All the latest news from Valencia Property

A quick tongue in cheek post today and not really about Houses For Sale In Spain, more about Lifestyle in Spain. June 22nd it started this year. That was the day that the kids came out of school ready for the summer holidays. Tomorrow they return to school after 11 weeks of summer holidays. The kids are getting excited to be returning to see their new teachers, see all of their friends again, if they can remember their names and actually start doing some work.

I have been busy traipsing around Valencia looking for potential properties for clients this week, hey somebody has to do it and Valencia is so nice to look at of course. This week however it got a bit warm and I got a blister too from tramping the streets. I know you feel sorry for me ;-) So anyway I have picked up two really great attic flats this week although to look on the main Valencia Property site you wouldn't think so because I only have photos of one of them so far, (The owner didn't want me to take pictures he said he would send me some but I am still waiting)

I actually tweeted this earlier today on my grahunt account. You decide. . Nobody is actually going to believe me when I say this but Spanish Property is selling so quickly I can hardly keep up. And it's August!!

Finally after years of inaction the Spanish Government has acted to try and cut the backlog of new build homes by slashing the VAT rate on new build property from 8% to 4%. It is described as a temporary measure until the end of the year. This is good news for the new build properties that we hold in various parts of Spain that have already been slashed in price. Ally this to the weakening Euro, the pound was at 1.15 Euros yesterday and Spanish new build property has just become much more affordable. Look out next week for a post about our properties at half price in Desert Springs, Almeria, Benidorm and Murcia.

Last Saturday I took some clients out to see a lot of Spanish properties again. That's what I do of course. This time the issue was the purchase of a Spanish Property in Valencia for a client moving to Spain to work at the Ford factory. (Don't be surprised Ford have announced a huge new investment in the Valencia plant to build the new Ford Kuga (Or Cougar))

A roundup of news from Valencia Property and Houses for sale in Spain over the last two weeks. For more news about property in Spain get in touch by mail on information@valencia-property.com or follow me on Twitter http://twitter.com/grahunt

If you are coming to live in Spain then there are some basics that you need to understand. 100 basics I have already put up on the Valencia Property You Tube Channel in the 100 tips for people thinking of moving to Spain. If you haven't seen them already then my question is why? Oh yes time. Anyway one of the things you need to understand is the notion of the Community and this may well be one of the reasons that the protests in Spain over the last few weeks and months have been relatively benign, some would say Ghandi-like in their forbearance and restraint, and the riots in the UK are not.

This morning I am taking a client to see some property in Valencia. I got an email and call yesterday and have managed to arrange to see five places this morning, not as easy as it sounds in August believe me. So my question for today is which of the following would you choose to buy if you were in the market for Valencia Property?

When August arrives there are certain things you should be aware of in Spain. Usually Spain stops for a good two or three hours between two and five o'clock every day. In August traditionally Spain has stopped for the whole month. Getting anything done is hellishly difficult. This year may be a bit different though. I have noticed that this year many shops have put up the closed for the holidays sign but it is just for two weeks. Many estate agents I know are only taking a week off. They used to happily disappear around the World for the month of August missing many clients along the way.

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.

When you are thinking of buying Spanish property there are lots of considerations. The main ones should be location, price and quality of course but even after considering these top three considerations you still need to avoid making the basic mistakes that anyone can make if they are not advised correctly.

Last week I wanted to take a client to see a few places for sale in Valencia. I made a few phone calls and found that three places out of four had been sold in the previous two weeks. Then another client came along and the same happened with three more places, this time houses rather than city flats. Last week we sold a property after having it on site for just a week.

Banks in Spain are a homogenous bunch usually. They don't compete too much on concession of mortgages although if you are a "good" client they might well give you maybe 0.25% less on your mortgage rate as long as you sign up for their insurance, credit cards etc...

If the first thing you are doing when buying a property for sale in Spain is thinking about the possible resale value then you are approaching buying property in the wrong way. Currently there is little value in the market for flippers of property because of the costs of purchase in Spanish property. When you make your decision to buy a property you will be paying 7% tax plus commissions and costs so you have to make sure you get it right. It is because of this that we at Valencia Property do everything we can to make sure that you make the right choice by giving you the fullest information possible.

We have changed the look of houses for sale in Spain so I thought I best show you how to navigate the site and get around it. I missed one thing of course, don't forget the Google+ button on the right hand side. Would love to know your feedback about the new site.

Valencia has had the no vacancies signs out for a few weeks now. I have been told by lots of clients that they have had major problems booking accommodation for when they are visiting Valencia to look at properties. Firstly there was the Formula One, next weekend is Campus Party, the summer is full of events from Iggy Pop last night through to Seal, the Jazz Festival, the midnight beachside firework displays, the Champions' Tour showjumping, ATP tennis etc... (And that is a long etcetera)

Spain has had a lot of publicity recently about the #SpanishRevolution with people camping out on the streets complaining bitterly about the political classes and the banks, but everything has been done in an orderly and civilised way. Other countries have not been so lucky. Greece has had riots, Egypt a revolution, most North African countries are going through the same process and as fuel prices rise the cost of getting to long haul destinations like Thailand, the Caribbean and the States (Not even mentioning the ridiculous checks at airports in The States due to the Homeland security laws) mean that suddenly the old favourites are making a comeback big time when people look for overseas property and places to get away to.

I thought it was time for a change. For a year and a half we have been using the Magazine theme for the site and I thought it was about time that we changed the look, freshened it up and incorporated more images and colour. I know that a lot of people come here for the actual content over and over because it is so good but obviously I want you to make this a regular visit when you are online. Also I want you to look at Valencia Property too because that is where we put the houses. Therefore you are going to have a few links on this page directing you there ;-)