Thanks to Hendrik and his team, on 20th December 2006 we became the proud owners of a small house in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura. The village sits in open countryside close to the junction of two small rivers, in the middle of some of the most famous ‘birding’ country in the world. You can’t leave the house without seeing an imperial eagle swooping over the nearby hills looking for breakfast or the ever present stork circling on air currents – and the smaller birds, from yellow-striped hoopoes to bright blue rollers are a constant reminder of just how unspoilt this area is.
We first came to Extremadura nearly eight years ago for a special holiday. We’d seen pictures of the extraordinary preservation of the mediaeval centres of local towns like Cáceres and Trujillo and thought they would be beautiful places to celebrate Christmas and the New Year. What we hadn’t expected was how lovely the surrounding countryside was, with its Dehesa (typical Extremadura landscape) of cork and holm oaks with its herds of sheep and black Iberian pigs. Even at Christmas, there were wildflowers under the trees – and it was warm enough on some days to eat lunch outside.
We’ve been thinking about buying somewhere in Spain for a long time – to use for holidays in the first instance, although we hope to be able to move over permanently sometime in the future. We tried to persuade ourselves that other parts of the country, where there are a lot more local airports, had equally good potential. So we’ve been to the rural areas everywhere from Andalucía in the South right across to Murcia and up to Cataluña in the North. We found some good countryside and interesting properties but nothing to match the peace, value and friendliness of Extremadura. So last May we decided it was time to stop talking about it and take the plunge!
We did a lot of research before we arrived – and it was clear that the market for buying houses was much less developed here than in almost any of the other parts of Spain we had visited. With only 3 or 4 companies targeting foreign buyers at that time, it was easy enough to make contact with everyone and make a judgement about whose approach seemed likely to suit us best. We chose to work with Hendrik for a number of reasons – because he has lived in the area for many years and has good connections through his work as an economic consultant, which means he can both find properties and get help with all the practicalities of buying and setting up a home; because he understands the legal complexities of property ownership in Spain and made it very clear that he would never recommend anything to us that had not been fully checked and approved by a lawyer; because he is an experienced person who has held responsible jobs in many different countries and understands the importance of taking a professional approach to his business and to looking after his clients; and finally because he’s good company!
We’ve been very happy with the choice we made. Hendrik cares a great deal about Extremadura and the people who live here and wants to help his clients both get the home they want and become part of the local community.
He is anxious not to distort the housing market too much with a sudden influx of foreigners driving up prices to unrealistic levels, while also making sure that local people get a fair deal for the properties they sell. Many times Hendrik has told us he’s been offered properties that might be suitable for us but that the prices don’t represent good value. And we’ve also found lots of properties with ‘se vende’ signs on them, which he has then looked into, only to report that the legal ownership is under dispute or there are 6 owners each living in a different continent and unable to agree a price. At least in part because the market is so underdeveloped (apparently less than 100 foreigners bought properties across Extremadura last year), there is a lot of work involved in finding suitable houses, checking the legalities, negotiating prices and dealing with the various authorities that simply does not apply in the UK. It was not realistic to expect Hendrik to do all this work on our behalf without at least a small up-front payment for the time involved – so we were happy to pay his consultation fee.
And we have had a very good service. We’ve visited Hendrik on at least 4 separate occasions, seeing half a dozen interesting properties and scouting out possibilities in other towns and villages.
He has kept in good contact by email and always answers questions quickly and clearly. He introduced us to two previous clients – both of whom were very satisfied with the support he had given them.
Once we identified a property that we were seriously interested in, things began to move very quickly. We wanted help assessing the amount and cost of work needed on the property: the next morning we met with a technical architect at the house and went over the whole thing in great detail.
We wanted to meet the excellent english-speaking lawyer in Cáceres Hendrik recommended before committing ourselves to using her services: later on that day we were in the lawyer’s office – taken there by Hendrik but left in private to discuss any questions or concerns. She seemed bright, capable and clued up and we were happy to go ahead.
We had to apply for a foreigners’ identity number (NIE); photocopies of the forms and our passports were soon in our hands. We needed to set up a bank account: next thing we knew, we were in the Director’s office at the Caja Madrid bank in Cáceres, meeting Alfonso. It was a great relief to speak to Alfonso at length about all our concerns, rather than having to stand in line at a counter like usually happens back home.
The account was set up in less than half an hour, leaving us all time to go round the corner for a coffee and pastry to celebrate! All of this was achieved in a combination of our basic (but improving) Spanish, most of the professionals’ rather better English and interpretation from Hendrik (who is fluent in both languages) on the few occasions that we both got stuck.
The buying process is a bit alarming for people used to the rules and regulations of the UK system. There are some big advantages – for example, once the pre-contract has been signed, no one can renege on the deal without losing money so gazumping is not an issue. And it took us just a month from seeing the house to owning it – we could have done it more quickly if we had been able to travel back to Spain earlier. But money is handled quite differently – none of ours went through the lawyer’s account, as it would in the UK. The deposit was transferred to Hendrik’s client account and the rest in various different forms went direct to the seller. All these deals are specified in the pre-contract document, which is signed in front of the lawyer, but there is no point pretending that it feels entirely comfortable when you are used to a different way of doing things.
You have to have confidence in your advisers – and our experience of Hendrik is that he has been professional, helpful and very straightforward in all his dealings with us.
We are now ready to enjoy Extremadura, happy in a house that suits us down to the ground, in a friendly village, keen to welcome newcomers and surrounded by a network of advisers and new friends!
We could never have achieved this without Hendrik’s help.
Anne Pirie and Liz Firth
January 2007