Staff Reporter
WHAT an incredible year we are having inland with property sales. We are 40% up on last year – which itself was a good year.
Can I tell you the reason? Quite frankly NO – we were actually expecting far more caution from buyers.
Bargain properties are being snapped up by investors as soon as they come to market and our online ‘reserve a property’ facility is proving very popular.
ARMCHAIR SALES
Other web portals seem shy to include the exact location of the property with up to date videos and information. Our buyers mostly make their shortlist of properties of interest from their ‘armchair’ as they make use of Google Street Maps to view all the local facilities. Add our internal property walk through video and so much time is saved in discounting any property that does not meet the buyer’s criteria. What a waste of effort in travelling to a property, to then find out that the location, neighborhood or facilities were not suitable.
Social media activity has been our focus this year with Facebook, Instagram and YouTube promoting the lifestyle benefits of living in Spain. With over 900 property videos on YouTube, this could account for some of our success, by staying well ahead of any competition.
FRANCHISE
is the way forward. Next month sees the launch of our franchise network throughout Andalucia as we replicate our systems and appoint local partners to continue to provide that special, local service to vendors and buyers. The investment made in the latest systems technology and business practices with the employment of experienced Franchise consultants, will allow us to replicate our success. The Partner selection process is quite severe, in that the growth and use of the Inland Andalucia brand has to be protected so that our buyers continue to have confidence in our services.
BUYER BEWARE
Quite amazingly the Junta trading standards officers are still insisting they do not have the resources to investigate and close, or even fine the illegal Real Estate agencies whom avoid business registration. That means that any buyers using their services to purchase a property are not protected under the European Trade Description Act. The excuses of Junta de Andalucia Trading Standards are astonishing and the more reporting we can do to warn potential buyers, the more armed they will be with whom they choose as their Agency to ensure a safe and secure purchase. Can you imagine a person selling houses from a pub in the UK, with no question of legitimacy? Crazy how some Buyers still leave their brains behind when they arrive in Spain to purchase a property.
WEB PORTALS
must take some responsibility. When searching through web portals as a potential buyer, you have absolutely no idea of the agency credibility, licensed or not. Even if the property exists or is still available for sale. Several years ago we reported to ALL web portals of their responsibility to be more diligent in whom they allowed to advertise on their platform. This resulted in every Portal putting a ‘disclaimer’ in small print in the least obvious position of their website. It has always been about the revenue for these companies and not about the protection of their users. For sure, in the future European ruling will change and provide some protection. Meanwhile, it’s still BUYER BEWARE.. On a good note the Sun always shines here.
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