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Spanish Estate Agents
Estate Agents in Spain (not all of them) are unregulated and the service that they give reminds me of Estate Agency in the UK in the late 80's.
Writing this section on Spanish properties has given me a bit of a dilemma. I love living here, 1000s of British have brought homes here and I don t want to discourage anyone else from doing the same, but it is difficult to write about Estate Agents in Spain and Spanish property´without peppering the text with warnings and negative comments.
So I will say it once more....
BE CAREFUL!
The Estate Agents in Spain are not regulated and you maybe surprised to find out that the biggest problems happen with the English companies here, on the Costa Del Sol anyway.
They promise so much, have best systems, call centres, customer care centres, you name it they have got it, but it just doesn't work. Not one person that I know on my development of 250 apartments, has been happy with their experience of buying property in Spain.
What I do to prevent me having a bad experience?
Buy through an Estate Agency company or individual who has been recommended to you by a friend or someone that you know who has purchased a property.
Use a Spanish Solicitor
Do not use the Solicitor who is recommended by the Real Estate Agent. Use one who you appoint independently or have been recommended to by a friend.
Do not hand over any monies to anyone without taking the advice of a Solicitor.
Unfortunately I cannot vouch for any Estate Agents in Spain yet. When I can, I will happily post their details on this site.
If you are buying on the Costa Del Sol or Costa Blanca you will see literally 100s of Estate Agents. Walk into their offices, talk to them and see how you feel. I think that you need to be a lot more cautious with Estate Agents in Spain and the Developers when you are buying a property off plan. However, if you can see what you are buying, understand the views (another contentious area with off plan) and understand the running costs, then the Solicitor is really the one you need to rely on.
One of the many horror stories on Estate Agents in Spain...
A couple call an Estate Agent in Spain from an advert in a local newspaper back in the UK.
They get chatting, he organises the flights for them to come and see some properties on the Costa Del Sol, meets them at the airport, shows them his office, takes them around some properties, has dinner with them each night and on it goes for 5 days.
Much to the couples delight they have their offer accepted on a 2 bed 2 bath apartment, the Estate Agent, an English guy, says that they should give him the money, about €200,000,and he will sort out all the paperwork for them, so that when they come back in a few weeks time the flat will be theirs.
Guess what!!
Yeah your right, they never saw him or the money again...
So the lesson there, never give money to anyone in Spain without your Solicitors advice.
As a starting point I will give you four websites with links for an Estate Agent in Spain, or UK based websites that advertise both property and Spanish Estate Agents.
www.primelocation.com
www.h20countrywide.com
www.findaproperty.com
As a final thought, many of the large UK Estate Agency companies now have links or have opened Spanish Operations, the biggest one on the Costa Del Sol is H20 Countrywide, part of the Countrywide Group (John D Wood, Faron Sutaria, Bairstow Eves etc). So I have added their link above for you to find out more about them.
Within this guide we also have advice and information on Buying property In Spain, Finding Property in Spain, Estate Agents in Spain, The Costs of Buying Property in Spain, Buying an Apartment in Spain, Buy to Let in Spain, New Developments In Spain, Off Plan Property SpainProperty in Spain, Resale Property in Spain, Investment Property in Spain, Rental property In Spain, and Property Management in Spain.
Puerto Banus Estate Agents, Estepona Estate Agents
