A free property inspection tour to Spain does sound attractive – a subsidised trip to Spain where you view properties with no obligation to buy.
It sounds ideal – or is it?
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For 30 years, I built businesses with one goal in mind: the finish line. Like many, I pictured the classic dream—moving to Spain, soaking up the sun, and finally switching off. But now that I’m here, I’ve started questioning everything.Watch the video below and let me know in the comments: are you ready to retire or reinvent instead?
In the article below we expose the tricks of the trade. See just how the salesmen on commission are experts in convincing you to buy your dream home in Spain.
Many people have written to us to ask if these free trips are a scam or rip-off. They worry that they will be talked into or convinced to buy a property against their free will. We have never heard of that happening but of course the salesmen can be very persuasive. You just need to be aware of what you are getting yourself into…
Once you have bought a property, compare home insurance quotes as soon as possible.
Free Property Inspection Trips to Spain
By Steven Bromley
In my experience snagging new properties for clients in Spain’s Costa Blanca, Calida and Murcia I regularly come into contact with sales reps and managers working for the multitude of estate agents who operate free or subsidized property inspection trips.
I deal with clients who have either fallen for some of the sales tactics or “untruths” and the truth often hurts, sometimes financially. This article aims to furnish clients with some of the facts, so that they are armed with some information before they make a huge financial commitment.
Of the nearly 60,000 people each year to leave the UK and head for the sun drenched Spanish shores nearly 20,000 of them do so having been on a free inspection tour.
There are a multitude of companies covering virtual all areas of Spain and employing a variety of sales methods to get you to part from your hard earned cash or perhaps more importantly get you to release the equity that you hold in your property. The one thing that they all have in common is they need leads/clients/tours/bums on seats/cannon fodder.
Some companies are backed by large corporations, such as banks or developers; some are no more than jumped up UK high pressure sales companies who are trying to make a quick buck in a new market. The tours often include the following.
Return flights for two, luxury 4 star hotel accommodation for 3 or 4 nights, breakfast in the hotel, evening restaurant meals, use of liveried company car and tour guide (aka sales person).
THE MARKETING TRICKS. – Gaining your attendance. These agents market in decidedly different ways: Some spend fortunes on glossy magazines, with artist’s impressions of your dream off plan property.
These pictures in themselves can be very misleading as they often have the sea in the background but in reality they are 10 km inland. They will show lush green gardens with not another property in sight, yet in reality and under much closer inspection the partition wall is 1 metre from the house wall and the development is virtually a new town being built – a wall of white washed euro boxes as far as the eye can see.
The lush green garden will be the remnants of a buildings site covered with an inch of topsoil. Beware when digging holes as a sprained wrist is a real danger.
With some agents you will receive a phone call one evening. That competition entry form that you filled in at Alicante / Murcia airport the last time you were on holiday could lead to a series of calls to gain your attendance over in Spain.
As these companies get more desperate for clients you could find yourself at the end of a phone literally days after you returned from holiday. These telesales operators have been known to call clients into submission, getting them to fly over just to stop the persistent nature of the calls.
Of course there is no point in calling the Telephone Preference Service as the calls originate in Spain and are out of their jurisdiction. Some agents spend tens of thousands advertising on the TV. “Our property experts are flying in this weekend to share their experience of living the Spanish dream. They will be at the Jubilee suites at the Anytown football ground / racecourse / hotel this weekend”.
Sure enough when couple arrive there are a team of informed reps that do in fact live in Spain and do fly in each week to a different part of the countr