Economic decline in England and the weak pound - We are now struggling to be able to complete.

it didnt get me knowhere?  i was merely making people aware that you are only touting for business and have not got their interests at heart. your only a spamer looking work. why did i report you? i dontthink i need to here, people can read for themselves.  on a curious note are you as ignorant to your customers as you have been to people on here?

Sorry here we go again, I do not spam but respond to queries and I would ask you to  please read ALL of the articles that that I have published on this and many other sites giving good advice

I would still get plenty of work if I didn´t write these but I do this to keep people informed and the information is always passed on free and without any obligation to use my service

Unlike most people I don´t hide behind a name and I don´t have multiple accounts

Please look at my customer testimonials on this and many other websites as I know that my customers will tell you that I always have their best interests at heart, which is why my business is a success

I don´t think that I am offensive in any way with my responses, I tell the truth and unfortuntely is isn´t always what people want to hear yes it´s tough in Spain, on everybody and I am still happy to help people and will continue to do so

Most of the people that seem to attack us are the agents or buiders, strange that

Sorry here we go again, I do not spam but respond to queries and I would ask you to  please read ALL of the articles that that I have published on this and many other sites giving good advice

I would still get plenty of work if I didn´t write these but I do this to keep people informed and the information is always passed on free and without any obligation to use my service

Unlike most people I don´t hide behind a name and I don´t have multiple accounts

Please look at my customer testimonials on this and many other websites as I know that my customers will tell you that I always have their best interests at heart, which is why my business is a success

I don´t think that I am offensive in any way with my responses, I tell the truth and unfortuntely is isn´t always what people want to hear yes it´s tough in Spain, on everybody and I am still happy to help people and will continue to do so

Most of the people that seem to attack us are the agents or buiders, strange that

Guys, guys, please. We're supposed to be stating our experiences and advice in the hope of helping worried people, not launching into a personal vendetta and counter-attack.

Inspectahomespain has already called me a "glass half full" man: negative: making unqualified statements: living in a Brit ghetto, and finally, talking myself into a depression.

I don't mind in the least - he's entitled to his opinion, just as the guy who invented the Black Death as the universal panaecia against all ills, was entitled to his belief that he was helping people.    In a way, he was correct, people who contacted the BD, didn't ever have another illness.

But let's stick to "qualified" statements. I actually live on a golf Resort with a fairly evenly-distributed mixture of British, Irish, Spanish, Dutch, Scandinavian & German owners, Hardly a Brit ghetto.

Bribery & corruption may have (certainly has, and still is) been prevalent in Spain for years, but that doesn't help the unsuspecting buyers who put their faith and trust (and money) in the hands of Developers, Agents and Solicitors, and believed that they would be given some degree of protection - just as they would in UK, Ireland, Germany, Holland etc.

It's extremely hard, (perhaps impossible even) for a buyer to get a refund of their deposit if the Developer has sought protection against paying creditors - as so many of them now have.    Even with a 24 karat, sure-nuff, bank guarantee, they simply go on the list of creditors, and they're right at the back of the queue - with the Trustees appointed by the Court managing the future of the firm.    And that's assuming that they do actually know the true situation before everything goes avocado-shaped, and manage to engage a specialist in commercial law.        Without a valid bank guarantee, they're doomed - as thousands of them have discovered.      And all the laws in the world doesn't guarantee a buyer recovering his deposit if the developer has gone BANG!      And there is not the same degree of redress against a negligent or dishonest Solicitor: firstly they tend to close ranks - to the extent that one can't see daylight between them, and secondly just who is a buyer 1000 miles away, going to use to fight a legal battle against another Solicitor.    Theoretically great - in practice, useless and eats up money that the poor buyer probably doesn't have.

And as far as your little magical mystery tours of the shopping centres of the world are concerned, why, if living in Spain is so cheap, should anyone want to do this?      It's like travelling from Leeds to Calais, to pick up a cheapo case of vino-reddo. Save £50 on the wine, and pay £100 for the privilege.

Unemployment in Spain is going into the atmosphere (sorry, stratosphere), and the Spanish are struggling.   All the lads who once picked taties for a living, and then went into the building sector, on the basis that if one can pull a spud, one can certainly wire or plumb a house, are now being forced back into agriculture. The people who previously replaced them, the Moroccans & latterly, the Poles (either legal or illegal immigrants) are now returning to their own countries, as the landowners are giving them the bullet, and re-hiring their previous, and native Spanish, workforce.

I'll finish with one example of a friend of mine who has bought on the same complex as me. Unlike me however, he still lives in the UK.

He bought his villa for €300,000 (£200k as was). Now there's a number of identical properties to his on the market for €170k (£170k).    If he could find a buyer (which he can't) he'd be £30k+ out of pocket.    His urbanizacion fees are €2000 pa (£1350 as was) but now costs him £2000: his mortgage of €150k (£100k as was) is now £150k, and his mortgage payments have increased from €375 (£250pm) to €700 (£700 pm). There's no buyers, viewers or even tenants out there in the badlands.    He's now in arrears with his Urb fees, as the cost of living in the UK has also gone through the roof: he's worried sick (worried as in projectile vomiting) and can see no escape route.

Feed him a few of your complacent duck-billed plaitudes and see if he feels better. 

I stick by my previous statement. If someone "out there" in the UK has put down a €40k (£27k) deposit 2-3 years ago, and their once €300k (£200k) property is now going to cost them another £250k, rather than their expected £170k, there is only one answer - walk away: cut your losses, and put it down to (sad) experience.

The days when buyers were pushing and jostling each other (literally) to reserve what they thought was the best off-plan site for a completion some 3 years (more likely 5) ahead, have gone for good. The days when people could buy off-plan and guarantee making a huge profit as a key-sale some 3-4 years in the future, are also as dead as the proverbial Dodo - ask the myriad of such buyers on some of the well-known, and heavily over-promoted sites not one million miles away from Torrevieja. Most of those people who take your hand off (from the elbow)  if they could offload their property for 50% of what they paid for it.

So people, alternative views: you pays your dinero and you takes your choice. I just hope that it all turns out well for you.

hi fingles

just one point for you. you mentioned those without valid bg are doomed. in your opinion does a bg with an expired date become invalid, or a date at all?

The actual point is that I actually agrees with many of your comments finkies just not the TOTAL NEGATIVITY that you seem to want to put across

You are correct people shouldn´t buy off plan at present, certainly given the situation with the builders going bust, and only a key ready property at a BIG discount, and after having an independant valuation

Buy  re-sale property as there are lots of good bargains from distressed sellers,  well under the real values howvever remember that property prices are still falling, example that I am looking at 2 apartments, close to golf, originlly sold at €165k each and being offered at €150k for the 2.The owner has owned them 4 years, has more than paid for them with rental, income and will have n exchange rte gain so can affird to sell them at this price and I can long term rent them out, due to location and reasonable charges at €450 pcm each

If you are considering moving to Spain don´t do it if you don´t have cash reserves, it will cost you more to live than you estimate,there´s no unemplyment benefit, 

Consider renting first, again lots of cheap long term rentals out  available and you can then decide on the ideal area to live

UK shopping is now cheaper because of the euro rate, much cheaper to buy CD´s, DVD´s, Computer Games around €20 cheper, computer consumables etc, more than pays for the trip

Again you keep comparing the costs based on the change in the euro rate but you seem to like using statistics for effect and in the case of your friends because he will have come off an interest only period as the REAL RATES in Spain have not increased dramatically over the last 5 years, I know I have mortgages, and they will reduce by at least 33% this year

The mortgage in real terms has not increased, it is still €150k, and onece the currency comes back the amount will again reduce howvever his monthly payment will reduce in 2009 

The situation people get into is beiieving the agents speil that rental will cover their costs, they often won´t, but you should perhaps look at covering your costs in  different way as you now have to work to get rentals.

I am sure that you know mortgages are made up of 2 elements a capital amount which will reduce the amount of the mortgage owed and the interest, so work out your total costs including the community fees, then calculate a rental rate that covers the costs and not expect to recover the full amount of the mortgage payments. I am happy in the current climate to cover my costs, pay the mortgage and wait for an improvement in the market and there are renters if the price is right and if you know how to market the property

Your friend should speak to the bank, they are worried and actually don´t want to get properties back and they will extend periods but charge an arrangement fee

Please don´t dismiss the Spanish legal and consumer support systems, you can complain to the Spanish Law Soceity, OMIC the Spanish consumer system will investigate cases and act on behalf of consumers. People should also use the offiical complaints form system and these can be completed in English and can be made agianst a bank, agent, shop etc

Unfortunately with the falling property pricing and euro rate it is a fact of life that some people will be better off walking away but again people seem worried to talk to the develeoper as I have real recent examples where they have reduced the original contract price, moved people to a later phase  or a smaller property, they need the cash flow

I hope that somewhere in this post there is some practical advice that people can use

Hi Inspectahomespain, we seem to have exhausted all the possible help that we were supposed to be giving our unfortunate friends, and now seem to have degenerated into simply an excahnge of (conflicting) opinions.

I've nothing to gain from "Commercial Breaks", so I'll leave the floor open to you.

Have a good New Year, and let's hope that the world stands on its feet again.

Finkies - please grow up and accept some people have different opinions than yours

Oh hello, llamacalmer???

You evidently didn't read my first paragraph - or am I missing something?. Well, one of us is. 

These Posts (all these Posts) were initially attempting to assist/advise some extremely worried people from our own personal experiences from actually living in Spain.    Everyone's entitled to their own views, but having a different view from what you presumably subscribe to, does not mean a lack of maturity or being dogmatic etc etc usw - I'm just not in business, so have no personal axe to grind..      The Lord moves in a mysterious way, and so presumably, does your mind, if you can read something childish in what I'd written..

But have a good New Year - wherever you are..    

    Reply to inspectahome.

                       i paid you to 'snag' both my appartments in le tercia (think it was 700euro ) last year--- i accept you snagged them well but i thought the fact that you did not go back to the appartments to check if they were fixed  A POOR SERVICE.

I know you forwarded me an email from unitedgolf that informed you that they did not allow you back in to check But i was dissappointed with your personel service as you never contacted me again.

                                                                                                                                                               SEAN.

 Please contact me off forum so that I can resolve this issue for me, all numbers including a Uk one on the website

As you know I have sent you severial e-mail regarding gain access and getting keys as we would love to re-check the properties for you and finish the service and we are still active onsite 

   Sorry for venting my frustration at Roy --- i realise he can not be held responsible. I just feel that i am constantly shelving out money (whilst having none to shelve out) to people in Spain, where as if i bought a property in Ireland and shelved out this money the servive would be better as i guess, services are better when they know you are going back into there shop asking them to 'deal with the problem'

and thus, i guess my main gripe, DONT BUY IN SPAIN as its all money money money.

  AGAIN, I WOULD LIKE TO SAY SORRY TO ROY FOR MY COMMENTS.

I DO THINK HE HAS THE BEST SERVICE THATS AVAILABLE FOR SNAGGING.

                                                                                                                       SEAN.

inspectahomes at it again lol

beadso at what exactly, client has a problem I deal with it but you seem to like making comments all over the place so please carry on, most people seem to choose to ignore you

clive and sue im in the same boat as you, cannot afford to complete on 2nd phase, can anyone help, its making me ill with worry, we were told porkies by parador, but they have gone bump, so what can we do folks, any advise would be much apreciated, sam

Hi Stokey, and firstly, so very sorry to hear of your predicament. It doesn’t help one bit that hundreds (perhaps thousands) of other people are in the exact same boat.

I do live in Spain, so am slightly removed from your reality, but even so, our original €900k of investment in a couple of properties here has now shrunk to perhaps half - not that there’s any buyers for our surplus one.

I have friends in UK who are in the same position, and I’ve suggested (harsh though the prospect is) to simply walk away from their deposit and get on with their life free from this constant worry of when or even if they‘re ever going to actually see their property, and even if they do, how they‘ll pay for it..

I also have friends where we now live who have just completed on a €750k property - one of just 30. 24 of the others were sold/reserved, but our friends are the only ones who have so far completed. The buyers had to put down a 30% deposit, and the balance was payable on completion. In the case of a UK buyer, this meant €225k (£150k) and €525k (£350k) on completion. Due to the disparity between the euro & sterling, this now means that they have to pay another £500k - £150+k more than they anticipated/budgeted for/can afford. Also, property prices have gone into freefall, and these people now realise that they’re not only going to have to shell out £175k more than they anticipated, but also pay this amount for a property which is now also probably worth no more than £400k in today’s climate.

A horrendous prospect, but the sheer maths of it all says “just walk away”. Even current euro buyers are accepting that they’re going to pay almost 100% more than the property is now worth, and they too are evidently having second thoughts - and who can blame them. The developer has now offered the last 24 completed properties for €380k each - evidently all the original buyers have opted out, and the funding Bank must be on his back like Quasimodo’s hump.   Dropping the price by half, shows just how much over-inflated they were in the first place.

Sheer greed: an over-estimation of just how stupid and naive foreign buyers could be and a total ignorance of reality has brought about this diabolical state of affairs.

The “dream” has turned into a nightmare for so many people and what was once a sensible and attractive prospect of owning a holiday home in Spain just doesn’t seem economically viable any more.

Not the fault of Spain as a Country, although developers, Agents & Solicitors alike must shoulder a huge part of the responsibility: it was them that thought that the bubble would never burst: there would always be a huge demand for properties from Europe, UK & Ireland, and whatever they built (and priced at hugely inflated figures) would immediately be sold.

But reality has struck home, and there is no market for tens of thousands of properties - a similar situation happened in UK in the late 1980’s, and the market then took years to find its true level.

Those UK buyers who do live here are now finding that their incomes (if emanating from the UK) have shrunk by 30%, and all the associated costs of having a home here - Urbanisation fees, IBI, mortgage payments, Golf costs etc have all increased by the same 30%.

Re-possessions have gone through the roof: Agents are going out of business faster than they can say “screw the buyer LR & C” and developers (even the biggest ones) are going bump on a daily basis - laying off workers, stopping building, increasing costs, stopping spending on maintaining golf courses - which was always the big focal point of many buyers.

No doubt I will be called negative and scare-mongering, but sometimes the harsh reality of life causes one to be totally objective.

Those who point the finger and shout “negativity” are either free from any problems, or (cynical me) have a vested interest in still attempting to entice buyers here to Spain.

Spain will recover, but it’s going to be many years yet, and property prices will never again reach their criminally-ridiculous levels.

My advice is, just treat everything in mathematical terms and with a huge dose of harsh reality, and then draw your own conclusions.

I hope that it all works out for you.

hi finkies

just read your post, just wondering is this la tercia you are speaking about or another site ?

Hi jimmyg,

No, not la tercia, but what I wrote could in fact refer to virtually every as yet uncompleted development in these parlous times. 

The comments regarding how buyers (especially the Brits) who put down deposits pre 2008 and who will shorlty need to either complete or make another stage payment, are situated, and the values of property when they were first a greedy grasping twinkle in the Promoter's eye, vis a vis realistic current values, apply virtually everywhere.   

Shangi La:  Utopia or La Brit Bella Vista, they've all been affected by the tendency of avaricious developers building a property on every available blade of grass, and unscrupulous Agents flogging these off-plan to unsuspecting buyers, simply to line their pockets with the 15-20% commission.         Add to those, the Solicitors who were at best either inefficiently ignorant to the fact that many of these developments had not received Planning Permission/built on unconverted agricultural land/restricted parkland, or were aware,  but their greed for their fees were paramount.

I will have my "knockers", but let them explain how 1200 odd properties in one small area alone, can be affected by the above criteria without some sinister factors being involved.

It's been a harsh lesson for unsuspecting buyers to assimilate, but it will, hopefully, never happen again.     If you are going to buy in Spain, buy something you can see, feel and actually sleep in, and demand to see the Certificado de Habitacion before you shell out even one centimo.