Roger Ligter, Real Estate Agent on La Palma.

Working as a junior-buyer in The Netherlands, but spending many a holiday here with family, convinced me I felt more at home on the beautiful island of la Palma, than anywhere else.

Perhaps you, too, are familiar with that feeling of homesickness on the plane back to the UK? I always especially appreciated the scenery and quality of life. That’s why, in 2006, I decide to settle here permanently.

I managed to find a position at a top Real Estate Agent, where I learnt the ropes. In subsequent years I worked for various other Agents, and in doing so I managed to build a sizeable network of colleagues and the local authorities. The urge to spread my wings and do things my way, with a more personal approach to helping clients, were important factors in starting in business for myself.

It isn’t just about viewing properties and hoping a sale might happen. The goal is to find a property that comes as close to your dream as possible. The differences with the UK are vast; many things here are less well organised and there are a lot of potential minefields. As my experience is mainly in the commercial side of things and customer relations, I struck up a partnership with Civil Engineer Rogier van der Hoeven.

And that’s how La Palma Vacant came about…

Rogier van der Hoeven, Civil Engineer on La Palma.

Having first worked as a Civil Engineer for the Rotterdam council for two and a half years, I came to La Palma with my Canarian wife. I’ve been working and living here for nine years now, and have never looked back.

After a transitional period working in tourism, I secured a position at a local engineering agency called Agrovial Consultores, during which six-year period I gained vast experience in Canarian engineering, laws and regulations.

This experience has brought me into contact with a vast array of local public bodies, which prove useful to this day, when it comes my everyday activities as a self-employed Civil Engineering consultant.

Apart from my interest in Real Estate, I also work as the La Palma agent for topographic equipment from Leica, part of Geoavance, which has its headquarters in Seville.

My technical and practical experience in dealing with the Canarian authorities lead to Roger Ligter asking me to join him in La Palma Vacant to improve and fine-tune the service to our clients.

As we are fluent in four languages (Spanish, English, German, and Dutch) we can assist the majority of our customers in their own language, plus help them with all official dealings here on La Palma.