Negotiating the purchase

There are certain factors in negotiating a purchase which are more particular to resort areas:

Your agent may not be as skilful in negotiating the price with the owner on your behalf as he was in finding the property for you. Meet with the Top Man in the agency and form a team with him to discuss and eventually make the offer. Experienced estate agents are generally better at handling the commercial elements of a sale (this is their job) than lawyers are, and will do their best to bring what are often opposing viewpoints (yours and the seller's) together in harmony. Your lawyer can always be consulted during the negotiation process to ensure that the offer meets his legal criteria, and become actively involved in more complicated negotiations.

There are many "phantom offers" by potential buyers who are not really making an offer, but trying to feel out the bottom price of a seller, in order to gain market knowledge. It is therefore important to lend strength to your offer and prove that you are a serious bidder. This is done in many obvious and some not so obvious ways, including:

• Make an articulate offer, in writing if possible, subject of course to contract and your lawyer's approval, including all of the factors to be negotiated, not just the price·. Including when you will pay a deposit; when you wish to complete; furniture inventory (if any) which is often involved with resale properties, declared price in the deeds (which has proven to be a major problem in many sales), and any other special consideration.
  
• Show the colour of your money to the seller: if you know you intend to buy, it helps to have deposit funds in an account here. A seller will no doubt pay serious attention to your offer if you are ready to make an immediate deposit from funds on hand.
  
• In some cases the owner of the property in not a person, but a company. It is important to find who is the real owner of the property and what is for sale - the property or only the company. This will influence the final price of the property. For some purchasers there might be an advantage to form or take over a holding company that holds the property. Earlier it was popular to form a Gibraltarian or other tax exempt companies, now it is mostly Spanish limited companies.
  
• Further advice: be careful in negotiating who pays the municipal plus val’a tax: a tax which corresponds by its nature to the seller, in that it is a local tax on the increase of the index value of the land the building is built upon from the time it was last purchased until the present sale. Although it has become by Coastal Custom a tax normally assumed by the purchaser, it is important to find out how much this tax is before negotiating the purchase and this point can often be negotiated with the seller, regardless of Coastal Custom.
  
• If you are negotiating to buy a plot of land, and no topographical survey exists, it may be advisable to negotiate a Peseta per square meter price subject to survey, to avoid any unpleasant surprises.