What is going on over there?

[crookesey]

Hi folks,

The wife and I are looking to buy in the La Fustera/Moraira/Benissa area of the Northern Costa Blanca.

Last year before the value of the Euro strengthened we set our budget as being in the large apartment/house on a complex. We now see that by stretching our budget we can afford a detached villa with pool and ample gardens. This is because prices have fallen by so much that the exchange rate factor has been more than wiped out by price reductions. I noticed on a private sellers web site a lovely villa that had been well over our budget reduced from 620,000 Euros to 475,000 Euros (still a little rich for us but going in the right direction).

So what is going on over there? UK prices have dropped on paper but as For Sale signs are now an endangered specie values are not an issue. Is it perhaps that mortgage costs over there have increased and that rental demand has diminished due to the strenth of the Euro? I feel sorry for people who now find themselves in a can't rent so can't afford to pay the mortgage scenario but if their wish is to get out by the skin of their teeth their misfortune could be our good fortume.

Is anyone else looking to buy and if so how are you finding the market?

[Stravinsky]

Generally the market in Spain is dead, and if you're buying over here you should make silly offers ... if the person is desperate to sell, you may have a chance.

A lot of the smaller estate agents have closed down or diversified. The guy who sold me my place now runs an alarm fitting service also.

I am told that mortgages here are more difficult to get now

Incidentally, as someone who is actually trying to buy a property in the UK at the moment, the estate agent I was buying through (a major name in Birmingham) told me that they had no sales going through on their books at all.

[El Capitan]

I would concur with Stravinski but adding a few other comments. The market here is Spain, especially in Andalucia, CdS was fed to an extent by a demand from UK buyers. Developers went overboard meeting demand but they did not always follow the rules and a few (could be a few hundred but ...) buyers thought they had legal builds but ended up with huge problems due to developers greed. Add to this the exchange rate change over the past 12 months and UK buyers are (a) put on guard re buying at all unless paperwork is fully in order and (b) less able to afford the asking price in euros after conversion from pounds.

I looked at many places down on the CdS last year and every one of them was illegal or at best iffy in some respect. Buyers have stopped enquiring or are simply holding off buying, some sellers need to resell and relocate, some sellers are trying to sell what they know is a bit iffy and get out with something rather than lose the whole lot and of course the exchange rate is still poor from pounds to euros and the UK is less bouyant too in general. Those on fixed UK income such as pensions are hit every day due to the exchange rate hitting their spending power. Yes some people are reporting sales at massive reductions (half asking price) but that either means the asking price was unrealsitcally inflated in the first place or there could be something iffy about the property. Unfinished developments are leaving buyers without infrastructure which makes it even worse for those half way through buying.

In my opinion, the domestic market will settle again at a price affordable by the Spanish earners but the speculative and holiday apartment market looks really dire. If I can find my dream villa, detached, legal and with all infrastructure in place I will still go ahead and buy but until then I stay put in my place as it is. At least that is fully legal, fully serviced and I call it home.

[chris(madrid)]

Originally Posted by Stravinsky

I am told that mortgages here are more difficult to get now

And VERY VERY difficult if you're not a long standing resident aiming to purchase off another long standing resident.

Seems some banks have suffered with immigrants "buying" off another and somehow then escaping the country with the cash.

[crookesey]

El Capitan and I appear to be looking for the same dream villa. Mine would be no more than 5 Kilometres from the sea, standing in a plot of circa 2000 mt's and having sea views.

Ideally 3 bed, 2 bath with a separate underbuild apartment, pool and landscaped gardens. We have conducted our search through private sale websites as we know the area that we want and have found the local agents to be useless. We have three to view, one sounds perfect, it was built in the 1980's and has been lovingly renovated and upgraded over the years, the vendors are English and so far have been veru helpful.

We wish to buy in the Valencia area and appreciate the difficulties that exist between urban and rustic land but wouldn't be able to spot an illegal against a legal. All the illegals will have been through the hands of lawyers so there must be a lot of tricky lawyers out there.

What should we look for? What should we ask the vendor? What replies from the vendor should we be wary of? I don't even know what questions to ask this forum so I will be well scuppered negotiating a purchase. Any information will be greatly appreciated, as we don't want to be put in the position of those poor folk who have watched their dream homes being demolished and have been charged for the privilege.

[Stravinsky]

Originally Posted by crookesey

What should we look for? What should we ask the vendor? What replies from the vendor should we be wary of? I don't even know what questions to ask this forum so I will be well scuppered negotiating a purchase. Any information will be greatly appreciated, as we don't want to be put in the position of those poor folk who have watched their dream homes being demolished and have been charged for the privilege.

Check the property is on its own electricity supply with its own meter

Check their past council tax receipts

Try to buy on an established urbanisation with services already in place. Urbs aren't all sprawling horrible places.

I can give you a good solicitors name in Gandia who will do absolutely everything by the book and check all the necessary with the Town Halls etc

Theres a villa on our urb that sounds like it might be good, I can get the estate agent details when I pass next if you like, but not sure if it will fit with yr budget. Thats La Font D'en Carros Valencia

[El Capitan]

Originally Posted by crookesey

El Capitan and I appear to be looking for the same dream villa. ....

Some similarities crookesey but I already have a reasonable villa where I live now and I would be looking more on the Costa de la Luz for retirement, minimum 4 beds, 2 baths, pool, mains elec and water, poss well water too, somewhere between 1000 and 3000 sq m, security, peace and privacy are more important than a view.

[crookesey]

Originally Posted by El Capitan

Some similarities crookesey but I already have a reasonable villa where I live now and I would be looking more on the Costa de la Luz for retirement, minimum 4 beds, 2 baths, pool, mains elec and water, poss well water too, somewhere between 1000 and 3000 sq m, security, peace and privacy are more important than a view.

Security won't be abandoned for the want of a sea view. Where we want to move to is on a hillside overlooking a bay so failing finding something that faces inland it will be difficult to find anything without a sea view.

Security is something of a myth, if the nasties wish to come calling no amount of security will deter them. All that you can do is buy in an area with like-minded folk as your neighbours where you all keep an eye out for each other.

We currently live in a very sought after area only an eight minuets drive from Chatsworth Park. We have been burgled, mugged and beaten up by four chavs and their Asian drugs dealer mate and most recently had a locked and alarmed car stolen off our drive.

The UK has turned into a very insular society where folk look out for themselves and don't see the problems of others as being any of their business. We are hoping that this trend has not yet reached ex-pat urbanisations on the Spanish coast.

[crookesey]

Originally Posted by El Capitan

Some similarities crookesey but I already have a reasonable villa where I live now and I would be looking more on the Costa de la Luz for retirement, minimum 4 beds, 2 baths, pool, mains elec and water, poss well water too, somewhere between 1000 and 3000 sq m, security, peace and privacy are more important than a view.

If you don't mind me asking, what would be the approximate cost of your dream villa? We are looking at circa 400,000 Euros for a 4 bed, 3 bath with pool and a large plot (including a seperate very large apartment).

[El Capitan]

To clarify, views on the bit of Costa de la Luz I am looking at are rare indeed at it is rather flat countryside and views of the sea would mean being right on the coast amid the beach hunters and summer madness. If there is a view then fine but it is not a must have for us. Security is an issue down on the CdS according to reports and basic security for us is as much to keep dogs in as unwanted visitors out. I currently live in a Spanish small urbanisation, mostly commuters and some holiday houses for people from Madrid and Barcelona no other brits and that is fine. 400k€ for something you describe was the asking price for many last year and could be less. A redevelopment 5 bed just down the road from me now was finished last year and put on market for 1.3 M€ but it is still there and will be for ages/forever at that price. 300k€ gets a large family house around here but little or no land around. I don't like the developer's trend to put family house on a parcel of 300 sq m.