Jordi Clotet: "The Barcelona real estate market is a jungle, but you can still find good deals."

BarcelonaBuying an apartment is one of the most important purchases a person can make in their lifetime. It is often a stressful process in which the buyer feels vulnerable. Almost a decade ago, Jordi Clotet, with extensive experience in the real estate world, founded the agency Nexitum, from which he works as personal shopper Real estate agent, guiding and advising people who want to buy a property.

What is a personal agent? shopper real estate? Is it the same as a real estate agent?

— He's a real estate agent, but the big difference is that what he sells... personal shopper They are not apartments or houses, but a service that helps the person who wants to buy an apartment.

Do you do the preliminary work of looking for potential apartments?

— You don't buy an apartment every day; it's a significant expense because, whatever the apartment, it's always a lot of money. We start with a preliminary wish list and ask clients many questions to understand exactly what they want, beyond just the basic photo. From there, we honestly tell them whether we can help them or not, whether what they're asking for is achievable given the market. Our fees are a fixed amount, not a percentage. The client only sees apartments that align with their requirements. Even after they say "I like it," there's still a lot of work to be done on our end. I take care of validating the price and, if possible, negotiating it. Let's do a due diligence We provide legal support, a technical inspection of the apartment by an architect, help you find the best financing, and accompany you to the notary to complete the purchase. We're with you from the very beginning, from the initial excitement of buying an apartment to confirming its feasibility. Unfortunately, many people waste their time. Sometimes it's a real wake-up call. Sometimes, you have to tell the client they need to look in a different neighborhood.

In Barcelona it can be difficult to find a place to live where you want to live.

— We reject 30% of the people who want to hire us because, based on our experience, we know that the project they're asking for will only lead to frustration. I know the market and I know what we can buy. Sometimes people come to us as if we could perform magic, and unfortunately, that's not the case. What we do is buy very well and safely. But the market is what it is.

Is your service only for people with high budgets?

— It's for anyone who wants and can buy an apartment, and that does set a budget because not everyone can afford it. Sometimes people ask us if this is elitist. No, it isn't. But is buying an apartment elitist? It depends on how you look at it. Yes, because not everyone can buy one. Some people can't even afford to rent. But if you can buy an apartment, you should be able to afford an advisor who can help you make a good purchase. This is more important for someone who might be on a tighter budget and is buying a €300,000 apartment than for someone buying a €1.5 million apartment. The latter, if they make a bad purchase, might have more money.

Is there such a thing as the perfect apartment that meets all of the client's requirements?

— Throughout my life, I've seen over 15,000 apartments, and I've never seen the perfect apartment, even though I've seen every budget. It doesn't exist. There will always be something missing that you want. But the ideal home for each person does exist, depending on what you can afford. In fact, we ask clients what their five essential things are. Natural light, peace and quiet, an elevator... Everyone says something different. You'd be amazed at how different we all are. We recently hired a couple of teachers who had been looking for an apartment for over a year. And, something that happens a lot with couples, is that each one was looking for something different: one wanted to be close to their parents, and the other far from their in-laws. How do you resolve this? This is very difficult to discuss with the couple. Sometimes they appreciate having an outsider to bring order to the situation.

Is it always possible to negotiate the price of an apartment?

— You have to have good judgment, know what things are worth. People who have lost out on apartments come to see me trying to lower the price. Sometimes, the best negotiation is not to negotiate at all. If we find an apartment you've been looking for for months and it's priced within your budget, the best thing I can do is tell you we're working quickly and do all the due diligence. If we get caught up in trying to negotiate, you'll lose it. But this is different if someone advising you tells you this than if the seller tells you. Sometimes things are very expensive.

Consumers feel that prices are very inflated.

— Some do, some don't. If you're tired of looking for an apartment, like the couple of teachers I mentioned, sometimes you end up paying more than you should. Just like the sellers tell you there's another couple interested, I sometimes say there are other apartments available too.

If you live in Barcelona, it seems like there aren't that many apartments; it's a jungle.

— I don't know if it's the worst city to buy in, but it's definitely a jungle. But in this jungle, if you know how to do things right, you can buy very well, you still can. An average couple, earning a living by taking out a mortgage, can buy very well. But people buy below their means because either they're overly excited and end up paying more than the apartment is worth, or vice versa, because they rush into it. You have to put your heart into it, but you also have to use common sense.

Which neighborhoods request your services the most?

— We work throughout Barcelona, ​​but we work most in the Eixample, Sarrià, Les Corts, Gràcia, Guinardó, Sant Andreu and Poblenou districts.

Are there neighborhoods where it's harder to find good deals?

— I think it's more about the micro-neighborhoods than the entire districts. If you know Gràcia, you'll see there are many "Gràcias." Fifty meters in one direction or fifty meters in another can be paradise or hell. There might be a square that's fabulous for having a drink with friends but a nightmare to live in. Once a client calls us about Gràcia, we look for the client's neighborhood. I think about the individual or the couple, and I suggest we stop rushing and look at what we really want. Then the million-dollar question is, "If this property goes on the market tomorrow, do we buy it?" The answer has to be "yes" because otherwise, there's no point in even getting started. The moment they hire us, they have to be in the mindset of buying. With this method, I know people who have bought apartments in nine weeks.

Before you have the mindset to buy, you should have run the numbers.

— Yes, but we help them with this too. You'd be amazed at the number of people who come to see me, telling me they've been looking for an apartment for months, and when we review the financial aspects, I have to tell them, "You won't get a mortgage." They say, "Yeah, right, Pep from La Caixa is a good friend." But it doesn't work that way. There are people who have been looking for six months, who have wasted their time and made a lot of other people waste theirs.

Do you think the Barcelona real estate market will ever stop being a jungle?

— It's always been this way. The thing is, this market depends on which way the wind blows; sometimes it benefits the owner and seller, and other times it benefits the buyer. I can't recall a single moment in the last 35 years when I thought, "Great, ordinary people can buy." We often think our parents got a great price, but they didn't earn what we do. In the future, things will become more professional; there will be artificial intelligence to help professionals conduct better searches. There will be new things, but the reality is that it's a market where we have a lot at stake, because it's the biggest purchase we'll ever make, and almost no one has a clue. Sellers want to get the maximum price, and buyers want to get the minimum, which is perfectly normal. This will always be the case. And the rush shouldn't be there, but it always will be. In other countries, buyers have guarantees that they don't have here.

For example?

— In France, if you see an ad that says the apartment is 72 square meters, the apartment is 72 square meters. Here, you see an ad and it's complete chaos: the land registry says one size, the property registry says another... And if you measure it, it's still something else. In other countries, this is simpler. Here, apartments are put up for sale any old way: four real estate agencies handle them simultaneously, sometimes even with different prices.

Are your customers local or foreign?

— Seventy percent of our clients are local, and when I say local, I mean people who live in Barcelona, ​​because many people who weren't born here live in the city. It could be an Italian who's been living here for twenty years. Thirty percent are foreigners. The figure of the personal shopper We didn't invent real estate, we copied it from abroad.

Is it more common in English-speaking countries?

— Exactly. In the United States or Canada, if you want to buy an apartment, nobody would dream of giving money to the real estate agency, which represents the seller. You have an agent who will fight for the apartment on your behalf. Foreigners looking for apartments here face the same problems as locals, with the added challenge of language barriers and legal issues, because the legal system works differently in each country.