rumpola,

just do a bit of research on these land banking scams - I've given you the link.

Lysos,

Im not knocking what you have said, and I can understand your concerns with this (especially the errors in Grammar on the website, which is totally unacceptable IMO).

The point I was trying to make was, offering your portfolio of properties/investments that you have to sell, to other people that may be able to sell them for you, is standard practice in the overseas property industry.

Most of the bigger companies have an agency department that sign up other smaller agencies to sell the properties for them, while still taking a cut of the commission available. Its money for old rope essentially.

Yes, there are LandBanking scams around, but surely if you do your due dilligence beforehand, you shouldnt get exposed to this sort of fraud, and if you have any doubts whatsoever, you should run a million miles as fast as you can.

If you dont do any due diligence and take whatever you have been told at face value then there is a possibility you will get burnt.

At the end of the day, there are some good deals to be had buying land, but its the same with any investment strategy, you have to make sure the potential gains outweigh the risk.

Many bigger companies do have "Partner Programs " to reach out to a wider audience. Most partners have to wait between 6 -24 months for commission though.
Some get 50% commission at the 30% stage and have to wait till near completition for the final 50% (off plan).
Also some partners are not allowed to keep their leads.
But there are some issues for the potential partners to be aware of!
After the client buys, who gets to keep the client on their data base?
If the client purchases another unit in a years time, does the partner get the commission here or does the property company own the lead after the first purchase. There are a lot of little details to be sorted out before any paperwork is signed.
But to be honest how many more people who know feck all about investments are going to be flogging property. Just goes to show that any tom, dick and harry can sell property in the UK and Ireland.
As "Parador Property" said "we were only an introductory company".
All the "company credibiity pitch" , "After Sales Service" , "Customer Care", "Resale Departments", "Management and Rental Department" pitch is such a load of bull.

rumpola,

I understand what you are saying about the devolved selling process and fully concur with the fact that individuals are responsible for their own due diligence; sadly, a lot of people looking for an easy return don't look beyond the hype. These firms selling sub divided fields rely on that; a simple phone call to the planning department in the particular area will invariably elicit laughter and the response that there is no chance of pp in the forseeable future. A lot have been closed down by the DTI, most recently UK Land Investments, but not before they've made millions, and then they target ex pats overseas e.g. far east, middle east, Australasia.

Equally, I agree with Micktpg. All this claptrap about customer service is b......t. If they really were looking to build long term customer relationships, offering management, rental & resale services they would not be associated with a land bank scam company. This company has all the signs of an outfit looking to take the money & run.

Incidentally, did you see that Parador has closed down ?.

At least the small guys might get a bit more of a look in with these guys gone.

Apparently Parador said in a statement that people who bought through them would not be affected as they were just an introductory agent. I bet they didn't say that to the people when trying to get them on an inspection trip !!!!!

If people could see the catastrophe that is the "Inspection Flight " syndrome then we may see a few more big companies follow Parador.
This can only be a good thing.
If there was no such thing as an inspection flight, then people would have to travel over to their desired location and make a number of appointment, thus finding a far better deal (of course due diligence applies), and reaping the rewards.
Inspection flights have directly led to oversupply of properties in many countries and killed the investment potential stone dead in many regions thus making life difficult for every investor.

Maybe some day we will see a company that expands due to its credibility , respectability ,one that goes beyond the call of duty rather than resorting to the inspection flight/ HARD SELL syndrome.

Im not referring to any company in particular,......... well come to think about it i am
There is a reason why the big companies hide in Spain, especially Marbella.

Lysos,

Yes, I did read about Parador.

I dont think they will be the last of the 'big boys' to fall either.

I think the major problem with the bigger companies are the fact they made a lot of money a few years back and seemed to think that the good times will continuously roll. So they expanded, and got more staff and bigger overheads, then all of a sudden sales slowed to a level where the overheads were more than income, hence the Superior/Parador problems.

I still believe that if a company DOES offer good advice and customer service, without the 'hard-sell' techniques that have characterised this industry for far too long, there just may be some light at the end of the tunnel. The problem is, most of the bigger companies are set in their ways, and wont/cant change their attitudes before its too late.

Besides, potential purchasers are a lot more savvy now,then back when the likes of Superior, Parador, Those That Shall Not BE Named et al, were making their money by 'getting bums on seats' and flying people here there and everywhere.

I totally agree with MTPG too, especially this line "Maybe some day we will see a company that expands due to its credibility , respectability ,one that goes beyond the call of duty rather than resorting to the inspection flight/ HARD SELL syndrome".

The market is changing, its now up to the overseas property agents to change too.

If you want to know if land is likley to gain a permission then this is simple, ask the local council and you will get a reply !

I am in planning and we have public documents that clearly show where the development boundaries are. We also have staff available to advise the public if a piece of land is likely to gain planning permission or not. Although the planning system is forever changing you should get a clear idea of the councils need for land to cover the demand for the next ten years.

Land banking is very risky and even if the land does get permission developers often want to pay rock bottom prices and do not want to deal with 10s or 100s of sellers on 1 parcel of land. If just one owner goes missing and cant be contacted the whole development can be affected. I have seen a small strip of land in front of a car park hold up a development just because the owner could not be found !! All other investors would be affected as a result, and the developer would simply look else ware for a piece of land. Most local developers have already identified possible future sites and will have made contact with the owners long before a land banking company comes knocking!!

If you want to sell real estate then find a company who is well established and let them know you are interested. I am sure they will give you a commission only deal and help train you to a high standard. Well motivated people are always hard to find!
Good luck.

It sounds like multi-level marketing. Probably a property club based thing where you sell a property to a relative or friend and get commission but they do the same down the line and ultimately you get some commission from that sale as well.