can someone just clear up some confusion for me please?

since my husband died 2 years ago, I came away with a comfortable inheritance. We had no children and since then I have been pondering a move to Spain.

I have been over about 5 times now and I have been looking for my ideal property in many different areas. I always feel drawn to the same area though on the Costa Blanca. I have looked around Cabo Roig, Cuidad Quesada, Guardamar and Orihuela areas, and I want to see if I can get a decent bargain. My first two times were just visits to see what the various areas were like and to identify where I would like to buy. my last couple of visits, I decided to take the plunge and speak to some Estate Agents and arrange property viewings. I was impressed and somewhat flabberghasted at the prices of a lot of the properties available. I have never seen such fabulous homes going at such a cheap price. 

My last visit, I took with a large company called Ambersun. I informed them of what I was looking for with a rough budget (i wanted to keep some secrecy) and what areas. During my viewing visit, (which I hasten to add was 4 months after my previous) imagine my suprise when I was taken to a property which I had already viewed on the previous visit!

Nothing strange there you may say!

What I was quite suprised about was that there was another person there who was supposedly called a "property finder" ( I suspect he is another Estate Agent from another company) and the price of the property had suddenly increased in the 4 months since I last viewed it by a staggering €20,000.

I do not profess to be any expert on financial markets or the day to day details of the complex minefield of the property market. What I do know though is that Ambersun were showing me the exact same property which I had viewed 4 weeks previously for €236,000, now being sold for €256,000.  I had already seen this house which was now being sold with a mark up of an extra €20,000. 

I do however understand that if people are anxious to sell their houses to either downsize or through being forced to move back to the United Kingdom, logic tells me that they would actually be willing to decrease the price of their property to get the sale, not to increase the price by such a large amount.

I know agents put their commission onto the properties they sell I have seen all over the areas I have visited 0% commission, 3% commission etc. how much commission then are Ambersun charging? 3% of 236,00 is just over 7,800. Not 20,000.

in my personal opinion, Ambersun seem to be taking advantage of the property situation at the moment to mark up any properties they come across by an exorbatant amount.

Needless to say I will not be using Ambersun again, I will be looking at the smaller independant agents and certainly be doing my shoopng around.

Has anyone else experienced something similar?

Seksysuzi,

as you said in your post,  the best thing is to shop around and avoid estate agents like Ambersun. Why don´t you stick to the first agent that showed you the house 20, 000€ cheaper? I am sure Ambersun will lose customers or the chance to do business if they carry on like that, especially when there are agents that sell houses much cheaper.

I hope you find your dreamed home at a cheap price. Let us know

Ana

Hello Seksysuzi, and welcome to eye on spain,

You have done well with your research, the company you talk about have been behind lots of isues

and give a bad name to agents.

If you like the Costa Blanca, the  areas you have seen are ok. We have a few agents that post on here

who may help you through all the twists and turn's of purching in Spain.

Hopefully they will pop in and say hello. Let us know how you get on.

 Hi Suzi,

There are some massive bargains around at the moment,you do not need to use inspection tour companies to find them...

There are sevral good local agents that will not rip you off with commissions and will make sure you get the best deal.

With some of the property available at the moment this is the worst job in the world as every week i wanna move house to the next bargain that has just appeared............!

We even broke all records last week as a client came in to list their property and actually sold it in our office to someone who was waiting to see us for another viewing.........

Take your time and look for the real deals..........

Best of luck.

Yes if you're looking for agent in Costa Blanca, Georgia is the one to contact. You will never regret asking Georgia for help. He is very hardworking, reliable & looks after his clients very well.

Hi Georgia,

You was quite busy when we popped in to see you, glad it is going well for you.

I am sure you can help Suzi out.  I am no expert  Suzi but you should be getting bargains at the moment, not increasing in price.

Good luck

Pat 

 Forhotspot,

Thank you for your kind comments.......things get even harder in the summer now it's boiling hot again!!!!......it's all worth it in the end.

Pat and Roy,

I am really sorry i missed you......to be honest i was that involved in a 2 hour phone call that i didn't even register it was you.......it has been so manic lately!!.......if you are ver passing again pop in as it's always nice to have a chat......hope you and Roy are both well.

Regards

Georgia

WOW! I didn't expect the come back from my post so quickly. I have been reading this website for a while and never thought about posting a thread. If only I did before, then I would have saved myself a lot of trouble and research.

There are a lot of posts from and referring to Georgia, (and thank you for your reply Georgia, by the way), and She seems to be very knowledgable about what happens in Spain. 

What I want to know is that with this latest experience, how can I know who I can and who I can't trust to help me buy?

During my visits, I have seen a lot of nice marked up cars driving around Spain, posh websites promising this that and the world, all vying for our custom. Nati suggested I go with the original company that was €20,000 cheaper in the first place. It was a lovely property but not right, (to be honest the location didn't suit me). However, if Ambersun are adding extortinate amounts of commission onto the asking price of properties, who else are doing it? how can Ambersun get away with this? and surely this must be regulated?

I honestly feel as though I would be better served on my next visit over to try some of the smaller independant Estate Agents around the area I wish to buy. There are plenty around, and I am quietly confident that I will find some propertieson their books that Ambersun have.......for considerably cheaper!

But, even with this thought, I can't help but feel as though that because I am a widow on my own who will not see the better side of 50, with money to spend, that Ambersun believe that I am the type of person that could be taken advantage of?

I would be curious to find out off anyone who has bought or had dealings with them what they thought.

After all this, it still beggs the question... If I was being taken for a ride by Ambersun......

who else has???

Hi Suzi,

Yes everyone here in this forum is very helpful.

    Georgia is a "he" & he is a local real estate agent living in Spain for many years. You won't need to waste your time looking for properties in Spain & with Georgia's help,  I'm sure he will be able to find you a suitable property. I got my dream home through Georgia's help & I'm so grateful to him to make my dreams come true. I'm looking forward to move to Spain next year.

This message was last edited by Forhotspot on 17/06/2009.

Hi seksysuzi

Just want to tell you about my purchase  in Costa Blanca, I was like you visiting with really bad estate agents for over a year and was just about to give up when all the good people on eos told me about Georgia and after meeting he found us what we wanted and at a great price. He helped us with all aspects regarding purchasing our property and all went great for us. We are now going over for six weeks which i  still cant believe that i have my own lovely home in Spain. I would advice you to ring Georgia and you wont regreat it.

I'm confused. I thought Georgia was a female! Why is he in disguise?

Irene

 Hi Irene and Alan,

It wasn't meant as a disguise, when i first found EOS i was thinking of a name to use,as i was a virgin forum user i saw a lot of people using place names, my grandfather came from Georgia,USA, and it's also my daughters name.

As it evolved i was  free to tell some home truths about some of the agents around here without fear of retribution (you would be suprised of the some of the tactics the big firms use) but putting it politely, they do not like people who rock the boat!

Thats all immaterial now as everyone man and his dog knows who i am now and where i work so i just carried on using the name (i just lock the door when people in long coats turn up!!)

So hence the fact Georgia was born as my alter ego..........

It sometimes makes the guys in the office smile when people ring asking for Georgia.....................

Hi Suzi - I am an estate agent with Remax in Torrevieja and we have properties in some of the areas you mentioned - do have a look at our website and let me know if there is anything of interest.  We work on an exclusive basis so you shouldn't be able to find the same property at lots of different prices!

You will find many posts on the forum about Ambasun - I worked for them for 8 hours when I first moved out here - never again!!

My advice is to shop around and go with a few agents that you feel you can trust.  As Georgia says, there is no need to go the inspection trip now as that limits you to one agent.  It is much better to travel independently and then you set your own agenda.  The system here is so different from the UK so you do need to get good advice.  Although it is not strictly necessary here, I always advise clients to get a good lawyer who will double check everything for you.  Prices are still falling so you should run a mile if you find a property which has increased rather than decreased!  Don't be rushed into anything and get a good feel of the area before you commit yourself. 

We are finding we are very busy at the bottom end of the market but it is still very slow for more expensive properties.  You should therefore be able to negotiate on price unless it has already been heavily discounted.

Good luck with your search!

If you've narrowed your search down to a specific area why not search for a rental property.  Try before you buy to make sure the area suits you, if it does then you're half way there.

Stick to the agents that others personally recommend and then you can't go wrong.  The larger agents can be pushy and are sales oreiented, they also can charge 10% commission.  When I was looking some years ago I viewed the same property with two different agents, the first one was Spanish, the second English.  The later were charging much more and that's where I got 10% figure from.

When I decided to change my search to Costa Blanca, where a friend had just bought a place, I looked at a property with a large company whose name I forget now.  They advertised that the price included all your fees, I found out by accident that I was paying a 20% mark up on the property.  When you buy a resale then you should calculate a further 10% of the purchase price to cover taxes etc.  I got money back but with these agents they would also pocket the difference.  A couple of years later this company went bust owing a lot of people money.

It's a big purchase you are thinking of making so you want to make sure that you will be happy there. 

At the top of the page you will see a Search facility, type in Ambersun and read the comments to see what others think of them as agents.

Personally I'd give them a miss, same as I did to the UK agent who tried to rip us of above.  Get to know your prices as well as your chosen area and then when the "bargain" comes along you'll be ready.

Good luck

What! Georgia is a boy and Irene&Alan are not a transexual.

lol.   Sorry couldn't resist