Thursday, October 18, 2012

The joys of Spains beauracracy

Living in Spain: I was pulled over by the Guardia Civil and asked to produce paperwork for the car. While they were checking details I produced my passport and was asked if I was living in Spain permanantly and I confirmed i had been here 5 years.
The Police man then asked me to provide my residency papers. To which I explained I had no applied yet. I was informed that because I had lived in Spain for more than 6 months I was obliged to obtain residency.
Being a good citizen we today attended the police station with proof of income, private health insurance for the family,proof of school for the kids,bank statements. We took everything to prove that we were no burden to the Spanish state.
The lady behind the desk began to look through the paperwork and then on perusing our Family private health insurance she began to shake her head. "I am sorry Mr Payne but your wifes application for residency is refused as her private medical insurance excludes a particular minor illness" In Spain we cannot accept residency unless your private insurance covers everything the state insurance covers
So to sum it up if you are a UK citizen you can live in Spain but if you have lived in Spain for more than 6 months you must (its obligatory) obtain residency but to obatin residency you cannot be excluded from any illness on your Private health insurance. So if my wife has been refused but as an EU citizen can still live here WHY should anyone bother to apply for residency.Apparently La Linea Policia Nacional office are saying the health insurance ruling started in last 2 months passed by Spanish law.
Anyone else had similar issue or looked into it further. I would be interested to hear from you

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Any bargain properties in Sotogrande Spain

At what price will my property sell Its the question agents are continually asked yet the majority of vendors ignore the response.
Do we really believe that there is a wealthy individual willing to part with his hard earned cash who will pay over the odds for a property
yet time and time again agents will quote a selling price only to be ignored the vendors hoping they may strike lucky.
These days when I visit a property to provide a value I mention 3 prices. The first price is my indication of the pre crisis worth, I then tell the owner what I think they will be considering selling for and then advise them what it will really need to drop to to even get a viewing. The latter value the true price that it might sell for is usually an amount that the property owner will not consider selling at. So here we are in Sotogrande with 95% of all property on the market at a price that they have no chance of ever achieving yet believing that someone will come along and pay that price. Then every now and again a property does come on the market where an owner wants to offload and the price is keen enough to attract serious interest.
So how much do we need to drop to generate interest. A calculation based on actual recent sales and there havent been many shows that the majority of owners market their property at 30% to 35% lower than the 2007 value. The facts show that taking a true 2007 value you now have to drop 50% to 55% in order to sell.
The example in the photograph above is a 4 bedroom penthouse duplex apartment on an island in the Sotogrande marina with balcony swimming pool the vendors purchased for just over 1 million euros and with no real interest being shown at 695,000 euros have reduced the price yet again to 599,000 euros.
A San Roque golf apartment purchased pre 2007 for 720,000 euros was put on the market at 500,000 with no viewings in 18 months reduced to 400,000 and 2 viewings in next 12 months. Then reduced to 350,000 and achieved 6 viewings in 12 months. It was not until it dropped to 300,000 euros that suddenly people with real cash began booking appointments, 12 viewings in a month. It sold for 290,000 euros.We also have a 2 bedroom waterside apartment which the owner will sell to include a mooring for 270,000 euros an apartment he paid 575,000 euros for. Its been on the market at this price for 6 months and still no takers. There are a number of other similar stories ove rthe last 24 months
For many owners dropping prices to these levels is an impossibilty due to negative equity. It really is a tough market and whilst many agents talk it up most of it is just that "talk". The hard fact is that those buyers with cash to spend find it hard to find a bargain in a 7 day trip to Sotogrande and often leave contemplating visiting other areas in Spain.
My view is that many owners are not squeezed as interest rates remain low however like all recessions the climate will change at some point at which time (it could be a few years) the interest rates will go up resulting in severe pressure for many property owners and developers currently hanging onto their property. At that point even a half percent increase in the interest rate will mean bargains will be more plentiful as will distressed property bank repossessions.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

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Property Developers Sotogrande Spain

Do you want to sell your property I find it amazing that property developers in Spain are so inactive when it comes to making an effort to promote their own product. In a time of crisis when the property market is on its knees what are these Developers doing ? They simply seem to believe that sitting at a desk waiting for emails from website inquiries is the way forward. Maybe their backers are simply very patient people. Yet here I am an agency in Sotogrande´s stunning port with ground floor offices overlooking the Torreguadiaro beach who has not seen or heard from a developer or representative of a developer in over 18 months.Surely these people should be out and about making sure that agents have fresh supplies of brochures,plans and more importantly some fresh professional photographs to promote the development. Also just chatting with agents may provide them with an insight Instead we are faced with showing apartments and villas that are dusty often with debris from when they were built years ago and many smell musky. We seem to be in a climate where a request for professional photographs is met with a "sorry take your own pics or call in and collect marketing info from us" Who is in charge of these Companies surely there should be a well trodden path from agency to agency reminding us of the best deals,changes in prices or advising of another sold. These are basic principles for a property promoter Instead here in Sotogrande there is silence and this theme has been echoed by a number of local agents.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Spanish property : Should I - Shouldnt I

To buy or not to buy
Growing concern over the Spanish economy is keeping prospective buyers in limbo. The recurring question from all who come to see Spanish property is "has the market reached the bottom". My response is that prices will still drop further but even at present there are real bargains to be had that are already rock bottom. Not so many to be found in the traditional upmarket areas because the wealthy cling on to their values for the simple reason they can afford to. Having said that there are a few and your 250,000 euros that would have bought you a distant sea view from the wrong side of the motorway may in this market buy you a waterfront marina home on the wealthy Spanish estate of Sotogrande. Last year in Sotogrande I could count the true bargain deals on 1 hand and this year there have not been too many. People have dropped their prices by 30% believing that they are giving away their beautiful homes. The reality is that to sell the prices need to have dropped by 50 to 55% of the 2007 value. So when we eventually do get the villa that was once 2 million now 1 million or the 500k apartment now 270k there is a slight chance of finding a buyer but still not a gold rush. This month we are still offering a modern first floor waterside apartment for 250,000 euros that was 525,000 and the owner is willing to throw in his 90,000 euro 10 mtr mooring and we also have a beautiful contemporary style villa in the heart of Sotogrande that once was 1.7 million which the owner will sell for 770,000 euros. Yet still people hesitate. Why hesitate if you are buying into a lifestyle. If you buy for lifestyle you need to be certain that you are in for the long term. If you have been here a few years and really want to settle you need to establish your long term goal as its no good buying a villa if you intend in 5 years time selling up and buying an apartment as part of retirement. As a family man who moved here 5 years ago the lifestyle for us means there is no reason to go back to UK we love living outdoors, we play more sport, socialise 5 times as much and feel so much happier. The real problem here lies in the over priced property still on the market and agents showing these properties simply to prove to the client that the property they really want to sell them is cheap. The biggest issue for buyers is the little time they have to see property and the fact that they are usually not around when the bargain becomes obvious. The last home i will be looking to buy in my lifetime is the waterfront pent house apartment set in beautiful grounds hopefully I will bag a bargain but it will be the property that doesnt need to be an investment and will hopefully see me through a very happy retirement.

Holiday home with a boat berth

Home & Berth
What can be better than having a holiday home with a berth outside your window? Here in Sotogrande the marina is a development is the ideal place for boating enthusiasts to keep yachts,powerboats,sports boats even jetskis berthed right outside your home. The entire port and marina has been designed with boating in mind. Yet for those that do not like boats cafes bars restaurants as well as tennis,golf and equestrian centres are all within 5 minutes drive.This year i have been out boating a dozen times and have enjoyed seeing dolphins,turtles,sunfish and pilot whales particularly off the straits of Gibraltar which in itself is a fascinating destination by boat. Where once a waterside apartment could set you back 450,000 euros plus the crisis has seen some apartments drop to 250,000 euros and berths that were once 70,000 now selling for 40,000 www.tailormadesotogrande.com