THINGS YOU MIGHT WANT TO KNOW IF YOU WANT TO
SELL A PROPERTY
WHY USE A REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL?
One of the major advantages in using a real estate professional, rather than marketing your property on your own lies in the fact, that we prevent you from waste of time and effort. Please see in our service guarantee section below, what we can offer you. Having said that, the other main reason why you should always have an intermediary in the middle is, that we filter the “good grains from the bad grains” when it comes to prospective buyers who show interest in your property. You would not believe us if we told you the amount of ´time-wasters´ that we come across until a proper, prospective buyer has been found.
Buying and/or selling property always is a very emotional process for both the buyer and the seller. And emotions never are a good advisor when it comes to successfully closing a business. We are there to keep both parties happy and to lead them together to a successful closing and in the most efficient way.
“I don´t need an estate agent! I can sell my house on my own and save that 5% which, by the way anyway is far higher than back in the UK! I don´t understand, why you have to charge that much money for just ‘opening and closing some doors every now and then’…….”
We´ve been hearing this a lot of times throughout the last years. But unlike many of our competitors, we are very happy to publically address this point and explain some things here that might open your eyes.
A real estate professional first of all is a service provider. We provide the service to bring person A (owner) and person B (buyer) together. And if there is an understanding in price and conditions, persons A and B can close a business at the notary public. However, up until that very moment and already having put in an endless amount of hours of work providing that very service, we have earned the amount of 0 € so far. It´s more, not only have we not earned anything yet, but we have had quite a substantial amount of outgoings that nobody is going to refund us, in case that business could not be closed due to a plothera of possible reasons, which in way less of the cases than thought, are not even directly linked to professional failures of the real estate agents themselves.
All the services that we provide upfront without any guarantee of getting paid for them in the end do involve a high cost (office, employees, social security costs, marketing, photographers, company cars and not to forget the huge amount of time spent until that moment).
Other than back in the UK where there is mainly a sole-agency based, first home market where people need to buy, here in the Balearics we are mainly dealing with vast competition and a second home market where no one needs to buy. So, in order to be able to maintain business, we have to charge a higher commission than real estate agents would do back in the UK.
MARKET PRICE VALUATION
Although it is public knowledge that the real market value of a property is the price that a buyer is paying for it in the end, there is still a possibility to get an approximate understanding of the price range in which you should place your property on the market, in order to sell it under satisfying circumstances.
We at Crocodile Properties are happy to visit your property free of charge and provide you with an estimation of what price you should put your property on the market and what sort of figure you might be able to achieve. We will base this in one part on an exhaustive research of the current market of similar properties within your area and on the other also on a strong part of gut-feeling that only a professional real estate agent with year-long experience is able to provide.
Although nobody can keep the promise to find a suitable buyer for your property at the highest price and in the shortest period of time, we will do our best to get there and can guarantee you the following services:
- Cost free market valuation of your property
- In case you don´t have any professional pictures yet of the property, we will organize a photo shooting with a professional photographer at our own cost
- We will create a professional exposé of the property
- We will present and constantly update the details of your property on our website
- We will sit down with you and discuss a tailor-made marketing strategy for your property which can include its presentation on local and/or foreign real estate portals at our own cost
- Further on we can discuss other marketing tools, such as professionally created 3-D floor plans and/or a drone video or extra publications in print media and luxury magazines
- We will happily provide you with contacts of our huge network of local and international service providers if you need legal or any other professional advice during the sales process of your property
- We will professionally prepare and guide property viewings with prospective clients
DOCUMENTS WE REQUIRE
If you decide to list your property with Crocodile Properties, we would need you to kindly have paper or digitalized COPIES of the following, basic documents at hand for us, in order to initiate a professional property listing (we of course are happy to copy them for you in our office):
- The LEGAL OWNER’s PASSPORT & NIE (if you have one)
- TITLE DEEDS (span: escritura de compraventa)
- LAND REGISTRY EXTRACT (span: nota simple – however, if you don´t have it, we can order it, once we have the title deeds)
- HABITABILITY CERTIFICATE (span: cédula de habitabilidad)
- ENERGY EFFICIENCY CERTIFICATE (span: certificado de eficiencia energética)
- GROUND TAX & RUBBISH PAYMENT SLIP (span: I.B.I. y basuras)
Further on for apartments or properties within a community:
- COMMUNITY RULES (span: reglas de la comunidad)
- COMUNITY FEES (span: pagos de comunidad)
Please note, that the more of these documents we can have from the beginning on, the better service we will be able to provide you and our prospective buyers with.
Selling/buying property in Spain can be quite a complex process. We have to be well prepared from the beginning on, if we want to take a property sales operation to a successful ending with the least possible amount of complications.
THE SALES PROCESS
As mentioned, the sales process of a property can be quite a complex endeavour, which is why we would like to familiarize you in the following with a short summary of how this process in most of the cases is being rolled out:
PRICING & COSTS
Once a property has been chosen by a prospective buyer we will guide you through the price negotiation process in writing and will make sure we come to a satisfying result for both parties
Selling a property in Spain is due to the payment of different kinds of taxes:
The capital gains tax which currently is a 19% of the difference between original purchase price and the achieved, notarised sales price of the property. It is strongly advisable to have a competent, local tax lawyer at hand, as it totally depends on your personal circumstances and fiscal background, in how far you might get any tax cuts out of it
There is also a sold called “wealth tax” in play, which may or may not apply, according to whether you are a tax resident in Spain or not. Again, and especially with regards to this tax, it is advisable to have a competent tax advisor at hand
A municipal tax on the growth of value of your plot (with apartments, the individual share of the plot size it occupies), which is called “plusvalía”. This tax is being calculated by a different formula for each municipality and can be looked up here https://atib.es/TL/Plusvalias/default.aspx?lang=es
The estate agency´s fee
OPTION CONTRACT & DUE DILIGENCE
Once a sales price is agreed, an option contract will be drafted and the buyer´s solicitor will start the due diligence process. Again, in order to not lose much time at that moment it is advisable to have all necessary documentation at hand and from the beginning on.
An option contract basically is a privately signed agreement which guarantees the buyer exclusive right of purchase of the property during an agreed period of time (usually between 1 to 3 months). The option grantor (vendor) guarantees the option taker (buyer) the right to purchase their property at the previously arranged purchase price against the down payment by the option taker (buyer) of an option sum into a notary escrow account. This option sum normally is a 10% of the agreed purchase price which then will be deducted from the final amount to be paid at the notary appointment.
The option contract also will state an agreed notary date and the details of the notary public, which normally is being chosen by the buyer
In the event that the purchase doesn´t complete due to reasons caused by the buyer (e.g. buyer decides against a purchase due to reasons not directly linked to legal complications showing up after a due diligence), the paid option sum will be handed to the vendor
In the event that the purchase doesn´t complete due to reasons caused by the vendor (e.g. vendor has accepted a higher offer by a third party or generally pulls out of the sale), the vendor will be legally obliged to return the paid option sum, plus the payment of the same amount to the buyer as a contract breach penalty charge
The agreed option period also gives the vendor the time to provide more necessary legal documentation if required for a property due diligence process, which will also have to be rolled out during the option period
Therefore the content of this option contract normally will be subject to the outcome of the property due diligence, done by the buyer´s legal advisor
Please note, that in the event that the buyer´s legal advisor has found some irregularities with the property, it does not automatically mean that the purchase will not go through. We are aware of the fact, that the appearance of issues can create nervousness and temporary uncertainty with the buyer and vendor. However, many of those irregularities can and should be solved during the option period. This is why we strongly advise also the vendor to commission a consolidated, however also very proactive law firm, who will be doing their best to sort all problems out together with the buyer´s legal advisor
In any case your legal advisor will send you a draft of the notarial purchase contract for you to study and discuss with them.
BANKING
During the option period also all different amounts to be cleared will have to be prepared as certified bank cheques. The buyer´s bank manager will prepare these in accordance with the notary office
CHEQUES AND PAYMENTS
The above mentioned certified bank cheques normally will be extended to:
- The buyer´s purchase tax payments which will be done by the notary public´s office
- The notary and stamp duty costs (also due to the buyer)
- The above mentioned “plusvalía” tax due by the vendor and also being paid by the notary public´s office after sale, therefore deducted from the remaining sales price
- The estate agent´s commission which legally is an obligation to the vendor but will be handed over by the notary public to the estate agency at the notary appointment and therefore also is deducted from the remaining sales price
- The remaining amount which will be handed to the vendor by the notary public after signing the notarial purchase contract
- The notary public then also will hand to the vendor a certified bank cheque of the previously withheld option sum
NOTARY APPOINTMENT
If the option period has passed successfully, the parties meet at the notary public´s office to complete the purchase
All certified bank cheques will be handed to the notary and the notary identifies the parties by their passports or identity documents. Further on the notary will identify the property and read out loud the notarial purchase contract for everyone to hear. The notary also will confirm the accuracy of the property specifications in the land registry and the cadastre extract
Most notaries provide the service of parallel translation. However we will be happy to assist you in this as well
If both parties agree, they sign the original notarial contract and the different cheques will be handed over to the according parties and/or entities
In exchange all existing keys and original legal documents will be handed over to the buyer
The notary public is obliged to send the change of ownership telematically to the land registry office within the following 24 hours
Other than in other countries, in Spain the ownership is taken at the very same day of the signature of the notarial contract
