Estate Agents Costs - Page 2

Barbara50 wrote on Thu Apr 23, 2020 11:11pm:

We are nearing completion of our purchase and a few hints and tips are:

Keep everyone independent of each other, so don't use the Estate Agents Solicitors or Architect.  We needed the services of all 3 but ensured they had no obvious connection with each other; we made sure ours were from different towns. ...

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Do not under any circumstances complete without a Certificate of Habitation. Its not law in certain parts of Murcia but you are well within your rights to insist on it before completion.  If you buy the property without it and you are the first ones to apply for it, you might never get it and selling on will be a huge problem for you. 

Yes, it's buying in Spain and you have to put your 'Spanish' head on, but don't get carried away and settle for being told certain things aren't needed when they actually are. Look up independently what is needed from start to finish and keep on at your solicitor to make sure everything is in order. You assume you're paying them to keep everything right but believe me, you have to stay on their backs. From what I know now, I'm sure I could have just acted for myself! 

We decided to go down the power of attorney route, as there are around 8 interventions where signatures / permissions are needed and we just simply couldn't fly in and out that many times. 

Please don't let the fact that it can be daunting put you off. As long as you get prepared and keep your logical wits about you, you'll be fine. 

Good luck! 

Norma1234 wrote on Fri Apr 24, 2020 10:02am:

Barbara50 

Many thanks for your insight into what I think could be a stressful process, going by what it's like here in the U.K. dealing with solicitors buying and selling is stressful enough we have been through this many times, so don't put all your eggs in one basket, 

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Many thanks 

Norma1234 wrote on Fri Apr 24, 2020 12:32pm:

Hi well I think you have touched lucky and I a much glad for you here's hoping if and when we purchase we have the same degree of success that you have, thanks for your reply 

RichT wrote on Thu Apr 23, 2020 12:02pm:

Unfortunately, there are rogues in all business sectors and it sounds like CJ has had a terrible experience which, as they say, has 'destroyed their dream', which is awful.

However, whilst people always tend to focus on a small number of negative issues, I'm sure the vast majority of purchases complete successfully....

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I can only decribe our experience for reference and hope this provides some help:

We shortlisted 12 properties via the Rightmove website, then narrowed it down to 4 and contacted the estate agent (who by sheer coincidence was the same agent for all 4 properties) and flew out for viewings.

When we decided the property we wanted, we met the vendor at the property, which helps know that the sale is genuine.

We used a UK-based solicitor (with an office in Spain), who recommended a mortgage broker (again English / Spanish firm). I would never use a lawyer or any other service recommended by an estate agent as it feels likely there would be a conflict of interest.

The broker helped us get an NIE number (which I forgot to mention in my list). This is the non-resident tax number you need to be able to buy a property (technically you don't need it to buy a property, but you need it to pay the property tax, so you do need it!). This only costs a few £s, but you need to get it in person at either a UK embassy / consulate or at an appropriate office in Spain.

There are several actions that you can do via a Power of Attourney to a Spain-based lawyer. This may save a small amount in cost & convenience, but you're basically authorising someone you've never met to act on your behalf in very high value matters, so we didn't do this and I would recommend not to...

Finally, we used a bank called Revolut for currency transactions (on the recommendation from a friend). It's about £50pa to subscribe, but you exchange your money at the live inter-bank exchange rate, whish will always be the best possible; and you can have a pre-paid debit card backed by Mastercard, so that avoids paying any foreign transaction charges or adverse exchange rates when paying for goods / services abroad. It's a bit of a hassle to set up as they needs loads of info. to ensure you're not money-laundering! but I think well worth it.

Hope this helps...

philip59 wrote on Sun Apr 26, 2020 2:52pm:

hi, bought villa in fortuna last november solicitor cost me 1,200 euros  plus local tax's and gov,tax's 

so on 147,995 euro house was about  another 15,000 on top ,ie, all tax's plus solicitor  plus 1,200 euros

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for notery, and all legal paper work ..............

MinnieC45 wrote on Sun Apr 26, 2020 3:06pm:

We arranged everything through A Place in the Sun including money transfer. We were lucky that the euro was €1.20. Our estate agent was Your Dream Home. We had Daniela on a three day viewing trip in January and bought our place in Fortuna then. She has been brilliant at organising our house ins...

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...urance for us and generally keeping in touch.  Incidentally If you have,a Murcia post code its a bit dearer but not much. Hopefully we will get out this year. We bought it to escape the winter months in Scotland. Good luck with your search.