We Dutch are quick and efficient. But impatient too. I still remember a colleague who had lived abroad a lot saying: ‘Dutch people aren’t all that likeable. They think they know everything better’. At the time I thought that was a pretty odd remark. I genuinely thought, eh? Aren’t we people of the world?
Contents
- The Dutch housing market is transparent
- Transparency isn’t a thing in Spain
- The Dutch pace doesn’t work in Spain
- Doing your own research? Not in Spain
- Let a buying agent take it off your hands
- That is simply how it works in Spain
- In conclusion: want to move fast? Leave that to us
As Dutch people we are used to a fast, efficient way of doing business. We like to take the steps ourselves, gather the information and move quickly. If we need help, we bring it in. But we do the biggest part ourselves. That works fine in the Netherlands, where the housing market is transparent and you can easily arrange things yourself as a buyer. In Spain the situation is completely different. Here, ‘sorting it out yourself’ can actually work against you and disrupt the whole process. Why? Because the Spanish property market is fundamentally different from the Dutch one.
The Dutch housing market is transparent
The Netherlands is unique in the world. Here, as a buyer, you have immediate access to all the information you need: from energy labels and any structural survey reports to exact plot boundaries and market analyses. You can look up asking prices and recent sale prices online at the kadaster. There are questionnaires filled in by the seller and a list of fixtures and fittings, so that you know exactly what is included in the sale and what is not. There is also a clear distinction between buying agents and selling agents. The process is clear and fair and the information is good. Every house that is still available is listed on Funda.
We do complain that the market isn’t transparent and that the bidding processes aren’t fair. But with the bidding log in particular we have a lot of insight into the market. In the Netherlands you often bring in an agent to get ‘in between’ and to have a direct line to the selling agent. The agent tells you what to bid and what the property is worth.
In Spain the property market is a good deal less transparent than in the Netherlands. A house can quite easily be listed on Idealista 26 times, each time with different floor areas, different numbers of rooms and even different asking prices. It is then hard to work out what is actually correct. On top of that, the information you get often comes from selling agents who only represent the seller’s interests, which can lead to misleading or incomplete answers.
A personal experience: what can go wrong
When we bought our house I had to measure everything myself, while the original drawings were simply available, and nobody told us. Questions about the community were answered vaguely: “The pool is hardly ever used.” In reality it turned out to be more like a campsite pool in summer. And right after the purchase we were hit with a hefty increase in the community fees (+150%) for a renovation that had never been mentioned.
What you are told as a buyer often comes from the selling agent, someone who purely represents the seller’s interests. They are slapdash about providing information. If you go off investigating yourself or contact selling agents directly, you quickly end up in a situation where you miss important details or, worse, disrupt the process. They then know you are genuinely interested, for instance, or you give away a bit too much without realising it. But it can also happen that you unwittingly request extra information about another house or development, and then your buying agent can no longer help you. All of a sudden you have become that agent’s client for that house or development. And that agent might well be selling it too. Still with me? No, it is vague, isn’t it.
Transparency isn’t a thing in Spain
In Spain the housing market is far more complicated. Important information, such as whether there are debts on a property, building permits or community charges, is often only available after extensive research, research that you as a buyer cannot simply do yourself. You need a gestor or a lawyer for that. Selling agents usually only give the information that suits them, and they have no obligation to protect your interests. By contacting selling agents yourself you can run big risks:
- Poor information: You have no idea whether the property is free of debts or whether there are structural problems.
- Being pushed into quick decisions: Spanish selling agents are skilled at convincing you to sign quickly, often without you knowing all the facts. They push you to sign the reservation contract very fast. They tell you there are other buyers circling. There just happens to always be another offer on the table.
- Disrupting the process: As soon as your name is registered with a selling agent or a developer, your buying agent is sidelined. That means you no longer have independent guidance.
When we went to look at a house, Mum and Dad had just been to see friends who had bought a house in the region. That friend warned us: ‘Yes, that agent just drives to a pin on the map. Doesn’t know the house. But they only do it to earn the commission.’ So it is handy to let us make the appointment. In our system we can arrange an appointment with someone who can actually get into the property. He also gave us the tip not to keep paying those reservation fees. To me a lot of these things were fairly self-evident. But that is because of the work we do. And I thought, surely nobody does that. But that was when I realised that things which are completely normal for an estate agent are not at all normal for other people.
In Spain there is no such thing as a subject-to-finance clause. You reserve a property with a reservation contract. A sort of option on a property. You pay around € 5.000,- and then you go and arrange everything. The lawyer then requests and reviews all the relevant documents and, together with the other side’s lawyer, draws up the purchase agreement.
It is important that the right clauses are in this contract. Make sure you get your money back if the house turns out to have been built illegally, for example. But also make sure you agree properly on how and when you pay. Here it is fairly common for sellers to want a large part in cash.
The Dutch pace doesn’t work in Spain
Dutch people are used to moving fast. You find a house, ring the agent and arrange a viewing straight away. Ideally you want it all sorted within a few days. In Spain that doesn’t work. Here it first has to be clear who is involved and how the commission will be split. So if you phone yourself, as a private individual, you can get an appointment very quickly. Which makes you wonder: if I can arrange an appointment that fast and the agent can’t, what is he actually doing? In Spain it is not about getting there as fast as possible.
Selling agents prefer direct contact with private buyers, because then they can keep the full commission. That is why they are happy to schedule an appointment quickly, in the hope of a fast deal or of a new buying client they can take out to see other houses. It means they are less willing to work with your buying agent, and you lose essential guidance as a result. Because selling here is a scattergun business, they are certainly willing to work with a buying agent. People who have a buying agent are serious viewers. Which means the chance of a deal is high. Despite the fact that agents here have plenty of stock, it is not as if they do a great many deals. Like I said, they fire buckshot. So a huge amount of time is lost on viewings of properties that end up being sold by someone else.
You also often see selling agents in Spain scheduling appointments at moments that suit them, such as when the sun falls perfectly on the property. But what does that mean in winter? What about the shade and the damp patches? These important details are usually left out.
Doing your own research? Not in Spain
In the Netherlands a few clicks online will get you a wealth of reliable information about a property. That gives buyers the confidence to take the initiative themselves. Want to register your interest in a new-build development? Then you simply request a bit of information here and there. But in Spain that infrastructure doesn’t exist. By going off investigating yourself or contacting a selling agent directly, you disrupt the process and run the risk that:
- Your buying agent is sidelined: As soon as you make contact yourself, your buying agent no longer receives a fee and you can no longer count on their help.
- You miss crucial details: Without the guidance of a buying agent you have no idea whether the legal and structural side of things is in order.
- You get a worse deal: Selling agents can smell your enthusiasm and use it to drive the price up.
If you register yourself, the selling agent also becomes your buying agent. Eh? Yes, abroad the two are not separated. You can then no longer choose your own buying agent. The one who checks with you whether the potential return is any good. Whether the contracts are correct. But who also looks at whether there is still room to negotiate on the price. Or whether there happen to be a couple of plot numbers left from the first phase. And they don’t tell you all the rules of the owners’ association. You might not be allowed to let the property out until much later, leaving you with no income for a long time. That is something you want to know before you buy.
Let a buying agent take it off your hands
What a cringeworthy bit of jargon, isn’t it. But you engage a buying agent who knows how to find the right property for you. Even if you have spotted something yourself on Facebook or Idealista. You want to be helped through this incredibly nerve-racking and complicated buying process. So that it doesn’t become a headache, but stays a Spanish dream.
It may seem faster and more efficient to contact selling agents yourself, but that is not how it works in Spain. Here you need a buying agent who organises the process for you and keeps an eye on it. A buying agent like Gusto Casa makes sure you don’t fall into the traps of the Spanish property market.
- Local knowledge and expertise: We know the market inside out and we know which questions need asking.
- Protecting your interests: We check legal documents, building permits and any debts on the property.
- Realistic guidance: No pretty sales stories, but honest figures and practical advice.
- Calm and clarity: We take all the worries off your hands, so that you can focus on enjoying the search for your dream home.
That is simply how it works in Spain
Something we have noticed several times recently is that the Spanish buying process is hard for a lot of people to fathom. An example of this happened last summer. The mother of a friend had seen a beautiful house that she had completely fallen in love with. She called us for advice, but had already arranged an appointment herself at a different house. That house turned out not to be for her, but the selling agent offered to arrange an appointment at the house she was in love with. No sooner said than done.
What she didn’t know was that this agent actually had very little connection with the region and neither would nor wanted to view the house himself. Even so, he wanted to close a deal quickly and advised her to bid high. She decided to call us for help. Because why had this lovely spot not been sold yet? We arranged an appointment and would gladly have guided her, but then discovered that her name was already registered with the selling agent. That meant we could no longer help her, because the agent who had registered her was not willing to share a fee. Even though we tried to negotiate over the commission, he insisted on keeping the full amount himself.
A bitter aftertaste
In the end the deal fell through. It didn’t feel right to her that someone wanted to earn money from her without genuinely guiding her. In Spain agents can come across as quite persuasive and pushy. They stick to their own process and tell you that this is “the way things work” in Spain. Sadly, because of this situation she was unable to make use of our expertise, such as thinking through the rental prices with her, checking whether a renovation would be possible or advising on the rules within the complex. The result? No house and a disappointing experience.
What can you learn from this?
It is hugely important to be careful about who you let make appointments for you and to understand how the Spanish process works. As soon as a selling agent registers your name, you shut your buying agent out. That means you can no longer get independent guidance, and that can end up costing you dearly.
At Gusto Casa we don’t just make sure you find the right property, we also guide you through every step of the process: from checking rental prices and renovation options to securing a fair deal. Make sure you keep your buying agent involved, so that you not only avoid missing out on opportunities but also avoid regretting it later.
In conclusion: want to move fast? Leave that to us
We understand it: as a Dutch person you don’t want to wait too long. You want to press on and act fast. But in Spain the housing market is not built on speed and transparency the way it is in the Netherlands. Here it is wise to leave the work to an independent buying agent who protects your interests and guides the process efficiently and carefully. And yes, we do go for speed. But suppose we are sitting at the bank. Then just be patient for a moment. A visit to the bank to open a simple account can easily take 2,5 hours. That is Spain too. We help you on your way with this sort of thing as well. So don’t be quick to ring that office yourself because you think you can sort the information out better.
Choose calm, certainty and expertise. Don’t be misled by the fast-moving approach that works in the Netherlands but can create serious risks in Spain. With Gusto Casa at your side you have nothing to worry about, we make sure your dream home in Spain becomes reality, without the hassle.
