At the moment there are more potential customers walking through the door wanting to buy a house for sale in Spain. There are also more people looking for straight rentals as well as option contracts for later dates when the banks are more open to lending after they see a better market and are able to get capital to fund buyers.
Working in Valencia this week has meant a lot of phone calls to sellers of properties asking the question about whether a purchase option contract for the future is possible and the answers have surprised me. Over 50% of those that I have phoned have said yes after asking what is involved in the process. Thus if yur property could be rented out before selling here are the details as to how to do it.
The idea stems from the fact that someone likes your property but because o the prevailing situation they cannot currently proceed with a purchase whether that is because they need banks to start giving out money again, they need to prove income in Spain for a greater time period or they are waiting for their residency application to go through so as to get a better deal. If any of these apply, or maybe even a couple of them, then they might be interested in renting with an option.
Drawing up a contract of this type has many variable but the basic premise is a rental agreed between both parties for a fixed period and within that period of time the tenant has an option to purchase at any moment and the right to match other offers on the property. Sometimes there is a guarantee on behalf of the owner to stop marketing the property for a set time so the person renting can settle, in one of our contracts they were guaranteed eight months in the property without any change of ownership. This gives the tenant a feeling of ownership in the property.
The good point for a potential purchaser is that an agreed price is set now and they can buy at that price at any moment. If prices drop then they can renegotiate the price in the future if they wish. The other good part is that if prices rise then they are guaranteed being able to purchase at the agreed price within the duration of the contract. The owner gets a price guaranteed during the contract and has the obligation to sell at that price if the tenant wishes to purchase. They also have a guaranteed rental and a person living in the property who is more likely to look after it as they have a stake in the future of that property.
The contract is a bit more complicated than normal as it requires lots of negotiation on behalf of tenant and landlord but here we take care of that negotiation for you.
