Be prepared...........don't lose your dream home at the last hurdle!!!Over the last few week we have experienced several clients losing their chosen property at the last minute because the sellers have accepted offers from alternative buyers who had 'money in their hand'. The demand for property in this area is now such that frequently there are several clients from different sources battling over a particular property. In these cases the only way to secure the property is to hand over a small deposit - usually 3000 euros minimum. We pride ourselves on not insisting you bring out a bankers draft when you visit as so many other agents do - however we are now getting to the situation that if you do not have some suitable funds with you in Spain then by the time you get home and transfer money over your property might well have been sold to someone else! Unfortunately many of the Spanish owners of these rural properties will always take the money thats put in their hand rather than a promise. The latest situation to hit us is where a client had chosen a villa in the process of being reformed from a ruin and had agreed with the seller (on our client's second visit) to a price of 100.000 euros and agreed to hold it for a week for our client to return home and transfer the 10% deposit. However as a result of past experience we felt it better to use 10.000 euros of our own money to pay the deposit straight away rather than risk losing the property and our client would reimburse us. We returned to the seller just a couple of days later with the 10.000 euros to discover someone else had offered him 120.000 euros and already handed over a holding deposit! It is now our very strong recommendation that if you are serious about looking for a property then ensure you have a minum of 3000 euros in negotiable funds available to you in Spain during your visit. Obviously you should not carry this amount in cash and we still do not require you to bring out a banker's draft (if you do then make it payable to yourself). The simplest and safest way all round is to purchase EURO Travellers Cheques before your visit and then if you don't actually find a suitable property or change your mind about buying then you can easily cash them back in when you get home. If you are worried about paying over any money before having everything checked out then be aware that this deposit is always refundable should anything untoward be discovered that means you cannot complete the purchase within a defined time period (we normally limit this to 3 months). If problems are not resolved by the seller during this time you get your money back - if the seller withdraws during this time then he has to pay you twice the amount of the deposit you have paid. Therefore the more deposit you pay the more secure your purchase. Our solicitor will always ensure a contract is in place which will give you the protection stated above. So, in simple terms.........You cannot guarantee a property will be 'held' unless you place a deposit. Bad news...but now a fact of life I am afraid.
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© Peter Pickett 2004