To list or not to list?

In Spain there is a general question that appears in almost all viewings of properties located just outside a village.
"Is there any impending infrastructure costs?"

What has happened is that in many areas land has been re-classified and the surrounding properties must install infrastructure. This may mean a pavement (sometimes loosing a few metres of land to accomodate a wider road and pavement), to installing underground electrics, water, etc.

Unfortuantly many vendors believe that they are not responsible for these additional costs (they may have even purchased the property aware of these costs and simply not carried them out yet) and therefore decide to pass on the infrastructure costs to the buyer.
This is ok IF the purchaer is aware of the situation however, what happens when a vendor does not want the listing agent to disclose this information?

This is what happened recently to a fellow agent. They listed a property but the vendor did not want to disclose infrastructure costs. The agent eventually decided not to list the property as they felt the repurcussions of not disclosing this infrastructure could damage their own reputation and risk the completion of the sale.
I completly agree with the actions of this agent. I too would not want to list a property of which I could not be completly honest with the purchaser about a cost that could run in to tens of thousands of euros...plus the purchasers lawyer and the notary would only divulge this information when requesting the Urbanistic Certificate.

Sometimes as an agent we have to make decisions, including not listing a sellable property, in order to preserve our reputation and to keep our consciences clear at night.

Have you ever come across a problem where you, as an agent, decided no to list a property? Let us know!

In the meantime Happy Listing!

Marketing ideas and results for Spanish Estate Agents.

As always when blogging you look for ideas, or hope ideas spring to you during the course of the day/week. However, I am really into reading The Modern Estate Agent. It's a fantastic blog written by Martin Smith who not only has an excellent flair for writing but who provides thought provoking ideas for estate agents.

I am constantly looking for new marketing ideas, thoughts and opinions on how to better myself in my work field and after stumbling across Martin's blog I realised how stagnant the property world is in Spain.

Recently I tried a, what I consider, fantastic and innovative new approach to advertising a property. I wrote the description from the point of view of the house and the house asking if it can be your new your new home. I did this because I get a bit tired of writing the same style descriptions and thought (you know what that did!) the clients would appreciate a bit of different reading material. I think I was wrong....

I have had minimal rquests since my innovative approach, I still have 1 brochure left in this design after a week whilst the other brochures have had to be re printed during the week and no-one (not one person) has commented on my new approach.

So after feeling abit bruised by the feedback I am to concede defeat. I am going to revert back to the same writing style and hopefully sell the house before one of my competitors.

However, for all those keen agents and clients out there I include below my fantastic innovative approach....feedback welcomed!




Emma works in Cases Xalo SL. For honest, hassle free property advice contact Emma on 966480355. For a full selection of resale and rental property in the Jalon Valley and throughout the surrounding areas view www.casesxalo.com