Avoid cheap Spanish property

Bargain properties in Spain may not be all that they seem, with some suffering from shoddy workmanship.

There is little doubt that prices have fallen especially on the Costa del Sol. There is talk of a Summer Sale, some even talk of prices falling by up to 50% compared with this time last year.

But bargain hunters should not go in with rose tinted spectacles, warns Adam Gale, Managing Director of Duchy Estates. 'A lot of the so-called bargains are being off-loaded at rock bottom prices because they're poor quality in poor locations,' he said.

'It pays to spend some time sifting through what's available, be selective and remember that cheap isn't always cheerful - you're better off having €300,000 worth of gold than €100,000 euros of rubbish,' he added.

Tapping into the knowledge of an established estate agent based on the ground is one way of taking the gamble out of lucrative bargain hunting. According to Gale, it is worth asking an agent if they can find out the motives for selling and if the vendor has a genuine change of personal or financial circumstances and desperately needs to make a swift exit.

These so-called 'distressed' sales represent the fall-out from rogue traders in the industry who oversold, over promised and overstretched unsuspecting house hunters. Keen to get just one sunshine holiday home, some greedy unscrupulous agents twisted their arms into buying two or three with the idea that the profits from selling before completion could fund the first.

'This worked to a point, the point when the boom ended and an oversupply of stock made it incredibly difficult to sell. People own homes that they never intended to even take the keys for and many cannot afford to keep up mortgage repayments on multiple units,' explained Gale.

Last week his company handled the sale of a three bedroom apartment in a high quality apartment complex within the sought-after resort of Los Arqueros. The list price was a fair €350,000 but the vendor finally settled for €255,000 including the furniture. 'That was a bargain, the right property, the right location, the right price, and in a few years time the new owner will undoubtedly reap the returns,' added Gale.

BOOKMARK THIS PAGE (What is this?)