Want to buy a holiday home in Spain? Looking to emigrate and need a house to rent or buy? Where to start? There are dozens if not hundreds of real estate websites, but many of them are very disappointing in the way they market properties, especially when compared to the UK.

Your average inmobiliaria hasn’t got a clue about how to market property, with duff photos and inadequate descriptions. No wonder figures for viewings are so low! Yet most estate agents here have the gall to charge the vendor 5 or 6% commission, compared to a typical 1.5% in the UK!

Whilst many of the websites offering coastal properties are dismal, with dozens of identical unsold apartments built during the boom years of the last decade, many inland real estate websites have much more interesting places on offer – large and small, old and new, dear and cheap – at prices you can negotiate. And if, rather than look at cosmetics, you look for the potential of the shell, you can re-develop or re-form in your own style.

One innovative idea for marketing real estate is posting video footage of a property online. For example, at www.sierra-estates.com they have started filming houses and posting them on YouTube with a link from the specific property page on their website, eg http://sierra-estates.com/casa-rita/l1074#videos .

This is a great idea for enhancing kerb appeal! And it’s how we found the house we’ve just moved into, so we approve.

But trawling through websites can be a daunting task at the best of times, so why not engage the services of a homefinder? You simply provide your criteria and the homefinder does the rest, researching potential properties, arranging viewings, assisting with accommodation and transport and so on. If you find the property of your dreams, the homefinder can also assist with administration, legal matters, the notary, translation and interpreting.

And now is definitely the time to buy. With the recession still hitting the Spanish property market hard, there are a glut of properties on sale and bargains to be had.

© Paul Whitelock

See also:

A1 HomeFinders

A1 HomeFinders: Looking for property in Southern Spain?

A1 HomeFinders: Frequently Asked Questions

Tags:  house hunting Spain, holiday home, real estate, real estate website, inmobiliaria, estate agent, Sierra Estates, homefinder, Spanish property market, paul whitelock, www.a1-solutions-spain.com