# Viewing property in Spain



## RedWinePlease (Mar 5, 2015)

Hi everyone,
Next year I Intend to purchase a property in the Alicante region of Spain. I'm looking to buy a villa situated a little inland in a less populated area but near to a village or town. I will be a cash buyer and I want to make the process as easy as possible. 
I have viewed many properties online and have seen potential new homes for me in various areas.
My main question to those of you that have made the move is what were your experiences of actually viewing property before you purchased?
Did you make contact with estate agents online or by phone in Spain and arrange viewings with them, was that contact before you went, did they provide transport and actually take you to view properties or did you hire a car and base yourself in the area and make your own arrangements to view, or did you do it some other way.
Could you also please advise on making contact with a solicitor, I'm presuming the estate agents will recommend a solicitor if asked but is that the best way to go about it?
Any experiences you have had would be appreciated as this will make deciding how to go about viewing property and employing a solicitor much easier.
Many thanks
David


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

Well we have just purchased the sort of place you are looking for around the Alicante area so can give a bit of advice.

Firstly it helps to understand just what type of property you are after and the implications of they type of land it is built on. For instance you have two main types of land urban or rustic, properties on rustic land come with various conditions. Google rustic/urban land in the Valencia region for a bit of reading.
We decided early on that we wanted urban land unless it was really special but the point was moot anyway as banks don't want to lend for rustic properties.

This can make things interesting when it comes to viewings because despite telling agents you only want to see urban properties some of them will spend their day dragging you around to see rustic ones wasting time for everybody involved.
Agents are best used as a means to an end and you tell them the properties you want to see as opposed to the other way round.

It also helps to identify which house is on what land first if you can and the way we checked is to spend ages scouring google maps for the exact location and then cross checking on a site like goolzoom.es for the cadastral information which will tell you the land classification and give an outline of how much of the property or pool are correctly registered/legal.
It is at least a starting point and will save you hours looking at rustic properties you can't do a thing with.

Anyway, once you have identified the properties we mostly contacted agents via the web page they were advertised on, sometimes it was a private seller but it for the most part was fine. It is certainly better to do it when you are here though and not before.
We had our own car but they will drive you around if you need to but I'd prefer to be in charge as you might have 5 visits with 3 agents and many advertise the same properties.

As for a solictor you can check the British consulate page they have a list but I can personally recommend Pellicer & Heredia in Alicante.


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## RedWinePlease (Mar 5, 2015)

Dear Pazcat, many thanks for your prompt and informative reply, you have certainly given me some good advice and have highlighted issues that I had not considered.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

RedWinePlease said:


> Dear Pazcat, many thanks for your prompt and informative reply, you have certainly given me some good advice and have highlighted issues that I had not considered.


Pazcat's advice is sound. It is always a good idea to find a good abogado who is unconnected with both the seller and the estate agent. Get yourself a good independent translator/interpreter as well, rather than look for an abogado who speaks English (the English speaking abogado may well not translate bits he is not sure of and might not tell you everything but a good translator/interpreter should be able to pick on those things and question on your behalf)


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## Sunny Jim1 (Jan 20, 2015)

Hi Red Wine Please,
When I bought my Villa I found my own lawyer as I heard so many stories about corrupt people.
I can say I am more than happy almost 10 years on. I used Glyn Moran at gpsjavea.com
First class and prompt replies to all my queries when I was buying.


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## xelaOW (Sep 18, 2015)

*Costa Blanca South area*

If you like the Costa Blanca South area I can recommend Spanish Life Properties, they are very professional and can help you in the whole purchasing process.

Good luck!

Regards


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## tonymar (Jan 29, 2015)

Hi David ,

We have been here just inland of Alicante city for 12 years now , when we first came over viewing we got a cheap hotel in Benidorm as a base , hired a car and went exploring !

Personally I feel finding the area that is right for you is more important than the house , 

Good luck with your house hunting , there are plenty of bargains to be had at the moment !!

Cheers Tony Agost Alicante


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## Leper (May 12, 2010)

I have read through the contributions on this thread and am impressed with some of the advice given. That is not to say that I agree with 100% of the advice. Here are some of my thoughts:-

1. Employ a Gestor (solicitor) to act solely for you. Forget about conveyancing "professionals."
2. Searching for property online and believing everything you see is a disaster. But, you have to start somewhere, so keep an open mind.
3. Believe little you hear from neighbours of where you want to purchase and nothing from the real estate agents. Use your head.
4. Don't confine yourself to dealing with one real estate agent. Work "professionally" and make appointments with them which you can keep. It would be prudent to rent a car for the "searching" time, if for nothing else to get to the auctioneers.
5. Read back through posts on this forum and then re-read the posts. Seperate the chaff from the wheat and ensure you don't keep the chaff.
6. Common sense overrides everything; no point in having the most beautiful villa and that building across the road is a water treatment plant. The smell will be the least of your troubles.
7. Your adventure is not "Buying Property Home or Abroad" and you do not have to make snap decisions. The price of property is not going to jump because you are interested. But, I have to point out bargains are there to be had in abundance, so don't rush.
8. Ensure your partner/husband/wife makes main decisions with you and vice versa.
9. Confine your choice to one property and you will pay the price. Have a Plan B. Do not get sucked into a bidding war. Believe me, if you have a 2nd and 3rd choice real estate agents and vendors will treat you with more respect. Nobody wants to lose a sale, so be cold, calculating and be prepared to walk away from the sale. Remember the Real Estate Agent's Mantra is :- When you arrive in Spain, you leave your brains at the airport.

My Mantra:- Do not get screwed. If you do, you deserve it!


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## GraemeP (Oct 16, 2014)

Hi, we bought last year.

We didn't have a clue what we wanted - we had decided on Costa Blanca South because Alicante and San Javier airports wee east to get to from Birmingham.

We then picked out groups of properties to view and set up viewings with local estate agents, as much to see the areas as the villas.

Each estate agent would add their own selection based on the types we had picked to view.

We then went across for 4 days and just viewed about 40 villas! In each area a local estate agent would spend half a day with us taking us round. Each day we changed our mind! It came down to the area & we are now in Torre de la Horadada near the beach.

(There's plenty room for "negotiation"! But allow for 12% on top for taxes etc)

We bought through Kinu5 - a local estate agent. Their after care was fantastic and we have done everything through them.


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## RedWinePlease (Mar 5, 2015)

Dear Leper, thank you for your advice which is relevant and sound, rest assured I will be taking my brains with me when viewing properties and dealing with estate agents.


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Are surveyors readily available in Spain?


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Rabbitcat said:


> Are surveyors readily available in Spain?


No, they don't exist (unless they are Brits or another nationality and then I wonder about their standing in Spain).

This is a function carried out by an Architect in Spain.


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## Rabbitcat (Aug 31, 2014)

Thank you.

I knew I had read something like that but my memory is (worryingly) atrocious these days. Much appreciated


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

RedWinePlease said:


> Hi everyone,
> Next year I Intend to purchase a property in the Alicante region of Spain. I'm looking to buy a villa situated a little inland in a less populated area but near to a village or town. I will be a cash buyer and I want to make the process as easy as possible.
> I have viewed many properties online and have seen potential new homes for me in various areas.
> My main question to those of you that have made the move is what were your experiences of actually viewing property before you purchased?
> ...


We moved here after more than a year of online research and several fact-finding visits. We viewed mainly through estate agents but did have a couple of private viewings. When with estate agents, we tended to go with them in their car or follow them in our hire car. Once we decided upon an area to live in we made a list of “must haves” such as: peaceful, rural location with no immediate neighbours; some land; swimming pool; no passing traffic, good views, etc, etc. We found many properties of interest on idealista.com, fotocasa.es and kyero.com and liaised with agents/owners via email. We had two solid weeks packed with viewings before finally deciding on our current property which ticked every box in our wish list and we have spent seven happy years here. You may be interested in taking a look at this property owned by a friend: Farm In The Sun - Farmhouse For Sale in Cocentaina Spain. We can recommend a good solicitor called Oscar Ricor (http://ricorabogados.com/) who is based in Alicante and speaks very good English. Even though we had a list of “must haves” several agents tried to persuade us to view properties that in no way matched our requirements and we had to be very firm with them. We were also frustrated to find that some agents listed properties that had been sold but still agreed to make viewing appointments. When we turned up for viewings they broke the news to us that the property was no longer available but they were taking us to see another “that we are sure you will like.” Be firm and tell them to go forth and multiply! Good luck!


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