Property Inspection Trip Alicante

Hi Mark.

Read your very interesting letter about inspection visits to Spain.
We must have been very lucky, I have included a small testimonial if any one is interested in this company or has any questions feel free to give my e-mail address.

Keep up the good work.

Derek

Just back from our 4 day inspection tour in Spain, and what a fantastic experience it was as well, we were picked up at the airport by Ismael our Spanish, Australian, representative, he asked if we would prefer to go to our hotel or straight to a viewing, our choice was to go for a viewing.

We had already sent an e-mail with our budget, type of property, location, when I say location, we did not want beach front, busy bars and partying all night, [been there and done all that].

Ismael had a selection of property for us to view and asked a few questions on our lifestyle, likes and dislikes.

We arrived at the first viewing a new build, key ready, 2 bed, 2 bathroom, kitchen living room 2 balconies, with communal pool on the roof. Wow we were bowled over and in a small lovely Spanish town, like you see in the movies, it was almost a 1st view sale.

Ismael said he had a few others to view so we went for the long Spanish lunch and had a long chat, we discarded 6 properties only 1 bedroom, or in a high rise, he showed us schedules of a few others, that looked promising, but I honestly thought you won't beat the 1st one.

We then went and did another new build on a golf course, fantastic property, but the golf course life is not for us.

Ismael was fantastic he was a minefield of information, on local geography, history, no bull, only facts good and bad a real top guy.

In the background was Jose his partner he was at home his wife is due there 1st baby, but he was on the phone, on the computer, feeding information all day long.

Back to the hotel for check-in and a cold beer. 9pm we could not believe it.
We had a walk round the town that night down the front it was just perfect.

9.30 am next morning, away to our next choice, with a scenic drive and full of information Ismael.

This was a re-sale on a 5 year old complex. WWWWWWWooooooooooWWW. 2 bed 1 bathroom maisonette top floor and we have the whole roof to ourselves, fully furnished including all white goods, very Spanish outside but very British inside, bigger rooms and more practical all round my gorgeous wife fell in love with it straight away, and I was not far behind her.

Ismael took us back to the first property again, we chatted with the builder who could finance the whole thing for us, so with all the figures we went for the long Spanish lunch. We had a decision to make, if the other property had been in the other town sold. Ismael spoke to us one at a time and asked our thoughts on each property NO PRESSURE EVER. As it turned out we both wanted the second property.

So a phone call to Jose and an offer was placed. We headed back to review the property. The offer was accepted early evening, but Ismael stayed with us until it came through, he took us to a shopping mall huge with everything you could want.

When we got the confirmation we said you get home to your family, have an early night. He looked at our watch 8.30 pm ooppps, but no problem he must have covered 100s of miles, bought all the lunches and was a mine of information but not a hint of sales pressure.

Thursday 9.30 am picked us up, took us to what will be our local town, showed us round, got maps, went to the town hall, they do free Spanish lessons, he then took us to a bank and a lovely Spanish girl who spoke perfect English, opened a Spanish bank account for us. Not a five minute job, a lot of paper work but all explained in perfect English.

Then a dash across country to see a lawyer he was actually on holiday but came in just to help us out as we were flying out the next morning. Can you see that happening back home.

12 pm job done, deposit paid, lawyer has power of attorney so we go back when it's time to pick up the keys. [SIMPLES]

So job done, no not a chance, Ismael took us to lunch again, no got the sale I'm off, lunch and shopping we had to order Ismael home at 5pm.

We were picked at 9 am the next morning and taken to the airport in plenty of time for our flight home. A truly great experience, and a great deal, now in our opinion is the time to buy the property, cannot go much lower and must start rising in value very soon.

Garry was on the phone first day home he was as excited as we are. A top service by a great bunch of people and if any one has any questions please ask for my e-mail and I will give you an honest answer.

And yes if you buy they pay for the hotel, if you don't, you pay the hotel. The trip and sights of Spain is worth that, gone are the days of the free flights and hotels. We are in a recession and you see it, but it will come back big time, but there is bargains to be had, our seller's price had dropped 13,000 in the last 2 weeks, but the bank valuations are still high, but they are getting snapped up.

Derek

(We are buying in Entree Naranjos, near San Miguel).

Update in From Derek 4 December 2010

Well here it is at last, part 3, I think I ended up in my last article saying SIMPLES, well the 1st part was and Ismael and Jose certainly made it so as I said in my last article.

What I did not take into account is the Spanish way of doing things yes I can see a smile forming on those of you who have been there wore the t shirt etc.

A couple of things have also changed more recently I will explain as I go 1st thing for anyone thinking of buying in Spain is don’t for one minute think you can just come over look, bid, and buy. It sure is not like the UK. Get an expert, like Ismael and Jose spanishbest@gmail.com they know the areas they understand the client’s needs be honest, and upfront it is more than a sale for them, see my previous article.

When we got back to Scotland, we were contacted by our Spanish lawyers we had to go to our own lawyer and he did the legal’s for us got our passports stamped and certified with the official stamps it’s sent to London foreign office official stamp of the Haig etc then sent to Spain, bit of a panic there the foreign office got it wrong and it had to be sent back but at no extra cost to us.

Meanwhile I am of to hospital for a hip replacement, no problems all went well with that, but I have had loads of time of maybe too much time on my hands. Our next hitch was the mortgage, not so easy nowadays like back home it is getting harder, so in came our Saviour I call her my Fixer, she is a mortgage consultant our problem was the deposit, we can afford the monthly outgoings as we both have okay salaries, but if you don’t have at least 60% you need a fixer even if you have a decent deposit get a fixer she does it all and keeps you in the know with daily updates, she has the contacts, and the know how to get it all done it is a complicated process.

Our next hitch was with the NIE’S Lawyer has power of attorney they can go and get them for you, not as Simples as it used to be apparently only Orihuela region lets a lawyer do it all the rest you have to go yourself, an appointment was made but, the rules had JUST been changed the passports had to be stamped again with the stamp of the Haig sent to foreign office so more time wasted and more expense. Back to our lawyer. This sorted our fixer took over organised the survey got the mortgage sorted, got a bank account opened our cash was sitting in Global currency exchange, top service part of Barclays so that was transferred over our fixer got all the lawyers together, ours, the sellers, the banks. And it all went through on Friday, the 26th November, bearing in mind our original entry date was 7th October sound familiar to you guys who have been out a while, smiling again.

It’s Spain and you get used to it, you have to. Our fixer by the way is Santi spanishlink1@gmail.com they both are independent of each other but occasionally work together check out their websites, pretty impressive but not huge companies where you are a number small enough to care and give you the personal touch.

To sum up read the previous article, you will see what impressed us with the inspection visit. The guys were great. But the deal would have been dead and in the water if Santi had not been on board.

Dying to get out and see our little bit of Paradise, holiday home, learn the language, get a job, move over. Watch this space.

To be continued. Derek and Georgie Stuart. Any questions don’t hesitate to ask. I will answer as honestly as I can.

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Property Inspection Trip to Alicante Area