A reader has contacted La Voz to denounce the difficulties she faces when trying to buy a home due to the management of real estate agencies.
In this regard, she states that she has been trying to buy a home with an already approved mortgage for two years, but cannot access any because "even though you call quickly when an ad comes out, they tell you there is a waiting list and what they do is bid either by call priority or contacts, they let you buy the house," she explains.
Moreover, she points out that "when you tell the real estate agencies that you have 170,000 or 180,000 euros they push you away because what they want is to get rich in two days, since they later sell the properties for 300,000 or 400,000 euros." An example she gives is "a 45 square meter home in San Bartolomé that they want to sell you for 180,000 euros, and if someone offers them 200,000, they sell it to them."
In reference to this, she asserts that "the real estate agencies allocate the houses offered to people they know and also conduct a sort of assessment of the people who come to see the house and give the home to the highest bidder." In light of this situation that the reader denounces, she says that "the real estate agencies should have control so that families can access housing."
Additionally, the reader, who has children to care for and one of them with autism spectrum disorder, understands that they are private companies but demands that "there be control."
The woman, who is desperate to find a home to access, points out that "three-bedroom homes are very scarce and the mortgage they give you is what it is; if it is tight, it is the money they give you, they do not give you more than 80%." "I find it abusive that for a house costing 190,000 euros you have to have 19,000 euros because before you could reserve a house for 2,000 euros... the real estate agencies in Lanzarote are doing whatever they want," she concludes.