Buying

Hi All,

I love yer forum. it seems very informative and a lot of experts. I have just begun researching (on the internet) about buying an apartment somewhere along the costa del sol. I have a budget of €125000 to €175000. i was looking at maybe a 2 bed apartmrnty in a complex with a communal swimming pool close to alicante or malaga.

Does anyone have any advice on reputable estate agents and a nice place to buy?

Much appreciated. I have been looking at a lot of estate agents websites and they all promise the best service?

regards,

Paul

Hi Paul,

        Georgia is a reputable estate agent & he will be able to help you. He has helped a number of people in this forum.

Hi Paul - your post said Costa del Sol but you then mentioned Alicante which is in the Costa Blanca.  It can be a bit overwhelming at first trying to narrow down your options! 

Here on the Costa Blanca it was always cheaper than the Costa del Sol and prices have plummeted recently so there are some amazing bargains to be had.  My advice is to have a good think about what type of area you want and then what type of property you want.  Do you want to be in the middle of a busy area with clubs, bars and restaurants or do you want something a bit quieter?  Do you intend to have a car or do you need to be close to transport?  As well as having a communal pool, do you want to be close to a beach?  Do you want an apartment or a house as your budget would give you choices there too.  

I always think you should visit the area in person before you commit to anything - the internet only gives you a limited amount of info.  There are many rentals on this site which would give you a chance to get a proper feel of a place before you spend your hard-earned cash.

If you decide on Costa Blanca then I would be delighted to chat to you about all the different areas around here and what is available.

Happy hunting!

Thanks Claire,

I Plan on going over in January to do some more research.

I might be in contact with you again

Regards,

Paul

Paul

Do yourself a big favour and wait. By all means do the research, but please don't buy now. Spanish property is the most expensive in the world and where ever you look around the world property prices are falling out of bed and with good reason. We are about to go into a worldwide depression the likes of which has not been seen since the 1930s, property prices have a long long way to go.

Do not be fooled by "bargain property" and people telling you its a great time to buy, most if not all have a vested interest. A typical two bed apartment in Spain yields around 2-3 pecent gross. Nett its hardly worth the effort. many people are now finding that its almost impossible to rent property there is such a glut.

You may not want to rent, but this is not the point. The yield is telling you Spanish property is massively overpriced, by a factor of 100% even given recent falls. Prices were bid up by foreign money and easy finance and the belief that prices will always go up. Think about it, every one of these factors has gone! Foreign money has all but dried up due to falling prices at home and the recession, not to mention the GBP/euro fx rapidly approaching parity. Easy finance has gone and lenders now want 25% min. And finanly the myth that prices never fall has trully been shattered.

Many of the recent built faceless apartments will be unsellable at any price, volumes are down by 100s of percent and unemployment in Spain will be in double digits next year. Its estimated that during the last few years Spain built more property than the whole of europe combined. A lot of that is now sitting empty!

By all means buy your dream home in Spain, but don't do it now. History is littered with buyers who buy in a falling market thinking they have a bargain, only to see their purchase fall in half again. Bargain property does not yield 3%, even if it was formally on sale for twice as much.

The fact that "the bank" valuation was 400k and now its on sale for 250k, does not make it cheap or even a good deal if the 400k was four times too much! Property prices are falling around the world with no end in sight. Prices are falling still in the US and they started before Europe. The average house price in the US is now 98k pounds and is still falling and for that you get 3 bed 2 bath and some land. This is the most advanced country in the world - imagine what is going to happen to Spain where local wages are perhaps 1/3 of that in the US.

Good luck with your project!

Worth while looking at Almeria between Mojacar and Aguilas.......general view is that all the planned developments and proposed High Speed Train access will benefit this area substantially in the medium to long term

In any location in Spain [ and the rest of EU for that matter] there are some good buys....distressed sales can be very attractive if you like the particular location....but often they are in relatively less attractive locations and developments but not always...finding the good ones is where you get the really good buys!!  

Paul

there are a spate of genuine (meaning you can view the properties, you dont have to part with any money etc) repossessions direct from lenders who have repossessed form a developer so they have never been owned  / lived in.

An example being 2 mins from my townhouse in Manilva, valued in August 08 at 265,000e the bank requires 135,000e which is all that it is owed, these will be available throughout the parts of Spain that you specified, and in this particular example they offer a very good deal in terms of value for money irrespective of the current conversion rate.