Tuesday 16 November 2010

Everything Will Sell, Eventually

Via Dan Wolf (Keller Williams Realty AK Group):
Sellers who have selling experience under their belt, as well as real estate licensees who have "been around the block" know;  Everything sells - eventually.
What I mean when I say that is there are only so many factors that need to be considered in a property sale.  If you owe too much and cannot lower your price, you might have to plan to wait a long time.  Markets cycle; things change over time.  If you wait long enough, the circumstances will change.
One example of things changing is interest rates.  When I was in real estate school in 1983 the instructor told us any interest rate under 10% was good for business.  It was 12% and 13% for a while. No one would ever have guessed it would be 4% for a 30 year fixed rate mortgage!
On the flip side, price and condition are everything.  If you have the latitude to make adjustments, that's exactly what you should do.  Sometimes improving the property over what the standards are for homes in your price range will make a big difference.
For instance, I remember a builder in Anchorage back in 1999.  He took on a bunch of building lots and was on a crunch to get the houses he built on the lots sold.  Sales were floundering.
The builder replaced the standard Formica counter-tops (remember these were BRAND NEW homes) with a basic granite.  He removed the standard white dishwashers and microwaves (brand new appliances!) and upgraded to stainless steel.  At the time, with these upgrades, these homes turned into a value  in their price range; sales picked up and the builder ended up selling all the homes.  The moral of the story is, you can improve your condition, you will probably still get your price and sell your property.
The other factor a seller has control over is price.  Believe me, no one likes to "dump a property," or appear desperate.  Everybody wants to receive as much as they can on a sale.  I'm not talking about slashing your price.  I'm talking about reducing below the competition so that the home become a value when compared to other properties on the market with similar attributes.
Lenders and banks that end up with property through foreclosure know this.  Believe me, they are rarely making money when they sell; just the opposite, they are taking a huge loss when they sell.  They don't want to lose any more than they have to.  However, banks know they are in the business of loaning money.  A vacant house is just a "non-performing" asset.  The lender is likely to review the market and lower the price to compete so the property is one of the best priced on the market.  The property will sell and lender will get the home off their books and put that money back to work.
Relocation companies know that, too.  Homes priced right will sell.  A relocation company will require monthly market evaluations to see if competing home inventory is increasing and what sales are happening on homes with similar qualities.  They often will get the price right to sell, even thought they don't want to lose money, they also don't want to sit on the market.
Sometimes we'll see home sellers say the problem is that their listing agent hasn't advertised their home enough, shown the home enough or open-housed it often enough.
I'm not discounting that argument; it's true, some real estate licensees do more than others; however if the home is priced right and the condition of the home is better than the competition, the home will sell.
On the flip-side, if the home is overpriced there is no amount of adverting, open houses or other activity that will sell the home.

Friday 12 November 2010

Benidorm targets new tourist markets

The World Tourism Fair was held last week in London and Benidorm and the Costa Blanca was there to encourage visitors to the area.

The Chinese tourist trade is seen as untapped at the moment but with a new wealthy elite and less travel restriction, current growth models forcaste that by 2020, there will be in the region of 20 million Chinese tourists and Benidorm wants to be ahead of the game.

Everyone knows that Benidorm on the Costa Blanca is one of Europe´s most popular and established holiday destinations. Benidorm is now looking to target the growing Chinese market.

Last year, over 10 million Chinese nationals travelled abroad as tourists. Of those, almost 100,000 came to Spain. At the moment there are no statistics to say just where those 100,000 travelled within Spain.

Russians are also being courted not only by Benidorm but also by the Costa Blanca in general. Once again there are major advertising campaigns being promoted in Russia too. Benidorm it seems wants to bring in tourists to its crowded beaches to make them even more crowded.

Monday 8 November 2010

Truly bizarre

Whilst new to blogging on Active Rain, I have been blogging elsewhere (Blogger) for a few years but I have to say this is probably the first time I have blogged on what I consider to be a collection of bizarre occurrences all in the past few days.
First off, I must point out that business is done very differently in Spain compared to where many readers (of this) are based. Anyway, Thursday morning started out with two appointments to view a property I currently have available for rent. Both enquiries were from local customers that had seen the property on one of the various webpages where it is advertised with full details - the first client was looking for an unfurnished property and this one is furnished, the second client didn't have the decency to show up and funnily enough turned off her mobile phone.
Ok, not that unusual. Then Friday evening after a very bust day with four appointments (and a haircut) I receive an email via Facebook telling me I have been selected to appear in an advertisement billboard to be located at Alicante Airport. Sounds interesting but a little digging deeper and I find out it's a hoax.
Saturday was a family day and Had a trip to Valencia, my nearest big city. Whilst there, I received a call from a (what I thought to be) big hitter looking to view a couple of properties asap. The urgency being that he had docked in port for a couple of days (yes, a yacht type), and was back out to sea early Tuesday. I said I was away until later that evening, but would take his call at 10 pm on a Saturday night to discuss exact requirements. At that stage he told me exactly the property he wanted to view (on Sunday) and I said I would do my best to accommodate him.
Back to Altea Saturday evening and confirmed the appointment with the vendor, got my call at 10 pm and early Sunday morning appointment confirmed.
Met with client for first time and had a coffee. The guy looks the part for sure based on first impressions and clearly educated too. This came across more so when we visited the property for sale and spent nearly two hours there, with the buyer actually discussing some of the very beautiful artistic touches that the house boasts. We didn't discuss an offer but we did discuss the process of purchasing and to be honest all was going perfectly well.
We left the property, talked about the pro's and con's of the house and also did a small yet useful tour around the area. Then the client invited me to lunch (bearing in mind this is Sunday, an important family day in Spain) and we proceeded to a restaurant in the Club Nautico de Benidorm. A good meal, discussing amongst other things, possible offers and the like.
By the time that the waiter offered us dessert, I have spent close to six hours with this client. And then he disappeared - yes that's right he disappeared.............................unbelievable. And I couldn't even eat his serving of tiramisu which he had ordered.
Seriously, the guy got up from the table to see if his father had arrived who he had been expecting for the hour prior and not to be seen again (or heard from since).
It got me wondering if I had a "mug" sticker across my forehead!

Tinsa €/m2