cidshock

I am flyiing out soon to the costa Blanca area, to view different areas, to find a property and get a view from the residents in each area.
I have seen quite a few properties through various search's, and have found a few which I am interested in, there is one paticular one that has taken our fancy. The agent is meeting us at the airport and we are going to follow him down to view the property that morning. Now im expecting a hard sell, and am obvously not making a decision then, as I am spending five days looking around.

The companys name is Premier Property group their web address is http://www.prestigeproperty.co.uk/index.asp. Can anyone let me know of any bad or good dealings with this company

Also good or bad experiences with any other property agents would extremley be welcome.

Thanks simon

sibsie

You're right to expect a hard sell. Doubtless there will be lot of other agents selling the same property as sole agency is all but unheard of out there. If you sneak a look around before you view with the agent you may find other people selling it a lot cheaper. Possibly unorthodox but you could save yourself thousands.

My main advice is to make sure the agent gives you time on your own. If he tries to tell you the house will be gone if you don't sign immediately, ignore him. Houses out there are sitting on the market for ages. Make sure you get your own lawyer and NOT one recommended by them. If it's in the Valencia area, make sure that there are no land grab problems.

Agents to avoid that I know of are Ocean Estates, McAnthony and Atlas.

costablancaAnna

Hello Simon ,
I have never heard of property group you mention , so cant say if they are good or bad. We moved to the costa blanca in sept and we bought through www.yourspanishproperty.com. they were very helpful and we found a great house through them .

jdr

I´ll go with sibsie on this, dont put any " holding " deposits an anything cos if you change your mind you will pay double.
Property is slow selling at the mo so you have plenty of time, and like sibsie says the same house can vary thousands of €€€€ with different agents.

You have struck lucky if you are going to view a property that was on the site, they are usually leaders and " just been sold, but we have blah de blah "

regards John

louiseh

Hello Sibsie
I'm researching a feature for Homes Overseas magazine about inspection visits. I noticed a posting from you before about hard sell and your own experience as a sales agent. I'd like to talk to you off the record about this - would you be kind enough to let me contact you by phone or email? No names, no pack drill but your input would be very welcome. You can contact me at [email protected]

Gill Stevens

I rang Premier Properties in UK and discussed us perhaps meeting up with their agents in Costa Blanca. I gave them the dates we were going. When I found out they used Medsea I left it in abeyance as I had previously made an appointment with Medsea via another agent. The next thing I knew I had a phone call from the other agent telling me that Premier had made an appointment with Medsea for a specific date without my authority and the date was not even the date we were going to be in Spain. This caused real confusion in Spain and I felt that this was really pushy of them. They also said when we asked about the properties in their brochure that half of them would not be available when we got out there and that we would be able to see all we needed to in two days even though our budget was £120,000 and we had specified quite a lot of areas. I, therefore, decided not to use them as this seemed rather negative.

We went across to Spain in September 04 and made appointments with about 9 different agents. We spent 3 days with an english chap called Daz at Medsea in Torrevieja. They do have a website. He did not give us any hard sell and was very helpful. He was not "off" with us when we decided not to purchase any of the properties he had sold us and he was with us one night until 8.30 p.m.trying to find somewhere.

However we had made an appointment for our first day there with TM Torreblanca a firm of builders in Torrevieja but who have their own agents throughout the UK. Their properties are exceedingly well built - sound-proofed, double thermal brick etc. They are very spacious and include all furniture, lampshades, curtains, bed linen plus all kitchen appliances, cutlery, etc. When you go to their furniture suppliers to choose you can upgrade to better stuff if you want to pay the extra.

We looked at loads of properties and if you are not looking at detached you will find the majority of quads, apartments, townhouses etc are not sound-proofed and only have one single layer of brick. They are also very small on living area especially if you want permanent living eventually. The kitchens were all quite small and if you want to have washing machine and dishwasher we couldn't find a kitchen large enough to take both. The TM properties all have a utility room and a large kitchen. They have very large roof top solariums and large terraces off the bedrooms. We said definitely not a quad or a duplex before we went - we were adament that we wanted semi or detached, but ended up with a duplex in a block with TM as they are so large. A lot of the other properties, even the detached properties were only about 80-90 sq metres. The TM duplexes where we bought are up to 212 sq metres. They may be larger in other areas. It really depends on what your budget is.

We have had a lot of contact with the agent back in the UK since then regarding alterations and they have been very helpful and theTM office in Torrevieja are very efficient. I asked about a bank guarantee in case the property was not built and they said that would not happen as they own all of their land outright and have enough land to build on for another 20 years. They are a family company. They also provided us with bankers letters confirming their solvency. Nevertheless I have taken the bank guarantee for the two stage payments I have sent which they have only charged me 60 euros for. A lot of the builders charge 10% of the purchase price or do not offer them at all. They even sent me a birthday card last November!!!!

I used to work for Solicitors in the UK doing conveyancing before becoming a mortgage adviser and am a very suspicious and careful person. However, I felt so confident with TM that I am only going to instruct a Solicitor for the completion work. I know I will get replies saying how stupid is that!!

They supply me with english translations of everything and I have rung them in Torrevieja and they have english staff who you can speak with. Their website is www.tmtorreblanca.com. They have pictures on the website of the various stages of build progress which are updated regularly plus development and property plans.

We decided on our first day that they were the right builders for us but did not sign up with them until we had spent another 5 days with two other agents and we then ran out of properties to look at in our budget and in the areas we wanted. The TM properties were far superior.

We have been round their previous developments and spoken to residents there who are all very pleased.

They have sites in La Manga, North and South Costa Blanca and Costa Almeria. Full details are on their website.

I would be interested to know if you do decide to look at any of their properties.

dougie V

Just be on your guard, only pay what you think the property is worth, nothing is really moving over here at the moment, probably because of the inflated market and whats going on in the uk as far as the housing market and the possability of a interest rate increase. If you want my advise, find the area that you want to be in and then advertise in a local paper what you are looking for (specify no agents), that or drive around the area and where ever you see "se vende" knock on the door and see if the owner is in, and ask them what they want for the property.

Gill Stevens

Further to my previous reply, we found that all the agents had mostly the same properties and there wasn't any difference in prices. We tried going into show homes on our own and the representatives in their were very annoyed that we had not come with an agent. They kept on about it and in the end we walked out. I doubt if you would get the property any cheaper by not going through an agent anyway. There was also no leeway on price. There was also a tremendous difference in prices of the same type of property depending on where on the site it was i.e. north or south facing, near to the pool etc.

We were able to put a hold on several properties without paying any monies which they kept on hold for 24 or 48 hours. This depended on whether the had other people interested but they did ring the agent to let us know if someone else came onto the site and was interested in the property in the meantime.

We were also told by one of the agents that the land around the site was agricultural i.e lemon and orange groves and no-one could build on it for so many years. We found out afterwards that the local town hall could change that at any time and you could find yourself with other developments around yours.

dougie V

if going for a "off plan" option as in new build, The commisions are then paid by the builder and the price should be the same with all the agents. But be aware that some new builds run months and months behind schedule (also in some cases i have seen the design change), and you should get something writen into the contract to compensate you if this happens, speak about this with your lawyer.

dougie V

if you find something that u like, don't rush into putting a deposite down, go back to the area and spend a good hour or 2 looking around , the reason why i say this is that i know of some new builds not too far from me, and located over the Edge of a ridge is a sewage farm..on some days the smell can be unbearable!!, i wonder if everyone that bought on there knows about that!!

rogerb

Lots of good advice above.

We bought in Quesada through a small family firm who have given us incredible service (before & after), and who have become friends.
(Naturally this wouldn't have happened if we'd felt dissatisfied in any way )
One thing we liked was that they quote prices including practically all the 'extras'.
If interested contact DelricoDreamHomes SL - they have a website. http://delrico.webbinnovations.com/contact.htm

cidshock

Thanks for all youre help, I have been over to spain and decided around the area of Albox, we have seen plenty of resales which i am now focused on.
fell in love with one place it was just what we wanted but was sold. The main thing is we have found the area in which we want to live.
I contactacted various people including banks etc and for got to ask, one thing. I have just ben informed by a friend who has recently moved to spain that I will be unable to get a small spainsh mortgage as you only seem to be able to do this on a New build. My wife will be living there permanently with out two girls and I will be commuting back and forth being lucky enough to to work three days and four off, so there will be a constant income.
Im looking to put down around 60,000 and 40,000 on a mortgage.
Can anyone tell me if this is true regarding the resale mortgae.

Many Thanks in advance

Cid

dougie V

don't know where your friend got there info, morgages are no prob on re-sale property, if anything it is more difficult to get a morgage on a new build as the bank will not lend you money on something that doesn't exit

dougie V

joel homes are pretty good in that area, ask for steve if he's still there, say dougie says hello...they have a website

dougie V

lake vega houses are very good over that way...they are located in arboleas