Interview By Janice Gardner
Safe as houses
Finding someone the right house can be more complicated than it sounds. It is a 24-7 job
Cyprus is well known for its three hundred plus days of sunshine a year, good standard of living, social and friendly people and providing a safe environment to live in. These factors have brought many foreign residents to the island, where they easily feel at home.
Because of this, one of the largest growth industries on the island must surely be property development and with this grows for the demand for estate agents and property consultants.
One of the partners of Kaimar Consulting Ltd, Kai Wacker, said he and Marcos Dinnage (the other partner) had themselves initially come to the island to buy a house. After making appointments with several agents, they were shown exactly what they didn’t want to see: houses that were way over budget and not in areas they wanted to live. Eventually, however, they found a property and went back to the UK.
Let down by their experience they decided a house in Cyprus wasn’t enough. “We decided we loved Cyprus and that we could offer a service that wasn’t there,” said Kai. So, four years ago they returned to the island and set up Kaimar Consulting Ltd, based in Limassol. The first thing Kaimar does before taking on a house for sale is to make sure there are title deeds and that they can get copies of them.
Kai enjoys walking and his day starts when he gets up at half past five and drives over to Fassouri for a two hour walk with his dog. “As well as keeping fit I have time to go over current situations without being interrupted by constant ringing phones,” said Kai.
Once in the office, the day starts with lots of phone calls and checking emails as they work with a great number of agents overseas, who bring clients to them. They pick up the clients as early as possible to avoid the midday heat during summer. But first, prospective clients are taken to the office to go through exactly what it is they want. After the initial meeting a short list of a client wants is drawn up and they are taken viewing.
“We take them around the village they have shown an interest in living in and also the neighbouring villages. We give them a print out of information of activities that go on in and around the village. We show them the whole area what goes on, festivals etc. They are introduced to the mukhtar and to other people that we know who have bought in the village. This gives them a really good idea of what goes on. We also introduce them to the owner, we’re aware they could go behind our backs but it’s a risk we take. We don’t push anyone towards a purchase we let them decide for themselves,” said Kai.
They usually view four or five properties, which takes up most of the day and afterwards are taken out for a meal whether they buy or not. Kai will then head back to the office, which could be as late as eight or nine in the evening.
Once a house has been bought the service doesn’t stop there. Kai’s office helps with the purchase of furniture and helps them with essential services (Cyta etc). “We’ve even helped them find jobs, secretaries, builders etc. We become friends and join in their social life. It’s great fun,” said Kai.
“It’s a twenty-four seven job. If someone wants to view a house on a Sunday we’ll take them. We don’t mind travelling to see a £25,000 house whereas some agents just wouldn’t bother. We’ve had calls at midnight from distraught people with no electricity asking what they can do. Who can they call? Or there’s no water! Or there’s a dog barking next door can we stop it?” said Kai.
Kai describes himself as a workaholic and any spare time he has he finds it therapeutic to work in the garden where there’s always plenty to do. “At the end of the day there’s nothing I enjoy better than relaxing with a glass of local brandy and catching up with Eastenders!” he said.
Kaimar Consulting Ltd, Yermasogeia. Tel: 25 318712, Fax: 25 313856, www.Kaimarconsulting.com [email protected]
Kaimar Consulting Ltd
