Valencia Property Blog

As an add-on to last week's post about our network people have been asking what our day looks like as estate agents in Valencia. What do we actually do all day? Now a couple of months ago I put up a little video short showing a bit of this, you can see it below, but today I thought it was time to show a bit of background of what we do on a daily basis to make sure we give the best possible service of any estate agency in Valencia or possibly Spain, the World, the Universe... I actually wrote an article like this in 2011 on this blog but I thought an update was due because things have changed whilst other things have stayed the same.

One thing you need to remember though before reading on is that we are a distributed company. We don't have an office we have to go into or to meet you at, we don't waste time or money doing that. We all work from home and we use technology to keep up to date with what each of us are doing and support each other.

You get to meet us out and about at cafes, hotels, designated pick up points or at the first property and we get to work. Estate Agency shouldn't involve sitting around in an office on a computer waiting for somebody to walk in the door. That's such a waste of time and resources and leads to burnout and boredom.

At Valencia Property we all decide our own timetables and the way we work, we work on an individual level with our clients in a very personal way and we allow for family time, rests and holidays just supporting each other in the work we do. We find it works for us and it mostly works for our clients too.

Let's start this article then by looking at what I wrote back in 2011 and comparing it to today. And make sure to continue reading once done as we have an announcement about Stepping Stone Rentals.

Back in 2011 there were fewer clients around, just after the financial crisis and still in the fallout from it, so it was more of a one man show, just me. The following in italics is what I wrote at the time.

"So starting at around 9am once the kids are packed off to school I get the previous day’s emails out of the way if there are any outstanding. This involves sending photos, answering queries or following up with clients who have visited. The follow up is always the most important."

Things haven't changed too much here but now the family leave for school around 8am and once I've made a coffee then it's email time. Fewer interruptions and whatsapp is quiet at that time of day too. I have all of my notifications on phone and computer turned off at all times. I choose when to answer messages otherwise there is just a constant stream. Mails are sent off to my colleagues to start working with clients who have mailed overnight or have questions about the process and everyone starts working towards the end goal of finding the right place for the client.

"I will then write a blog post just like I am doing now if required and send it out using social media to give it more visibility. Oftentimes I upload properties into the Valencia Property site too and then add them into the Facebook page and Twitter so that those who have signed up for the newsletter can get some breaking news and get first choice on the new properties."

Back in the day blogging was more short form rather than the long form posts we now write and it was more of a daily task. These days I write over the weekend for the Monday morning blog posts and it's always a long form post explaining everything about a particular subject to do with Valencia Property or the market in general. Therefore the daily blog space is now taken up with social media work, calls and messages with colleagues and getting out into the city or around to work with everyone on whatever they are doing.

"Mid morning I often go out to either take photos or look at property that may be interesting for people who have already signalled their intention to come over and visit. This property search is narrowed down using many websites and from personal recommendations that are sent to me from people selling."

Mid-morning now comprises meetings with lawyers, banks, currency companies, onboarding of clients visiting the city and very often completions in the notary. Sometimes we go to photograph a new property and if it is a villa this gives us time to fire up the drone, the 360º camera and do some video work. This part of the day usually goes on until lunch time which sometimes we work through and others we stop to have something.

"The afternoon is spent updating websites, organising contracts and making sure that the current sales and rental negotiations are ready to go."

We still update websites in the afternoon usually with the photos and information taken in the morning and we work on photos, videos and the virtual tours. Equally, and especially at the moment as we are updating websites and starting on two new projects, there is a lot of work ongoing on many websites in conjunction with Pete our web designer and techie to make sure everything works and if an issue comes up it is dealt with quickly.

"After a quick dip in the pool with the kids at around 5pm I then start organising visits responding to the day’s mail and finishing up apart from working on other projects in the background."

That pool thing has disappeared a bit these days. I have been in the pool twice this year so far, so just one appearance off my record for last year (And the kids part has gone out of the window too as they got older). The organisation of visits is one of the most difficult parts of the job and it's one that I don't really get involved in these days as I rarely get to see properties with clients except when I am called in to give my opinion on a place for a second visit or I have been asked by someone not yet here to check out a place for them and maybe make a video call. The other projects and updating of current projects continues apace often without a gap.

"However there are a bunch of other things that can affect my day even when clients are not around. I may need to go and have an argument with a bank (ie Negotiate a mortgage).

We stopped doing mortgages some years ago when I realised that the time needed to organise a mortgage was greater than that to help find people a property and that is our main job. The collection and dissemination of paperwork is better done by a specialist. We outsourced the mortgage finding to our colleagues at Mortgage Direct who have been doing a great job for us for over a decade now.

"I sometimes have to check out properties ready for people moving in or to look at whether the inventory that has been previously signed for is still there. Sometimes issues come up with rental properties that need me to sort."

We do this more and more often when properties are sold with an inventory, making sure that the fridge that was on display hasn't been changed for a smaller one, that all of the furniture hasn't been requisitioned by a family member of the seller and making sure that a problem hasn't come up since the original visit. Rental property issues can happen at any time from leaking pipes to electricity cut off and it's at that point we need to know who to turn to.

"I am no technician and am useless at fixing things but I do have a database of people who can sort problems for me such as electricians, builders and contacts in insurance companies."

Our network continues to grow as you will have seen in last week's post.

"Sometimes I will spend an hour on the phone with people who just want information before their visit however with all of the information on the blog, Facebook page, YouTube channel and more many of the typical questions are answered."

The Covid pandemic made the free initial call more and more important for us as it was the first contact we had with many clients and we needed to make sure we could take advantage of every second of their visit here when they could get over here. This required more preparation than ever. The initial video calls have become a staple of what we do now as they have been so useful for the clients and also for us in getting to know exactly what the clients want. In the evenings I am often on calls with clients from the USA and Canada for their onboarding calls, answering questions, giving out information and more as this is a more convenient time for their timetables.

"On top of all of this I need to keep up appearances on social networks by filtering in content, answering queries, interacting and generally helping to lead the market for those who get their information off the web."

If you disappear off social media these days people don't notice as much as before because of the sheer quantity of noise out there. And most of it is just noise rather than information. Therefore a lot of the social media stuff is now automated by Diana our social media maven. I have to be around to answer questions that come up as they are raised online but the truth is there are fewer and fewer interactions that start on public social media these days with potential clients. Usually people will go old school with emails or whatsapp me privately to ask questions as they don't want trolls jumping in on social media channels when they ask a simple question. Our DMs are open and we get to see them pretty quickly despite notifications being turned off, except on Facebook where they are hidden by Zuckerberg in a mysterious folder called message requests and we may only see some days later.

"Now the thing is I really like doing most of this but if you ever think I am a bit slow getting back to you then it is either because I have a lot of clients coming through or otherwise because I gave up for the day exhausted. I haven’t forgotten about you.

The lifesaver for us over the last few years with so much to organise is the Gmail push. The suggestion that I need to reply to a mail because I might have missed it was a glorious thing incorporated into Gmail. Equally, if I don't get back to you quickly ie within 24 hours then whatsapp me. The button is here on the blog.

And also I know you are disappointed with this typical day because there is;

No siesta (Well very rarely)
No long lunch with lashings of red wine
No mention of Tapas
No late night “business” meetings.

There is often a siesta these days. Many years ago after this post came out I discovered that i just wasn't functioning well in the afternoons if I hadn't managed to have a siesta or at least a break, because we start early, finish late and could easily go 14 hours straight through working if we didn't consciously take some time out. As we are all self employed, that temptation to just keep on working is strong but needs to be resisted.

There is often a long lunch these days as the Menu of the Day is sacrosanct if you are with friends or clients, getting a quick snack isn't an option, but the red wine is off the table mostly but there may be a small beer. Tapas are for those days when we are too busy for the Menu and we definitely don't do late night business meetings. Actually we generally don't do any sort of meeting and run the company remotely through messaging and mails. Three meet ups in three years over lunch isn't really a hectic meeting schedule. Meetings are massively overrated and can usually be done using an email, message or even a phone call.

"Most of the day is taken up working hard to give more information to clients and those reading the website or looking at the Valencia Property YouTube channel. Activity is based around requirements at the time so always make sure to book your appointments in advance as we may need to juggle some stuff around."

It is still this.

Make sure to book in well in advance so we know we can give you the best possible service. We are considered to have the most informative website and information of any agency working in Spain, the blog is a goldmine of information, and we have noticed others trying to copy the style and depth of information, good luck with that, we have a decade or more headstart and most of the information is still up here, in my head.

A Look At What's Changed

Speed is one thing. People expect immediate answers and solutions. Technology is another. The photos, the presentation, the websites and the image quality are miles ahead of anything we had previously.

The Website

Below is what our site looked like back in 2011 when we wrote the original article featured here.

The article wouldn't have appeared there because the blog was a separate site. (Thanks to the Wayback Machine on the internet archive for the screengrab) No incorporated blog, smaller images, a thinner page, a bit of a mess but still way better than anything that was around at the time. It stayed that way until 2020, the last archive of the previous look of the site can be seen here (If you want a real bit of fun here is the first screen capture of Valencia Property in 2002). We decided to change the look, incorporate the blog and more in late 2019 and it was premiered a couple of weeks into the pandemic... great timing. The look has stayed similar since then with regular new incorporations.

The first image of the blog at its currrent address was in 2016 and previously the blog had been hosted at Houses For Sale in Spain a very similar look to that below as you can see.

And Communications

Skype was around from early on of course but video calls, the immediacy of whatsapp and various other messaging apps and the ease of getting in contact and getting replies weren't. The funny thing is that in general, estate agents in Spain, don't answer mails still, don't answer whatsapps and most definitely don't pick up their phones to a number that they don't recognise. Time has really stood still in the Spanish property market ;-).

What's the point of all this? It's simply to let you know that we have been around for a long time and know what we are doing intimitely. There are fly-by-night agencies, scams and agencies with a less than stellar reputation. We aren't one of them but if you prefer to work with them then no worries. Our clients choose us for a reason. Experience and expertise are priceless. We have been here a long time and hope to continue to be so for a long time in the future as long as people want to buy property in Valencia to enjoy and get themselves an upgraded lifestyle.

When are you coming to join us?

Stepping Stone Rentals is Now Live

The big news is we have now got to th stage where we are confident enough to make Stepping Stone Rentals live. A lot of work has been going on in the background and now we can release the initial site into the wild. Be gentle with us.

Take a look around at what it is, the concept and what it does for you and let us know about things that work, don't work and should possibly be added. There will be more of an announcement next week but the big launch is in September. Of the current properties you can see there, all with virtual tours and floorplans, three are available from September and one from October. we will be adding more properties in as we move forward of course. Take a look at one of our listings available from September here.

We also have a blog site for SSR which of course can be found at a separate but similar web address, www.steppingstonerentals.com/blog, and we will be adding content into that as new properties are added to the site and others become available along with lots more information about medium term rentals in Valencia and beyond.