Martina Heynemann, VIVA partner, interviewed by idealista.com

Spain’s No. 1 real estate portal idealista.com recently interviewed VIVA managing partner Martina Heynemann, to find out how she sees the current market on the Costa del Sol for holiday and second homes, the ways in which the market has changed, which areas of the Coast are most in demand, how estate agencies have changed the ways they work in recent years, and what types of property potential buyers are looking for nowadays.

The interview itself is in Spanish, but you can also read the English translation below: 

Real estate agency yourviva.com has been on the Costa del Sol for 13 years, has lived through two booms and – counting the present one – two crises. VIVA partner Martina Heynemann says she is satisfied with this year’s results and affirms that after a considerable drop in prices, the holiday and second home market on the Costa del Sol is beginning to bounce back.

In which year was yourVIVA founded and with what intention?

VIVA was founded in 1998, but actually 4 key members of the VIVA team have been selling property on the Costa del Sol for over 22 years.

You have lived through the real estate boom and now the crisis, in what way has the holiday home market on the Costa del Sol changed? How have estate agencies changed the way they work? How do you manage to continue to operate given the severity of the real estate crisis affecting Spain?

Well actually, even before the crisis, we’d already lived through 2 booms and a bust! But the current crisis has in many ways changed the Costa del Sol holiday home market beyond all recognition. We have far fewer sales than 5 or 6 years ago. Nowadays it’s very much a buyers’ market where clients know that many vendors can’t afford to wait and must sell as quickly as possible. Prices are lower than they’ve been in a decade, and so of course are entry costs – deposits, mortgages… and developers have had to drop their prices to compete with resales.

We endeavour to give our clients the best service possible, and always try to find the very best-priced properties on the Costa del Sol, including bargain buys and bank repossessions. It’s a question of being able to adapt to the market situation, and of course a good marketing strategy is absolutely vital.

Are you solely an estate agency or are you developers too?

VIVA is solely an estate agency, we prefer to stick to what we know best, which is how to sell property!

What are potential buyers asking for or looking for currently? Have their preferences changed? If so, in what way?

At the moment, most of our clients are looking for holiday homes or second homes, and of course shrewd investors are also making the most of the fact that it’s currently such a strong buyers’ market. Basically though, potential buyers still seem to have the same preferences they’ve always had, by which I mean that although price is the key, a quality property in a quality location is what they’re looking for.

Is there a revival in the holiday home market or is it the same as in previous years?

Well, the holiday home market is more unpredictable these days, that’s for sure. But at the same time I have to say I’ve been completely astonished by the upturn in both the number of clients and sales that we’ve made both last autumn and this spring, in fact we’ve seen a huge increase compared with figures for autumn 2009 and spring 2010.

Have you noticed an increase of interest in property or in sales of property since the Ministerio de Fomento’s roadshow in various European countries, the object of which was to sell properties in Spain?

No, we haven’t noticed any increase whatsoever. In fact, it’s our understanding that in the UK at least, the roadshow got something of a bad press and attracted a fair amount of criticism.

Which foreign country is most interested in the purchase of holiday homes?

There was a time, before the economic crisis, when the British market – and of course the Spanish market – were by far the most dominant. But nowadays there’s a much wider spread of nationalities buying property. Of course, in addition to Spanish and English, our nine different language teams speak German, French, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Russian and it’s those nationalities that are showing the most interest in buying holiday homes nowadays.

At what rate of discount are you currently selling properties? From what levels or maximums are we talking? What is the average price of a holiday home as an example?

Currently, discounts of between 35 and 40% are pretty much the norm, and our price range varies from under €100,000 for a modest apartment or rural property… to villa-mansions and country estates over €6,000,000. The average price of a holiday home or second home, right now, is about €300,000.

How many properties have you sold so far this year? And how many in 2010 and in 2009?

So far this year, that’s up to the middle of June, we’ve sold 90 properties which is very promising. In 2010, we sold almost 200 properties over the year, and in 2009 – when the economic outlook was considerably worse than it is now – we sold 88 properties.

What commission do you charge? Have you reduced it or increased it during the crisis?

Our standard rate of commission is 5%. We’ve neither increased nor reduced it during the crisis.

Do you only sell properties on the Costa del Sol? Which province or area is the most in demand, and why?

Yes, we only sell properties on the Costa del Sol. The coastal area most in demand stretches from Benalmádena and Fuengirola in the east, all the way to San Pedro de Alcántara in the west, taking in Mijas Costa, Marbella, Nueva Andalucía and Puerto Banús of course. Then inland, Alhaurín el Grande, Coín and Monda are also very popular. All these areas are in great demand as these tend to be the places where our clients want to live, or spend their holidays.

Do you also do rentals? If so, in percentages, how many rentals have you made and how many sales?

No, we aren’t involved in rentals at all.

What do you do to achieve sales in the face of real estate competition, and especially that of financial entities? What do you do differently than your competitors?

That’s a question that would take up far too much space to explain here! We invest heavily – financially and also in terms of time and human resources – in proactive, high profile marketing, all of which we do in-house. Our own HOT Properties Magazine, now in its 13^th year of publication and published in English and Spanish, is known as ‘the Coast’s property bible’. Then we have monopostes, exhibitions, weekly property updates, special promotions, portals, our office, our 9 different language teams… We’re also currently in the process of rolling out our own brand new website. In fact, come to think of it, the best way of finding out the sheer extent of just what we do in the face of competition, and what we do differently, is to take a look at our About Us page. Right now our website is only in English, but we’re already working on producing Spanish and German websites, too.

Given the extent of unsold housing stock on the Costa, how do you manage to sell properties? By a significant reduction in prices? Or do you have some other policy?

The vast majority of unsold housing stock on the Costa del Sol isn’t really what our clients are looking for. Yes, significant price reductions come top of the list all the time, everyone expects a discount nowadays. But listening to our clients is also very important, and we always go out of our way to try to find them not only a property at the right price, but also in the right location and of the right type to match their needs exactly.

Which is better, to wait until the market improves before selling, or sell now although at a lower price than initially considered? The reasons why?

That has to be a personal decision, but generally I’d say that if a vendor doesn’t need to sell straightaway then it’s probably better to wait for an upturn in the market first. But there are exceptions of course. For example, you might get less money for your property now than in, say, 2 or 3 years’ time, but if you’re buying another property, that will also of course be cheaper now than in the future. You also have to remember that currently there are lots of buyers around, but once prices go up again, well, who knows?

Are there any properties on the Costa that are unsaleable? If so, which?

Well, to be honest, the Costa del Sol doesn’t have nearly as many unsaleable properties as some other areas. But having said that, yes, of course there are a few complexes – perhaps unfinished, without electricity, empty and uncared for, or where the price-quality ratio isn’t in the right ballpark – where it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to sell any units.

How do you see the current real estate sector? When do you think the market will recover? 

What nobody can fail to see about the current real estate sector, is that there are far fewer estate agents around now, and the relative few that do remain tend to be the long-established, professional and trustworthy companies who are here for the long-haul. Also that there are a lot of developer discounts available that never existed before, plus several banks offering 100% finance. I also think it’s the perfect time for us to consolidate our position and to prepare for the good times that surely lie not too far ahead, because in my opinion, the market will recover in 2013.