So looking back over the last ten years how has the internet helped would be Spanish property buyers and more importantly how will it help Spanish property buyers in the future?
The first thing to say is to say is what the founders of the internet all agreed on and that is knowledge is Power and there is no doubt that over the last 10 years It has become much easier to find out basic knowledge about buying a property in Spain and finding basic sales information on the internet without having to interface directly with the agent. This has been a welcome development and using the maxim Knowledge is Power anyone who wants to the best to protect themselves in a foreign property market and how the buying process works will find it much easier than they did ten years ago. With the advent of Google maps and Google Earth it is also much easier for people to get more detailed information about the place the property is based at. As we continue to make new strides in modern technology the information about property and its locations will only improve and arm the internet user with more power.
Another perceived benefit is being able to compare properties and prices in the same locations and make a short list to view before you come over to Spain. This however is only a perceived benefit and whilst a great way to get an indication you should be guided by an agent that you can trust as well as doing your own internet research. Let's put it this way if you see two brand new silver Mercedes with the same make and model on the internet with two different prices you choose the one with the cheapest price because you know exactly what you are getting but you can't do that with property. The reality is you can buy a car on the internet without seeing it but would you buy a property without seeing it, obviously not. Also in property unlike cars the cheapest isn't always the best. My own house which was sold in 2008 would be a good example of that in that on the internet it was 100,000 more than houses in the same area with a comparable build size and therefore looked expensive. However if you viewed these properties and mine you would realise that it would cost you 200,000 to bring the cheaper house up to the standard of my house which also had the advantage of being brand new at the time. This just goes to prove that in the property market the internet can only take you so far and ideally you need to find someone who knows the local market and can point out these differences.
The only downside of the internet is there are a lot of very good professional local agents that you will never get to see because they don't have or can't afford to build the content and search engine optimisation that the big property portals do. Obviously the big property portals such as Kyero and Right Move have the resources to keep up to date with Google's requirements and hence they are number one or two on most Spanish property searches. Fortunately this site and sites like Spanish Hot Properties offer an alternative with lots of important content and are also liked by Google and are just two of a few number of Real Estate agent sites and not property portals that are in the first page of Google
Fortunately for the international real estate market agents still have a few strings to their bow that you won't see from an internet search but compared with ten years ago there is lot more knowledge to be had out there and as always the people who find the best agents they can trust normally end up with the best Spanish property deal.
The first thing to say is to say is what the founders of the internet all agreed on and that is knowledge is Power and there is no doubt that over the last 10 years It has become much easier to find out basic knowledge about buying a property in Spain and finding basic sales information on the internet without having to interface directly with the agent. This has been a welcome development and using the maxim Knowledge is Power anyone who wants to the best to protect themselves in a foreign property market and how the buying process works will find it much easier than they did ten years ago. With the advent of Google maps and Google Earth it is also much easier for people to get more detailed information about the place the property is based at. As we continue to make new strides in modern technology the information about property and its locations will only improve and arm the internet user with more power.
Another perceived benefit is being able to compare properties and prices in the same locations and make a short list to view before you come over to Spain. This however is only a perceived benefit and whilst a great way to get an indication you should be guided by an agent that you can trust as well as doing your own internet research. Let's put it this way if you see two brand new silver Mercedes with the same make and model on the internet with two different prices you choose the one with the cheapest price because you know exactly what you are getting but you can't do that with property. The reality is you can buy a car on the internet without seeing it but would you buy a property without seeing it, obviously not. Also in property unlike cars the cheapest isn't always the best. My own house which was sold in 2008 would be a good example of that in that on the internet it was 100,000 more than houses in the same area with a comparable build size and therefore looked expensive. However if you viewed these properties and mine you would realise that it would cost you 200,000 to bring the cheaper house up to the standard of my house which also had the advantage of being brand new at the time. This just goes to prove that in the property market the internet can only take you so far and ideally you need to find someone who knows the local market and can point out these differences.
The only downside of the internet is there are a lot of very good professional local agents that you will never get to see because they don't have or can't afford to build the content and search engine optimisation that the big property portals do. Obviously the big property portals such as Kyero and Right Move have the resources to keep up to date with Google's requirements and hence they are number one or two on most Spanish property searches. Fortunately this site and sites like Spanish Hot Properties offer an alternative with lots of important content and are also liked by Google and are just two of a few number of Real Estate agent sites and not property portals that are in the first page of Google
Fortunately for the international real estate market agents still have a few strings to their bow that you won't see from an internet search but compared with ten years ago there is lot more knowledge to be had out there and as always the people who find the best agents they can trust normally end up with the best Spanish property deal.
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