Time for a grumble ....and a few home truths....

Hi all,

Over the last few weeks i have seen the market tighten and claim a few more victims,some of the larger agents have made redundancies and even closed their doors due the slow down in people arriving here to search for property,don't get me wrong there are still people buying here but the volumes are not on the level when the panic buying period was in full bloom.

As agents we know that there are problems with the system and some people have become very wealthy from the misfortunes of others.

There are agents and developers around that are not to be trusted and we are very selective of who we work with.

To make a living now as an independent agent you have to pull out all the stops and hope that a diminishing market share still comes our way.

Yesterday a good friend of mine that has been in Spain for some time as an agent closed his doors for good,without looking for the sympathy vote this guy was a good honest estae agent and worked his preverbials off to offer the best service avaliable.

The annoying thing is that with all the public awareness at the moment there should be more transparency in the market but there apparently isn't!!!!!!

Everyday on this Forum you see posts "i bought through *** and they are terrible".

Followed by "i am going on an inspection trip with ***,will i be ok?"

For the anyone who is trying to be the best they possibly can at there chosen proffesion and walk through walls for people it makes you want to scream!!!!!!

There are ways and means of protecting yourself from the bandits without continously handing them money!!!

For example:if you are going to buy through one of the large developers use an approved agent,it will cost you no more and even sometimes less than buying through a big agent or direct!!!

Use a smaller agent as it is guaranteed they will work twice as hard for you and remeber your name rather than your reference number.Polaris for example use a network of Smaller agents so that they don't have to answer queries all day,that's what your agent is for!!!

It won't cost you anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This post was made with a certain amount of anger considering my friends predicament and i have probably crossed a few lines here,but people really do have to wake up,over the years we have wathched the corrupt grow richer and the honest guys start to slip into obscurity.

Rant over!

Georgia

 

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Hi Georgia. I hear where you are coming from and empathise.  The problem is that the "big boys" do such a good job with their exhibitions and by placing sales staff at the airport departure lounge enticing you on a cheap trip. It is often not until you have taken the plunge and booked your trip that you realise these forums exist, or that there are relatively friendly independent agents. When we first started looking about 6 years ago around the Benidorm area (glad we didn't go there!!), there were not many agents that interested in giving us information and forums like these weren't realy in existence, although there were probably newsgroups. We sort of "fell" back into it with vigour earlier this year and as you know, we went with the bigger boys which we regret now.

Still, it has given us an insight into the property market and we know that when we upgrade in about 5 years time (or buy another property), the small guys it will be. No more of our money will go the way of the giants.

Mark

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Hi Mark,

Thanks for the reply,we have always refrained from exhibitions as the overheads always force you to increase your costs and therefore have to be passed onto the buyer somewhere along the line.

I would be interested to know whether people still attend exhibitions in any numbers or whether research and decisions on coming to Spain are based on different factors,internet,referals etc.....

The worrying thing overall is that all the larger agents have their nemesis's but still continue to thrive and keep their owners on the rich list.

Atlas have the Technologica issue and have many disgruntled customers contacting trading standards!

Masa have their Campasol debarcle with Turistic licence only being issued and the houses collapsing!

MRI are always in the papers or on the TV concerning one misdemeanour or the other!

and still they continue to bring people over in their droves,why,because you can get 4 days in the sun for 49 quid!!

I could go on and on but it seems that very few people are listening anyway!!!!

When somebody does try and give service,commitment and tell people the truth they are lost in the system and the deception created originally by the big boys ends up biting the little guy in the arse.

Sorry for the whinge but it's about time that the good guys started to win!!!!!!

Georgia

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I know how you feel Georgia - it frustrates the hell out of me too

I keep getting people desperate to sell, who cany pay the mortgage or havent been able to sell on their supposed investments, and it falls on my shoulders! I do wonder why I cant get those mugs through my doors to make an easy sell, all of mine are bloomin' hard work and sometimes its incredible what we have to do to get them through!

Also other agents who openly admit they arent selling, then give me such stick cos an owner has contacted me to sell their property, that I cant get the keys and they promise the earth not to lose the proeprty - of course they dont sell it and as time ticks on this market is falling further and further down, so need to shift things now or lose even more money!

I too could go on and on, I read your post this morning and nearly replied but thought it would really sound like sour grapes!

I know - why dont you and I join together and buy a football team and offer inspection trips at 30 euros per person - inland somewhere???

I think many decent people will shut up shop and go elsewhere as its definately hard work, gotta be very thick skinned to hang in and decent people usually arent! My business partner recently threw in the towel and went back to Ireland rather disillusioned about the business and the carry on here, so I do sympathise with your pal.

Tomorrow is another day - and a sunny one hopefully!

Take care my friend!

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The thing is  Rixxy it is a c@*p football team which is obviously why he is involved - it matches his c@*p aftersales service.

The problem for you & Georgia is  that many (not all!) people, through EOS are getting wise to the fact that people  like you guys don't stitch them up & I guess that means that their expectations are so much higher.

Noreen

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Thanks Rixxy and Noreen,

Ever had one of those days when you wanted to stand in the street and shout "your all mad",well that was yesterday.

Today,back to being thick skinned and accept the fact that people will continue to be ripped off and have their lives ruined by some and i will continue to do things the way i think.

Anyway,today is a new day the sun in shining and a four day holiday is looming on the horizon.

Have a good one.

Georgia

 

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Blimey Georgia - can I share your breakfast!?!

Yes 4 days offfffffffffffffffffffffffffffff NOT Am working! Bloomin buyers!!!  (love you all really)

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I'm a bit late in seeing this thread but you've brought up a really interesting subject here, and one close to my heart!

What separates the "big boys" from the little ones is money.  The big companies have deep pockets (although not as deep as they used to be) and can afford to invest heavily in marketing and getting their names out there. 

Although some do exhibitions this is really fading fast.  Blendon Communications, which were the biggest company doing exhibitions, went under this year as developers and agents just couldn't justify the expense any more.  And a lot of exhibition traffic I think is just people being curious.  I know this because I did Viva Espana in Birmingham when we launched Eye on Spain 3 years ago and it was rubbish.

What the smaller agents need to do is concentrate on their websites.  Internet traffic is the cheapest form of marketing and getting it right can yield amazing results.

How many of the larger agents actually rank well on the search engines?  Very few.  MRI, MASA, etc hardly get any web traffic through the search engines, and you don't need a big budget to do it.

I don't think the smaller agents can ever compete with the larger ones on the same playing field, most just don't have the resources to do it, and therefore buyers will still be attracted to the brands which they see advertising all over the place.

The Internet and Google specifically are the solution.  I know this because I've helped people achieve it!

Justin

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Hi Justin,

Thanks for that,maybe we need a master class from  the master then!!!

Maybe you could start a thread on how to maximise your exposure(if you know what i mean)!!

10 handy tips or something down those lines.........

If only life was like "star wars" and the good always prevailed!!!!

Georgia

This message was last edited by georgia on 10/31/2007.

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Would be good wouldnt it - we could rise form the ashes like a phoenix but with a bunch of keys in hand to save the day!!!!!!!

Anyway, I agree with what you say Justin - I went to loads of shows last year as you know, luckily at the invite of the organizers, to hold auctions as a draw for the aucdience. I did it to raise profile and last July stopped advertising totally, relying on internet rankings, links, newsletters and all that. People wanting to buy start their search by internet first, there is so much information out there, and so I use this as my main tool (as it were!)

How about holding a workshop Justin ? (bit of blatent advertising in your post - was gonna report you! )

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How about Google Adwords?  If you open an Adsense account, you can get a $30 credit to use as you work out what you want to pay per click. I see our solicitors has recently started using it as his advert comes up quite often in the Google ads.

Mark

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Google Adwords is certainly one way to go but due to the competition you can end up paying quite a lot per click these days.....although there are ways to reduce this cost drastically.

Natural search traffic is by far the best and you don't need to be a rocket scientist to do it.  It just takes a lof of effort and patience.

I did actually start putting together a report that I was going to send out for free about how smaller agents can use the Internet to drive traffic to their websites but I haven't finished it yet.  Sort of got put to one side.  I'll see if I can finish it off over Christmas and see if it's useful to some you nice agents out there.  The methods are tried and tested so I know they work it's just putting it into writing takes some time.

Justin

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Christmas!!! Christmas??? My poor deprived children will have no turkey or toys this year if I cant get my web up for peeps to buy from before then  ............................Only joking

That would be great Justin, thanks for that. I eagerly look forward to it!

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Hi All, Even though us small guys are ex tiny fish in an enormous pond, myself and a couple of other agents here in Mojacar have decided to take on the big boys. Maybe foolishly we have decided to do the Spring shows but we are coming together to champion our little corner of Spain and share the costs. We're even off to the town hall to see if they will give us some of their advertising budget as in my mind we are showcasing the area and they won't advertise the area so we have decided to do a little bit for them. All the local council do is have meetings for meetings until they pull their fingers out for the next election!!! will be grey by then!!! Anyway enough about my local gov rant! Must agree with the ad words on google are proving a treat at the moment and I'm really busy or is that because my name is getting around that we don't rip people off and give great service and also help those who have bought through the big boys. Difference between us and the big boys is that we're passionate about our own little or large corners of Spain. Would also love to see that Doc Justin as thinking about changing website in the New Year any advice would be really appreciated or some direction with good web site designers. Thanks SJ ps is it just us in Mojacar experiencing the hot temps, don't get me wrong it's great, off to Valencia in 2 weeks for a show and need to know what to pack - any advice?

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No it seems a busier all around then, Georgia is busy and last week for me was running from day to night, but its gotta produce results! I personally think this will keep for the next 3 weeks or so, then batton down for Xmas and new year, picking up in feb meethinks!

Good luck with it and the shows, Valencia will be cooler - days I reckoon ok, its 21 degrees here in day but noticably cool at night

Let us know how you get on!!

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I think the exhibitions may be a way to go, but you probably won't dent some of the big boys out there. The likes of MRI and MASA have exclusively their exhibitions. MASA are pretty good and will advertise the fact it is their exhibition, but the other will announce it as a "foreign property exhibition" where you will (as we did) assume (in the words of Benny Hill, never assume, it makes an ass of u and me) that there are multiple players to see. Only once you are in do you find out it is a one agent show!!

Mark

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errmmmm me thinks very cunning those MRI guys, I also know a number of people who have been mislead by their property shows.  Personally can't see why trading standards can't do anything about the shows let alone everything else they get up to in the UK.

 

By the way how is it going with your purchase, what's the latest?

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We are waiting for a date to complete now. We didnt get any leeway from either party, but managed to find the extra funding elsewhere (wife doing lots of overtime ).

Mark

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Mark

Glad to hear that you are able to proceed, even if you didn't get the exact result that you wanted.

Fingers crossed that everything now goes according to plan.

Noreen

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Ditto Mark,

Hope it all works out ok, when it's all over you will be sitting there with your cocktails in your own place and thinking "It was worth it"  . The only problem is the more you go the harder it is to come back. Had to defrost the car this morning brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

Next time you post hope it's in happy spain experiences


This message was last edited by Candyfloss on 11/12/2007.

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