How to sell your Spanish property

Second-hand homes are quickly becoming the undisputed leaders of the economic upturn in home sales and purchases in Spain. At least 8 out of 10 transactions involve used properties and it is increasingly common to see 'For Sale' signs on the sides of Spanish buildings.

In many cases, the same block will have several flats for sale, so it is necessary to develop a good plan to stand out from the neighbours and successfully make the sale.

How can you do it? According to the Alfa Inmobiliaria real estate network, these are the five keys: price, time available for sale, refurbishments, promotion and marketing plan and visits to the property. We summarise what each one consists of:

1. The sale price should be fair
The determining factor when closing the transaction is the price. We cannot forget that there are several factors that determine how much a house costs: as well as the market, there are the characteristics of the property (two bedrooms, three or four), its location, the current state of the house, the feeling it gives off.

It is important to put it on the market at a reasonable price, since "if you go for a higher price than it should be, the house ends up selling for less than its value if it is not adjusted," explains Alfa Inmobiliaria.

One way to know the fair price of a house is to use online platforms that use 'bog data' to make valuations, which usually cost around 20 euro. There is also the option of going to a traditional real estate agency.

2. Set a sale deadline
Price is not the only important variable when selling a property – the time factor is also important in the equation. If the seller is in a hurry to sell the house, it makes sense to adjust the price from the beginning. If not, you have to determine a period of time in which you would readjust the price: three months, six months... although it is not recommended that the period should exceed half a year.

"In that time, price adjustments will constantly have to be made until it is finally sold. Let's not forget that the selling price is always set by the market," explains the network of real estate agencies. In Spain, it currently takes an average of eight months to sell a home.

3. Get the house ready with some touch ups and some renovations
Before marketing the house, it’s important to analyse its qualities, its pros and cons, as well as to consider the profile of potential buyers. All of this will help you to choose the way in which the property should be promoted, the appropriate price and whether it should be refurbished before it is put up for sale like replacing windows with more energy efficient ones, renovating floors, curtains, doors, etc.

At this point the so-called 'home staging' strategy comes into play, which is based on preparing the house to be put on the market by making it look more appealing. Presentation is key when it comes to selling and we must try to make sure that the potential buyer can imagine themselves living there. Applying some simple home staging techniques, you can sell a house up to eight times faster.

4. Promoting your property
There are different ways to advertise a home for sale, though it is always advisable to use the power of the Internet. Placing an ad on real estate portals like idealista and using social networks is the modern way to promote houses for sale. It is essential to describe the home well, adding lots of good quality photographs, or even video, virtual reality and 3D tours.

5. Prepare for visits
"We always say that in the first 90 seconds a buyer knows if they are interested in the property or not," explains Alfa Inmobiliaria. In other words, in just a minute and a half, potential buyers must have fallen in love with the place or they won’t buy it. For this reason, and after making the corresponding aesthetic adjustments mentioned in point three, it must also smell good, not be too dark, be at a pleasant temperature and not be too noisy. If we’re not attentive to all these details, the network of real estate agencies insists, "it is very unlikely to be love at first sight".

Estepona