Not all agents are bad

I have been studying this site for some time now and the horror stories that appear are very worrying and appear to tar all agents with the same brush!
What you have to remember when looking to purchase in Spain is that if you do choose to use one of the so called No 1 or large agents then they will charge high commisions to cover their costs of hotels,flights etc this is purely buisness practice and is accepted within the industry in Spain.
Most of the reps working for them are under severe pressure to sell and have targets to meet and are trained to not accept no for an answer and nobody should walk away without signing on the dotted line,they are also told to scare clients away from using independent "small agents"because they are not to be trusted,what they are really saying is dont wander around with your eyes open as we may get caught out!
You can buy most new build property from anyone in Spain as the builders at the moment are on their knees and will beg agents to sell their development,the only difference is the resale market where agents will charge anything from 2% to 18% then you will have some choice and and know exactly what you are paying on top of the vendors price,just walk into an agent that has property yoyu may be interested in and ask them what they charge to sell,you will then know their commision rate.
Do not be afraid to ask what the company charges on top!
There are many very good agents working in Spain and a lot of them are ex-pats, dont forget that approx  75% of all people that have bought here are very happy.
The reason people come to this beautiful country is for climate, lifestyle and for peace of mind so dont let all the whinging put anyone off from realising their dreams.

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Some good advice red star belgrade and yes, many people have a good experience. However your last line "don't let all the whinging put anyone off from realising their dreams" is a bit harsh. It could read "dont let all the whinging put anyone off from losing their life savings".

Your not an agent yourself are you?

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Red Star you said...  "What you have to remember when looking to purchase in Spain is that if you do choose to use one of the so called No 1 or large agents then they will charge high commissions to cover their costs of hotels,flights etc this is purely buisness practice and is accepted within the industry in Spain"

Many people who post on this and other forums who are bad mouthing agents/lawyers/developers, were caught out in the wholesale corruption that was undiscovered yet existed approx 4 years ago. At that time it was thought that to go with one of the large reputable EA's was much safer than going with a 1-2 man little side street EA. After all, they had won so many awards,(given by car companies!!!) were highly recommended(by themselves!) and had very smart offices(well they would do with the high commission rates they got). These slick salespeople, driving around in smart cars lied through their teeth to get a sale. In 2003/4, the property market was in a frenzy...if you saw something then a decision had to be made quickly. So they would offer the services of a reputable lawyer to help you snap up your dream home!  The rest is history.

Today, people are much much more well informed because of sites like these, which sadly did not exist 4 years ago.. The corruption surrounding Marbella Town Hall has been widely publicized (White Whale & Malaya) with all the corrupt planning & building licences distributed for the unscrupulous developers to rip off unsuspecting buyers, aided & abetted by unscrupulous lawyers.

We were sold an apartment by Ocean Estates that was never built. They got their huge commission 21days after the purchase contract was signed. It has taken us over three years  and two court cases to get our money back, not to mention stress and sleepless nights.  We are one of many many other people that I know of  caught up in this scenario.Did OE offer to give that commission back?   NO.   Did they help us? NO.

IMO, it will take at least 3 years of squeaky clean agents/lawyers /developers on the CDS to win back the confidence of buyers. I agree with all that you say about Spain. Even though we have had a bad experience, Spain still ticks all the boxes for us. Maybe when/if we feel confident to put our toe into buying a home there, we can enjoy all the good things Spain has to offer.

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I would like to stick up for myself - a small agency in Marbella. Actually we are an auction house, we value properties based on euros per square metre, accurately assess a sales price and INCLUDE our fee of 2.5% in that. We go to international shows and advertise extensively.

After 4 years it is paying off

I have personally lived in Spain for 12 years and am thankfull I never got involved in the mad off plan sales. After all I have a family and are settles here, I have no desire to run away to another country.

All the clients we have dealt with have been very happy with our service and we intend to stay here despite the doom and gloom.

Luckily clients are more informaed now and do not beleive other agents hype and nonsense.

Hopefully this will encourage buyers back into the amrket, although I can comfortabley say we are nicely busy so far.

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GOOD POST, TISH.

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I Used to work for one of the big ones, Interealty and we certainly did not sell anybody an aparment which were not build except for a sneaky developer who sold the whole lot to another while we already had sold many wirh all signed.... all those clients were placed in other apartments most of the time better than the original ones and were happy...

The downfall after the terrorist attack caught her in an expansion plan with their pants half down, the developers started to delay payments, there were longer time to collect the salesman share and so it went.... flat spin...

Prices for stands at exhibitions in the UK skyrocketed..... all is a tremendous marketing cost that finally falls on top of the shoulders of the salesman, who risks his car, and NEEDS to sell.... let me say that at Interealty we were taught to be soft salesmen... never pushy....

As a result, most of our past clients are friends now...

Ok, some of them could not re sale before completion, but the effort was made in some cases at ruinous expense..... but there was no false promises as the apartments were delivered, some delays, okey, but guys.... you bought in Andalucía.... Please learn patience, or you are better go to Florida....really, but remember that there "DUI" is " assault with a deadly weapon" ( ji, ji...).

Now I work for a medium size 4 year old, ("heir " of Interealty) not same owners ( a lot of the team, the best team is back together again and we are starting to make the difference... last year was VERY hard... we are some 20 telemarketers, very dedicated, who work their backs of a data base of clients...... and about 8 selected sale people..... but for example.. myself in December  got 8 clients, serious ones..... long hours of telemarketing, finding the matches and all.. 7 did not even show up for the meeting.... an closed their phones, off course.... the 8th one was a sale..... I´ve invested and the company has invested hours of work on this apointments mobilizing sometimes a team of five people..... not to say money....

People does not really realize how much it cost to produce a good "lead" Exhibition prices? UFFFF Some 2,300 pounds/ sqm some of them..... sell us Stands to then say that Spain is no good and "corrrupt" and Bulgaria is the trend... ( ji, ji...)...

Anyway... today, 19th of January, 27 degrees Celsius, so I´ve sweated a lot and driven my own pesonal car which I must maintain "spotless" for over 300 km for nothing......meeting appointments having to be allways in time but driving like the chauffer of Miss Daysy..... believe me, state agents are decent people..... they work VERY hard and try to do their best... the commission rates, so discussed here... most of the deals involve two companies working side by side..... so they do not make so much money as you may think.... if you see too much luxury, money must be comeing for somwhere else... 5% divided by 3 ( two agents working together and the IN systems-Database) is not really much......I would like you to consider things from this point of view.

Some agents charge 7,5 %.... but there are few properties at that rate nowadays... most are 5% to share.... and believe me when I say that a salesman on the road, with an English family entrusted to their driving, having to pay for some drinks spends a lot of money of their own pockets....

Posters cost a fortune, secretaries an admin people, accounts, IT, gasoline... manteinance.....exhibitions....travels ( allways in cheap hotels for the exhibition team).. etc... the client wants all properly wrapped around for them.... we try hard, as much har as we can.

That was all I can say for the moment, perhaps if somebody responds respectfully we can elaborate on the matter.

Juan.

This message was last edited by Juan Pánzon on 1/19/2007.

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Pardon me, I must recognize, for personal experience that other companies were extremelly pushy with clients for them to sign..... I would never work for them altough they pay well, remember the salesman only makes a buck ( some 2k €) only if he makes the sale.. and some times drives you around for days on their personal highly expensive cars... because clients prefer to have two tons of "Krupp Steel" around and al the airbags when running the coast`s N-340-.

Very seldom these cost come back to the salesman....

Anyway, It beats certainly working in a building site in winter.

Cheers,

Juan.

This message was last edited by Juan Pánzon on 1/19/2007.

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Hola Juan,

I read your post intently & never once felt you were saying anything other than what you felt wholeheartedly.You sound very caring, hardworking & eager to get it right on behalf of your clients.
You really though have to appreciate that those of us who have posted bad things about agents have done so because, in many cases, we have been duped & lost money & without redress mainly.We are bitter, of course we are, & quite rightly so.

In EOS we are in the psition of being able to tell others our experiences with the agents we chose.

Our agent caused us so much grief I had massive panic attacks which began a few months before completion & I had to be put on anti-depressants, a well known way of controlling panics. Thankfully my Dr. managed to get me well enough to fly to Spain to be able to complete. I did, however, have a massive attack on the evening before we completed, frightening the life out of both myself & my husband, who were in a strange country without family & friends.

Our problems with our agent went on, well after completion, with the agent not bothering to chase up our title deeds & it was ourselves who finally managed to obtain the deeds in October 2006 having completed April 2005. Completion was a nightmare. We had no electricity for four days because the agent, who'd asked us for our Spanish bank details more than two months before, had not bothered to give our builder them although we saw emails later (from builder) proving they'd mailed our agent twice, having phoned them before, expressing their concern that, as the agent hadn't given them the necessary information, we would NOT have electricity, & we didn't. We stayed in a hotel for two nights before completion so stayed on a further two nights then used candles & people gave us a flask of boiling water to help us out a few times. The firm who WAS putting in our aircon had to be delayed as they needed electric. We had to insist furniture deliveries were made before it was too dark for anyone to see what they were doing so that caused problems. Our agent insisted it was nothing to do with THEM that we hadn't electricity yet, when we proved weeks later that it WAS their doing that had inconvenienced us SO much, they did give us the two nights hotel charge back. It was such a fight with them though ! I could write a book. What I have told you is 10% of what we endured.

I was on the medication for more than a year after the completion trying to get weaned off. I still often, even now, feel shaky & on edge when I recall what we were put through.

Sorry to rant but we went through hell !

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I have to say Juan that if the Interealty training was soft sell not all of the reps listened to the teacher in my experience but there are always exceptions to rules.

Other stories .....where do I begin ..... no its too late to start on that line and I have had a good week so dont want to end it on a negative.

Hear hear Janice good post Tish - at least you have not been put off for good. Think if you leave it three years though you might get it just wrong - not by much but my view is they will have started to go back up by then - depends where you looking of course but I reckon the Costa del Sol will start to come back in about 2. Still lots of buyers for here - but looking for deals - investors building large portfolios for capital gain - smart cookies too whoi have done a lot of it elsewhere - of course they wont pay top money for anything - after all its a buyers market - also the wealthy developers who are not in cashflow crisis are not offloading at massive discount and they are not stupid - possibly bent but not stupid.   

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Jeansis, I can empathise with you re the effect your health had on buying a place in the sun. I too ended up in A & E many times as I have an arrhythmia that does not react too well to stress!
Juan, you say some agents take 7% commission. Our agent admitted to that because when we asked the s*** developer for our 30% deposit back because the apartments were not going to be built, they said IF they gave us the money(they didn't!!) then they would deduct the commission paid to the agent. Our lawyer said it was 15%. When we asked if it was 15% of our deposit she said no, 15% of the purchase price!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This equated to £45,000.

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Hello Tish and Smiley and Jean Sys,

I am very sorry to hear the inferno you went trough...... and it is right to say that there were lots of bad experiences..... I also bought a property for myself after 9 years of not eating "bananas" not to trow away the skins and now I am struggling like an greek hoplite to keep up with the payments.... but I did buy directly from the developer and I knew them well... all went well thanks to God.  I also know what antidepressants mean.... the knife is double edged.

One thing that I would like to mention regarding Smiley´s comment about the hard sales at Interealty..... the company is as good as the sales representative you got..... especially at the "feverish times" there was a lot of people that were not really salesmen but "glorified robot drivers"...... I always thought that a client has to be treated the best possible way...... if you sell or not will depend on the buyers will..... I have no stomach to put pressure into people, but I can certainly make them see the advantages of a property and how it will "fit" into their dreams and possibilities.

The sales training in Interealty was NOT HARD SALES.... I still have the "salesman manual" from the training and there is not a single word on pressure... "create urgency", maybe...... but at some time that assured you the best units possible on the development, but the focuse was in "being able to see clearly what is the mind of the client and in their hearts and try to make it into a property..."

They told us to be sweet, caring , tranquil drivers..... door to door service, take clients for shopping..... touristic information, hear more than you speak ( difficult for me)... etc....  Dress code.... manners..... ... you will work on Saturdays, Sundays.... virtually non stop..... that is the part that the client does not see.... salesmen barelly see their wifes/ children....Not to mention the NECESSITY to "speak various languages"... And in many oportunities.... Interealty refunded deposits for my clients in view of failure of finding financing and so...

I have no reason to defend my former employer as I did not came out completelly "unscathed" from it, but I recognize that a "tsunami" fell on top of the Co. at the worst time.... and that was the terrorist attack in Madrid 11th of March 2004 ( 200 death toll)... we did not receive clients for MONTHS.....

Perhaps, among the almost 200 salesmen in the Co were some "pushers" probably coming from other companies..... they are not longer working in real state now..... "Darwinism" is in full force on the Coast.... you better adapt to the times as a salesman or go extinct.

Cheers,

Juan.

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Hi Tish in many cases you are dead right - the agent gets the full commission on payment of the deposit - that is the way a lot of off plan sales work. This is not always so and I have dealt with agents who take payment the other way as in the % based on deposit balance at completion. Again invariably they tend to be the smaller ones who perhaps have less clout with the developer but at the same time they possibly take a reduced commission so they can reduce the PP to the client (less overhead) in addition they have to offer a more personal service to the client as they do not have the luxury of banks of telesales staff - or sales support staff or whatever glorified name they are given.

One of my clients who suffered the same indignities with an agent and developer of lack of support and information and understanding once they had received their commission developed diabetes through the worry and has been and still is on anti depressants. She has had a relationship breakdown caused directly by the situation she was put in. Her guy wasnt keen on doing it but she was ......... all was fine until things started to go wrong and then it became a case of I told you so etc........one thing led to another. Lovely lady too and she did not deserve to be mistreated that way.

Juan perhaps you can explain why if Interealty as a company were built on such a caring ethos the directors of the company sold a company asset for £1 to another offshore company they owned where it was re registered and promptly sailed the asset to another country. Surely that asset would have been better sold for a market price to satisfy creditors (including possibly you in the way of unpaid commissions) and out of pocket clients. Perhaps there were other assets they salted away too - I dont know but the yacht is quite public knowledge I believe. 

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Hi Smiley,

Quoting your words "Juan perhaps you can explain why if Interealty as a company were built on such a caring ethos the directors of the company sold a company asset for £1 to another offshore company they owned where it was re registered and promptly sailed the asset to another country.

Surely that asset would have been better sold for a market price to satisfy creditors (including possibly you in the way of unpaid commissions) and out of pocket clients. Perhaps there were other assets they salted away too - I dont know but the yacht is quite public knowledge I believe. "

I will try to give you my personal impression... I do not know of that transfer off assets for "one pound", I was never privy to that type of information..... but..... let me tell you something....

I´ve crossed paths with the owner of Interealty a couple of times in the last month after some couple of years of not seeing him... and I could notice him being not the man he used to be..... no fantastic clothes and appearance...... no home that I know... all the "assets" as far as I know are the property of a Bank, in fact, one of them is already an operative branch of this bank.....(this is "hard intel").... the Other two offices that I know were Interealty´s property.... one is the Sol Bank Nva Andalucía and the other is still closed,  Calahonda.....and the rest of the 60 offices were rented... 

The "Yacht" is a very old sailboat that has been his home as I understand since time ago....( gossip) and it is not really a "Arab sheik" Cruiser.... it is an old, not very well maintained SAILBOAT....... I can say this since being myself a sailor.... I was "gang pressed" into it several times as crew and I know the boat very well.

He is working his back off with his sons and his brother..... there are no signs of richness there.... He is also missing a theet  with no replacement.... that means he did not "run away" with the booty as implants are expensive.... I do not think he is such a "mastermind" at hiding assests.... should that had happened.... I am sure I would know about.

Believe it or not, I do not think he is/was such a bad man.... as I said before..... Tsunami in the middle of a expansion program.. and you know what?  I think he is starting again, and as hard as the guy works ( he is impossible to be followed in the working hours) I am sure he will recover.

I also have to mention that he was allways a good boss..... he helped LOTS of employees with advances, some with health problems...... helped employees to have access to mortgages.... etc... nothing of this is mentioned now....... but I know very well it happened...

Sorry to sound like the "Devil´s Advocate", but I feel a sort of "moral obligation" to write this.....in spite of all I´ve suffered when having to leave the company for better horizon.... you are welcome to send more questions which I will answer to the best of my abilities.

Parmalat, Enron... those were scams....... Interealty fought to the very last man.... and had NOTHING to do with corruption on the coast... if any.... it was a victim of it..... as I remember it wanted to have as little relation with the local administration as the river came "roaring".....

An yes, I did not collect all, but with patience and ability I manage to collect almost everything..... the rest.... I wrote it off as "collateral damage"... I need to keep on living.

Cheers,

Juan.

PS: I can assure you, all training was based on "ethos" and warm treatment of clients..... but remember that from the moment the client is in the car with the salesman...... the company is as good as the salesman that tours you around. If one day you would like to contact me directly, I will let you see the "training book"..... obviously I will not put it on the web as I am an honest person and that would not be correct, but you personnally could take a look in my presence.

PS2: Funny enough... there is not a single State Agent in jail or under investigation.....( to my knowledge) developers... local authorities are in jail or on bail...... but no state agents.... maybe Inter was not that bad at all..... as well as most of the serious agents.

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Regarding estate agents being in gaol Juan I think its a question of watch this space. I have heard rumour (this is the Costa del Sol after all) that at least one rather high profile individual is currently under investigation owing to the very close working relationship with Roca.

Regarding Interealty my personal experience was with three members of staff - two seemed to have enjoyed different training - the third was on his way out of the door as he was not too keen on the way the company did business.

As they were such caring employers it must have been a figment of my imagination seeing all those protestors outside Interealty offices with banners and hordes of disgruntled employees who had not been paid their salaries or commissions - not to mention the disgruntled collaborators that did not receive theirs either. When you think how long the demise was dragged out I have to assume that people were being told stories that were not exactly factual as in "sorry we cant pay you this week but we will be able to pay at the end of the month". One assumes that had the directors been candid with employees and collaborators alike explaining their circumstances then people would have found a job where they were likely to get paid. My view is that whichever way you dress it up they should have been more honest than they were.

There is another thread on EOS where a buyer has bought on one of the Canaries - deposit paid to Interealty and nobody can track down what has happened to the money. Was several weeks back - will see if I can find it again and see if I can get him to enter this discussion. The rep who sold him the property is refusing to comment and the former Interealy directors appear to have left him high and dry. Frankly I dont care if it was a rowing boat - if it is a company asset and they have done what they have done I believe it to be dishonourable when considering the people that were left out of pocket - either as a collaborator, employee ir customer.

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QUOTE SMILEY:"Regarding estate agents being in gaol Juan I think its a question of watch this space. I have heard rumour (this is the Costa del Sol after all) that at least one rather high profile individual is currently under investigation owing to the very close working relationship with Roca. "

I think I know which one you are meaning here.... and as far as I was informed..... it is not a R S in close relationship with  "Roca "The Rock"..... I think it does belong to him.... lots of business in Murcia I think....... and I am not saying more because I am not James Bond and I have to work to live on this coast.... but I will be happy to see them falling and go to jail if possible...

QUOTE SMILEY:Regarding Interealty my personal experience was with three members of staff - two seemed to have enjoyed different training - the third was on his way out of the door as he was not too keen on the way the company did business.

Yes Smiley...... some people ended up in difficult situations due to impossibility to collect commissions.... I am very sorry for them as most of our personnel was quite professional and hard working.... most of  them are good friends of mine and I see them almost everyday as some of them work along with me now and they are scatered over State Agencies.....  From my position I helped collect to a lot of people. With regards to the training.... I still would like you to see ( not take) the sales manual....  Wether or not you acted uppon what you "learned there" is different..... some sales people are hard sellers at hearth...... some are liers....... but believe me..... not only the agents.... clients lie to Us flagrantly all the time.... 

QUOTE SMILEY:As they were such caring employers it must have been a figment of my imagination seeing all those protestors outside Interealty offices with banners and hordes of disgruntled employees who had not been paid their salaries or commissions - not to mention the disgruntled collaborators that did not receive theirs either. When you think how long the demise was dragged out I have to assume that people were being told stories that were not exactly factual as in "sorry we cant pay you this week but we will be able to pay at the end of the month".

Smiley, the cases I´ve mentioned before were NOT protesting with the banners.... obviously the protestors were there and I understand their predicament and concern and my hearth was with them. People that has been helped by the company did not take direct measures.
Also, the "demise" started from the times when the terrorist attack in Madrid..... and they fought like maniacs to overcome the situation... But I can remember that one of the protestors, or two better said got married a few months before and were presented by the Co. with a Dubai honey moon...  and then the disaster fell...

Also, during the 5 years I´ve worked there........ that was not the "only""collection crisis" we went trough..... and every previous crisis we all collected so myself and perhaps to the majority of Us all thought we were going to collect..... as allways happened... but this crisis was terminal...

There is another thread on EOS where a buyer has bought on one of the Canaries - deposit paid to Interealty and nobody can track down what has happened to the money. Was several weeks back - will see if I can find it again and see if I can get him to enter this discussion. The rep who sold him the property is refusing to comment and the former Interealy directors appear to have left him high and dry.

 I have not noticed that thread, I´ve been away from the forum for some time, and before I just used to participate in the "Don Juan Manilva" forum only, but I offer my help/advise on the matter.  Canary Islands was run by a very nice Chap named John.... I went on an exhibition trip to Hong Kong with him and he was the hardest of workers I ever met.... he was also called to try to "save" the Co.... but it was already too late...

With regards to that lost deposit...... there is nothing I can add..... and I can not offer anything but my best wishes for this to re-appear....  remember I am just a former worker there.... and I was trying for a long time to forget about that Co. drama......  I just wanted to add some contribution to the talk from my experience.

QOUTE SMILEY:"Frankly I dont care if it was a rowing boat - if it is a company asset and they have done what they have done I believe it to be dishonourable when considering the people that were left out of pocket - either as a collaborator, employee ir customer."

As far as I know, that boat was in existance by 1983...... so it was not a company asset.... actually, in 1992 made some headlines as it "lost" the 1992 round the world race in the last leg ( Malta- Gib) under the command of the owner of Interealty. Nowadays It is wort nothing.... and it would be VERY difficult to get a good offer for it.  I hope this is informative for you......

 I´ve heard from a colleague of yours that you are a lot around Tricky Ricky´s Guadalmina...... if you wanna a chat with a former 5 years employee, unbiased.... just call "JUAAAN" !! as I buy my sandwich there almost everyday.  Justin has my ph number so you can call me anytime.

Cheers,

Juan.

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Hi Juan frequently at Trickys good meeting point, staff fantastically friendly and the food is good when in the mood for something of an English flavour - which colleague keeps you well informed of my movements. My intention is not to have a go at you personally but put another outsiders view on Interealty. If the boat was owned by the company it was a company asset whatever its worth - that would be the opinion of an official receiver or liquidator. Clearly the directors did not think the boat worthless - otherwise why would they go through the charade of selling it from one company to another for £1. At the end of the day it was a company asset and if it had worth then honourable people would surely have let the creditors decide where it was best disposed.

 I mention the thing about estate because in the previous post you leap to the defence of estate agents as a whole saying none of them are tainted or in gaol which I had the impression you felt they were all innocent - then you say that you think you know of who might be implicated so either there are estate agents who are involved or there arent - it cant be both surely.

Several times you refer to the Madrid bombings - didnt seem to have that much of an adverse effect on Ocean, Viva, ADH, Elegant Homes, OVP, KS, Livingstone, MRI - the list is endless.There are many smaller independent companies that have offered a more personal service that have actually thrived and grown in the current climate. Guess that is either luck, or the fact they offer extremely good service to buyers and sellers alike. If the cause of Interealty's demise was Madrid I rather feel that others would have gone down the tubes as well. I appreciate they may be feeling the pinch now but lets not forget this is a considerable time after Interealty ground to a halt. 

Love to meet up anytime and buy you a coffee - we can agree to differ in person then

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To San Miguel;

 

Apologies for anyone who has suffered a bad experience both financially and mentally and was offended by my last comment.

Maybe it was a little harsh but have been living here some time now and sometimes it feels too much like the uk with the comments you hear.

I have a conspiracy theory about the bad pr regarding living in Spain or purchasing property here that is largely publicised in the U.K.

You dont think that the government is very worried that all the money is leaving and all that is coming is a begging bowl,hence the bad publicity.

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Hello Smiley,

QUOTE"Several times you refer to the Madrid bombings - didnt seem to have that much of an adverse effect on Ocean, Viva, ADH, Elegant Homes, OVP, KS, Livingstone, MRI - the list is endless.There are many smaller independent companies that have offered a more personal service that have actually thrived and grown in the current climate. Guess that is either luck, or the fact they offer extremely good service to buyers and sellers alike. If the cause of Interealty's demise was Madrid I rather feel that others would have gone down the tubes as well. I appreciate they may be feeling the pinch now but lets not forget this is a considerable time after Interealty ground to a halt. "

I am sure you do not remember well..... the aftermath of the bombings was terrible for the busines on the coast... until that day..... in one development only you could average 20 sales a month.... I used to sign contracts of exclusivity with developers setting this as a target..... From March 12th ( the day after) almost NOTHING happenned for 4 months..... There was fear until Spain got "pardoned" after pulling its troops from Irak... Developers started to "delay" payments.....off course we looked in business as ussual as did all the companies you´ve mentioned but the "harsh truth" was otherwise....  Enormous direct costs and several very hard months placed Inter "belly up" first because it was the absolute flagship on the south of Spain......in the middle of an expansion plan... with 60 offices open...... Canary Islands, Mallorca, Costa Blanca.... own computer systems, own graphic desingn department..... after sales.... over 500 people working I think.... etc...

All companies suffered a lot...... Viva... one of the worst affected even if they say otherwise....  Elegant Homes to my knowledge was not yet formed on March 2004...... It was about to be born...... ADHS was MUCH smaller then and somewhat "filled" the place Inter left.... KS .... they have suffered a lot too, but less since they are much more in the Spanish market....

Cheers !

Juan.

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Hi red star belgrade

My personal experiences have been great up to now, and strange though it seems my perception has always been that publicity in the UK has mainly been positive about buying property in Spain. I suspect that is because most people are probably like me and watch programmes like 'place in the sun' and go to Spanish property exibitions, and would not be put off by the Sunday Times which 'expose' the bad side of the Spanish property market.

I have also said in other threads that on the whole this site gives great advice but unfortunately it can be seen as very negative and not balanced with good experiences. As Smiley has said before "for every bad experience there are hundreds of good ones"   

As for a government conspiracy, the way this country is going it would seem as though they are encouraging everyone to leave not stay!!!!!!!!!!

keep postng positives.

 

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HI Juan if I post something else on the death of Interealty and Madrid and comparisons with other agents the thread will become like War and Peace and become very boring for others so I am not going to come back with a reply other than to say we will have to agree to differ. You think they were a great employer and a great environment to work in and gave the best service to their clients. Although I never worked for them so I cannot comment I do know many others who did and in my experience yours appears to be a lone voice. Thankfully we live in a democracy (although many might like the return of Franco) so we are each entitled to our opinion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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