Valencia Property Blog

For many years the way to make a quick, and usually not very honourable, buck in Spain was to become an estate agent. So many people started in the estate agency business in Spain using a mobile phone, a diary and little else, that at one stage there was 1 agent for every 200 people in Madrid for example. Remember that is 200 people not buyers. It includes babies, people in nursing homes, extended families etc... This was never sustainable of course when the crash came

My particular experience of this is that around 13 or 14 of my ex clients became estate agents after purchasing through my company. Only one remains! The crash has sorted the wheat from the chaff and most agents now are actually quite good at what they do with notable exceptions. The shysters, hucksters and chancers who came into the market have now mostly disappeared back into the hole where they came from leaving the field free for estate agents in Spain who give a better service to the client. However make sure you remain awake when dealing with estate agents in Spain as there are still those around who will take you for a ride given half a chance. Now obviously I am not going to name names, although if you take me out and buy me a drink I might well tell you some stories that will make your hair either curl or stand on end, but it is easy to spot someone who is conning you. You just get this feeling inside and sometimes because you like the house so much you push down on that feeling and go ahead anyway. I prefer the long view of course. By trying to give an excellent service I get referrals thus meaning that the lifetime value of a client is much higher for me and the relationship is even more important. If you give a bad service you would be amazed at how many people talk about it and very quickly your name can become mud. Take a look at the video and I would welcome comments. So do you know of any good estate agents you would recommend? Have you any horror stories you would like to relate? If you are an estate agent is there anything you would suggest that you do that maybe others don't? Get in touch and tell us.