Campbell Ferguson (OP Columnist)
“MAY you live in interesting times” – Reputedly an ironic ancient Chinese curse, and certainly 2017 is likely to have many opportunities to be ‘interesting’.
Locally, we see many new properties under construction, both individual villas and apartment urbanisations.
The vast majority of these are aimed at the upper price level and we hope that all have done their marketing analysis correctly.
Certainly, many appear to be pre-sold or for individual owners, all of which is good news.
Long may it continue, though for every new property built there are still a number of older properties available.
Investigation of the market shows a definite double level, with older properties being available at often half or less per square metre compared to the new ones.
That’s the effect of everything being offered as one package to a buyer, with guarantees, though sometimes the small print of the latter needs to be read very carefully.
The sensible used property seller can compete with that by having a Home Report prepared that gathers all the information on their property together and offers it as one pack to buyers.
It’s what the increasing numbers of Northern European buyers are used to in their home country.
So reassure them by giving them a comprehensive pack with copies of floor plans, Nota Simple, Catastral, Energy Certificate, Electricity and Water invoices.
Copies of First Occupation Licences, Decennial Insurance Certificate, proof of Community and IBI payments, and any other licences or permissions that you have for extensions, should all be included.
As internet connections are becoming more important, so a copy of an Ookla internet speed test would also be good.
Photos of inside, outside and views, plus location maps and aerial photos will be really helpful too and it doesn’t have to be a fancy brochure.
It can all be on a memory stick that’s given to viewers or even create an individual website.
Too much bother? Well, realise that the majority of that information is required by law to be given by sellers and their agents to every enquirer.
If it’s not available, both will be heavily fined, and we are talking thousands of euros potentially.
Also, it’s all going to have to be available for the eventual purchaser’s lawyer doing their ‘due diligence’, so why not have it all available anyway. You even could negotiate a reduction in the lawyer’s fee by handing them everything ‘on a plate’.
A responsible selling agent will help you gather it as reassurance for themselves that they are not going to do all the marketing, but then find that it can’t be sold or the buyer is ‘lost’ due to extensive delays while the paperwork is sorted out.
Yes, the agent may want an exclusive agency for a period in return for all the work, but by doing it they show themselves to be true business people who are likely to be successful in their marketing too.
A prudent buyer is going to be delighted and reassured with all the information and it will certainly mark the property above the rest in the neighbourhood.
It may also mean that a higher price can be achieved as the buyer knows what they are acquiring.
Also, for us as surveyors carrying out pre-acquisition surveys and/or valuations, we are undoubtedly going to look more favourably on a property for which we can get all the information we need and thus avoid the ‘no information supplied’ comments that can reduce the value of our reports.
The days of selling a ‘pig in a poke’ and keeping fingers crossed are passing by, as the majority of buyers are much more informed, prudent and ‘canny’ than in the boom times a decade ago.
