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Goa has many popular well established neighborhoods but it is a matter of your preference.

If you are buying a property in Goa to rent it out, you should ask yourself where you would like to live and rent a property in Goa.

If you are targetting to renting out your new property to the expatriate community in Goa, you should investigate to purchase a Goa property in exclusive neighborhoods.

If you are considering buying a house or condo in Goa, to sell it at a later time for a profit, you should ask yourself which locations in Goa still has affordable real-estate properties with the potential of strong growth. New townships in Goa could be a potential target for the purchase of a property.

When you purchase a house or villa in Goa, you are buying the land and as well the property that was build on the land. Of course the property in Goa will deteriorate with the years but the land the property was build on maybe worth much more, then its original value, so the more land you get when you buy a house or villa in Goa, the more it will be worth in the future. Land in Goa will always have value.

Before you buy a property in Goa, it is important that you understand the basics between a Freehold or Leasehold property in Goa.

It is important that you check out the immediate surroundings where you plan to buy a real-estate property in Goa and you should be cautious of anything near by your Goa property. You should not purchase a property near by of main roads, high tension cables, Electricity substations and as well large water drains in Goa.

If you have contacts into the construction or real estate industry, you could have an advantage if they can let you know of future developments of real-estate projects in Goa, before the general public will be aware of those new real-estate development projects in Goa.

Most buyers of properties in Goa compare prices when they shop around for a new property. You should look through Goa real-estate classifieds ads in local newspapers or search online for real-estate developers in Goa so you have a strong knowledge of the prices for the real-estate properties in Goa.

You should ask yourself the following question before you buy a property in Goa.

Is the property in Goa, leasehold or freehold and if the Goa property is a leasehold property, how much years does the property in Goa has left?
How is the neighborhood of your Goa property?
Are shops nearby your Goa property
Has any work been done on the Goa property since the old owners moved in?
Is the Interior or Exterior of the Goa property in good condition?
How much you have to invest in additional work for your Goa property
Will you be able to obtain a mortgage loan from a local bank in Goa?

If you are not under a time constraints, you should look as many properties in Goa as you can handle. You should visit show units from real-estate developers in Goa or if it is a property in the resale-market, visit that property as often as you can and draw up a list of pros and cons of the Goa property. If you have the time, under no circumstances should you rush in to buying a property in Goa.

You should not only look for a bungalow, semi detached house, or a condominium/apartment or residential land in Goa, but as well for a mortgage loan with a Bank or Financial Institution in Goa.

You’ve tried to avoid it for years…a real estate agent website.  You figured word-of-mouth, newspaper, flyers and signage would cover your advertising for years to come. Well, if you haven’t crawled out from under your rock already, it’s 2008. We live in a digital world…where Facebook and BlackBerry addictions have supreme reign. Where blogging, texting and e-mails are our communication lines of choice. People use the Internet now to buy their groceries, rent a movie and order their favourite Chinese take-out. If your real estate business has yet to embrace the online age, where does that leave you? Probably miles behind your competition. So isn’t it time you capitalized on the Internet revolution?

Start by understanding that more and more people are relying on the web to learn about the entire real estate process. There has also been a shift in consumer from Generation X to Generation Y. First-time buyers from GenY will have different communication needs, purchasing behaviour and housing requirements than their earlier counterparts. Now more than ever, it’s vital for all real estate professionals to understand why the Internet is so crucial to today’s industry, and why choosing not to get involved would reduce their profits and competitive edge.

As today’s potential client has less time than ever before, they desire their information served on a silver platter. So why not deliver the information they want and make it available to them 24 hours a day? Give them a one-stop-online-real-estate-shop to help them buy their dream home? That’s what they’re looking for. Nowadays, they expect it.

So why are customers so apt to house-hunting online?

1.  Who has the energy to flip through a mile-high pile of messy newspapers? Or make 20 preview appointments with a REALTOR®? Certainly not the urban jet-setters, soccer moms or suits of today’s world.

These Internet savvy buyers will take an average of 4.5 weeks to look for information on homes and neighborhoods before ever contacting a real estate professional, as compared to a traditional buyer that takes only 1.5 weeks. However, once the initial information gathering is complete, Internet buyers spend significantly less time with their agent and preview far fewer homes, spending 2 weeks, compared to 7 weeks for the traditional buyer.

2.  Real estate websites of today embrace a more user-friendly attitude than ever before. The Internet helps these buyers better understand the whole home buying process, and puts them in better control of that process. They can refine their needs and wants and comparison shop to paint a more detailed picture of their dream home for you. In the end it also helps save you time, so you can steer clear of what they don’t want, and deliver on what they do.

Just know that if they’re looking for a ‘4-bedroom, 3-bathroom raised bungalow with a salt-water outdoor pool and white picket fence, close to the highway yet nestled in a quiet community and close to a nature trail’…you’ll be the first to know.

3.  They are more willing and able to relocate now more than ever. These buyers are looking to move to different parts of the country, and use the Internet to scope out the hottest trends. They want to settle into a new lifestyle and status, not just a new home. With it they’ll earn a trend-setting label among friends and colleagues, and a life experience they’ll never forget.

Internet buyers are expanding their families at a slower pace, having children significantly later than their baby-boomer counterparts. As a REALTOR®, you need to appeal to their sense of freedom, mobile lifestyle and ability to live in an exciting new place, whether on their own or with a partner.

4.  Whether they’re searching for a home on their lunch break or at 2am, they have all the resources they need on their timetable. They don’t have to play phone tag to answer their questions. Everything they need is ready and waiting for them online.

Keep in mind that Internet homebuyers want as much detailed information as possible. Therefore, real estate professionals that offer websites with specialized, inside information and detailed listings including plenty of quality photos and virtual tours, will be more likely to capture these customers.

So, who exactly are these Internet savvy homebuyers, anyway? Let’s take a closer look at the Internet homebuyer profile and how they differ from traditional buyers.

The Internet empowers this type of consumer. They have control of the search process, by way of privacy and freedom. They can regulate the level of communication they choose to have with an agent or agency, and therefore feel less pressured and more comfortable in the decision-making process.

The Internet buyer tends to be new to the real estate purchasing market, and is younger, wealthier, more likely to be married and better educated than a traditional buyer.

These buyers want a complete understanding of what they’ll be jumping into. Not just listings and prices, they want information on the entire real estate transaction, from agent negotiations to legal procedures. They want all the real estate marketing tools wrapped into one complete package.

Internet savvy real estate professionals are at an advantage to fill in the gaps for these types of clients. Armed with this buyer profile and the proper real estate internet marketing tool, you can learn to better recognize and understand the requirements of this market niche. Think of real estate professionals like a GPS Navigation System for the Internet homebuyer. The Internet is their road map, but they still need detailed navigated directions to get to their destination; a guide to help them through the negotiation and transaction processes of home buying.

Remember, these Internet buyers will judge your competency based on your online perception. Establishing an online presence through a user-friendly real estate website and e-mail has become a benchmark of professionalism for all business. So, if you find your business is lacking in this department, keep in mind that valuable sales are being lost each passing moment. A website can therefore only compliment your role in the home buying process. Take action and get your real estate business online. Farming, referrals, sign calls and traditional advertising can only take you so far in the 2008 marketplace.

Check out this list of things to do and look out for before you purchase a property in Spain.  The list is easy to understand and should be followed with your lawer.  He is the one who will know where to do the digging for information.  We wish you well and good luck in finding your spanish dream home.

The Escritura Publica and Nota Simple

The Escritura Publica is the registered title deed of the property. It is entered in the ‘Registro de la Propiedad’, the Property Registry, and is the only guarantee of title in Spain. It contains a description of the property, the details of the owner and any mortgages or legal claims that exist against the property. This document is important because it tells you if the seller is the owner of the property being sold. A nota simple contains further details of any mortgages or charges against the property and is also available from the Registry.

The IBI receipt

Before purchasing a resale (not new) Spanish property check out the ‘lmpuesto sobre Bienes lnmuebles’, or lBI, which is the municipal property tax. Ideally, you’ll be able to see the IBI receipts for the last five years because that is the limit of liablity for unpaid back taxes and is attached to the property, not the owner. A new property bought from a developer will not have an IBI receipt (because it has never been ‘owned’) so it will be your responsibility to register the property for this tax.

The Referencia Catastral

Every property sale must quote the ‘Referencia Catastral’ of the property in question. The Catastro is another system of property registration in Spain, concentrating on the location, physical description and boundaries of the property. While the Property Registry focuses almost exclusively on ownership and title, the Catastro is concerned with property valuation.

These two systems do not communicate with each other, and it is common to find that the catastral description of a property differs greatly from the one in the Property Registry. It is a good idea to request the actual certificate from the Catastro with a full description of the property. The certificate is in two parts, one being a description of the property and the other being either a plan or an aerial photograph.

Community fees, statutes and minutes of the AGM

This only applies if you are buying a property in an urbanisation or where there are some ‘communal’ resources, shared amongst a number of properties. These are the fees charged by the ‘Comunidad de Propietarios’, the Community of Property Owners, a legal body that controls all the elements held in common; the lift, gardens and pool for example. Each owner is assigned a quota, or percentage of the expenses which, by law, must be paid.

Utility bills

These assure you that the bills are paid and also provide an idea of what the running costs of the property will be.

Misc

If you are buying a property in an urbanisation, make sure that it is legal and registered by asking to see the approved ‘plan parcial’ at the town hall. If the property is on the beach, make sure the development is also approved by the Jefatura de Costas. For a new property, make sure that it has been declared for IBI and that the developer has made the ‘declaracion de obra nueva’. Also ensure that the escritura mentions the house you are purchasing as well as the plot of land on which it stands. As an additional safeguard, it is wise to examine the town planning maps for the area around the property, called the Plan General de Ordenacion Urbana, or PGOU.