All the latest news from Valencia Property

We are back! It's September and we are back working full on after the summer hiatus. We hope you enjoyed the long hot summer, it passed me by a bit as I was mostly away in the north of Spain where it was warm but not too hot. Our team spent time away mostly to the four corners of Europe and North Africa not to mention various different parts of Spain. More about that in our next podcast. One of the most important things we did carry on doing during the summer were our initial Valencia Property consultation calls. We have written about them before here but today we are going to discuss how to set one up now and what we should be talking about on the call. We find that the initial consultation call is probably the most important first step for those who eventually get to buy successfully here in Valencia. We get to know you, you get to know us and you can ask any questions whether they are simple, complicated or even at first glance they may seem stupid to you.

The first half of the year has pretty much flown by here in Valencia as the property market continues to move robustly. More demand, less supply, more demand, less supply, more demand, less supply... you can see how it goes. Falling interest rates, increasing incentives for young people wanting to buy, fewer rentals available so people being forced to buy if they can manage to save a deposit, more bank of mum and dad, more demand, less supply, more demand less supply... That's it. End of report. No it isn't. Read on.

If you’ve ever considered living in Spain, let me save you the trouble. It’s a nightmare, truly the worst decision you could ever make. Back in the day I wrote an article about the 17 worst things about living in Spain, you can see it here, however that was ten years ago so it's time to update the article and let you know why living in Spain now is just horrible. Don't even think of doing it! Here’s a list of the most “horrendous” things about living in this Mediterranean disaster zone. Proceed at your own risk.

After the events of the last few weeks we thought it was time to get back to Valencia Property a little and tell you all about what we do, how we do it and what to expect moving forward. This blog is the longest running continuously posting blog in the Spanish property market without exception and it serves to bring people into looking for somewhere to have a great lifestyle and of course that is Valencia. Our little blog occupies the space for you between when you decide that it might be a good idea in life to move to Spain and when you just start looking at property online with no context. You need information and that's one thing that property agents and portals mostly miss out on. You cannot make a really informed decision about a place without knowing more about it when you are coming from a different area, country or even continent. Our mission is to give you everything needed to make that informed decision and then to help you find that perfect property.

We've had a few mails this week from people wondering what they can buy in Valencia at certain price ranges and we have had a few posts about prices in Valencia recently but one thing that comes up consistently is this. "I have x Euros saved and want to buy a property in Valencia. My price range is between x and y" And we have to say that no it isn't. Because there are certain things people need to know in order to work out how much they can afford. So in today's post we are going to look at a typical request and what it means for your budget. And we are going to make the numbers easy so you don't have to look away if you find numbers daunting. But there are lots of them.

We were thinking about calling this post "Why the seller DGAF about your plans" but decided it was a bit on the nose. Instead we decided to put together some thoughts about why there are certain things you shouldn't do on your Valencia Property visit because if you do you might not get the property for the price you want it. As a buyers' agent we try to get you the best deal possible after whittling down the options to the best places for you so you don't want any owner telling us "I'm not selling my property to them even if they offered me millions". Sounds far fetched but it has happened.

Everyone who buys a property in Valencia, and indeed everyone who buys a property in Spain, requires a NIE number in order to complete their purchase. You can come and look at properties without one, you can make a deposit on a place you want to buy without one, but in order to complete your purchase you'll need a NIE number. Therefore one of the questions we are always asked is "how do I get a NIE number?" and one of the statements people make online all the time is "I can't get an appointment to get a NIE number in Valencia!" We have written about this previously and the article we send to people about it is still relevant but it was written in 2018 so everyone asks is it still relevant.

I have been noticing a trend online recently especially on Threads, where it seems engagement trolling is key, that people start a thread with "I have been doing x for six months now and here is what I learnt..." You are now drawn in and you click through to all of their relatively mundane observations taken from their own personal experience and applying those observations to the whole more Universal experience. So today I thought we'd do the same but from the point of view of our clients. What have they discovered to be the biggest changes from "back home" when coming to live in Spain?

Here at Valencia Property we have always been fans of quality over quantity. Orange juice made with oranges not Sunny Delight, mature cheese with taste not that "Tierno" rubbery rubbish, the odd ugly building making us appreciate the classical facades even more not Benidorm with its surfeit of hideousness. You get the idea. With property it's the same, why list everything when most is not worth it? We wrote an article a while back about why we don't list everything we are offered, there are plenty of reasons, but today we are going to look at quality control and what it means for listings. We are also going to show you some examples of things we just will not list and give the reasons why.

It's time for a sermon. It's time for something that you might not necessarily want to hear. It's time for a reality check. You may decide you don't want to work with us after reading this because others may sugar coat the truth before you come here but you need to know that truth. However, can you handle the truth? This is how to act in the current Valencia Property Market, mid 2024 in this case but the truth is also... until further notice. And we will give you that notice if the current situation changes. After all, forewarned is forearmed.

Every year we get to the summer and the same thing happens, we close and people ask why. We have written on these pages about why you can't see properties at the weekend and we have mentioned what happens in the summer at length in the past. Today though it's time to let you know what happens in August and why we are mostly closed in the middle of summer. Of course we are not totally closed, a couple of us will be around dealing with things that come up, doing the background work on sales that will be signed in September etc.. and while we are away the company still runs remotely, I myself run the company from a laptop and can do a lot of that work from anywhere, but Spain and Valencia mostly close in August and here's why.

There are so many people deciding to upgrade their life and move to Valencia that it's difficult to keep up as supply of both rental and for sale property drops and that place you have had your eye on for a few weeks disappears off the property portals or a big sold sign appears just as you are about to visit. In order to avoid disappointment and to make sure you have the best choice available, we at Valencia Property have a tried and tested route for those looking to buy here and settle. And today we are going to detail that route for you here on the blog so you know what to expect.

Sometimes a property just doesn't sell quickly for whatever reason. At times we expect something to move quickly and it doesn't and then we get that question that everyone asks about every property which makes no sense but it still gets asked: "How long has that property been on the market?" It's a strange question because if you like the property and are potentially thinking of buying it then it doesn't matter (Except for if you think this will make a difference to the offer you can make and get away with). Today therefore on the blog we thought it time to look at some properties that have been for sale for a time but for whatever reason haven't yet sold but are great opportunities for whatever reason.

On a regular basis we update you with the situation in the market here in Valencia and not having done this after the first quarter it's time to catch up. We posted our last update at the end of 2023 so we are using the same breakdown so you can compare and contrast. We are looking at what's happening on the ground of course, some of which we mentioned in the podcast last week where Gavin gave his thoughts on what's happening. You can listen to that here (The chat with Gavin starts at 9 mins 15 secs in). We'll also look at perspectives for the rest of the year.

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.

What I'm talking about today on the blog is about what it means to give a service to clients as an estate agency in Valencia and comparing that to what we hear about others. We recognise that you have a choice when you come to Valencia of which buyer's agent to work with, which agency to trust and even which medium term rental agency to book a property with. We know about the online scams and have talked about them on the blog previously. So today it's time to look at what marks us out as different, it's not just Joyce and Kafka, it's not just readable property descriptions and making sure things stay fun... it's professionalism, empathy and understanding from the start

After the arguments over whether we should have listed a property (which we essentially called overpriced and not worth it) I thought it time to give you an update of Valencia Property's rules for listing properties. Now we are no ordinary estate agent, as I explained in the article about why we listed a particular property. Our regular followers continue to be regular followers because of our honesty, general vibe of the listings and heavy sarcasm/sense of humour (Delete as appropriate) as well as the fact that they are interested in moving to Valencia. You can read the article about why we listed a particular property on our Substack (And maybe subscribe while you're there, we'll wait here for you to read it on the new tab and come back to continue here.

The latest property market data confirms what we've long known at Valencia Property: we're the undisputed leader when it comes to helping American buyers find their perfect home in Valencia. Whether you're searching for a spacious house in the leafy suburbs of L'Eliana or a vibrant apartment in the heart of Ruzafa and Ensanche, our agency consistently delivers more successful purchases for American clients than all other agencies combined. Yes you heard that right, ALL OF THE OTHERS COMBINED. You can see our previous post about this here. Our position has now been cemented even further.