I’ve received a couple of emails lately from people who would like to sell their Tenerife property. Don’t know why they are sending to me as the blog is called Tenerife TATTLE not Tenerife Tatler, Jings! I have my doubts that most of TT’s readers have two ha’pennies to rub together never mind a couple of hundred thousand stashed in the mattress but, sigh, I live to serve.
I thought this 3 bedroom property looked a real humdinger and at €40,000 less than its nearest market comparable (so they tell me) it is a bargain at only €375,000. That’s even cheaper than some of its two bedroom neighbours despite being decorated and furnished throughout.
The property is located in La Caleta and the owner wants a quick sale. I tell you what, if they throw in that telescope I might be tempted.
Contact me if you are interested in the property and I’ll pass your details along.
News in the Sun reports that house sales in S.C. de Tenerife have fallen by 90% leading to the closure of up to 65% of estate agents in Tenerife.
Funnily enough the photo used to illustrate that story looked quite familiar. Turns out it is spookily similar to one I took myself back in 2001 when I was emailed by a holiday maker who suspected she’d been sold a pig in a poke. She had. That construction site was the same place that the travel agent had described as a ‘new hotel complex’.
Imagine turning up for your two weeks in the sun and ending up there!
The original Is Your Holiday Resort a Construction Site is quite outdated now but it is worth a look when you are booking a holiday overseas. The internet makes it so easy nowadays to look up recent resort photographs or ask in forums for unbiased reviews.
There is no doubt that you can find a bargain if you are house hunting in Tenerife right now. This time last year there is no way you would have found a 3 bedroom town house in central Granadilla for €200,000. Prices are falling and if you are in the market for a new casa, you can get a good overall picture of house prices both for sale by owner and via a wide range of agents by tracking listings on Segunda Mano and Gratum.
A keen eye may even note the same property sold at significantly different prices by two different agencies. For example there has been a finca on sale in Charco del Pino for the last several months. I have seen it for sale on the same day at €259,000 and €269,000.
So shop around and take your time. I definitely recommend using an experienced and reputable estate agent when buying your dream property in Tenerife. Their involvement will ensure the smooth exchange of ownership and their assistance with the necessary documentation will save you a lot of stress. It may help you decide which estate agent to use by comparing the quality of their listings in these two combination websites.
However, where the estate agents are invaluable at sourcing the right property and walking you through the paperwork to ensure a smooth exchange of ownership they may not always give the best advice when it comes to the best mortgage for you.
Unfortunately, there is very little in the way of regulation when it comes to Tenerife mortgages and the stories of bad advice and unhelpful banks are endless. The real problems arose when estate agents here realised they could earn an extra commission by introducing their buyers to the local banks. But, given that there are over 30 mortgage lenders and more than 100 mortgage products available in Spain, it was rare that an agent would ever introduce a client to the RIGHT bank.
Read more about Tenerife Mortgages on eTenerife
Where once my daughter and I shared a joke about new estate agent offices popping up like mushrooms now they appear to be dropping like flies. As every whitewashed locale window was eventually polished clean to reveal a shiny new property agent, we raised eyebrows and wished for a My Little Pony shop instead. Well she did, I secretly wanted an English book shop.
I wondered at the time how our relatively small town could support them all. Of course estate agents in Tenerife are neither restricted to the towns that house their office nor to Tenerife itself. Many are simply based here and offer services in Fuerteventura, the other Canary Islands, mainland Spain and forays into the Cape Verde property market but still when you have several estate agent offices cheek by jowl in a small local town you do have to wonder if there is enough money flying around to sustain them all.
And it would now seem that there is not. Despite trumpeting rally cries about it being a buyer’s market and Miguel ángel Fernández Ordónez, head honcho of the Bank of Spain comfortingly assuring us that Spain will almost certainly squeak through without a recession, buyers are understandably cautious.
On the one hand there are fantastic bargains to be made – just at the back of me there is a nice little two bedroom house with garden that has dropped €20,000 in the last week. It was not overpriced to begin with. Another property I spotted in La Estrella went from €180.000 to €140.000 just recently and indications are that prices will continue to fall.
On the other hand, potential buyers are being advised to keep an eye on the Euribor which today is standing at 5.454%. As that continues to rise, so do your mortgage repayments.
All the more necessary then, to find a solid, professional and experienced estate agent to guide you through the mine field of potential pitfalls to the crock of property investment gold that lies at the other side. I’ve no doubt those that have the experience and local knowledge will weather the current storm of estate agent closures and that the property market place will be all the healthier for that.
Find some of the Tenerife’s most experienced English speaking estate agents on eTenerife.com as well as property agents for Fuerteventura and Cape Verde.
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