How is it really to work as a real estate agent in Spain?

A charismatic hard working project leader with great sales skills and a good listener, dedicated to work and sees Real Estate as a lifestyle and not a job. That is what defines a successful agent in Spain but how is it really to work as an agent?

First of all you will need to be a good listener and you have to be available for your clients when they need you. There is no such thing as 9-5 work being an agent. Normally our clients contact us in their spare time, early mornings, late evenings, weekends and of course during holidays and from the first contact to get an answer we have a maximum of 1 hour before the client contacts someone else. The moment they involve another agent our chances to be successful with the sale decreases a lot.

There is no cost for a buyer to hire a agent

As a buyer you can hire an agent to work for you to find your property. Most of the properties are being sold on the open market and your agent can show you all properties available, even if they are listed with another agency. There is no need to contact different agencies or agents to get the viewings you want. Most important is to find an agent you feel trust in and that will work dedicated to you! The commission to the agent is always paid by the seller.

Talk about financing

One of the most important things that many agents forget to talk to the clients about is financing. They normally spend most of the conversation about the dreams and properties and areas of interest for the client but forget the most important question “Do you have the money to purchase a property, if I can fulfill all your dreams and find you the right property“. With the answer to this question you could save time and really help clients to the next step.

Availability make a big difference

To be available for a client during all times is not always as easy as it sounds. It will affect your private life and you will need to be able to navigate and prioritize all calls and contacts in the best way to learn how to live and breathe Real Estate and still get free time.

The reward for being an active agent with lots of sales is referrals from clients. All people working with sales know how important a referral is in success rate, there is no such lead from any portal compared to this kind of client. Well handled you will sell to 90-100 percent of your referral clients and this is also proof that you are doing not just the expected, you are doing a great work!

Every search for a property is like a unique project

With all the details in place and a trip to Spain is arranged it is time to plan for viewings. High knowledge about areas, properties and your clients will be helpful to prepare for viewings and your goal is to not show your clients everything on the market, just the few units that really match their requirements and needs.

But even with just 5-7 different properties to show, you still have to make a plan, where, when and why are questions we need to answer on each property we visit before going there. A successful agent always has a plan before first viewing what the client will like and what they will sell in the end. A good agent also knows how to handle a client’s needs and requirements and can find properties outside the box and something they did not know before that they really wanted.

Close collaboration with a lawyer

In Spain you are not responsible for the legal matters as an agent. Therefore it is important that you work close to law firms that could help you and your clients to secure a safe deal. The law firm will handle all the contracts, make sure the due diligence is performed on each property and help your client with purchasing a property in Spain in a safe and harmful way. We always recommend our clients to use a lawyer to avoid problems with the purchase but they are also helpful for us as agents before even going on viewings when we can use them to find out if a property is legal or not even before we take a client there.

Last but most important is to have fun, Real Estate is a lifestyle and you have to enjoy it to live it!

KATHRINE BROWALL
Real Estate Agent, Marbella

How many years of experience as a sales agent do you have?
I have 7 years of experience.

Why did you choose to work as a real estate agent?
I choose to become a real estate agent because I really enjoy to work closely with my clients and help them in the process of finding the dream property. I worked in the hospitality industry for 25 years and I love to exceed the customer expectations.

What is the most difficult situation you have experienced in your profession?
The most difficult situation is by far when you find the dream property for a client and then someone else was faster to reserve. That is always disappointing for the client.

What is the best part of this profession?
The best part is that I get to meet so many interesting clients that I eventually can call my Friends. I like to see myself as a project manager for my clients, and I will help them in every step during and after the sale. Being a real estate agent is More a lifestyle than a job.

How many years of experience as a sales agent do you have?
More than 5 years.

Why did you choose to work as a real estate agent?
A friend of a friend offered me as position as a real estate agent. He believed I would be a good fit. He was right you could say : )

What is the most difficult situation you have experienced in your profession?
When I was with a customer and we found their dream home. We agreed on a price with the owner and everything was in order. Then, when the lawyer starts to review the home, it turns out that the owner has lied about several things. Some renovations were undeclared and not registered. This is not resolved yet so we’ll see how it goes.

What is the best part of this profession?
To see fantastic places and homes and meet interesting people who want to buy a home down here. The job offers a great variety that means you can never get tired of it. Everything from holiday apartments to investors who want to buy houses and businesses. I love it.

FREDRIK JONSSON
Real Estate Agent, Estepona

How is it to start all over with a family of five in Spain? Linda Serneholt tells you her story

In 2014 we decided to relocate our family to Spain to try to live abroad for a year and just a few months later we were on a plane down to Costa del Sol and our house in Sweden was rented out long term.

We realized early in our process that our plan to move abroad would take us to a place with more light and a better climate during winter and it took us just a few minutes to agree that we should look closer at Spain.

For the last decades most of our vacations have been spent in Spain and I probably have more weeks at different Ving Resorts around Gran Canaria than anyone else, but at the end this is something totally different and we decided to look at alternative locations focusing in areas with more activity all year around and with less season based tourism.

We started in Costa Blanca and in just 3 days we visited different areas, properties and the Swedish School there to find out if this was it but we never got the right feeling here and just a week later we went to Costa Del Sol and to Marbella to do the same thing.

It was a cloudy day but I still remember when we passed the Marbella branded bridge and all the palm trees and we both had the feeling of being in Los Angeles and we looked at each other and said, we HAVE to live here! This was even before visiting one single property!

As we both had worked in the Swedish real estate business for many years (since the year 2000), it was natural for us to also work with this in Spain. To work as a real estate agent in Spain is significantly different to Sweden, but one of the main differences is that you work more with the buyers in Spain and it suits us perfectly.

We also noticed that our experience from our work in Sweden was very useful for us, the process to buy and sell properties has so many similar steps and even if the legal part is being handled by lawyers in Spain we still have an important role to make deals go through.

We started to work as employees, but after a few months we felt that we wanted to start our own company. Since Fredrik has been running several real estate offices in Sweden and also has Swedish real estate education, it felt like a natural step for us. We also realized that there was a lot we could implement from Sweden and that would improve the way of selling properties in Spain.

Changing countries with an entire family is a process but certainly not impossible
Step one for us was to travel to Spain and look at different properties where we could feel like home. We had contact with an agent who was committed to look for properties that could suit our wishes. We thought it was very easy to only have one agent to work with. Our agent put himself in our search well and since it is not exclusive here in Spain, the agent showed us the whole market, even if the properties were not part of their company. This makes the Spanish property market more flexible and you can rely on the agent, and trust that they look for what is actually best for you and not only what is available within their company. After two days of viewings, we found our home. This was largely due to the pre work the agent made before we came and we got really inspired by the agent’s way of guiding us to find our home.

When our home was found, step two was to visit schools where the children would love to be, because if the children did not like their new country, it was just to pack up and go home to Sweden again. We decided on the Swedish School in Marbella and it was a success! One of our sons is still there. Of course there are a lot of good international schools in the area but we chose Swedish as we thought we would be in Spain one year and the school follows the Swedish curriculum.

Many things are very different here. An example is after school activities. In Sweden this meant that your kids needed a quick meal before going to a soccer training or other activity and then coming back home for homework when it is completely dark outside.

Here we often go together to pick up the kids from school, bring some picnic and then meet up with other families at the beach. The extra hours of light gives so much extra time to be with the family before going to bed.

Another example that has been an interesting, and fun experience for us is the Children’s birthday parties. Here many children’s birthday parties are at the beach clubs or in a restaurant where children are always welcome. The children are free to run around and thanks to the sound of the beach, the sound level of the happy children is not an issue.

Living in Spain is a dream for many and so for us, of course you miss the family and friends in Sweden, but they come and visit as much as they can. In our experience, us moving here has actually led to more quality time with family and friends. Of course you can see your friends everyday but on the other hand, when we see family and friends, it’s more focused and therefore more quality time. We noticed, when we lived in Stockholm, all the people around us were too busy to even have time to meet once a month. Here in Spain life is easier and you tend to live more spontaneously. For example, on a rainy and cold November day you might not feel that tempted to dress your children and go out for a coffee. Here you just put on some light summer clothes and you can go out and be social.

To sum up, moving to Spain has been life changing for us. Our relationship is stronger than ever and we got ourselves a beautiful daughter just a few years ago to complete our family which we never guessed we would have before moving here.

We also were in a position where we made a career and it was a big risk leaving this behind us to create our own company and start from nothing. But our last years with our company Serneholt Estate have shown us that we are on an extremely successful path at the moment with 5 offices around Spain and almost 30 employees up and running. We are one of the most important and influential agencies at the moment.