Posts written by Graham Hunt

Last Monday we had three initial client meetings in the morning. Lots of coffee was consumed and advice given and everyone was surprised at the amount of time we gave them and the information we were able to impart in that time. It's because we are used to it. Ever since we started offering free meetings over Zoom during the pandemic back in 2020 we have been growing and growing and the inital meetings are the most important part of that growth process.

Last week we published our post about how to add value to a property in the city, usually an apartment. You can see that post here. We said we would return to this subject and look at houses and villas so today it's time to do that. And remember as a buyer this is what you can do in many cases after purchase to increase the value of your property immediately without any building costs, projects or licences. However, bear in mind that everything we said in that post needs to be done in a house too. The below are the extra things that need to be done in order to maximise value in a house. And some of them cost considerably more than the basics in the last post.

For many years the way to make a quick buck in Spain was to become and estate agent. So many people started in the estate agency business using a mobile phone, a diary and little else that at one stage there was 1 agent for every 200 people in Madrid for example. Remember that is 200 people not buyers. It includes babies, people in nursing homes, extended families etc... This was never sustainable of course when the crash came. My particular experience of this is that around 13 or 14 of my ex clients became estate agents after purchasing through my company. Only one remains!

I thought I would do a bit of a whiteboard explanation of where in Valencia City it is good to buy property and why. I put it in black and white because it's a whiteboard right? So in the video I explain the difference between Ruzafa and Ensanche, talk about the Cabanyal and Malvarrosa and the bit you need to avoid and also the different central areas of Valencia. I also eviscerate the area around Avenida de Francia... a bit.

This may not seem very important at the moment when you are locked down and unable to travel but it looks like Spain will be opening up for the summer perhaps with a vaccine passport, perhaps through travel corridors. Most people are talking about being able to go on holiday safely but others are waiting to be able to come to Spain and buy their new home or holiday property.

There is an expectancy in Spain which is unusual. People are forgetting the economic crisis in the hope of spending a month waiting for the glory that is a World Cup win for "La Furia". Normally when Spain go into a World Cup there is more of a foreboding, a knowingness that everything will go wrong in the quarter finals however well or badly they play. This time everyone expects it to be different.

For people coming into Spain from Northern Europe, the Gulf States and the USA buying a property in Valencia is a great way to find a good place to live at a decent price and still be able to afford a lifestyle when you get here. What you pay for the house though is not your only cost. You also have taxes, costs, commissions and legal fees. We have written before about how it actually works out cheaper to buy a property in Valencia long term despite the upfront costs because the ongoing costs are low

We have written before about choosing a lawyer for your Valencia Property purchase and you can read the article at the link. Within that article we talked about how to choose your lawyer and the whole process of doing that. What we didn't talk about is what they do and this is important because you don't get to see it. All the work is done in the background and the only communication you may have with the lawyer is them telling you "It's Ok to pay the deposit now" and "Final date for the notary can be set now". We maybe should have called this article "What your Valencia Property lawyer ACTUALLY does" but we thought that maybe that was a bit on the nose as most people's impression is contained in the picture below.

One of the things I am often asked is what I do all day as a Spanish estate agent. Well the truth be told I often don't know where the day has gone. However I thought I would give you an idea of a typical day when I haven't got viewings and then in a future post look at one where I have got Spanish Property viewings.

An imposing, attractive 3 storey villa of approximately 380 sq.metres on a plot of 2400 sq. metres, tucked in a quiet corner within a few minutes drive of either Montroy or Monserrat with all the facilities these two towns have to offer.

In last month's issue of the Spanish Property Magazine there was an article that received excellent feedback with a different view of expat kids. Children generally get a bad rap about how selfish they are and that they do not care in the same way that previous generations do. Dave Bull from All Abroad Magazine puts us straight about this in his brilliant article extolling the virtues of the new Europeans, the first real European generation, the children of expats.