Property refurbishment - advice

Hi everyone,

I'm only a fairly new memeber to the site but I find the website to be v. informative and helpful.

I was hoping to get some feedback from those of you who have reformed properties or have any ideas or comments regarding property reforming.

I have bought a nice townhouse in the Jaen (alcaudete) region with a view to restoring it to it's former beauty in a typical spanish style.

Can anyone comment with regards to the general standard of builders and the success they have had in getting the job done on time (and to budget!)

I get the feeling that the market in inland spain is a little more bouyant than the costas, is that the general feeling. I'm hoping that the family could turn one of these little houses over each year as a little nest egg for the future.

Appreciate any comments on the subject. Thanks in advance.  

I think builders are probably much the same the world over. Personal recommendation is the best way to find your man. Do you know anyone in your area who has had similar work done, or do you know anyone who may know someone? Are you thinking of doing any of the work yourself, in order to keep labour costs down? Sometimes local tradesmen can get better prices for materials than you can, but they may then add in a substantial mark-up to increase their margins. To avoid that, you could source all materials yourself and just negotiate a fixed labour charge. At the very least, do a bit of research into prices, to make sure you get a realistic quote from your builder for materials. If you plan to rewire, prepare to be shocked at the cost of copper wiring.

 Remember also that you must get permission from the council to carry out any work (even if you are not altering the structure). Go to your local Town hall urbanismo dept. and apply for permiso de obras menores. It should be fairly inexpensive and quick to get, and worth it for the peace of mind. Also, if you need a skip, you'll probably need permission from the vias públicas dept. to put it on the street.

Just a few rambling thoughts, hope it helps a bit.

I'm hoping that the family could turn one of these little houses over each year as a little nest egg for the future

My advice would be - be very careful!  I know a couple who bought a little village house in Benahavis, reformed it to a high standard, priced it reasonably, and 2.5 years later they still couldn't sell it!  (And Benahavis is a very popular location).  They had previously carried out loads of development work (and made a lot of money) in the UK, so were not completely ignorant of what was involved.  I think the market for reformed houses is a lot different in Spain than in the UK.  Course, I could be wrong, just relating what I know!

Thanks for the advice. It's good to pool thoughts from others.

We have a reputable local builder on the job, so fingers crossed he can do a v. good job.

It may be the selling part of the deal that remains the tricky bit ? 

I think part of the secret here is to make sure that you are v. competitive / realisitic when selling the property on. Thanks again.

Good point, Vicky - I was watching one of these TV shows the other day about buying property in the UK, renovating and selling on, and the profit margins people were making were either just made up fanciful dreams, or else it's a better game to be in than here in Spain. Seems fixing a place up there is cheaper too.

Part of the problem, I feel, is that here you have to factor in purchase tax at 7% (plus other associated costs) which is far higher than in the UK, and then agents fees for selling it (I still think the easiest way to sell is through an agent - unfortunately!) at anything up to 5%. So a property purchased at €100,000, for example, with €10,000 spent fixing it up (which doesn't go far) would have to then be marketed at least €130,000 to stand any chance of making anything much at all, and more than that if you hope to live off one turn-around a year.

The trick to making a success of renovating for profit anywhere, is finding the bargain properties in the first place, and I don't care what anybody says, there are precious few real bargains around!