20 Ways to Buy and Sell in Spain

November 6th, 2008

Thanks to Kevin Brass for linking to this article on buying and selling property. Far from being specific to the UK property market, these are some great tips for buyers and sellers to both get what they want in the Spanish property market.

Martin Dell, Kyero.com

Buying?

  1. Can you pay for it? – Show the seller that you have the money to complete the purchase.
  2. Can you maintain it? – Is this an investment or will it be your home? The longer you anticipate keeping the property, the more flexible you can be on price.
  3. Are you also selling? – Many sellers still haven’t grasped the idea that their own homes are worth less even as they are simultaneously putting greatly reduced offers on other properties.
  4. What do you want from the property? – Unless the property ticks all the boxes – it is on the best street, sensibly valued and utterly flawless – there should be room for negotiation.
  5. How low should you go? – Create the impression that you’ll make an offer but then do nothing for a while. Establish yourself as a good buyer and let the agent get excited.
  6. Time your offer – Find out if the seller has any big dates coming up. Does the owner need to move schools, or start a new job?
  7. Woo your seller – Offer low but be prepared to accommodate the seller in other ways such as fitting in with his time frame.
  8. Should you gazunder? – Assuming the survey has not thrown up any horrors, but the conveyance has taken a long time to reach exchange – several months – it might be worth revising an offer down slightly.
  9. If you gazunder .. – If you do decide to drop your initial offer, make sure that you have reasons prepared in order to justify this and give the vendor’s agent time to negotiate with other people in the chain to see if the pain can be shared.
  10. Be ready – Make sure you really are ready to go ahead. The longer vendors have to think about it, the more likely they are to turn down offers.

Selling?

  1. The big drop – Inching the price down doesn’t work. Make a statement to attract new people and create competition. Buyers must believe that if they wait months, the house might not be there.
  2. Don’t go too low – The big drop should be carefully calculated. Remember that buyers are still going to want to negotiate, so you need to factor this in.
  3. Research your area – Research what has sold and gone under offer in the neighbourhood recently. A best in class property won’t need so dramatic an adjustment as commodity products, such as a new build flat or a terrace house.
  4. It’s all relative – If you’re buying and selling in the same marketplace, what matters is the price difference.
  5. Accept there are no miracles – If the property is on a second-rate street or there are things wrong with it, undercutting the price won’t be enough in the current market.
  6. Kerb appeal – Given that there are many properties on the market, outstanding condition can set one apart from the other. Time spent on a coat of paint and thorough clean is not time wasted.
  7. Clever marketing – Last year, what might have sold as a building plot for a large house might this year appeal more to a buyer looking for extra space for stables or workshops.
  8. Don’t look a gift horse .. – An estate agent had an offer of £500,000 for a property on the market for £550,000, the vendor said no and in the end the flat was repossessed. It is now on for £375,000.
  9. Auctions? – Going to auction is an alternative to slashing the price – so long as you are prepared to accept its market value on the day.
  10. Reasons to be cheerful – Some of us still have faith in bricks and mortar. People like putting their money into something tangible. In the prime and mainstream markets, sensible prices are enticing buyers.

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