have the agents been wiped out in the property war

Oh More!!!!!!

I haven't had my hair dyed,it must have been a trick of the light.

you must be thinking of someone else,as if i am vain enough to have my hair done simply because i am gonna be on the telly...............

can't beleive you said that.....cant beleive you said that ....cant beleive you said that.........

great,thats added fuel to the flames now!!......

I guesss that means your new spangly all singing all dancing carlos fandago extra wide wheels laptop is now working then.......

I have just been out hunting for the costa blanca wild goose!!!!!

OR A CLIENT THAT RANG AND ASKED TO SEE A PROPERTY,WAITED FOR ME TO GET THE OWNERS BACK FROM SHOPPING,STAND IN THE SQUARE FOR A HOUR AND THEN TURN THEIR PHONE OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT IS WRONG WITH SOME PEOPLE,IF YOU DONT WANT TO LOOK AT A PROPERTY DONT RING AND ASK TO,OR AT LEAST DO ME THE COURTESY OF A CALL TO TELL ME YOU HAVE CHANGED YOUR MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THATS NOT BLONDE STREAKS ITS BLOODY GREY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sorry,finished shouting now,i am turning into Mr Angry...................

they must have been delayed then mate,must be the same couple that have had waiting in the plaza for an hour............

People eh,cant live them,can't bind them in ropes coat them in concrete and push them off the sea wall.with.........

sorry that was me thinking out loud.....

I'm getting worried

When I visit will I be safe from raging agents?

I only rage in private, with clients i am sweeteness and light............

unless of course you stand me up and then its out with the chainsaw and off to the mountains whoaaaa....................

And it was raining up there too - at least we had the sun today

Anyway - whats a client?? Got loads of sellers but not one of those funny things that make the other side of the contract

Georgia - cement overcoats are fine, they still havent found my old ones.....................!

a friend of mine is an agent in spain and they are desperate to find a different way to sell properties for the owners to overseas clients..

Traditionally the agents in spain give you a price for the property and then add their 5,10 or 15% on top, often making the property overpriced, unlike britain where they take their 1 or 2 % from the sale price.

What is happening more and more is that people come over for inspection flights, get driven around and shown a host of properties, if they like one, what is now happening in 1:3 cases is that buyers are going back that evening or the next day, knocking on the door and doing a direct deal with the owner to the exclusion of the agent and saving often 20,000 or more euro's in the process, the agent has no comeback on anyone.

The Spanish agents have had it good for a very long time now and they need to reinvent themselves, not only because of a depressed market but because of the internet which is a low cost alternative to an expensive salesperson. they need something new and inspiring to give buyers and sellers confidence.

Things may be tough at the moment and will get tougher, but out of this will come some really professional agents offering a service that we will appreciate and be prepared to pay for as they have done the work and made the sale for you. All it needs now is for the local goverments to cut back on the development of the coast line and improve the facilities, roads, beaches, parks and attractions.

The Turkish tourist board in association with the goverment have just declared that they are going to build 100 golf courses and associated developments over the next 10 years so that they can rival the costa del sol as a year round golfing and holiday destination. With that sort of knowledge already, it will be just like the spanish to keep saying manuana (illiterate spanish- sorry!) year after year until its to late and just like the algarve the market will dissapear and the courses will again have to increase their costs just to survive and this will price all the big groups of golfers away.

Already golfers are going to play for a week in south africa as its cheaper....flights are more expensive, but everything else is for buttons, golf at £20 a day with cart, quality hotels at equivalent spanish B&B rates, cheaper food and wine......The CdS needs to wake up and smell the coffee before the rest of the world steals it off them by offering more and being better....... the world is getting smaller with low cost flights, just look at Dubai now, where was it was 15 years ago?????   

Interesting points about tourism on the CDS etc., ones that have been made frequently in the press, but I don't think the powers that be will be in the slightest bit concerned. Those with influence have made their money on the back of foreign tourism and then property deals, and are quite content to sit back and live off the interest on their gains.

Take a look at Mallorca. The Balearic govt. even introduced a tourist tax a couple of years ago (tried to claim it was an environmental tax) in a bid to scare away mass tourism. They had to scrap it because of the furore it caused, but they've found other ways of putting people off. There used to be plenty of budget accommodation in Palma - now only a couple of hostels survive, and a room will set you back €65 a night. Otherwise you're limited to some very expensive upmarket boutique hotels (all German owned - they were the ones willing to pay the extortionate prices old Mallorcan landlords wanted for their 300 year old "rustic" ruins). Magaluf, once one of the party capitals of Europe, is like a ghost town after midnight, due to the draconian laws imposed on bars, in a town that was purpose built as a holiday resort. Even the luxury yacht market has largely moved on to pastures new, because it became too expensive to moor in Palma, and trendy new destinations such as Croatia opened up in competition. Do you think the locals care? Of course not. They never really wanted all the foreigners there in the first place, and they've made their money now. They may complain that their kids can't afford to get on the property ladder, but conveniently, that's the fault of the foreigners who drove prices up (not the locals who sold to them!)

Well, it's a year since this thread was started, and yes, it does seem that many agents have now been "wiped out".

So, for the anniversary of the thread, I'd like to ask a new question. Have the agents that have so far survived, completely given up hope?

I was browsing in a local agent's window today, one who I've known for some time, and who knows me. Something caught my eye, and I popped in to ask about it. The guy knows that I have bought and sold several properties over the years, and furthermore, he knows that I recently sold an apartment and that, under normal circumstances, I would be a ready & willing cash buyer if the right property showed up. He told me about an apartment on his books which is up for sale as part of an inheritance. The price is "interesting", as is often the case with inheritances, since the heirs usually just want to convert the asset into quick cash. The agent told me exactly where it is, about the great views, the good price etc. etc., I agreed it was "interesting", we chatted a bit about the state of the market, I said I'd think about it, and left.

WHAT????? I would have expected, with how tough things supposedly are for agents right now, for him to physically drag me, kicking and screaming if necessary, to view the property, and then subject me to every known hard-sell technique in the book. It seems the fight has gone out of the agents. Have they all given up all hope?

"Already golfers are going to play for a week in south africa as its cheaper....flights are more expensive, but everything else is for buttons, golf at £20 a day with cart, quality hotels at equivalent spanish B&B rates, cheaper food and wine......The CdS needs to wake up and smell the coffee before the rest of the world steals it off them by offering more and being better....... the world is getting smaller with low cost flights, just look at Dubai now, where was it was 15 years ago?????   "

And what is the major difference? Labour costs and overheads within the EEC, not just Spain. If you compare prices in London, Dublin or Edinburgh they are much more expensive than Marbella, so yes if you want cheap golf, accommodation, food, drink etc then you will have to go to countries with cheap labour, until they catch up which they will eventually just as China is starting to do at the moment and is one of the reasons for the rise in our food prices at the moment..

Your example is true Roberto.

Agents are not motivated much these days.  Too many people looking without any view to buying.  It feels like a waste of time taking people out without finding out their intentions and financial position first.  It only takes a few minutes to realise they have no money or are waiting for the exchange rate to improve drastically.

I would say that more than 50% of the agents I have known for a long time have closed their doors and are running their businesses and websites from home.

Those that still have offices, myself included, are considering shutting and doing the same.

No one expects the situation to change, either this year or next.

The bargains, and by bargains I mean property below 35% of bank valuation are not walking off the shelves.  I have dozens of cheap properties like that but still no one is in the least bit interested, except for those who can´t afford them anyway.

Despite the above, I am certain that the current situation is a good thing for the industry.  It is clearing out most of the bad agents from the industry. There were far too many, with way too few principles, ethincs and knowledge.  Yes many good agents are going too but there will always be inoccent victims.

On the downside, when the market improves we shall see a new intake of green and inexperienced agents who will be dispensing bad advice, I think it could result in many robbed and duped buyers.  But, at least when it does come back, these types of forums will be long established, creating a new and more informed breed of client.  The bad agents will be detected faster and hopefully put out of business before they take too many clients to the cleaners.

On the downside, when the market improves we shall see a new intake of green and inexperienced agents who will be dispensing bad advice, I think it could result in many robbed and duped buyers.  But, at least when it does come back, these types of forums will be long established, creating a new and more informed breed of client.  The bad agents will be detected faster and hopefully put out of business before they take too many clients to the cleaners.

Well said, Gillespie, well said. And that's why we're here, isn't it,  to help inform.

Having lived and worked during the the downturns since the 70's I am expecting it to be 2010 before we see any improvement in EU & UK residential property market and a relatively normal market late 2010 early 2011

The market in Spain for relatively well off life style buyers from UK will still tick over but the exchange rate has a lot to do with the problems this year At 1.28 € to £ many are just waiting and will either with time get used to this low rate or it will go up sufficiently to encourage them to buy.....certainly be more selective  

If you work in the property business you have to expect downturns every so often and when they come they do so quickly and the climb back is prolonged

But if you have a good business and give a good service long term it has proved over the years to be a very good business to be in

I have been qualified since 1967, have a son , two son in laws, a neice and nephew all in the property business in UK so I suppose I am an optimistic and have a vested interest in being relatively optimistic

As per my previous post I am still nevertheless interested in taking over an agency between Aguilas and Mojacar!   

I have a lot of clients like you Roberto, they wander in to see what´s happening from time to time.  In todays market, I wouldn´t insult them by suggesting they spend their hard earned money on a property unless it was a crazy price.

Maybe your estate agent friend is just crediting you with the respect he knows you deserve.

I'd like to think you're right, of course, but I think of him as more of a business acquaintance than a friend, and I know if the shoe was on the other foot and he was giving off distinct buying signals, I'd go for the sale anyway.

It's no fun if nobody wants to play - it's like going to Marrakech and finding none of the traders in the souk can be bothered to haggle. It's not like he's got anything else to do, anyway! The last property I bought, I was having a coffee next door to an agent who knows me well; he came out of his shop to tell me about a property he thought I'd be interested in. I wasn't, particularly, but he was very persuasive, and to get him off my back, I agreed to go view it with him. Turned out he knew what ticks my boxes better than I gave him credit for. I bought the place, renovated it, and recently sold it for a small but acceptable profit. All thanks to him making that little bit of effort. See my point?