|
Buying Timeshare and Holiday Homes Overseas
Thinking of buying a timeshare or holiday home overseas? You'll be offered a property inspection trip by the developer. These are often a waste of your time and money. You'll learn more by going it alone…
1. Arrange your own inspection trip. Some UK agents are currently offering inspection trips to Spain for £199. With these, you will only ever meet the property developers they want you to visit. These are the ones that offer the biggest commissions for intermediaries. The cheaper the inspection trip, the harder the sell, usually. Some agents have a clause in the small print that you have to pay the 'full' inspection trip fee if you don't commit to a deal during your visit. You will also pay for these lower-priced inspection trips through higher commission rates. It is much simpler to take a late-booking holiday to wherever you are looking to buy. As a guide, two people sharing can get seven days on the Costa Brava for about £200; less than the price of some inspection trips. You really need at least seven days for an inspection trip. You need to visit the whole area, look at as many developments as you can, talk to local agents, buyers, and sellers and really get a feel for the locality.
2. Prepare effectively for your visit. In addition to the usual holiday and travel arrangements, you need to bring some property-inspecting items with you. You'll find it useful to have a checklist of your property-picking criteria; those must-haves and must-avoids that you can tick and comment on accordingly for each property. A detailed map is a must. Download one before you travel. If you wait until you arrive, you'll find that most airports and car hire companies don't provide the detailed street maps you want. You can download from www.multimap.com. It's sensible to do a Google.com or Yahoo.com search for the 'town' you're visiting and 'map'. The more detailed the map, the more useful it is. Some of the Spanish and Greek roads, especially the islands, can be poorly signposted. Bring a camcorder with you as well. An inspection trip should include visits to lots of developments. After three or four visits, these will become hard to distinguish in your head. A video diary and commentary can prove invaluable. A notebook can be used to record key points of interest or concern.
3. Don't rely on UK agents. Many intermediaries offer sourcing and advisory services. But you may pay heavily for such services. A property in Santu Lussurgiu in Sardinia was advertised recently on two English-language websites. Via a local estate agent, the asking price was the equivalent of £18,500. On a UK intermediary's site, the asking price was the equivalent of £35,000. This is not unusual. Don't assume that the price is always the same. Going to local estate agents is sensible. On the more popular coasts, you can source properties for sale by doing your legwork. English is spoken widely. Off-plan developments are easy to spot. Some property owners sell without using agents. Look for 'For Sale' signs; 'Se Vende' in Spain for example. English is spoken less universally inland and away from tourist spots. You may find it useful to make friends with a fluent-speaking Brit who lives locally. Visit local bars and find those ex-pats. It is often said that asking prices rise whenever a British tourist enquires about a property.
4. Research thoroughly during your visit. There's lots of research you can do before you travel. There are plenty of web sites for the various coasts, both official and unofficial ones. A Goggle.com or Yahoo.com search should reveal these. They provide background details on local infrastructure, facilities etc. You can use these to see which areas meet your checklist. Books can be good for background research too, but check when they were published. Those that were published before a country joined the EU may be outdated within a year or so. On your visit, talk to estate agents, catch up with ex-pats, and compare your findings to your checklist. Estate agents are a good source of information and local property prices. If you're seriously interested in a developer's property, you'll want to be sure it's priced competitively. A bona-fide estate agent will encourage you to talk to anyone who has bought from them before. Take advantage of any leads. A few words from a locally-living Brit is worth more than any sales presentation from a property developer.
5. Other tips and tactics? If you are buying a property to let, remember to compose a checklist of what they'd want from the property. If you're a couple with young children, your wants and needs will be different from those of an older, retired couple on their own. Do your sums on whatever you're buying. Timeshares are currently on offer everywhere in the Canaries. But it is often much cheaper and more flexible to rent privately on and as and when basis. On some deals, the annual service and maintenance charges alone are higher than you'd pay on a package holiday basis in the next-door apartment. If you find something you like, don't ever do a deal on the spot. You'll probably be out there when the sun is shining and you're in a relaxed, holiday mood. Talk to a local solicitor before leaving so you have someone on the spot. Word-of-mouth recommendation from ex-pats can be helpful. Come back out-of-season when the weather is cold and you are more likely to do some hard-headed calculations.
|
|
