The combination of terrible economic times, coupled with terrific Spanish property bargains, leaves many of us in a situation where we are sorely tempted to invest, but fearful of acting so boldly.

So what should we do?

I always remember my Group MD from the UK sitting me down one day when I was a young lad (well, 29 actually!), and letting me in on a few secrets of how he had amassed his incredible wealth. As a self-made multi-millionaire, he had made a habit of buying and selling companies at EXACTLY the right times.

His advice? It went something like this…
“When I sold my first business, people thought I was daft – the company was doing well, increasing its revenues and profits year on year. Nobody could see an end to its success. We were greedy for more. But nothing ever lasts. Business is a roller-coaster – the time to get off is just before you get to the highest point, and the time to get on is when it´s right down at the bottom. In this way, you avoid all the lumps and bumps – all the scary bits. The problem is that people get greedy, and they try and hang on for as long as possible in search of those 2 critical points. Invariably, they miss them.”

I saw this guy buy and sell businesses in the UK. Every single time, the man made money…lots of it. He never bought at EXACTLY the right time, and he never sold at EXACTLY the right time – like he said, it´s almost impossible to do.

“The best time to sell is before everybody else starts selling and lowers the market value, and the best time to buy is before everybody else starts buying and increases the market value”.

The same theory can be applied to many scenarios, particularly property.

With the Spanish property market supposedly on its knees, is now the time to buy. Most probably, yes.

Unfortunately, I would bet my mortgage that most prospective buyers of property in Spain will be ruled by the ´fear factor´ and will wait a little longer until we “officially” hit the bottom of the market. I fear that once they realise where they are at, they will be climbing back up that rollercoaster, with lots of other buyers on board.

The rules of supply and demand dictate that this will mean one thing – rising prices.