Having just returned from meeting with a very unhappy customer, who bought a unfurnished, new occupied, bank repossession, from an agent, I thought that it would be worth explaining the process, to avoid other people having similar problems,
There are a growing number of developers, including people like Polaris, who have handed back properties to the banks, to discharge the builders mortgages, who then sell these through a variety of agents, normally at heavily discounted prices but buyers must understand the differences in this type of purchase
These properties are classed as re-sale, not new, they attract a higher rate of IVA and most importantly are, sold as seen. There is no repairs and snagging carried out by the builder, before or after you complete. What you see is what you are get and in this case I still cannot understand why some buyers do not first visit, or have a 3rd party check the property, before they complete, perhaps agents say they don't need to.
They are discounted on the basis that the buyer will probably have to spend some money getting the property checked and the defects repaired, BEFORE, they furnish and use the property. There may be damage, often items missing as the builder has probably cannibalised the property to repair other units and we regularly see, doors, plumbing and white goods missing.
In this case the buyers first visit was to what he believed was going to be a cleaned furnished property ready to use property which wasn't further from the truth as the property was furnished with items and lights missing, dirty including a birds nest in a wardrobe and with a long list of defects including doors not locking, taps missing, hollow and raised tiles, poor grouting, cracking on the bathroom ceiling, all items that would be part of a snagging process
The expectation of the buyer is that this is the agents responsibility to sort this out, the agents response is that the property is bought as seen, the builders response is that it nothing to do with me and that the bank should have reported any defects
There are still some defects that should be covered as part of the buildings insurance that is included with the community fees and of course the 10 years structural guarantees but making a claim on is an expensive and lengthy process
So again, as with all of these situations in Spain get everything in writing, look at the property before you complete, take photographs, do an inventory because things can go missing and be prepared and have a budget for repairs. Ask the simple question is that a new property which can have a snagging list repaired or a resale and include any agreements with the contracts when you complete at The Notary
There are some very good bargains out there, even with the additional costs for repairs,
We recently started to work on promoting these types of properties but, because of our background in building inspections, approached the business in a different way, providing potential buyers with a full condition report on the property, before they even view and pricing to have any works rectified by a qualified tradesman