There have been a lot of online articles and comments following the broadcast of the much-awaited 2nd part of Paradise Lost last Wednesday, the ITV documentary detailing the traumas of everyday Brits who have had a nightmare in Spain.

I have to admit that I was a bit confused at the end of the programme. Most of the airtime was devoted to a group of very content expat Brits in the La Marina region of the Costa Blanca – not everyone´s cup of tea, but a lot of people´s idea of paradise. Then there was the Queen of Marbella Real Estate, Kristina Szekely, getting herself all excited about what people get up to in jacuzzis, whilst showing us around several OTT luxury villas in Marbella. And finally, the tale of a Huddersfield hairdresser who was determined to make a success of his newly opened salon in Marbella by charging people top dollar.
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I suppose everyone watched the hour-long programme dedicated to the woes of the Spanish property market, broadcast last night on ITV.

“Paradise Lost” took a long look at several buyers who had all encountered terrible hardship after buying their dream home in Spain. Let´s look at the cases that were featured:

-    a middle aged gentleman who had bought an overpriced 2 bed apartment in an undeveloped area of the Costa del Sol during the height of the property boom. He had paid €250,000 euros, and he couldn´t sell the thing at €180,000 at auction.
-    A British couple who had bought a villa in Marbella and had been forced to move out as they were unable to afford the mortgage repayments.
-    2 buyers who purchased on a decidedly dodgy development on the Costa Blanca Continue reading »

This is awful. I can´t stand the waiting. Everything is out of my control. My fate is entirely in the hands of the vendor and his agent. Apparently the cash buyer has been to Marbella, and has made an improved offer of €430,000. It now transpires that the owner has ´accepted´ this offer, but also my (lower) offer and the property will be sold to whoever deposits 20% of the purchase price with his lawyer in Spain.

Hang on a minute!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The negotiations have gone from 10 mph to 100 mph, and I am being left behind. It seems that the other buyer has already done his due diligence with his Spanish lawyer, and is ready to buy. Although I am mortgage-approved, I am still reluctant to hand over €84,000 without a valuation and without a nod from my lawyer. Because I need a mortgage,  I´m miles behind the other buyer. Continue reading »

I´ve recently been approached by a number of clients anxious to sell their properties in Spain. Nothing new in that, but I noticed that several of them expressed a preference to instruct an estate agent based in the UK to do the job.

When I asked the vendors why they felt it necessary to do this, they replied that they felt it would be easier to communicate with a UK based agent, and that they would be able to pick up the phone to them or pop into their office at any time for an update on the progress of their Spanish property sale.

This is madness! Would you try to sell your property in the UK by instructing an agent in Marbella, or Madrid….or Milwaukee? Continue reading »