A Matter of Trust – From a very early age we instinctively put our trust in many people. We trust our parents to care for our needs. We trust our school friends to protect us from the playground bully. And as we get older we make new and bigger decisions of who to believe and place our well being in their hands. If we are the victim of crime, we trust the police to take every conceivable measure to catch the perpetrator and the legal system to deal with it accordingly. If we are ill, we trust doctors and nurses to make us well, and if we lose somebody very dear to us, we trust the undertaker to deal with them with the utmost dignity. This may sound very serious for an article on a property website, but hold that thought for just one minute.

When you buy a house, you listen to the opinion of the Estate Agent, you examine the house, talk to the owner and then decide you want to buy, but do you hand over money there and then? Of course you don’t. You would never take those opinions as satisfactory. Instead, you have a surveyors report, a timber inspection, an electrician’s report, a plumber’s report and possibly even enquire at the local police station for crime statistics for the area. In short, you take great care.

When you buy a business (this isn’t exclusively for the Costa Del Sol, this is for anywhere), all of your trust is placed in the hands of an agent. You SHOULD be able to trust this person as you are about to make one of the singularly most important purchases of your life. The information you receive should be aimed to help you make an informed decision. Unfortunately, in many cases, this can be far from the truth. (Also read my article ‘Why foreigners in Spain Fail’). At CostaBusinesses, we want to earn your trust.

The Rush Sale – The most common trick of property agents when a client clearly likes a business is to use an age old line designed to push them into signing on the dotted line. They will imply that there is at least one other interested party and he expects a call in a matter of days to confirm that the bar is sold. The similar alternative is that he has another viewing booked and the person has expressed a strong interest in that particular business. As soon as this type of line comes out, be on your guard, this is 99.99% guaranteed to be rubbish and merely a ruse to get you to sign on the dotted line.

Our Advice – We know that anyone interested in buying a business over here will make appointments with several agencies and there is nothing wrong with that. Our biggest piece of advice is simple. Sign NOTHING while you are here unless it is 100% YOUR decision. At CostaBusinesses, we will never try to coerce you into signing for any of our premises during your visit. We will tell you if there have been other viewings but if we feel a deposit is on the way for a particular bar, we wouldn’t waste your time by showing it to you unless you chose it from the website. With modern banking methods and online banking, a deposit can be wired from anywhere in the world in minutes and documents can be signed and posted. The Spanish postal service is as fast and efficient as the rest of the world.

Misinformation

Many agents have been found to withhold important information, right up to the point of signing, hoping that the excitement of the purchase will lessen the importance of this missing data. In one particular instance, the seller was fully aware that the bar being sold had a license for bar only, despite the fact that it had a fully functioning kitchen. Any food cooked was being done illegally and if an inspection were to take place, the new owner could be liable to some severe fines and possible closure. It is the duty of the agent to provide full disclosure if such an anomaly is present as a buyer would assume the licenses to be correct. In this instance the buyer was fortunate enough to have the best Gestoria in town (Spanish equivalent of an accountant/lawyer) and he spotted the mistake and saved the buyer over 5,000€ (I can vouch for the validity of this story as the bar in question was mine when I bought it). There are many other instances whereby agents will fail to reveal pertinent information and have left the buyer with severe problems which can be very costly. In addition there are many poor Gestorias which will look at a business sale as a rubber stamping, cash earning exercise and not do sufficient checks.

Our Advice. Listen to your agent and how he chooses his words. Ask as many questions as you can and ask to see the license for the premises and ask him to translate the terms laid down in that license. If there is any answer you are not happy with, ask them to clarify. If you do not get a satisfactory answer, walk away. There are many businesses for sale! Also, check the credentials of the Gestoria you are advised to use by the agent. At CostaBusinesses, we use one of the most eminent ones in Fuengirola. They speak Spanish, English and several Scandinavian languages, have very moderate fees and for a nominal monthly fee, will look after all of your accountancy, tax and fiscal needs, as well as helping with any other business issues.

Listening

This is a word alien to many agents. They will ask what you want, write it down and then show you whatever bars they choose. It may not fit your criteria, but more often than not, two thirds of the businesses they show you will be the ones they are struggling to sell. This is a very annoying practice and is annoying to the prospective buyer because it can be several hours wasted. A good agent should be trying to match your needs from their database. Unfortunately, most are just trying to sell you the business that they want to get rid of, and hit their monthly targets.

Our Advice. You should feel that your agent is acting on your behalf, not his. Our mission statement was to provide a service of very high standards to the buyer and the seller alike. Like a matchmaker, our job is to bring you together with a seller of a business which fits as many of your requirements as possible. Buying a business is no different to buying a house or a car, it is very emotive. When you see the right one, you will fall in love with it and will want it. Unfortunately, many other agents treat the clients like idiots and try to dictate which is best for them. That can only end in tears. After we have listened to the client, we will search our database and introduce the client to those businesses and try to present them in an objective light. Aware of their needs, we may suggest some alternative ideas, but always based upon the information presented to us. We would never force our opinions onto the buyer and as we said earlier, we would never push for the close of a sale. This may not be the best business practise for ourselves, but it goes some way to prove our dedication to service, our honesty and our integrity.

Aftercare

Again, this word doesn’t have a place in the vocabulary of most agencies. They will sell a bar, take their commission and disappear into the ether, never to be heard of again, merely moving onto another victim. Their client has bought a business in a foreign country and now is the time that they need assistance for the many questions which only turn up after they start working. Help with suppliers, services and so many other issues. Many promise aftercare service, but from personal experience and talking to a great many bar owners, none was ever forthcoming.

Our advice. This one is simple! Use CostaBusiness! For EVERY business sold, from 5,000€ to 1,000,000€+ we will provide over 3,000€ worth of free marketing for your new venture. There will be internet advertising, a website created for you and extra internet awareness all done by our in-house computer specialists. We are available 7 days a weeks to answer the myriad of questions which will appear. We will supply you with our personally recommended suppliers of goods and services in a special welcome pack. All of those suppliers will give you preferential treatment and wherever possible, discounted rates. You will never have cause or reason to question our dedication to you, and we guarantee that you will recommend us to your friends, whether they are buying or selling.

The world over, there is an unease whenever a business or estate agent is mentioned. There are always horror stories involving lies, lies and more damned lies. We have all heard or suffered from those stories. The agents have always been our foes. CostaBusinesses are breaking the mould. We are shaking off the cobwebs shrouding this industry and in doing so we are earning the trust of all of our customers. This method is working, and working well. We have become the agent you can consider a friend.

To our competitors, we have a simple message, ‘The bar has been raised very high, try and match it!’

Laurence Pike
Costa Businesses S.L.