How the work is done, in concrete cases

I had spent two years looking at flats in Valencia from Munich and I was always too late. In the first session we nailed down the criteria and the maximum price. When the one I bought came up, we decided the same day without flying out. That was the part I was missing.

What helped me most was the technical assessment. I was set on buying a flat and the analysis showed that the whole electrical installation had to be redone and damp in the basement treated. I negotiated €14,000 off the price or I was not buying.

I had four flats let out and had always calculated the return by eye. When we looked at the real net return on each one, the conclusion was the opposite of what I expected: the one I liked most performed worst.

The tax side was what scared me: I did not understand what I was declaring here and what I was declaring in Germany. I came out of the session with the exact questions for my adviser and a clear idea of how much I was left with net per year.

I was about to sign off a €38,000 refurbishment. Reviewing the quote, we found items that were missing and would have come up later. We negotiated terms and swapped two items for more reasonable ones.

I wanted a second opinion before buying, not full support. One session, the numbers on the table and a clear recommendation. It was exactly what I needed and I did not pay for more.