Advice on agents and buying - Page 2

Thank you. I’m starting to pick through the agents advertising properties they don’t have just to hook punters and show them other properties. We have bought abroad twice before. One shocking experience with an agent similar to what you describe, the other amazing, with great customer support and after sales advice. Hopefully some of the suggestions on this post and a bit more research will serve us well.

Thank you.

We bought an apartment in Mojacar recently through Steven Howlett at VIP Estates, he was really excellent and has written the very best guide to the area we have found, it is invaluable and called “The Naked Estate Agent”.

Steve helped us through our purchase and suggested Angel Morales Soler, we could not have asked for more, Angela and her team looked after our purchase from beginning to end. We were returning to the UK before the purchase would complete so we gave Angela Power of Attorney, they arranged our NIE numbers, set up our Spanish bank account, organised our bills to be paid by direct debit and transferred the internet contact to our names, I can say without fear of contradiction, they were absolutely brilliant and for any other legal requirements we would not go to any other solicitor, the staff in the office speak exceptional English and Chloe is actually English and very efficient.

Go with VIP and Angela Morales Soler and you will not go far wrong.

We also found the estate agent system confusing but (on recommendation) instructed Coles of Andalucia (based in Vera) - who are part of a group of local connected agents that work together, with the first contacted agent as the lead so that Coles accompanied us to viewings with other agents. Robert from Coles was really helpful, offering tips about many aspects of having a Spanish property during our viewings and throughout the time we were there. I think a lot of reputable agents take this helpful approach. 

Before our visit to Spain, Coles very helpfully sent regular links to properties listed with agents in their group that broadly 'ticked our boxes', which we whittled down to the ones we were most interested in viewing. 

On our viewing day with Coles, we saw about six properties, with a couple of straight rejections, a couple that were 'OK' and two stronger contenders. 

Price Brown are part of the same group as Coles and, as I had previously contacted them directly, we viewed their properties the next day with Elaine, who was also extremely helpful. As she wasn't the lead, her approach was to sit in her office running through properties with us online, and we then went straight out to view the ones we were interested in. If you went straight to Price Brown, I imagine they would take the same approach as Coles did with us, emailing possible properties before your visit. 
There is nothing like viewing a property, as things that looked great online were sometimes shabby or not in the best location, while other places were enhanced by their location and surroundoings. 

After a second viewing, we chose a property through New Wave Villas that ticked every one of our boxes, being introduced by Coles and with the commission then split between both agents. There was no cost to us. 

This was last December. We chose Angela Morales as our solicitor due to the many recommendations she receives on this and other forums, with a seamless service provided by Angela and her assistant Chloe. We collect our keys on Tuesday and can't wait to start enjoying our beautiful new holiday home ... :)  

Thank you for all of the above. Hope the final stage goes well and you have a fantastic time in your new purchase. 

We had a list of properties to view and viewed via about 4 agents, all were good. We were visiting for a long weekend and wanted to make the most of our time, Spanish Property Choice arranged to show us a few properties on a Sunday, they opened up their office especially for us and drove us around. We eventually purchased an apartment through them. We were very impressed with their service and after service as we were kept informed along the way. They also state that they do not have any illegal properties on their books which was a massive comfort to us when buying.  We used Angela Morales Soler as our solicitor who was wonderful. We still use them for our tax returns and local tax payments. 

Hello everyone, new to the site but hope to stay for a bit😂 we are due to fly over in late June for a 12 day break and hope to pop in to some estate agents whilst over here as we have decided to retire here as everything we have read ticks all our boxes , we are still relatively young under 60 when we arrive and are very active  especially with our dog could anyone give some does and don'ts or negatives about coming over sorry to be so vague.

Please be in no doubt more silly questions to follow 😂😂😂

I think most of what you are looking for has already been said. You need to narrow down your search, i.e. do you want a Villa/Townhouse/Apartment, do you want coastal/inland, some areas are quite a long way above sea level, what altitude is your limit (we said 500m max as it can get cold in the winter), do you want neighbours, do you want remote or in an urbanisation, do you need to be close to a Hospital or are there facilities that must be on your door stop, do you need land/pool.  What's your budget because in most cases you won't get much more than 5% off the asking price or 10% max. Look at what is available for your budget using the filters on 'A Place in the Sun' website.

It is very hard to pick an area in just 12 days, I would suggest you need a longer stay than that and would recommend a 3-6 month rental before buying

Hi thank you jimh

 for this we are looking for a Vila close to bars  restaurants etc not close to the sea about a 40.mins drive is fine..

Looking to adopt another dog 🐶 if possible while here so also need area of beauty.

I did say that my questions will be daft😂😂

There is no shortage of dogs to adopt - Cantoria would be on your 40 minutes from the sea limit, Almonzora Albox, Arboleas, Huercal-Overa would all be within that scope. Personally I think Cantoria is a really well kept town and there are scenic views, if you want British bars then Arboleas but houses there are usually in urbanisations with plots of 600 metre or so. I am currently buying in Huercal-Overa and would recommend the San Francoisco and El Saltador areas but having a bar on your doorstep may not be possible