A Place in the Sun: Couple reject property before viewing

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Ben Hillman and the rest of the A Place in the Sun team are currently on Channel 4 screens with a brand new series. In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, Ben opened up on what he finds “frustrating” about filming during his quests to find house hunters their dream property abroad. The Channel 4 expert revealed guests often struggled to manage their expectations. 

Ben discussed the occasions where prospective buyers were not impressed despite the expert showing them a property that ticked all of their boxes. 

He explained: “Sometimes people just need some time to absorb and for some people that’s longer than others. 

“There have certainly been moments where myself and the team have some cracking properties on budgets, or just slightly pushing the budget and people had to walk away from it and take a bit more time because it is that adjustment of expectation and reality that’s not always that easy. 

“So that can be really frustrating when you think I’ve just offered up [your dream property and] you’re walking away from it.”

Read more: A Place in the Sun’s Leah Charles-King stunned as buyers walk off

Ben discussed the occasions where prospective buyers were not impressed despite the expert showing them a property that ticked all of their boxes. 

He explained: “Sometimes people just need some time to absorb and for some people that’s longer than others. 

“There have certainly been moments where myself and the team have some cracking properties on budgets, or just slightly pushing the budget and people had to walk away from it and take a bit more time because it is that adjustment of expectation and reality that’s not always that easy. 

“So that can be really frustrating when you think I’ve just offered up [your dream property and] you’re walking away from it.”

“The problem with that is we always tell people that at the moment the market moves in one direction,” he continued.

“So if you walk away from that for two, three months, when you come back and read and search again, you might have to lower your expectations even further. 

“And that’s what’s frustrating because you feel like people are really missing out on a good opportunity sometimes.”

Opening up on the guests he meets on A Place in the Sun, Ben admitted he enjoyed pushing people out of their “comfort zone”.

Most of the time, buyers are hoping to purchase a property in an area they love to visit frequently. 

But Ben explained sometimes this isn’t always possible due to budget constraints. 

The property expert said: “A lot of the time, being humans a lot of the time we are creatures of habits, aren’t we?

“Typically a lot of people will go on holiday to one place and they will love it and very much like me, when I go to a restaurant, I’ll order the same thing every time.”

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“It’s very tempting to go back to the same place, go to all these bars, cafes, locations that we love, because we know ultimately, we’re not going to be let down and have a lovely holiday every time,” Ben remarked. 

“Sometimes when people come to purchase a property that’s where they want to be because that’s where they’re happiest. 

“But, quite often budgets and dreams don’t always align but that’s when it gets quite exciting because that’s my chance to take people out of their comfort zone and show them things that they ordinarily wouldn’t go to see in locations they wouldn’t ordinarily consider.”

Ben revealed he gets a real sense of achievement when buyers put an offer in on a property that they wouldn’t have considered at the start of their search.

“The beauty of that is often you open their eyes and show them that there’s life beyond where they’ve known for the past few years.

“That’s part of the joy really, that’s part of the excitement, and actually, a lot of the time they just go somewhere new and they buy somewhere new as well. 

“So not only have you taken them back to the place that they love, but actually you’ve broadened their horizons as well.”

A Place in the Sun airs on Channel 4 on weekdays at 4pm.

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