Our estate agents are coming back.

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    • #57280
      Anonymous
      Participant

      Here in expat Spain, our local free newspapers are suddenly full again of new British estate agents taking full or half-page advertisements to plug their businesses. Us expats are anything but pleased, because we recognise their faces from the past.

      After the crash six years ago, the dodgy estate agents, cowboy builders, crooked car dealers and an assorted mix of other con merchants departed the Mediterranean shores and returned to the UK, or wherever else they felt more comfortable. We breathed a sigh of relief, we didn’t want those horrible people in our midst.

      But only six weeks into this new year we can sense an optimism in the air, the country is recovering, despite the many obstacles. So can the cowboy agents, because they’re coming back.

      The new property sites contain new names, newer versions of the Mar y Sol theme, ‘something new4U’ and similar nonsense.

      Even more disturbing are the prices, just as inflated as they were ten years ago. There’s a dearth of decent properties for sale, because those who survived the crash, the great majority of us, don’t want to sell, we are happy with our expat lives.

      Because of the lack of decent properties on the market, the new agents seem to have showcased the same property, the typical English style semi, set in a convenient location. ‘Minutes from the sea’ (if you’ve got a Porsche).

      It’s not good news, and incoming expats are going to get fleeced once again.

    • #115351
      Anonymous
      Participant

      I agree and although am not there I can imagine all the dodgy agents are back trying to flog over priced properties again. They probably were only laid low for a while just waiting in their holes thinking of new boxxxx to speel.

      I don’t agree that there is a lack of decent properties though. Are you saying that only expats have decent properties??

      There are thousands of properties of all levels. There are many overpriced expat (typo first time with exprat and it sounds right in many cases 😉 Expat properties which were thrown up in boom years and are now cracked and patched and unsound. They are still on the market for too much. A good many Spanish, German, Dutch, Romanian, Moroccan, Ecudorian, blah blah blah also live in these substandard properties as well.

      You don’t need to be a structural engineer to see the difference in properties out there.

      I just hope that now that there is more information and ‘be warned’ advice that at least fewer people will suffer this time around?

      Maybe, just maybe some smart Brits will get together and look at the abandoned ‘pueblos’ and speak to the relevant people to buy up a village and all live together in little britain up a mountain. They can then have their own mayor and do as they please without all the problems associated with mixing with the foreigners 😉 There are plenty of little villages dying out because everyone is moving away to find work or the few oldies who live there are dying out. Why don’t Brits set up their own ‘urbanisation’ villages and restore old properties rather than buy new builds?

    • #115366
      Anonymous
      Participant

      Sorry, ‘It’s me’, I didn’t mean to imply that only expats have decent houses, nothing could be further from the truth. By decent houses I mean those built years ago before the cowboy builders and developers spoiled the landscape.

      By decent houses I also want to distinguish from the ghost urbanisations that will never be finished, or the flood of repossessions that should never be sold – for all sorts of reasons.

      Here’s a live example: An expat had to move back to the UK because of illness – they’re under pension age and their private medical insurance does not cover their type of serious illness, so they had no choice but to go home.

      Not because they had to, they put their house on the market late last year, with a proper Spanish estate agent. It’s very hard to put a price on a property nowadays, but the agent put it up for 95K, which appears about right, some 40% down from the value of six years ago.

      Two of the newly arrived British agents have now put the same house, a decent one, on their books for an identical 130K. I expect it will be the same as their dealings in the past.

      An interested buyer will be offered a discount, without the seller knowing, to buy the property at 120K, but a 10K cash fee will need to be paid to the new agent, prior to the notary. Everybody’s happy, no?

      It’s a despicable practice.

    • #115368
      Anonymous
      Participant

      Don’t worry Rocker, I understood what you meant.

      Sites and forums and news needs to get out so that people can buy safely and happily in Spain.

      It doesn’t surprise me what you say about the Brit agents, seen similar myself.

      People should be able to buy at the right price and be happy living in Spain without any nasty surprises. We’ve had all those so hopefully anyone reading this forum will have learnt what to avoid as much as possible?

    • #115370
      Anonymous
      Participant

      Because of our sheer numbers, us expats have had great success in collectively making our lives easier, and if possible, those of our Spanish neighbours too.

      Apart from even having representatives as councillors in local government, we have Neighbourhood Watch, which is massive and supported by the Spanish police authorities. We have HELP branches in most expat towns, loads of charities, especially animal ones, cancer support groups, every helpful organisation you can think of.

      We distribute food parcels to the Spanish poor, but do it sensitively, using their own people at the front end, while we do the collecting and parcelling. The one at San Miguel was on the News a few weeks ago.

      And of course we try our best to warn expat incomers of the dangers from the many shysters of all nationalities, but we have to at the same time make sure that people are not put off from coming to this lovely country by daft negative and unnecessary comments. It’s a fine balancing act, at times.

      I forgot the British Legion, we have branches everywhere. And our own Churches too. I stopped at a garden of remembrance only this morning.

    • #115565
      angie
      Blocked

      Never thought I’d see such a headline about this agent, but what’s odd about what she owes is that make one high-end sale and you’d think she would clear her debt! 🙄

      http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2013/02/20/szekely-in-crisis/

    • #115570
      Anonymous
      Participant

      carefull rocker your beginning to sound like angie katie and logan with you warnings and fears for expats being ripped off lmao

    • #115589
      Anonymous
      Participant

      I always get the Hungarian lady mixed up with the Englishwoman at Ocean who was in partnership with a German, and blamed him for absconding with her money when the courts found against her.

      I thought they had all scarpered long ago. Or maybe they’re back again?

      @Dartboy. That would make it Los Cuatro Malos, me being one of them? Heaven forbid.

    • #115590
      katy
      Blocked

      @angie wrote:

      Never thought I’d see such a headline about this agent, but what’s odd about what she owes is that make one high-end sale and you’d think she would clear her debt! 🙄

      http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2013/02/20/szekely-in-crisis/

      She was the creme de la creme of upmarket sales on the coast. Suprised she lasted as long, her agency was in trouble in 2008!

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