we have just seen a gorgeous house at €200,000 owned by Spaniards and a not so gorgeous house at €250,000 owned by Brits.

the former are prepared to negotiate the latter may negotiate but we get the feeling that as they bought 6 years ago, top of the boom, they will not negotiate by much at all

you have to be realistic, but it must depend on how much you have spent as to how much you feel you can sell for. If as with the Brits who are retired you need that sum to move on then there is no room for negotiation.

It's possible to see loads of reduced price properties on the likes of Idealista. Of course there will always be those who will refuse to budge on price. No need to waste time on them - there is a vast number of properties that need buying up.

Similar experience in the early 80's the vendor just walked away without uttering a word.

I do feel sorry for people who bought at the top of the market and now want/need to sell at or near the bottom, but I really don't understand why people think it's a good idea to put a property up for sale at a totally unrealistic price in today's market, when surely they must realise that they don't stand a cat in hell's chance of selling it? What they paid for it is irrelevant really, only what comparable houses in the same area are up for sale at, and what buyers are prepared to pay, matters.

Personally I think it's pointless to have a property languishing on the market for years on end, as plenty of those belonging to people I know have been, as it must make people tend to think there is something wrong with it, and if I see properties for sale marked 'huge reduction' it just makes me think the vendors must be desperate.

They probably are... A friend who sold her house, moved back to the UK when her husband developed an incurable cancer, and had to sell after his death, it took her, in 2008, 12 months to sell, a house with catastral value of €180,00, for 90,000. Thankfully her mortgage had become paid off when her husband died.

some expats seem to have a very inflated idea of their property's worth.
one we saw a couple of weeks ago as a house wasnt worth anything, it made me so angry that they had made no effort to repair the little things like wall and floor tiles that had fallen off. And as to having a water heater above the bed in the 2nd bedroom
the only thing there of any use was the pool, good clean even the pump was clean.
just too much to pay for a pool and a bit of land - €150k

I quite agree with you. They obviously haven't been watching all those property programmes going on about how to present your house to get a sale!

If I go to view a house where lots of small but obvious things have been neglected, it makes me think that the big and important stuff is likely to have been neglected too.

There is one couple near me who bought their house in 2003 (so bought well before the peak in prices) who have now had it up for sale for at least 4 years without success. I know for a fact they have done absolutely nothing to it except a bit of painting since they bought it. They have finally bowed to the inevitable and reduced the price a couple of months ago, but it is still well above what 2 other houses nearby (one actually next door so they can't fail to see the comparison) have sold for within the last year. They are still holding out for a higher price, although they wouldn't have made a loss if they sold for less, despite the fact that the wife has been virtually unable to leave the house for months as she is awaiting a hip replacement and where we live is anything but ideal for someone in that position. I just can't understand people being that intransigent.

we know a couple who have just gone back to the UK, their house here is on the market, we have just found out that it has been on the market for over 4 years !
They have dropped the price by a massive €110k, and still looking for €200k. Problems are it was poorly converted, knocking down and starting again is a cost comparable to sorting out all the problems with the existing build, and quicker.
It has a beautiful view out but the view every morning has been outweighed by the letters from the bank about the outstanding mortgage.

But we have seen a lovely house, needed a very little bit of work done, but it is on the edge of a mountain village, we couldnt see the plinth it should be built on and the current owner has more props holding back parts of the slope behind than I would like. It was a house to die for, met all the specifications of BH and me, but we left with a feeling that would be a money pit or it would just slide down the slope one day when it rained hard. We won't even bother to pay for a survey, gut feel has proved useful in the past.

Are you house hunting Domino?

no, they are out of season
but we are looking

Are you staying in the Granada area?
My partner and I could be tempted by that area, especially as there are some bargains appearing. But we suspect that the winters there are cold, and unlike the north or central Spain, insulation/heating isn't so efficient.

Yes, it is our intention. The BH has about 18m to retirement so is remaining at work and will need to commute.

the place we are at now has spoilt us, history pre-Roman, 50 bars, 3 fishmongers, 2 butchers (3 shops), 2 supermarkets, schools, 24hr doctors, weekly market, bus service every hour to/from Granada for €1.75 each way (40mins), good road system (just needs a bit more tarmac in places), but more importantly really nice people who enjoy correcting my Spanglish and exercising their English on me.

yes winters can be cold - Granada is 750m asl, and does sometimes get a little snow, the mountain behind us is 1700m and the Sierra ski slopes are at 3500m. We hit -10 last winter but at the moment its about +35.
But the Granada plain is huge, fertile, and full of things to make you wonder what is so special about the UK. Transport is good, except for having to use Malaga airport.
You will find less chance of frost and ice, less of a temperature change on the coast, but then you have to put up with the high rise, the over-population.
Give it a try Stevie, just a week here and there at different times of the year, even today i have seen Spaniards wearing quilted coats - they only come off when it goes above 40.

Thanks for that Dom.
Why is it a pain to use Malaga airport? I appreciate it is probably a couple of hours away, but that's fine if you only use it 2 or 3 times a year. It would probably be the only way to fly back to the UK (assuming Granada airport is under-serviced)? Of course at some point there will be the Ave to Madrid, but the cost will negate the point of flying from there.

Malaga is only a pain if you let it be, we leave home at 0700, get the 0800 Supra bus to Malaga and fly around 1200. No problems, no stress, unless of course you let it.
we know people who commute from Malaga but live in the same area as us north of Granada
there are other options such as Seville, Murcia etc, Granada also has a bus that goes to Barcelona !!

You will be living in another country, not the UK, but will still need the "support links" you look on as normal back home. When the BH came home I had to meet her at Stansted International as there is no train to our city of 175,000 people after 1930. In fact there is no transport system from Stansted after 2100 unless you want to go to London. And they won't let you get a car within 1/2 mile of the terminal unless you want to pay £2.00 for 15mins.

If arriving at Malaga after the last bus - 21.30 IIRC, then the BH would pick me up in the car, at least they allow you access to the terminal for pickup.
the bus arrives abt 2300, BH picks me up, in the house by 2345.
The metro train from Malaga airport to bus station is great, just every 30mins or so.

So, it isnt alot different to UK, in many ways it is better. No you cannot use Granada, that is now internal-Spain only. One day it may change but can't see it happening.

Would it be any better if you were living in Malaysia, Thailand, et al ?? House prices low, real low, but transport is not what we would look on as "normal"
.

We paid 68,000 euros for our property before 'le crisis' in 2003, spent about 17,000 euros on renovation and sold it in 2011 for 103,000 euros. (Las Alpujarras in Granada Province).

Luckily we didn't buy at the peak when it was valued by an EA at 180.000, otherwise we would have lost out. (Not that we could have afforded it at that price anyway!).