Ok, sorry to posy yet another new thread, but my wife is adamant that we will register and make new enquiries with agents as if we are spanish and living at her dad’s residence in la mancha. Her reason for this is that she thinks the agents will always try and make more money out of us as well as not doing as professional a job as they would if they were dealing with their ‘own’.

I think its a bit OTT to be honest, but what would you do? My wife is spanish and obviously her first language is spanish, but I’m english and my spanish is not good enough to converse at business levels. In fact its gotten worse the last few years.

Why don’t we just come clean and accept what will be will be?! Pili (my wife) thinks that all correspondence can be dealt with via email and if we need to contact them then we will call them. Any snail mail can be picked up by her father.

Is this just a tad too much in complexity? I think so. I’m trying to persuade my wife to at least try both approaches with two different agents to start with and see if there is any difference in the way we are treated. Oh, this sounds really prejudiced I know, but even she as a national has her sceptism.

Has anyone got an opinion on this?

Steve I would have thought that negotiations with the successful agent are ultimately - hopefully! - going to end up in a contract… at which point, certain facts are going to have to be legally stated including an address….

Can’t comment on the impact on the services you are likely to receive, I guess it depends to an extent whether you are looking at properties currently advertised, ie already have a price on them, or approaching agents on a ‘what can you find for us’  basis - and I am sure it varies hugely by region - hopefully others will have more specific advice,

good luck!

Maya

I though it was the Spanish owners/Agents who took the Brits for a ride with hyped up prices. The British Agents I have dealt with over the years have provided a good service and many do not even charge the buyer as it comes from the seller.

I would say to your wife, that she should try trusting someone, all Agents are not bad.

You could try using a finding service based in the UK who has dealings with Agents in Spain, you could deal with them then.

Dave

As I thought really. I’m going to speak with my wife about this. So, are british agents prices no different to spanish agents?

Hi Steve,

Not really, most British Agents, but not all, work with local people in Spain who they have worked with over time and they know what their Spanish contacts are all about. I would suggest that a UK Agent would have a list of property in an area as they deal with one or two Spanish Agents in one area. It is a question you should ask if you go to a UK agent, do you have local people you deal with on a regular basis, or do they just trawl the web sites, we can all do that, but it is when it comes down to speaking with the seller in . Ask about how much their service will cost you. Most are paid by the seller. At present, the advertised price is a starting place for you to move down the price, not to go up in price. Though how much longer the prices can drop, I am not sure, I feel they are almost at rock bottom now. Brits wanting to come home are a good starting place due to the exchange rate, they will get more pound for their euro when they transfer their money back to UK.

We only deal with Costa Blanca as that is an area we know ourselves as we have a place there, though we do deal with two people there both of which we have dealt with for the past three years, both are British speak fluent Spanish and have been in the property business for many years. We also deal with a Dutch lady for long term rentals if we need those in that area, we also have a few Brits who are selling their property in Costa Blanca who approach us via our web site to sell.

I do feel that in the past, there has been a Spaniards price and Brits price, this is due to the sun getting to their heads when they go out on inspection trips, the pressure to buy is sometimes to much and because it is Spain or in some cases other Countries, they feel that they must sort on that visit, would they do that at home?

Take your time, you may need more than one visit, there is a lot of property for sale and chances are it will still be there in 3 weeks time when you have cooled off and had time to think about it. What is the rush, treat it the same as you would with a purchase in the UK, if you need to go back and have another look, then any reasonable agent will be more than happy to assist you.

Good luck with your plans.

Dave

I think your wife is being a little paranoid.  Firstly, I don’t think you’ll be ripped off in rural La Mancha - it’s not the costa del exploitation. Even if that were a concern, you have your wife’s fluent Spanish to help you avoid the sharks.  But most of all you are in a buyer’s market whereby any agent and/or vendor who wants a sale will have to offer a competitive deal.  You won’t pay more than you want to anyway, will you?  If you’re not happy, you can walk away.

Thanks for the advice guys!

In my experience the British agents are generally better to deal with. The Spanish agents and Spanish owners have an unrealistic view of rental prices. they would rather not let a property than reduce the price. They sometimes require huge deposits, i.e. 3 months rent in advance. British only one rent and one months deposit. The Spanish sometimes use the old system of the renter paying their commision, which I believe is not legal anymore.