Cut Your Electricity Bill in Cyprus in Half!

Electricity bills in Cyprus have long been a source of great anxiety for people living here. On average, bills are 4X greater in Cyprus than in the UK, with many people seeming to work just to pay for their energy supply!

Well, if you are a tenant in Cyprus, there is some very good news. You can cut your bill in half by simply going to your local electricity payments centre with your tenancy agreement and asking them to install a low-energy electricity meter. If you can restrict your most expensive use of electricity (aircon, water heating, washing machine, etc) to between 11pm and 7am, you will find that your bi-monthly electricity bill will be cut in half!

What this means in practice is that you should mostly restrict your use of aircon to after 11am, use your washing machine over night (especially easy if it is on a timer), and in the winter only heat your water between 11pm and 7am. Of course, for some people these restrictions may be a step too far, but for many others installing a low energy meter could be a God-send!

By the way, the electricity board (I have been assured by my source) never tell you about the option of installing a low energy meter, unless you already know about  it – even if you are struggling with your bill and trying to resolve the problem by talking to them. Obviously it would cost the Electricity authority a lot of money if people in Cyprus generally knew about low energy meters, even though this option could keep many peoples’ electricity switched on! So much for the authority’s energy saving policy!

Please share this information with as many of your friends as possible. You may end up doing someone with severe financial difficulties a huge favour!

Posted in General | Leave a comment

How to Find a Licensed Estate Agent in Cyprus

If you are thinking of buying or renting a property in Cyprus through an agent it is very important – in fact a legal requirement – for you to go through a fully licensed and registered estate agent.

The regulatory authorities in Cyprus have gone to great lengths to establish a code of practice in order to protect the interests of buyers and tenants of any property in Cyprus. This is their commendable response to the experience and, quite literally, the horror stories that both Cypriots and foreigners have gone through in trying to buy or rent a place in Cyprus. Part, but by no means the greater part, of the protection afforded by going through a fully licensed Cypriot estate agent is the fact that they are required to have at least CY 100,000 (Cypriot pounds), approximately €173,000, in indemnity cover.

When looking for an estate agent always ensure that your chosen agent is a member of the Cyprus Real Estate Agents’ Association (CREAA), and preferably also a member of the Real Estate Agent Federation (FIABCI).

You can check the membership of the CREAA, to some extent, by visiting their website at http://www.creacyprus.com/members.php?lang=en . However on closer inspection the information is not up to date (their PDF list of members is from 2010). Your best option for checking whether an estate agent is a member of the CREAA is to call their hotline on +357 22666377 and asking them directly.

For the FIABCI you can visit their website at http://www.fiabci.org/ where they also maintain a list of their membership.

Of course, estate agents are not all marketing the same properties, so the more logical approach would be to shortlist a selection of suitable properties first and then shortlist the associated estate agents. The biggest source of properties in Cyprus is actually at CyprusPropertyTree.com. Simply go to the home page and click on the big green Property Search button on the top right of the page to find a selection of properties to suit you.

There are currently some incredible deals out there whether you are a buyer or a tenant, but make sure your experience is a good one by only using a fully licensed CREAA estate agent.

Good luck finding your next property in Cyprus! :)

Posted in General | Leave a comment

How to Buy or Rent Cyprus Property at the Lowest Price!

Cypriot estate agents maintain their own lists of active Cyprus property buyers and prospective tenants, whether these are Cyprus property investors keen to buy property in Cyprus or people simply looking to buy or rent their next home in Cyprus. As soon as a great deal comes on the market, estate agents in Cyprus will pick up the phone and work their way through their list or prospective Cyprus property buyers or tenants  in order to get a buyer or tenant straight away.

It’s true that even for the best Cyprus property deals to buy or rent, an estate agent may not happen to have a suitable buyer or tenant for a particular property in Cyprus – so may publish its details on their own Cyprus property website. But even then, the property will not be on the market long, since a single Cyprus estate agent is unlikely to be the only one to be dealing with the property in question.

“Traditional Cyprus property websites are great.. if you like looking at pictures! But they wont find you the best deals on buying or renting property in Cyprus. Why? because the best Cyprus property buyer and tenancy deals are rarely advertised.. they don’t need to be!”

If you want to buy property in Cyprus or rent Cyprus property, the best deals on Cyprus property wont make it to the big centralised websites, such as Rightmove Overseas or FindaProperty. This is because it costs Cypriot estate agencies money to advertise on the centralised property websites, and for the best deals on Cyprus property there is simply no point. Through one Cypriot estate agent or another, the best deals are going to be off the market in no time!

At the end of the day, if you want to buy or rent property in Cyprus, and you are looking for the best deal on your next home in Cyprus  – one that matches both your requirements and budget, the big centralised websites wont help you. On individual, self-operated Cyprus estate agency websites, you might occasionally see a great deal on Cyprus proeprty to buy or rent, for the reasons already mentioned. But in Cyprus alone there are more than 200 of these. To be sure of finding the best deal on Cyprus property, you would have to browse ALL of them each and every day. An exhausting proposition, and still not a great idea! After all, only a small proportion of the best Cyprus property deals to buy or rent will ever appear on an estate agent’s own website.

So what can you do to find the best deal on Property to Buy or Rent in Cyprus?

It’s very clear that, if you want to buy or rent in Cyprus, the only way to find a property that perfectly matches your requirements at the lowest possible cost  is to contact all the Cypriot estate agents and Cypriot property developers in the area you are interested in moving to.  Before CyprusPropertyTree.com came along, if you wanted to buy or rent property in Cyprus at the best possible price, you would have to actually pick up the phone and explain your requirements individually to each and every Cypriot estate agency. Yes, you’re right.. this sounds exhausting, and it is!

Well, what if you could visit one site, enter your requirements in less than 2 minutes, and have your Cyprus property buyer or tenant enquiry go to all the leading Cyprus estate agents and property developers in the area you want to live – all with one click of a button. Well that’s precisely what CyprusPropertyTree.com can do for you.

CyprusPropertyTree.com enables you to submit your buyer or renant Cyprys property enquiry to all relevant Cypriot estate agents and/or property developers in the area you are interested in buying or renting. It takes about a minute to fill in the enquiry form and in a matter or a couple of hours CyprusPropertyTree.com will notify you of the best deals on Cyprus property to buy or rent the fit your requirements and budget – recommendaitons that usually included slide show property pictures compiled especially in response to your Cyprus buyer or tenant enquiry. Note that the CyprusPropertyTree.com service is entirely free to Cyprus property buyers, sellers, tenants and landlords enquirers, and your email address will never be disclosed – not even to the property companies you are sending your enquiry to. Further, providing your telephone number with your cyprus property buyer or tenant enquiry is optional.

If you are interested in buying or renting in Cyprus – and want to be sure of finding a Cyprus property that is both ideal for you, and is at the lowest possible price, you can submit your Cyprus property enquiry at  CyprusPropertyTree.com.

We wish you every success in finding your next home in Cyprus – at the lowest possible price!

 

Posted in Buy, Sell, and Rent Cyprus Property | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

CyprusPropertyTree.com FAQ for Property Enquirers

Below you will find key answers to the questions most frequently asked by people who use our services to buy, sell or rent property in Cyprus. Before we go any further, however, we want to make it clear that our services to you, as a property enquirer, are entirely free of charge!

– How can you help me buy, sell or rent property?  

Using Cyprus Property Tree you can submit a property enquiry to a selection of estate agencies in the region of Cyprus that you want to buy, sell or rent property with one click. When you receive a reply from an estate agency or developer, we will notify you by email, at which time you can log on to your account area and read their reply.

When you receive a response, you can either reply to the estate agency / developer through the system in order to seek further clarification. You are also free, at any time, to telephone them directly, perhaps to arrange a viewing. The important point to note here is that we never disclose your email address to anyone – and providing your telephone number with your enquiry is entirely up to you. The onus is on you to decide whether to make personal contact with an estate agency or property developer.

In the case of buying/renting enquiries, estate agencies and developers will try their best to personally recommend properties that match your criteria and budget, and will often issue pictures along with their reply – so you will have a clearer idea as to how suitable the property is.

What are the advantages of using Cyprus Property Tree?

First of all, it’s much easier than trawling the internet, and browsing lots of property websites in the hope of happening upon a property that perfectly fits your requirements and budget. You may know from experience that property websites are often out of date, resulting in great disappointment when, after your long search, you finally find an interesting property only to find it has already gone.

The best approach is to leave the arduous search to the professionals. Spend 5 minutes composing your detailed property requirements, submit your enquiry, and sit back and receive property recommendations that perfectly match your requirements. The truth is, the best property at the best prices fly out of the door as soon as they arrive on the market, so if you have specific requirements in mind or a tight budget, you are better off getting on the Cyprus Property Tree!

The alternative is that you call up all the estate agents in a region, one by one, in order to find your perfect property, and get a similar level of service to the one we offer free of charge. But do you really want to explain your requirements over and over again, or pass your contact information to lots of companies?

Not only would this take forever, but estate agents and developers will still be calling you well past the time that you are actually looking for a property (after all, they won’t know that you aren’t still looking). This wastes your valuable time and theirs. With Cyprus Property Tree, all you have to do it cancel or delete your property enquiry, and all the professionals will instantly know to stop looking on your behalf.

Who will be receiving my property enquiry? 

After selecting the region of Cyprus that you would like to live, you have the option of sending your enquiry to our Features service providers (generally the better known and well established organisations), or all service providers in that region. We recommend submitting your enquiry to Featured service providers. If in a week or so you haven’t received a good enough response, then perhaps consider casting your net wider.

How do I reply to estate agency/developer messages? 

When you receive a response, we will notify you by email. Simply log on to your account area to read their replies. You can reply back privately through the system, perhaps to seek clarification – or if you’re really interested in what they have to say, you can always decide to pick up the phone and give them a call. The service provider’s full contact details are included with every reply, for your convenience.

How do I stop receiving responses to my property enquiry?

You can cancel or delete a property enquiry at any time. Simply log on to your account, select the enquiry, and click the delete button. All recipients of your property enquiry will instantly know that the enquiry is out of date, perhaps because one of our estate agents or property developers have already been successful in finding you your ideal home.

(Reprinted from the Cyprus Property Tree FAQ for Cyprus Property Enquirer)

Posted in Buy, Sell, and Rent Cyprus Property | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Getting Started: for Cypriot Estate Agents & Property Development Companies

We provide a highly convenient service for people buying, selling, or renting property in Cyprus, by enabling them to submit their Cyprus property enquiry to multiple Cypriot estate agencies and property development companies all at once.

Using our intuitive, though comprehensive, property enquiry form, Cyprus property enquirers are able to submit their highly detailed property enquiry to registered Cypriot property companies all at once. Not only does this save property enquirers the trouble of trawling many Cyprus property websites for what often turn out to be out-of-date property details, but also enables them to find out about the best deals on property in Cyprus as they hit the market – before they are even advertised!

For the reasons described above, amongst others, we receive many Cyprus property enquiries direct from the general public each and every day, that we pass forward to our registered Cypriot estate agents and property development companies, in case they can assist. If you are a Cyprus property company, and would like to start receiving live Cyprus property requests as they enter the market, each and every day – simply register for your free 14 day trial of our services. No contract. No commitment.

We look forward to welcoming you to the CyprusPropertyTree.com, and becoming your long term business development partner.

Posted in Cyprus Estate Agencies / Property Developers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

We’ve Launched the Official Cyprus Property Tree Blog!

CyprusPropertyTree.com enables people who want to buy, sell or rent property in Cyprus to post a single property enquiry to a number of leading Cyprus estate agents and property developers – all at the same time. Our registered Cypriot estate agents and property developers then message you back privately through our platform at www.CyprusProerptyTree.com to answer your questions, or recommend specific properties in Cyprus that match both your requirements and budget.

If you want to buy or rent property in Cyprus, this means that you get to find out about properties as soon as they come on to the Cyprus property market, giving you the first option on the best deals on property throughout Cyprus. What’s even better is that our registered Cyprus estate agents / property developers do all the property hunting for you. No longer do you have to spend all your free time trawling Cyprus property websites for that perfect property in Cyprus. Let’s face it, property websites are often out of date, or list properties that are no longer available, anyway.

The fact is, the best properties in Cyprus aren’t advertised anyway – they fly out of the estate agents door as soon as they arrive – so they are unlikely to be advertised on any website. The only way to get the best deal on Cyprus property is by contacting Cypriot property professionals directly. We make that very easy. In fact it only takes about 60 seconds or less, using our sophisticated property enquiry form (at http://www.CyprusPropertyTree.com ), to specify your detailed requirements. By the way, we never divulge your email address to anyone – and providing your telephone number to estate agents and property developers is up to you!

Best of all, not only do we offer you the faster and easiest approach to finding your next property in Cyprus, but out service to you is entirely free! So why not get on the Cyprus Property Tree today, and buy, sell or rent your next Cyprus property in no time!

Posted in General | Leave a comment