Looking to buy in 2008

Hi,

Looking to move to Murcia in the new year and have come across these guys www.murciagolfhomes.com. Has anyone had any experience with them?

Cheers,
David

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My advice would be don't go with large companies with big glossy web sites and advertising try to get a recommendation for a small agent, I found that they served me a lot better.

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Contact member Gillespie great guy, estate agent in that area. Search his name & click on "Send private message"

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I can only reiterate what Tinto said. From experience, don't go with one of the big companies - aftersales is rubbish. When you do find your little bit of paradise, come back on the forum and ask for advice on INDEPENDENT solicitors and finance brokers if required. If I could make the INDEPENDENT flash and sing and dance I would because that has been the biggest thing we have learned from this site - unfortunately after we had started the process.

Good luck with your searching and welcome to the forum.

Noreen

This message was last edited by nfm2862 on 12/4/2007.

This message was last edited by nfm2862 on 12/4/2007.

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Murcia is a great location and I'm sure that you will find a suitable property within your budget

Even in a slow market prices are relatively firm on the best developments but if it is a re sale then you should be able to find some good buys

Just treat buying the same as you would in UK.......find what you want and then make an offer.....you can always increase it !!!

The specification on some older re sales is not up to current standards [ thin walls, insulation  air con etc ] if work is required make a good allowance for up grading in your offer

 Now is a good time to buy, particularly early in the new year before everything gets going

Rember to be as careful as you would be in UK

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Just for Noreen.

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Morerosado

I just knew you would see it my way.

Why do I need to join the bucket when I've got you.

You never know, if you slow down a bit I may even have investigated it in time to celebrate your 2000th post.

Noreen

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Hi David

Have you had a look at the "worldwide credit crunch" thread on here. I don't want to put you off if you want to buy a home and keep it and enjoy it for the next decade, but beware because property prices in Spain have only just started their slide.

Beware the vested interest, almost everything you read and hear is from people with a vested interest, be it property developers, agents, magazines and people on here. So many people in Spain, expats and the like are trying to make a living from property, the boom has been a God send for jobs.

Everyone accepts that lending standards have been too lax, but to accept this you must also understand that these very lending standards have produced todays artificial prices. One produced the other.

Just think how much is a property worth if you can't get a loan to buy it? A article on Bloomberg today stated that it estimates 3/4 of Spainish property developers are going to go bankrupt. People say that asking prices have not dropped much, but that evades the truth. The market is in denial, and no one knows where selling prices are until they can find a buyer. They might be 30% lower, or they might not find a buyer atall.

Look in the paper, look on this site at the property for sale, there is more property than you can poke a stick at, the market is flooded with non-descript over priced apartments, most of which will not sell at any price.

Spain has a current account deficit the second largest in the world, it takes two thousand million euros a week to make up the shortfall, can you get your head around that figure? Spain's wages to house prices ratio is THE LARGEST in the world, suggesting Spainish property is the most overvalued in the world. Come here and try and get a job and see what kind of wages you can earn.

The Spainish central Bank has been selling its gold reserves to try and make up the shortfall, it is that desperate. Spainish personal debt has reached 130% of incomes.

Trust me, things are going to get much much worse, a fall of 30 to 50% is going to happen once UK house prices continue their fall next year, and Spainish banks refuse to loan money for fear of further loses. People have forgotten or never know what a credit crunch is, this is one.

Come to Spain, but do yourself a favour and rent for atleast a year, you will pick a better property anyway.

 

 

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First started reading all 'this' circa March 2007....not happened

The reality is that the market in Spain and rest of EU is very similar to UK

Slow and bad in pockets

But buying now is good in UK  EU and Spain..,,,I do not mean trying to pick up poor locations cheap...leave that to the dealers

But in all EU the prices for good new developments are firm and ' good location at any price range' you can find a good buy at a reasonable price

If you are buying for a 'life style' reason....full/part time living or holiday then if you are sensible there is no reason not to..............and like UK in the years to come after all the enjoyment look back at 'the good buy' and any profit is a bonus

The Spanish economy will probably grow faster than UK next year!!!.

Besides an agent I am a buyer and for investment there are still some good buys.....you can no longer flip so have to complete but that does not mean that you can not make a profit

Much rather buy in selected locations in Spain than some 'buy to let' in some UK cities!!!! 

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I think that a good formula for people with not easy acces to tradictional financing means ( mortgage) or not haaving the cash for intial deposits, is the renting with option to purchase´s rights. Many regional governments are promoting that business in Spain now.

What do you think?

I think is both advantageous for owners wanting to resale and for buyers with no available inmediate financing.

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Maria

I think its a good idea, in my own view people are much too hasty with probably the most important financial decision in their lives. It would help address this problem and give the owner some rent while the property is waiting for a sale.

However I suspect that with so much supply and prices falling, not too many people will be buying. Where I am in the Costa Tropical, its still so much cheaper to rent than to buy, prices have to fall much further to make sense.

 

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HAVE JUST COMPLETED AFTER BUYING IN ROLDAN, INITIALLY WENT ON W'END WITH LETS LIVE ABROAD AND MEDSEA IN TORREVIAJA, THEY SHOWED ME AROUND SIX POSSIBLE LOCATIONS ALL OFF PLAN AND WE WENT FOR VILLA IN ROLDAN. MEDSEA TOOK ME BY THE HAND ALLTHROUGH THE EXERCISE AND EVERYTHING WENT ACCORDING TO PLAN. THE ONLY THING I DID WAS TO HIRE MY OWN ENGLISH SPEAKING LAWYER SO THAT I WAS GETTING PROPER ADVICE.

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Congrats Ena!
TJ22.- Te option to purchase can be agreed to be exercised within 3-5 or even 10 years, is not inmediate so, the current market circumnstances do not infere to much in that  future buying decission. I am preparing an article for EYEONSPAIN on that soon.

Best wishes,
Maria

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These are a good idea Maria - I have done a couple of option contracts, although not to rentors but to middlemen who then avoid the purchase costs to the end buyer.

Definately a good idea

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Thanks!
Have a good weekend!
Maria

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I have just joined this forum site and I am very sorry I did not join it earlier.

I saw the post from Dave Clarke about looking to buy in Murcia. I live in Murcia and I would recommend it to anybody.

What appalls me is the negativity dispalyed by some people when it comes to buying in Spain. When I sold my 3 bed quasi terraced house in Oldham I was hoping to find something similar in Spain. I was very wrong. I actually found something much bigger, detached in a large plot of land for less money.

The whole process was a pleasure from start to finish and the company I went with were nothing short of excellent. It felt like I was on holiday and buying a house at the same time. True, they were a small company but everyone who worked there had been through the buying process themselves and knew what it was like. In my opinion experience counts for everything.

They gave me the facts and nothing but the facts and everything they told me has proven to be correct.

Now I am living here I find the way of life not only worlds apart from the UK but also a heck of a lot cheaper. What you have to avoid are the barrack room lawyers and doom and gloom merchants who seem to make it their goal in life to negate all and everything. Can somebody tell me that living, working and moving house in the UK is trouble free, I don't think so.

I just wish that people would stop knocking Spain just because it is an easy target.

Alan

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Dear Alan:

Good you have such a good experience in my country.

I agree that ,as in everything in live prudence, thought and caution are  crucial when moving to Spain. Right  pieces of information and/ or  a good advisor will never make you fall.

In general, we like foreigners in our country... it is part of the culture and the idiosyncrasy.

Best wishes,

Maria

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Hello All,

I am a newcomer to this site. What a great idea.

I was very heartened to see the comments by Alan J H.

It is about time somebody stood up and spoke the facts. Spain is and always will be the best and most popular place in Europe to buy property. I agree problems do arise but let's not forget we left behind a whole lot more in the UK and there they are getting worse by the week.

I too had a great time buying my house in Spain with a company who could not do enough for us. Like in every walk of life you will get bad apples but if you are reasonably intelligent and don't leave your brains at the airport (like some do) buying a house here is a great experience and living here is even better.

The UK press and television programmes which constantly have a pop at Spain need to find something else to occupy their time and Sir Trevor Macdonald, for example, needs to address the problems closer to home.

Nice to see the reply from Maria.

Dave

 

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Thanks Dave:

It is true: We do like foreigners in our country and enjoy by seeing how others enjoy and appreciate our culture, country, peole..... We like making people feel comfortable around us.

All the bad press on nightmares that have been heppening to purchasers here are the result of the unscrupuluous, unethical, illegal behaviour of some few people, maybe a good number of them... among whom we need to count spaniards and foerigners too. Human condition!

Fortunately, in my opinio, the slowing down of the market rythm is depuring the industry of residential tourism in Spain. There is always lots of good out of the bad things. 

Best wishes,

Maria

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It's good to see some positive experiences about Spain. I drive everybody mad when I got back saying how great it is, I will always champion this country and my little sunny and warm corner of Spain. They say that Turkey is the new Spain, so maybe the media back in the UK will start to attack them this year and leave us alone. I am also a small agent and have seen a real pick up in business over the last month, which historically is a quiet time, What is now happening I believe, is that the investors who fuelled the boom have moved on elsewhere and people buying for lifestyle are purchasing due to their worries at home. Clients that would've waited until their retirement are now leaving earlier and bringing their children with them because they feel that Spain is a safer environment. Every day there seem to be a stabbing of some description in the UK. At the end of the day Spain will always be the first choice for the UK due to ease of coming here, the weather and the relaxed lifestyle. Viva Espana!

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