Brits In Crete impartial Property Buying Advice

Just recently it has become "de riguer" to pack up in the UK and move to sunnier climes such as Greece and its biggest island of Crete. Inspired and encouraged by some of the TV programs such as "No Going Back" and "A Place in the Sun" to name but two, we, the British and the Irish have migrated in our thousands to pastures new.

However as you will have noticed on many of the aforementioned programs they usually show that the people who do it do not always have it easy and problems can be encountered. The average "life" expectancy of your archetypal "Ex Pat" is just seven years, with a high percentage going "home" after just two years in foreign places. Of course, there are many people who have left the UK and never returned or at least only returned to visit family and friends.

My point is this. Do not come on Holiday and then decide when you get back to the UK that you're going to sell up and move to Crete. it's not that simple. Living here and being on Holiday are not the same thing. When you are on Holiday you don't have to work, your food is served to you and your bed is made, you get to lounge around the pool or the beach all day, OF COURSE IT SEEMS LAID BACK! The reality is that life in Crete is pretty much like it is in the UK. You have to find work, you have to deal with folks who don't always speak English (although this is becoming a rarity now, but should not be expected) and you will also have to deal with the slower pace of life which when you're on holiday isn't a problem, but when you live here, it can become frustrating!

Anyway, I am digressing. If you decide that no matter what Crete is for you then I applaud that decision and I will now impart some of my experiences from my brief dabbling in Property here in Crete in the hopes that you will not make the mistakes that I did and also others have done.

Be sure of what it is that you are buying. Don't always take what the agent tells you as being gospel (it may be that the agent has not been told the truth) For example, it is not uncommon in Greece for more than one person in the family to own a property and if one of the owners doesn't want to sell you will have a problem, and it has been known for more unscrupulous owners to not mention the other owners until the deal has been done thereby causing all sorts of legal problems.

Be clear on what it is you want and where you want it. e.g. if you want a 3 bedroom, ready to move into house in Agios Nikolaos, don't let the agent take you to see a pile of stones in Sitia (it happens, trust me).

Another favourite is to show you a property that allegedly can be extended/built up but then once purchased it is found that this cannot be done after all, thereby making your purchase useless and worthless (and yes I know of people that this has happened to).

Some Real Estate Agents don't put prices on their web site, they say that this is so that other agents can't see what they are asking, but the other reason is as follows. Greek Property Owners have a rather annoying habit of changing the prices to suit the prospective buyer. i.e. if someone shows an interest in their property, the price might go up from the advertised one. Also it's worth noting that some property owners think that if you are English you must be rich (which as we all know is not true) so there is sometimes an "ex pat" price and a "local price"

The final idiosyncrasy is that for some unknown reason if a property owner has had his property on the market for a say a year or more and no-one has been to look at it, instead of doing the obvious and dropping the price to glean some interest, he will instead (citing rising prices as the reason) put the price up instead thereby getting even less interest in the property for sale than before.

In summary the situation is this. Of course not all Real Estate Agents are out to sell you just anything and most are law abiding and give good service, but there are a few bad apples and you should be aware of this when dealing with anyone regarding property in Crete.

Brits in Crete recommends the following agents for providing good customer service at all times (No, we are not on commision!)

Crete Home Finders (Agios Nikolaos)
Cretan Residencies (Agios Nikolaos)
Cretan Homes (Makrigialos/Makriyialos)
Nikou Real Estate (Sissi/Sisi)
Landmark Crete (Chania/Xania)

My final piece of advice for you is simple. RENT FIRST!!
Don't sell up in the UK straight away, rent your house out to help pay the Mortgage, then come to Crete and rent an apartment/house first, for a year or better still two years. MAKE SURE you like it here BEFORE you sell up and move permanently. It saves a lot of time, effort and money in the long run.

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Other useful pages - our Crete real estate directory, to build or not a swimming pool in Crete, among many this site contains and to be found on our home page, or in the navigation bar to left of all pages.

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