The property market in Spain has encountered a vast drop in value over the past couple of years now, unfortunately it has been the same here in Torrevieja and most of the Costa Blanca south. Pricing of your property is the simple difference between the sale of your property and it still being sat on the market. There is term in Real Estate called “Chasing the market” is is all too common here on the Costa Blanca, where as property prices come down in valuation – you drop your asking price inline with the new value of your home. What you are affectively doing to losing money each and every time you lower your price, however – if you lead the market down you have the best possible chance of selling your home and much faster than the properties that you are in competition with when looking to sell your home.

Picture this … You have a two bedroom apartment in Torrevieja town centre, your property had a valuation of 100,00 euros 2 years ago, so you marketed your property with the endless list of Estate Agents that you chose to market your property, over the next 6 months the valuation dropped by 10% however, you didn’t adjust the price to the markets current valuation. Then after time, you contact the Estate Agents to see how your property is doing with viewings and to see what the market is like in respect to the apartments that are similar to yours. Then and only then, you decide to drop your price inline with the other apartments – what you doing is “Chasing the market”.

What you need to do well before even listing your property in our days is look at the prices of your competition because believe me you are in competition with other sellers, and list your property cheaper than theirs. Yes, we understand that you want to get as much as possible for your home in Spain, but what you will be doing if you continue to chase the market is losing more and more of your money and making it harder and harder to sell your property.

If you “lead the market down” you will sell your property faster than your competitors – and within a couple of months their property will be worth what you sold your property for, however – theirs will still be on the market and continuing the trend of market chasing, whilst you will have the money in the bank as yours will be sold!

Everyone is looking for a bargain priced property, no one wants to pay over the odds for anything, get ahead of the market today to ensure you have the best possible chance of selling your home in Spain and fast.

If you haven’t sold your property on the Costa Blanca south, then don’t you think it is time to contact the Resale Centre for an honest valuation and the lowest commissions.

Selecting an Estate Agent in Spain is not like it is in the UK where you would usually go to just the one agency to market your property, here in Spain you are able to go to dozens to give yourself a better chance of selling your home.

However, there are a couple of things that might be something that you want to look out for when handing over those keys to an estate agency here on the Costa Blanca.

House Valuations:

Anyone can tell your house is worth a certain amount so be careful if your estate agent over values your property. Yes, it may be music to your ears that your property is worth more than you thought from your estate agent but getting a proper bank valuation will put your mind at rest on terms of how much your property is worth to the bank as this is what the buyers mortgage will be compared to.

Look at other properties in your urbanisation that are for sale and compare, do you know anyone that recently sold there property near you? How much did they accept for the sale of their property and how long was it on the market for?

Especially now, be prepared to take a lot lower than your starting asking price. Very rarely will someone pay the exact asking price, offers will always be on the table if they are seriously interested in purchasing your property.

Estate Agent commissions:

Obviously a big subject here in Spain is “High Estate Agent Commissions”. What do Estate Agents do for the money that they are charging to market and sell your propety for you?

Make sure you ask how much commission they will be adding to the asking price or if it is being taken out of your asking price that you have agreed to settle on. It is very well publicized that Estate Agents where making an absolute fortune out of their clients charging ridiculous sums of money, sometimes as much as 15% / 20% commission which in our eyes in unjustifiable. Most estate agents in our days now work on smaller commissions like ourselves, we only charge 3% commission however – if it makes the difference between making a sale and not, there is always room for negotiation on our part as well as the vendors. We have always been low commission estate agents since the day we opened our doors, as the market has changed all other estate agencies have had to follow suit or risk going down the same route as the greedy agents … closure!

Just make sure that you know what is being made from the sale of your property and that you are not being taken for a ride.

Signing Contracts:

Make sure you look at the small print, make sure that the agent that you are looking at marketing your home for sale is not asking for exclusivity which would stop you from taking your property to other agencies to show your property. Better still, find a agency that you do not have to sign any contracts pre sale. This will give you the freedom to do what ever you like with your property, if you wish to stop using an estate agent due to a bad experience with them, then you may take your keys away and ask them to remove your home from their shop window and website.

Most estate agents will ask for keys or for the contact of your key holder if you are not resident in Spain or you are very rarely here. This is down to the fact that you are not always going to be here to be able to open up and the house before a viewing takes place. In most cases viewings are made at very short notice so it is necessary to have good access and at short notice.

Multiple Estate Agents:

Obviously, it’s a numbers game, the more people that you get to view your property the more chance you have of achieving a sale. So, get your property in order - function ability, feel and look, then with all of the ideas above, select your estate agents to market your property. Don’t limit yourself to just the one otherwise you may be sat on your property for a lot longer than you think.

One thing that is common practice here in Spain is that Estate Agents share properties, which in fact is much better for you in a way. If they have a client that is arriving at short notice and they do not have the type of property that their client is looking for they will usually ask around other agents that they collaborate with to find a property that is suitable for their client. If you are not comfortable with this idea, make sure you tell the estate agent that you are using that you do not want your property to be used by other agents. But in the long run it is better for you in your bid to sell your property.

In todays market in Spain, people that are looking for a property for sale will do all the planning back at home over the internet. They will contact agents to arrange viewings and will have a complete schedule for the whole of their stay here, they will be out with different estate agents everyday – completely different from the days of the old inspection trips where they would only be out with one estate agent during their stay here.

Now, your property is in competition with so many other properties that are currently available on the market and you need to make sure that not only is it more attractive price wise and on the eye – but you need to make sure that you are getting enough viewings for it to be sold.

Remember, word of mouth is always the best form of recommendation – ask others that are or have been in the same situation as you are in now, see what their experiences have been like and see whom they would recommend!

Good luck in the sale of your property!

Just recently we added a new page to our website which is about us looking for more properties to sell on the Costa Blanca south. We have also stepped up our print advertising and posted around on lots of popular websites looking for people that are in need of a quick sale of their property in the Costa Blanca south region.

If you have not had any luck selling your property, with estate agents pricing you out of a sale or lack of viewings then isn’t it time you called The Resale Centre?

We will give you an answer in a matter of minutes!

We only take on properties that we know that we have a good chance of selling and that they are what people are looking for, we will tell you the honest truth! We have, at the moment, a lack of properties to show our clients that are arriving weekly – so if you have run out of ideas, contact us and we will see if we can help you sell your property and fast!

Selling your property should be like anything else that you are looking to sell, first impressions are everything to a buyer so making sure that your home is in order is a huge must before you even think about marketing your property or letting anyone into your home to view it. And yes, it’s a numbers game in a way – the more people that view your property the more likely you are to achieve a sale.

Little repairs can transform the feel and look of your property, the potential buyers out there will put your house in front of others that they have viewed if they see that there is little or nothing to do in terms of decor and function ability. Of course, many people will look at the property that they are selling and ask themselves, do I really want to spend more money on a place that I no longer want to live in, but this could also be there downfall in their bid to sell their own homes.

Realistically, you don’t have to spend that much money on cleaning, doing odd jobs and organising your home to make it feel more homely, comfortable and pleasing on the eye of potential buyers. Here are just some ideas that we have put up together on a check list for you to have a look at before you ask an estate agent to market your property or for you to go it alone.

Exterior ideas:
- Keep your lawn mowed, raked and watered.
- Tidy up plants / bushes / trees.
- Remove any toys, tools, trash items, etc. from outside your home.
- Place all watering hoses and gardening equipment out of sight.
- Pathways / driveways should be clear of debris.
- Paint mailbox if needed and make sure street number or house name is legible.
- Clean / paint gates, fences, shed, etc.
- Clean, repair and paint all gutters and down pipes.
- Make sure garage door opens and closes with ease.
- Make the front of the property as welcoming as possible.
- Get a second opinion from a friend or neighbour.

Interior suggestions:
- Clean all windows (inside and out).
- Open windows to air your house.
- Make sure the floor is cleaning and clear of dust and smears.
- Clean everything in home from top to bottom (especially the kitchen and bathrooms).
- Never leave dirty dishes in sink.
- Fill and paint any nail holes.
- Make sure all doors are in excellent condition.
- Repair or replace loose wallpaper / a lick of paint never goes a miss – and you can’t go wrong with white as potential buyers see they can paint over white!
- Light a candle before showings to ensure the home smells good.
- Leave lights on when showing to make your property look more bright.
- Clear away any clutter than is unnecessary, arrange furniture and possessions to ensure maximum space.
- Make your home seems user friendly.
- Buy small accessories that do not cost much to make inside more welcoming.

Most of the ideas above do not cost anything. We go to many properties every week – people contacting us to sell their property on the Costa Blanca, however – 80% or more of these home owners do not even bother to sell their property to us making our job even harder selling to a potential buyer. With a small bit of thought – many home owners looking to sell could have already have done so!

If you have anymore ideas that would be good for a seller to do before marketing their property, then feel free to add a comment to the bottom of the page and we will publish them for others to see.