Buying
The important bits are much the same as in England, don't put down money unless there is land or buildings to cover its value and a lawyer has looked at the contract. Unless the lawyer speaks good English you are entitled to an official interpreter-the interpreter has legal obligations, do not allow anyone else to answer your questions.
If you buy the house in stages that cover more than one year you can have problems with the income tax people (nothing that an accountant can't fix, usually). Finally you have to prove that your money was from outside Greece, or pay local income tax on it, insist on the pink slips for all payments (these are from the bank and certify that your money was 'imported'). Your house documents will include your tax number.
Make sure that the price you pay is the price on the contract. Tax is paid on the difference between the price paid for a house and the price at which it is resold. If the vendor reduces the price on the contract, then he reduces his tax bill but gives you a bigger one when you sell on.
Some background
Estate agents in Greece are
licensed (so we
are told) and have certain
legal obligations. When we were looking for a house non Greeks
had not yet established a presence as estate agents and the accepted method
for selling abroad was for an English agent to send a representative to
a Cretan estate agent, and for the work to be done in the name of the
Cretan Estate Agent.
So the customer only dealt with the English part of the partnership until the legal bit was reached. As with all legal monopolies the fees are high so there was plenty to split.
Now there are non-Greeks set
up as estate agents and there is a bit of a feeding frenzy going on.
In addition to this construction companies and their agents, are setting
up everywhere. The pickings must be good because in Almerida there are
two representatives of the same company on opposite sides of the road!