Professional Estate Agent

[Spanish Inland Properties]

I don't disagree with that choice at all I have had a land dispute myself when I bought from a now defunct agency and found my solicitor was a nephew of the chap who tried to claim my land, we've all been there one way and another but we live and learn - Hopefully.

[byrney]

Thank you for the further clarification sip in that you use the services of other professionals to ensure legality, which answers earlier questions.

From what you say, you are effectively a one-stop-shop which is great for a purchaser, although personally I'd prefer to use individual professionals who are not linked.

[Spanish Inland Properties]

I am not a surveyor (we employ a surveyor), we prepare all the paperwork in order to free up our specialists for what they're paid for. It wasn't a dismissive quote it was the truthful answer to a question, as agents we often measure buildings and land as a prerequisite but our measurements are not submitted to the Notary they are passed on to the surveyor so that he is aware of every aspect of the property as quite often the owner is absent.
For example if there's a small parcel of land outside the boundary of the property that doesn't appear clearly on older documents he is made fully aware of the fact so that it's included in the sale as it should be.
I am not familiar with the Prior's case as I'm new to the area but our surveyor is based in Albox now so he is well aware of the problems in the locality and he is meticulous to the last detail which is why we trust him implicitly and have worked with him for a number of years.
Ultimately we can only do our best given the information available and Almeria has it's own foibles as do Granada and Jaen but we're methodical and if we're not 100% happy for our clients to proceed we advise them not to and yes we have lost sales but not our integrity.

[pannica]

Yes more often than not we measure everything declared on the paperwork particularly with older properties where land is frequently under declared to avoid taxation.

:tiphat: :tiphat:

[byrney]

Well sip, I have been mightily impressed by your dedication to ensuring that the properties you put on your books are fully legal, especially when qualified legal proressionals have got it wrong in the past.

Impressed, until you used the words "more often than not" you measure everything.

Wasn't the poor Prior's case based on incorrect measurements relating to what was / wasn't permitted?

In fairness to you though, you are the only company prepared to say what you do to protect your clients. Fair play.

[Spanish Inland Properties]

Yes more often than not we measure everything declared on the paperwork particularly with older properties where land is frequently under declared to avoid taxation.

[pannica]

You would be surprised at what Shaun and our team do at our own expense to make sure everything is done correctly and legal. I would strongly advise talking with Shaun, listening to the way he runs his business and what we achieve through honest hard work to make sure no stone is left unturned on every sale.

Just out of curiosity do yous actually measure build size and land size and check it against what has been registered

[Karen4]

Great post!  :clap:

[Spanish Inland Properties]

Well some mixed comments on the estate agency debate as one would imagine, there are good and bad in walks of life but we try our utmost to make sure that both sellers and buyers receive a good service.
I started work with SIP nine years ago as a designer which is my true trade, I applied my knowledge in that field to designing cave houses for clients who were mainly absent so from permissions, quotes, project managing, cost management and snagging I would be running up to twenty sites at any one time which I still do and thoroughly enjoy that aspect.
With regards to UK commissions I couldn't possibly tell you but I can say that the main cost here is advertising and our outgoings on this alone are enormous (Rightmove, Kyero, Think Spain, Pavilions of Splendour, UK press, USA press, Dutch press, German press, website costs). We use a great marketing company in the UK who make sure we're in every supplement possible, we've just finished filming for the eighth year with 'Place in the Sun' because they can leave us to it and know we will do all the hard work for them. We have a production company coming from the USA in November to film cortijo's an hour from the coast and our American market is very strong, we are also looking after four sets of foreign investors looking for multi million Euro commercial properties.

Whether a client has 10K or 100,000,000K our service remains the same, we carry out all the initial paperwork checks as we are all able to read Spanish competently (we also employ Spanish staff) and yes as one person implied it is costly and takes time but we need to know before it goes to the buyers solicitor that there will be no hitches of any sort because many of our clients fly over for two days to complete the purchase and the last thing they can afford is a delay due to incompetence.

We always advise buyers to use a solicitor of their choice or we can recommend one that speaks their language fluently (even Mandarin). If a property has land we advise they use a surveyor (a qualified surveyor) we have our own who is as meticulous as we are and complete plans and SigPac references are added to the title deeds at the notary signing. We have not, would not and will never consider taking on an illegal property and I have had to refuse two properties in the Almeria Province last month which I felt awful for doing but that's just not our way and we do not bend the rules - As harsh as that sounds our reputation is paramount because it can be lost in an instant.

We comply to Spanish estate agency laws which tend to change every week, we are not allowed to value property only a surveyor or bank manager dealing in mortgages has that right we can offer advice but nothing more. We don't have any airs or graces, no company cars, our office is old and quite frankly far too small and always packed with clients (new and old) wanting a natter because they know they can drop in or ring up with any question or problem and we'll help. We provide a six month after sales service 24 hours per day, from where to find Typhoo tea bags to moving prize horses from the Quesada fire recently, I was there with them loading the horses 8 years after they bought their farm because they needed help. Two early babies, four heart attacks, eleven arrests, countless broken limbs, a gentleman who forgot where he lived after celebrating he'd just completed his purchase called at 4am one morning, a lost set of dentures at a 'club', asthma attacks, angina attacks, poorly animals, robberies, car accidents those are just a few of the out of hours incidents in the past few years.

Sadly we also get tied up in rectifying problems for people who bought from other agents because they know we'll do what we can and for the past few days I've been assisting a family who bought a property in 2004 and they had never seen any paperwork for it. After trawling around from Notary offices to the Cadastre in Granada and getting nowhere fast I tracked down the previous owners and luckily found that they'd collected the paperwork on the buyers behalf before it had gone for registration - All sorted and a happy family which at the end of the day is the best result.

It's due to client complaints that we've branched out into the Almeria province and we're taking on some fabulous (legal) properties but it's a shame to hear from all the sellers that they're not satisfied with the service they've received from some agents, the contracts they've been tied into and lack of feedback and advertising, most have apologised for saying that they're advertising with another agent - Why? Advertise where ever you feel it will be advantageous, it doesn't bother us how many agents you're with why should it? There's no point having the best property in the world sat on a website which has 500 viewers per month your chances are slim. We average 12,000 to 17,000 viewers per day (July 2015) the Summer figures are our lowest.

A property will only sell for what it's market value truly is, if you bought at the height of the market and spent a fortune on improvements you'll be lucky to get your money back but if you place a realistic price on the property you've every chance of a sale.

Please feel free to contact either Steve or myself if you have any questions.

Matilda.

[PhillipJLloyd]

On this post about Estate Agents, it was good that 1 and only 1, spoke up and put their "head above the water". Shame on the rest !!

[PhillipJLloyd]

If he can say that a property is 100% legal when he shows a buyer around, good on him for setting an example. He is 1 of very very few.

[PhillipJLloyd]

So they do everything that a buyer's solicitor would do, and at there own expense ????

[PhillipJLloyd]

It just goes back to original post Good agents required I don't think any agent that says they only take on legal properties actually do proper checks

I know that Spanish Inland Properties only take on fully legal villas, cortijos, town houses and caves. Shaun the owner will not work any other way and does the research before advertising a potential house for sale. Their reputation, sale of legal houses and aftercare is what Shaun and his staff provide and it speaks for itself.

How do you know ????????

[byrney]

So is Shaun legally qualified in Spanish law then?

[PhillipJLloyd]

Think we all know what estate agents are !!

Someone told me, when property in Spain was booming, if you weren't a builder, plumber, electrician, etc, when you got off the plane you became an estate agent. !!  :lol: :lol:

[byrney]

They are Estate Agents Phillip just like in the UK.  You believe what you want and keep your fingers crossed that they are 100% truthful.

[PhillipJLloyd]

So its sales pitch and mis- leading buyers ??

[byrney]

I think the point is none of them will because that's not what Estate Agents do.  Why not employ somebody who's job it is?

[pannica]

It just goes back to original post Good agents required I don't think any agent that says they only take on legal properties actually do proper checks

[byrney]

They don't know unless, as you say, they are spending huge amounts of money doing the extensive checks necessary, so I don't understand why they make such claims.  Oh well, it's their Businesses, so why should we worry.

[PhillipJLloyd]

Sometimes to blame anyone is wrong, after all the final decision is the buyers, no one forces you to sign on the dotted line !!
When an estate agent says " we only sell legal properties", umm how do they know, I can't see them spending lots of euros to make sure ?
Where's the agents to explain this one ?

[byrney]

Costly or not, it may ultimately save people a lot of heartache. But to blame the Estate Agent seems a little wrong.

[pannica]

But then it's absolutely no different to the UK,  where you have a survey done (if you're of sound mind), which is insisted upon anyway by the Bank/Building Society if you are getting a Mortgage.

It is exactly the same here, so I don't understand why Estate Agents seem to be getting any blame whatsoever for the mess.

Of course, it may be that some people decided not to have a survey done, which, as in Pannica's case should have shown up any irregularities.

The cost of a survey puts people off as you need an architect and a topographer to do a proper land survey years ago the old Spanish just claimed land which was not theirs years on catastro changes etc people having problems selling etc i could go for ever

[byrney]

But then it's absolutely no different to the UK,  where you have a survey done (if you're of sound mind), which is insisted upon anyway by the Bank/Building Society if you are getting a Mortgage.

It is exactly the same here, so I don't understand why Estate Agents seem to be getting any blame whatsoever for the mess.

Of course, it may be that some people decided not to have a survey done, which, as in Pannica's case should have shown up any irregularities.

[pannica]

At the end of the day, its the buyers solicitor who makes sure its 100% legal, and that's what the buyer pays them to do. How the buyer makes sure they have done that, I'm not sure ? The are the ones you must trust, it doesn't matter what the seller, agent or sellers solicitor says.
This is the same in the UK.

As i mentioned a solicitor would not know if the property or the land that belongs to it match with what is recorded it takes a proper survey this is from present experiance

[steve.p]

Exactly right, the way people go on here, you would think it only happens in Spain. I think its called selective amnesia. :tiphat:

[PhillipJLloyd]

At the end of the day, its the buyers solicitor who makes sure its 100% legal, and that's what the buyer pays them to do. How the buyer makes sure they have done that, I'm not sure ? The are the ones you must trust, it doesn't matter what the seller, agent or sellers solicitor says.
This is the same in the UK.

[webejamin]

From my experience, agents were, or are, still just agents. In the past, they had such a bad name and solicitors were even worse, that they took it on themselves to dig up and produce "proof of legal paperwork" this of course turned out to be just another dodgy selling point and much of this "legal paperwork" was worthless tosh. Dodgy town hall staff, Mayors, solicitors, builders, promoters  and everyone else involved in selling and buying property, were just in the business of making money anyway possible, the legal aspect never came into it.
I think it's better now, but still not right, I don't suppose it ever will be, it's Spain and it's how they carry on. Even with the best advice, I think that most buyers do feel they're taking a bit of a chance. You'd have to have been asleep for the last 10 years not to have seen what's occurred in Spain, the bottom didn't fall out of the Spanish property market for nothing, did it. :tiphat:  

[pannica]

Is my mind deceiving me, or isn't it the case that in the UK, and Estate Agent values and sells a property, a Conveyancer/Solicitor checks for the legalities, and then the purchaser buys the property based on the professional knowledge at his disposal concerning an appropriate price and the legal niceties?

I don't ever recall taking my Deeds to an Estate Agent and asking him to expect him to determine whether it's legal or not before he puts it on the market.

Am I assuming by this, and other discussions on the subject, that over here it is somehow a non-legally qualified Estate Agent who is expected to do all the legal checks on a property before it is marketed?  In which case, why do we have Lawyers?

correct byrney we in process of buying every thing looked ok our Conveyancer looked at documents supplied BUT we got a survey done and after all measurements were done it was found to be 200m2 larger in land boundries so even solicetors /conveyancers cant detect this or agents so them that say they do i think is wrong sorry my opinion

[byrney]

Is my mind deceiving me, or isn't it the case that in the UK, and Estate Agent values and sells a property, a Conveyancer/Solicitor checks for the legalities, and then the purchaser buys the property based on the professional knowledge at his disposal concerning an appropriate price and the legal niceties?

I don't ever recall taking my Deeds to an Estate Agent and asking him to expect him to determine whether it's legal or not before he puts it on the market.

Am I assuming by this, and other discussions on the subject, that over here it is somehow a non-legally qualified Estate Agent who is expected to do all the legal checks on a property before it is marketed?  In which case, why do we have Lawyers?

[pannica]

Spanish Property Choice and Coles are the only two estate agents I would consider giving house room as they will only take on properties that come with the correct paperwork.
Calida are a definite no for me from personal experience.

So Spanish Property Choice and Coles  check that the property and any boundries that are shown on escritura match with land registry and catastro before any deposits are paid ??

[PhillipJLloyd]

No agents willing to comment on this post. I wonder why, not very professional of them ??

[Cheese]

None so that's  simple

[Wilf and Moira]

We bought last year and used Coles ( they advertise on this forum). Simon listens to you, takes you to see what you want, no hard sell. Very professional and pleasant. He only takes on legal properties , he is very knowledgeable about the area, and really cares about giving a good service..

We agree, also his assistant Tim is very helpful, highly recommended!  :tiphat:

[PhillipJLloyd]

So if you market with Spanish property Choice or Coles, have they got solicitors who go through all the checks with legality and at who's cost.
Surely then if this happens, it should be simple for the buyers solicitor, to just do checks on an legal house ?