Unfortunately in the last week we have had to say goodbye to a couple of clients, allowing them to continue their Valencia Property journey without our assistance. There are a litany of reasons why and in today's post we will go into why you may sabotage your own purchase even if you really want the property. Bear in mind that these clients may have made one, various, many or even all of the following faux pas in the last few weeks before we decided to cut them loose. You may even want to play a game of guessing how many of the following mistakes one particular client made before we decided to stop working with them.
Before we start though let's get a few things clear:
1) We haven't stopped them from buying a property they want. We have just said "your lawyer can deal with everything as we want no further part in this", effectively walking away from any commission payment on purchase this after finding them the perfect property and arranging virtually all of the parts of the purchase agreement. Annoying but needed. Even though the experience has been pretty depressing we won't scupper somebody's purchase out of spite. The owner might do if it carries on like this but we won't.
2) You have to trust the process. We have been doing this since the last century!! We know what we are doing and how things work and, however much you may want to bend reality to your way of thinking, it will not happen.
3) We are in the privileged position that we are able to choose our clients from the huge numbers who want to work with us. We get to work with nice people as a result. We are lucky that we don't have to put up with certain aspects of the job.
Mistakes People Make When Buying
In one of our previous posts we talked about the mistakes people make when buying Valencia Property. However that post was about mistakes people may make in the process not about mistakes people make to put other people's backs up for example. Today, therefore it's time to look at other factors and things you may do to make sure that the buying experience becomes a pain for everyone involved. The best and most important thing you should take out of this is...
Not Trusting the Process
As stated above we have been doing this for a looooooong time. We know how to get a property purchase over the line in Spain and we know about all of the potential pitfalls and what can happen. We know what buttons to press with the sellers and more importantly when it's best "not to go there!" We don't warn you not to do something for the good of our health, or even our bank balance, we do it for a reason. We even tell people not to buy things that they evidently want at times because we know there are going to be problems. If we tell you that we "Wouldn't touch it with a bargepole" your question shouldn't be, "What if it were a longer bargepole?". Just ask us why and then maybe listen to the answer.
Tell Your Agent How to Do Their Job
We are agents, we tell other agents how to do their job regularly when they are dragging their feet. It's because we know what they should be doing. In fact we will tell the selling agent on your behalf to do their job. However, don't tell your agent to do their job, at least if it's us. Believe me, we are doing it and better than you could ever know. We make it look easy at times but the background stuff going on is often pretty huge.
Hire A Lawyer Far Far Away
Local lawyers understand the local market, the local conditions and the necessity for efficiency, speed and accuracy. Lawyers from further away may be a little more chilled out and not realise that in a hot property market the extra time they take may well ruin a purchase and believe me, they do take extra time, a lot of extra time.
It's as if they didn't know the Valencia Property market at all (Who knew?).
If those same lawyers don't answer mails, are never available for calls and don't even have Whatsapp then you may want to decide to change your representative because they will lose you the property. Communication is ultra-important.
Get a Friend to Be Your Eyes and to Give Their "Expert" Opinion
Your friend who you just met when you came over for a week may be the best helper in the World, it's possible... it's not probable.
However, I'll just say this now, I've hardly ever known one friend who has been asked to be the eyes of another who has helped at all in the process of purchase.
Why not?
Well, if I was going to give these various friends the benefit of the doubt I'd say it's because it's such a huge responsibility you are giving them by asking them to make a decision on a property for you when you are not here that they will always be massively overcritical and cause you to miss out on a property that may well suit you down to the ground.
If I were going to be more honest I'd say they generally haven't got a clue.
What about?
Market conditions, areas, your likes and dislikes, what makes a good purchase, space... anything really. You know, all of that stuff we had various calls about before you came over and took a lot of interest in while you were here?
Recommending a place on the first floor of the mainest main road in Valencia with the bins directly outside, above a car repair place and take away food shop, next to a derelict building to someone who likes peace and tranquility... That friend? It wasn't their finest hour to say the least.
Suggest That Your Buyer's Agent Isn't Representing Your Interests
For some buyers' agents this may well be the final straw (It was for us). The fact that you want to include clauses in the contract that you have written yourself and that make no sense whatsoever (even to your appointed lawyer) doesn't mean that your agent isn't representing your interests and doesn't have your back. It just means that your clause insisting that the windows and doors, exterior and interior, will not be taken out of the house is a little extreme, after all they form part of the house the last time I looked. Things like this may mean the owner gets a little annoyed and uncooperative.
If there is one thing that we as buyers' agents dislike intensely it's the suggestion that we aren't working for the client, after all, that's what we do. We will be doing that in every case. However what we might also be doing will be making sure the seller doesn't just tell you to go and fornicate with yourself because of unreasonable demands or even just walk away silently and cut off all communications meaning that you lose the property.
"But This Doesn't Happen at Home!"
Whether that home is the USA, the Netherlands, the UK or wherever you need to realise that things are different in Spain and done in a different way. Just because things are done in a different way in your country of birth doesn't mean that this should be how it's done here. Things are different, some things better and some things worse perhaps but,... different. We guide you through that system.
A great example is the "Arras" contract here in Spain. It's a fantastic system that protects both parties and makes sure both parties are invested in the successful conclusion of a sale/purchase. The UK, or rather England in particular could seriously learn from this system as there is nothing similar there and no guarantees of a successful conclusion of a purchase process right up until the final day, buyer or seller can just change their mind without any consequence. Here, there are consequences and expensive ones at that.
This...
And yes, there is a story behind this one! When you are here buy me a coffee and I might tell you about it.
Asking For Advice and Then...
If you contact us because you are buying through another agency but want advice from us, fine (Normally). I'll take some time out of my Sunday morning (Because it was Sunday) and give that advice out for free. If you then respond an hour later with ten more questions and question my advice, then fine, I'll probably explain why and give you some more advice. If you then phone me and ask for more advice and take an hour on the phone, sure no worries... (Except that at this point I have my family and colleagues questioning why I am doing this)
At times we'll even go further, into Monday, Tuesday or even Wednesday. Yep we did.
If I get a message on a Friday, five days later, from a lawyer we told them to contact saying that they have had twenty emails from this person since Monday asking for more and more information and advice without doing the main thing of contracting them to do the conveyancing or even taking into consideration any of the advice that they have been given then maybe, just maybe, at that point we walk away and advise the lawyer to stop answering the incessant questions if they want a peaceful life.
If all you really want is for someone to tell you everything will be ok and go ahead and buy this wreck in a derelict building in the worst location in the city then don't ask me to be that person. My answers will always be honest and if you shouldn't be buying something in my opinion I'll tell you and it's not because I'm not making the sale to you, it's usually because I sort of care about people gettng ripped off.
I'll also tell you I think it's mad that you had previously put a full 10% deposit down without consulting a lawyer at any stage but hey... that's just me.
There are plenty of other ways to put the brakes on your property purchase concluding successfully, you could call the owner, or even your agent, an a**hole, you could go on a spree, you could loudly proclaim how truly awful the interior decor is with the owner present and they understand English (Yes that one has happened) but we have only put in this article what has happened in the last week or so. A week can sometimes be a long time in property purchase.
News From Valencia
The most important thing at the moment above politics, elections, wars, football and all of the other usual stuff is that the beach bars are all open and functioning now and summer is here. That's always news in Valencia because that breeze that comes in off the Mediterranean is always welcome and the shady beach bars are an excellent way to complement your factor fifty. As we move into the second part of the year it's worth looking at spending at least some time at the beach bars because when we get to mid September or early October and they start to disappear then, just like me, you will regret not having used them more regularly.
And this is important, keep an ear out for the next podcast out this week sometime. The last one you can listen to below but the next is out very soon. And thanks to a suggestion from one of our lovely clients the sound quality is going to be amazing.
Our New Logo
Soon to be seen on all of our branded content in its various colours and already in the blog header, we thought it was time for a change so out with the old...
and in with the new, a bit simpler, similar typeface and taking the colours we already used.
Stepping Stone Rentals News
We are very close to having a working website up and running. But then again I said that last week. The target was the end of June so we were very close. I can't believe how much work is going into the background with me writing content and Pete our web guy putting my ideas all together into something more palatable and visible. We now have the first images and floor plans of the first Stepping Stone Rentals and we should be up and running in the next week or so with the pages. At that point we will invite you to run riot all over the page and tell us what's missing, what's not working, what should be there and what you want. Remember that right from the start our intention was to be fully functioning by September, that goal is well in place.
Welcome to Our New Team Member
We have now taken on board Catherine who will be working within Stepping Stone Rentals and also with Valencia Property. Catherine is the first American to work in VP and should bring a different viewpoint, cultural references and dynamic to the company. Don't be surprised if you are accompanied on your visits in the next few weeks by Catherine as she learns the ropes of how we work. She has plenty of experience in Valencia and in real estate so she should be up to speed with how we work very soon. So our makeup now is English, Irish, Welsh and American. Sounds like the start of an iffy 1970's joke.
If You Liked This...
Then we have plenty of other posts where we talk about mistakes, things that drive us up the wall and more. Just click on the images for more.
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