First In The Door

I always start the research phase with external assessments of properties that match the criteria agreed to make sure they deserve an internal inspection. The immediate environment is just as important as the property itself so it’s always the first step. At the same time I had alerted one of my contacts who lives in the development of townhouses on San Pedro beach that I thought would work so well for my clients. I asked him to alert me if he heard of anything that matched my clients’ criteria and budget.  Most of the development consists of 3 bedroom houses but there are some 4 and 5 bedrooms properties. I wasn’t optimistic but he came through with the perfect option. A Spanish family of five siblings had just inherited a 4 bedroom property and were about to give him exclusivity to market the property for them. It was 20 years old and had been used by this large family as a holiday home several times a year. It was in relatively good condition, well-used but tired and dated, and I was certain my clients, if they bought it, would do a full renovation so the price had to be right for them to be able to do this and stay in budget. 

It was due to be released to the market within two weeks but when I viewed it no-one else knew about it. A short video was done, plans were provided and as soon as the professional photographer had done his stuff I sent these to my clients, identifying exactly which house it was. My clients told me they had noticed these houses when walking down to the beach and often commented how nice it would be to have one of them.  The problem was neither of these couples were in Spain and such is the demand for this particular urbanisation I knew it was likely to go under offer on day 1. My goal now was to get them ‘first in the door’. As it turned out they were the only people in the door. One of the partners flew in for 48 hours in the week the house was to be launched, opened negotiations and the deal was done without it even hitting the market. It was the only house they saw. It's great feeling for all property finders when a client views a property and successfully negotiates the deal without any estate agents even knowing it was for sale. We can't promise that our clients will be 'First In The Door' but we always try hard to make it happen. 

Transactions involving an inheritance tend to be a bit more complicated and this property had five owners. Fortunately, one of them was nominated the point of contact and the conveyancing went relatively smoothly. In addition, my clients planned to purchase by means of a Spanish S.L company and that process also takes a bit more time so completion was set for 8 weeks later. As I suspected, the house was going to be renovated, stripped right back to the brick, and so we used this time to start planning. First job - I introduced an architect I had known for 20 years who had worked for many former clients, and he brings with him a terrific team of builders. The plans approved were for a five bedroom house with three bathrooms, a huge open-plan living and kitchen area and two new terraces at first floor level. And although it isn’t completely detached only a very small part of the wall is attached to the neighbouring house, making it one of the most ‘detached’ houses in the urbanisation. Many urbanisations in holiday areas do not allow building work to take place in July and August, it just isn’t worth all the complaints so we knew September was the earliest work could start. In the event, by the time plans had been agreed and the licence applied for it was mid-October before the demolition started and project time is scheduled to be around 6 months. After that my clients won’t be walking past on their way down to the beach thinking how nice it would be to have one of the properties, they will be some of the lucky ones.  I’ll post an image of the finished product in the near future.