Secrets to Spotting a Good Real Estate Agent in Spain

Buying a property in a foreign country is nothing if not an unnerving experience.  Generally, you will not know the country in any real detail and you will require both advice and assistance to guide you through a potential minefield – from legalities through to reliable professionals, good and bad locations and suitable properties.  Without an exceptionally knowledgable friend to hand, you will inevitably have to turn to a real estate agent.

Obviously, estate agents differ greatly in the way that they work and the help they provide.  Some pride themselves upon delivering a service to a buyer that virtually amounts to that of a relocation consultant.  They will help you obtain your Spanish NIE (fiscal number), advise and help you to open up bank accounts, introduce you to genuinely good lawyers and provide invaluable information about living conditions and appropriate properties for sale.  They may help book your children into school and assist you in applying for work registration.  All of this is often done free – although, obviously in the hope that they will sell a property to you and benefit from their seller’s commission payment.

Once you have bought, the same agent may well continue to provide an after-care that might extend for 6 -12 months.  He may help you find builders, accompany you in an emergency to your doctor and translate Spanish for you when you are in trouble.  In effect, for the first few months he will be your relocation lifeline in Spain – and a truly invaluable one that can make the difference between having a difficult first few months and one that is troublefree.

On the other hand there are real estate agents who act as they would in the UK or Northern Europe.  Their interest and assistance is restricted to merely showing properties for sale and closing sales – irrespective of your true, underlying needs.

Of course, any agent is primarily motivated by making a sale.  That is from where he derives his income and everything that he does will be to further this aim.  However, choosing an estate agent carefully, who will provide you with real assistance, beyond that of just selling a property to you, can be an action worth its weight in gold - as important and critical as not using an agent that everyone except you knows is a self-serving crook!

Without doubt, the best way of choosing an estate agent specialising in Spain is through recommendation – preferably from several different people.  However, that is rarely easily done when you are living a thousand miles away from your intended destination.  So, it is worth knowing a few factors that may help you to choose to work with someone who will genuinely be of help: 

Before you come to Spain

• A clear, informative web site
• Rapid and articulate responses to e-mail and telephone enquiries
• The provision of authoritative ancillary information
• A good selection of different properties
• A willingness to listen to you and to develop a clear specification
• Transparency as to charges (normally help and support  to a buyer is free)
• A defined undertaking to provide after-care should you buy a property

In Spain

• Good timekeeping and organisation
• Patience
• A sound knowledge of Spanish land law
• Transparency about sales commissions
• Obvious in-depth knowledge of the relevant area
• No ‘set agenda’ – that could indicate commission-led prejudices
• No hard sell techniques

That said, there are some ‘rules’ that are worth abiding by before you get involved in even looking at properties once in Spain.  Break these at your peril:

The ‘Rules’!

• Do not sign anything with your agent unless you have first shown the document to a lawyer
• Be very wary of ‘Buyer’s Premiums’ or anything that purports to make you (as a buyer) liable to the estate agent for purchase fees
• Never finalise a purchase agreement without your lawyer present
• Always use a completely independent lawyer who speaks your language fluently
• Never buy a property until you can guess the price to +_ 10% - before being told the advertised price
• Always compromise to buy a property that is fully legal – and preferably urbano and fully urbanised
• Never be rushed – it is better to lose an excellent property than to buy a disaster
• Always double-check whatever you are told

Copyright Nick Snelling (www.nicholassnelling.com) author of three books on Spain including ‘How to Move Safely to Spain’ (www.movesafelytospain.com)