Andalus

Whilst currently on an extended visit to Spain, to get an overview of different areas, we made a tentative enquiry to view a couple of properties local to where we're staying via the thinkspain website. (I know, I take the content on such websites with a certain pinch of salt but it seemed a straightforward request.

Thinkspain having passed on our enquiries we received replies not from estate agents but from 'homefinder consultants' or 'property finding agents' explaining, and I paraphrase, that some Spanish estate agents could be a bit dodgy but that they could 'act as a buffer between the buyer and the estate agent' and spare us the 'time-consuming searching/organizing viewings via numerous agents'.

It actually sounds like a good service, in the same way that one might use a mortgage broker in the UK to save a lot of the legwork.

Accepting that I'd need to do more research on the individual companies but is there any general advice people can offer around this type of service?

Lynn R

We used a property finder service when we bought our first house in Spain in 2003. That was a long time ago in a very different market, though. The company did not charge a fee to buyers, they made money by splitting the commission (which can be considerable, 5% of the sale price is quite common here) with the estate agents. At that time property prices were rising, sales were buoyant and many local Spanish agents didn't even have websites and didn't speak other languages to enable them to communicate with foreign buyers (we bought in an area where the number of foreign residents was very low). I have to say the service was very good. Before we contacted the firm we had tried to find places using a local agent and the process was like pulling teeth. He would show us places that were quite unsuitable and only make an appointment to view one property in a day, which was frustrating when we'd taken holiday from work and had limited time available. The property finding company asked us for our requirements, both essential and "nice to have", and of course our budget. They lined up a dozen properties (which were all within our budget and matched most if not all the criteria we'd mentioned, for us to view over 2 days and we ended up buying one of them. The same company (who are no longer in business, the Spanish property crash put paid to that) also helped a friend of ours to find a property in the same town a year later and we were all very pleased with the service.

Moses2013

To me this sounds even more complicated and dodgy. You can't trust the seller, you can't trust an estate agent, so why trust them? You would be dealing with 4 people when you add your lawyer and what value do they bring? Thinkspain seems to have more scammers than sites like Idealista or Fotocasa and is more aimed at foreigners/British.

spainrico

Totally agree with Moses2013 - suggest you use a professional qualified independent solicitor to ensure what you buy is legal and free of debt etc.

Do your own research on areas and trust your own instincts on what is right for you.

Lynn R

We did, of course, use a professional, independent, qualified solicitor to handle our purchase once we'd found the house we wanted - but before we'd even got to that stage, the property finder had spotted that in the preliminary contract the Spanish (non English speaking) estate agent wanted us to sign she had included a clause saying that we, the buyers, would pay the plus valia to the local authority (which as you will all know is the responsibility of the seller), and she insisted that it be changed so that the vendors had to pay it.

After we had agreed to buy it I discovered that the property was also listed on the website of another estate agency (this one British owned) at an asking price 7% more than the Spanish one was advertising it at.

I'm not advocating that the OP uses a property finding service (especially if they would be charging a fee to the buyer, I would not touch that with a bargepole) but at the time and in our circumstances it worked out well for us. We had already researched and narrowed down the location we wanted to one area in one town, and the town is where we still live 19 years later although we did sell the house 14 years after buying it and move to a different property.

Oh, and before turning to the property finding service we had also tried using a local British owned estate agency as well as the useless Spanish one I mentioned earlier. They turned out to be equally useless - she took us to one property where the one next door was being used as an indoor poultry farm (imagine the noise, the smell - and it would have been so much worse in mid summer . and the vermin all that chicken feed would attract), then to another one where, after we got out of the car and looked at the exterior, she announced that she didn't actually have the keys for it. What did she think was going to happen, were we going to say oh yes, we love it, we'll take it? We thought we were getting nowhere fast and, as we were still working at the time and having to use our holidays to do property searching trips (and at the time, very different now, property prices were rising fast so we didn't want the process to take too long) it was difficult.

Ronnyone

Unfortunately buying a property in a foreign country will always entail more risks than in UK. The very nature of the buying and selling process is different plus you have little knowledge or experience. You will have to rely on others to some degree and that will involve trust. Local advisers are plenty- some are good and some are bad. More established firms are probably more expensive as they provide more extensive professional service ( not always though.) There is no easy way of doing it and for many the process can be ongoing for years. Basic rule is never rush in. You will have to pay a deposit which is the only really vulnerable thing if things go wrong and problems occur. Never buy as an investment in spain- so don't be swayed by talk of markets nor buy because you want to rent it out ( there are always issues here). Buy as something for you and buy long term.