Gecko Towers
Once a Client always a Client.
Why?
Despite extensive investment in online processing for bank accounts and utility management, it seems there is usually a road block that necessitates the confrontation of an issue as though it were the first time such a matter had arisen. Monitoring bank balances, testing the road-worthiness of vehicles or the connection of a WiFi feed, can present what appears to be a crushing scenario of such uniqueness that spirals to require the intervention of every branch of the workforce of the relevant service supplying business.
The solution, in my humble experience, is to let your trusted Marbella based Lawyer to handle these dynamics. So early into your steps in Andalucia the last thing you want is a melt down due to frustration. Believe me it’s just not worth it! Additionally, any long-term resident expat will happily report that “it’s better than it was”….perhaps the last thing you’ll want to hear.
The issue for many people is that they seek to achieve their ambition of settling on the Costa del Sol a little later in life. That may coincide with retirement, downsizing due to an “empty nest”, selling a business or simply taking stock of their lives there and chose to be here. Expressions like “stuck in their ways” does characterize the lives of many over 50 year old and you’d be surprised how many of those in their 40’s lay the foundations for repeated behavior that becomes habitual. Surmounting such behavior and comprehensively altering lifestyle may become harder as we get older, but that should not dull the ambition.
This may, regrettably, make learning degree level Castellano (the Spanish spoken in Madrid and Malaga) more challenging. Combine this with a touch of an Andalusian accent – broadly described as “eating their words” – which you should encounter daily, and you may well struggle until your effort start to pay to dividends. Embrace the difficulty, I’ve done it – sometimes more or sometimes less – and being completely honest it works. In doing so, you get behind a rueful reticence to engage with “Guiris” (pronounced “Geariz”) – as that’s what we foreigners are called – and you will certainly discover a disarming charm and wicked sense of humor. The local people are exceptionally welcoming, warm and keen to share their knowledge of life on the Costa del Sol. They just need you to indicate a keenness to engage. To hell with your trusted “Reserve” setting!
Please don’t think I am criticizing those with establish ways of living, it is invariably the norm, especially if you have a young family. Does the expression “herding cats” resonate? In part, the very reliability and repetitiveness of our London lives promoted the thought that there “must be something more fulfilling!” At the time we didn’t know that the a partial solution lay in a move to the Marbella region, but we had a hunch that it might. Not everyone had the economic flexibility to undertake such a move and that’s the reality. Of those who do, I’d be surprised if a figure approaching 80% to 90% of those posed the question “Should You Have Moved To The Marbella Area Earlier?” would not answer in the affirmative.
I am told that those who are keen to buy a property on the Costa del Sol will spend some months, possibly years, seeking potential partners based in the region into whom to place their trust. They will exhaust all available material on and offline to contribute to their body of knowledge firm in the understanding that nothing too challenging will arise once they have relocated. This is obviously essential background and prepares you well to question informatively. Additionally, this is a vital step to identify who measures up to your demanding criteria when it comes to advisors. However, it’s not until you arrive and start to “walk the grounds” that your early feelings of security with a particular supplier will fully gel.
Determining in whom to entrust your care need not be a hit and miss affair, but I would encourage you to come offline and pick up the phone in order to explore who you feel most comfortable with. The informal recommendation of a friend is just not going to pass muster when your investment in a local property is as material as it inevitably will be.
We are always delighted to set out the realities of settling here. After all, over many years, we have pretty much seen, heard and experienced most combinations of issues, difficulties and potential problems. The true test is how these are solved and the outcome of the solution. Confidence, trust and long-term engagement and born from an absolute commitment to being reliable, available and always willing.
Equally, we have picked up abandoned, so-called “orphaned clients” who’s Lawyers, for example, an august and well-known Marbella law firm, having completed a purchased, banked their fees and then promptly ignored a week of calls from their “client” seeking assistance in order to get their utilities connected. This kind of flagrant disregard of the trusted lawyer/client axis is not apocryphal. We have seen shocking examples of this dismissiveness and, let’s be honest, ambivalence and greed. The negatively experienced by these “orphaned clients” is palpable and the bubble of trust with their previous advisor is not just burst but shattered. It makes the client question the overall quality of the services they have already paid for. A very uncomfortable position.
Should you be interested in discussing the process involved in buying a property on the Costa del Sol, we would be delighted to assist you. We have an experience-qualified and best of breed Associates Network comprising professionals focused on the western Costa del Sol (Malaga to Tarifa) property market. Their services include property search, mortgages, legal and tax services, visas, surveying, insurance and currency brokerage.
We have done the leg work, testing the quality of our Associates Network and now feel confident in recommending their services to you.
Please note that our posts are for general interest. There is no substitute for proper advice tailored to your specific circumstances as provided by a qualified Abogado who is experienced in the application of the Spanish Law. Nothing contained in this article should be seen or taken as legal, tax or financial advice and cannot be relied upon as such. Neither the writer nor the publisher accepts any responsibility for liabilities arising as a result of reliance upon the information given. All details have been reasonably fact-checked and all efforts have been taken to ensure that facts are accurate as at the date of publication.
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My details: Mark FR Wilkins, during usual business hours on +34 600 343 917 or e-mail me at mark@therightsgroup.com
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