others agents clients.

I must also state the case for some agents, not all, because many are rogues, but for the honest ones, I can only say this.

When an agent sells a legal and fully licensed new property, they can only offer what the builders contract says.  Good agents should make the client aware of the fact that the builders can often go over their delivery time.  I do in all cases and so do most good agents worth their salt.

Good builders also make the client aware that there can be delays, and good for them, they should because it happens in about 90% of cases.

Here is the real problem.  In the past 8 years I have sold property in Spain, virtually all builders have had, either their licenses suspended, or had an environmentat impact study imposed on them during the build time.  Which causes delays of many months and in extreme cases, years.

Most mayors or town coucils are corrupt, yes corrupt, I make no bones about that!  Eventually at some point during their term of office, they are discovered to have a long snout in somebodys trough. Every mayor in the 5 towns around me is in prison or about to go there Honestly!

During their investigation, the building licenses and planining permissions they have previously been granted are revoked, often for many months or even years!!!!

The builders effected cannot lay a brick.  Obviously they want to get on with the building work and collect their final balances, but, they cannot.

If by a miracle, they are allowed to carry on after a few months delay, it is almost guaranteed the provincial government will impose an enviromental impact study on the builder causing another year or two delay. In the meantime there will be a re-election at the town council and the new mayor will order a review of all building licenses in the area just to ensure they are seen to be squeaky clean.  This is too much for the builder, they are getting cancellations galore because of the delay and so they offer a brown envelope to the new mayor along with a posh house on the resort...............and it all begins again.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, the inoccent agent through no fault of their own are seen as cowboys, crooks, dishonest, liars you think of it, the agent has been called it.

I am as disgusted as anyone if an agent lies cheats and forces people into buying illegal and unsuitable property, there are dozens of rogues out there, I hope they go bust and lose everything they ever made.  But don´t classify the agents and builders who fall foul of civic fraud.  There is a big difference, and it´s easy to use the broad brush approach to all agents and builders.

I never classify all buyers as stupid or ignorant, I hope that in reciprocation I am not seen as a rogue.

I have some good Spanish friends who are bankrupt because the family construction businesses are innocent victims of foul and evil civic fraud. 

In a top five you will find that the real crooks are;

1) Mayors and planning officers.
2) Notaries and Lawyers
3) Crooked Builders
4) Crooked Estate Agents
5) Lying Clients.

If you eliminate the first 2 and replace them with good and diligent replacements they could ensure there were no crooked builders or agents - I don´t know about No5?

Rant over, but then again, whats the name of this thread?

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Totally agree 100% with Gillespie...........
If anything good has come out of this it is that there is more and more confidence in the resale market.
We do sell a selected number of new build(very selective) but predominantly resales are our biggest seller by miles.
We are experiencing a mini boom at the moment and in fact i could have been at the airport twice in a hour yesterday if it wasn't for some nifty shuffling around,2 clients tommorow,4 on friday and 2 on saturday.........................
I too feel for all those who have sufferd the bullshit that some so called agents fed them,thats why i have been working so closely with a company that can help you walk away from a purchase contract.............
I have also just secured a contract with one of the largest agents in the uk,yes little ol me!!! to guide their clients from the uk through the buying process in Spain,i know this will come across a bit of a trumpet blowing exercise but i am proud of the fact that if you do things right you do get rewarded in the end....
Regards
Georgia

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Thank you all for your advice and yes maybe Gillespie I did post on the wrong thread, but it was interesting to know your thoughts.
My builder did not give us a gurantee and I must say we did all the right things and made sure we ticked everything  ( british t.v. advice on buying abroad) but their comes a time when you have to trust somebody . I think  build from plan is only suitable really for investors, these are the people that spend thier life taking risks.
I like many others worked so hard to save this money so I know my only hope now is to wait yet again and suffer another british winter.
This weekend very large overseas property show in Glasgow I will be thier and given the chance will air my views on this subject thanks again

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A great post Gillespie. ( I love the new emoticons!)

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No marlyn,  your post on any thread is is better to have than none at all.

What´s important is that you are now among many others who have the same experiences and dilemas, together the situation can be overcome more easily and with like-minded friends.  Never apologise for being an inocent victim.

Thanks tish

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I find it interesting that the very same TV production companies that bombarded us with shows about how easy it is to find a Place in the Sun (pop off to Spain for a couple of days, let the TV presenter show you a three houses, then just pick the one you like best - it's really that simple!) is now airing a show about all the problems that people who have bought abroad are encountering. Would they be the same people who were lulled into a false sense of security by the original series of shows? Is this their way of appeasing a guilty conscience perhaps?! Still, as Gillespie says, it all goes to help others avoid similar pitfalls in the future, so should be welcomed.

The problems seem to be a mix of genuinely shocking and inexcusable cases of corruption, fraud, dishonesty etc. etc., and the plain silly and careless. I feel sorry for them all, but sympathise more with some than others.

As usual, we don't get all the facts on each story, so it's hard to form a properly informed opinion. There was one case of a couple near Torrevieja who had started building an extension thinking they had planning permission, when in fact the stamped paper they had from the town hall was just the accepted application. Of course I don't expect every foreigner in Spain to have done a crash course in legal Spanish - but who did they have representing them, or at least translating for them, if they didn't understand a word of it? 
Anyway, a compromise was reached (thanks to the presence of TV cameras no doubt), and some English bloke who appeared in Cyprus last week (would you trust him?) popped up to sort out the remaining building work. Since they were not permitted to close in the extension, but could leave it as an open patio, he suggested using the new windows they had already had delivered to enlarge the existing front windows of the house, thereby giving them more light. It's almost certain that to do such a thing would require planning permission - which would not have been part of the original application. So I wonder what kind of problems this poor couple may have encountered after the cameras stopped rolling?

Sorry, definitely the wrong thread, but seemed relevant here.

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Quote Roberto - "Sorry, definitely the wrong thread, but seemed relevant here."

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Roberto, your input is welcome whatever thread you choose to put it on.  As always

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As is yours, kind sir!

Gillespie, Georgia et al: I've been meaning to post something about this Real Decreto numero whatever, the one about having to have a Nota Simple and other stuff for every property you guys list, on pain of "multa", as I think it's something that many members will be interested in (myself included). Unfortunately I can't now find where I read about it. Seems to me it will cause a bit of a shake up in the way the market operates - and since the Spanish are usually quite set in their ways and don't take kindly to being told to do things differently, I can't quite see how this is going to help a struggling market. I'm very much in favour of some sort of regualtion in the industry, and some standards being enforced, but with so many agents already "wiped out" (see how I neatly got this thread back on topic?!) I'd be interested to know not only whatever you can tell us about this decree, but also how it affects you and what you think of it.

Roberto

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