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Buying a holiday home

4879 Views 41 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  Veronica, 
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I am sure that this query has been covered in several posts previously, but after a quick search i cannot seem to find any suitable answers.

I am seriously looking at buying a holiday property in Cyprus (3 bed villa with pool in Paphos / west coast area) for personal use and short periods of rental. I would appreciate any feedback / advice on the following:

- What would be the average price of this type of property?
- Are there bargains / deals to be had?
- Have prices stabilised or still falling?
- What are the average running costs for this sort of property?
- I know a pool is essential, but what are the running costs?
- Is it cost effective to 'shut down' the pool during winter?
- What are the average rental charges for this type of property?

Any general advice, do's and dont's, etc would also be greatly welcomed.

Neil
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kempo23 said:
I am sure that this query has been covered in several posts previously, but after a quick search i cannot seem to find any suitable answers.

I am seriously looking at buying a holiday property in Cyprus (3 bed villa with pool in Paphos / west coast area) for personal use and short periods of rental. I would appreciate any feedback / advice on the following:

- What would be the average price of this type of property?
- Are there bargains / deals to be had?
- Have prices stabilised or still falling?
- What are the average running costs for this sort of property?
- I know a pool is essential, but what are the running costs?
- Is it cost effective to 'shut down' the pool during winter?
- What are the average rental charges for this type of property?

Any general advice, do's and dont's, etc would also be greatly welcomed.

Neil
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Hi Neil,
Welcome to the forum.

Prices of properties like this vary depending on the area, the size of house, size of plot, condition etc. You could pay 250K for one or you could pay 350-400K.
There are certainly bargains now compared to 2 years or more ago. Prices seem to have stopped falling but there are still some which the owners will take lower offers on if they are desperate to sell.
A pool is only essential when it comes to rentals but for full time living many people now say they would never have a pool again as you are maintaining them for 12 months of the year to probably use them for only 4 months.
If you are not living full t ime you will need a pool maintenance guy ang with chemicals, electricity and paying someone to look after it it will cost you about 100euros per month to run.
The company who installed our pool tell us it is not cost effective to shut them down. They have nightmares with pools that have been shut down for the winter trying to get them right again. You just need to reduce the time on the pumps for the winter months.
For average rental charges I would suggest you look at some rental sites to get an idea of what people charge.

Kind regards
Veronica
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As a cash buyer you are in a good position as you do not need to r ely on a developer to get a mortgage.
The safest buys are properties with title deeds. If full title deeds are not available, for instance someone has bought a piece of land and had a house built got deeds for the land but not yet had the house added you are still safe as anything on the land belongs to you.
If a property was built and sold by a developer but has not yet got title deeds then at the veryleast you want it to have an AX number. This means that the final certificate has been issued and the process of issuing title deeds is underway.
However in this case you must make sure your lawyer checks that the developer has not got a mortgage on the land or you could still lose your home if the developer goes bankrupt. The only 100% safe house is one with title deeds.

As for boating. We have friends who have sailing boat which is pulled out of the water when not in use so no mooring fees apply. If you want something larger which you need to have mooring for you will find that the fees are not as much as other mediterranean countries.
There is a sailing club in Paphos which two of our clients who bought through us are members of.
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kempo23 said:
I will be in Cyprus for 2 weeks during June and intend to do some serious property searching. Whilst I do not expect to find the 'perfect property' I am at least hopeful of deciding upon the area I wish to buy.

What is the 'normal' period from agreeing a price to taking ownership?
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I have known it to happen within days when there are full title deeds and the buyer is a cash buyer. Mostly though you need to allow as much as 4 weeks.
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Vegaanders said:
It must be better to loose 1 paperfile then to loose all in a computer server crash.

I dont defend the system in Cyprus but it is their system. If everything is so horrible why stay here. There is many other places in the world

Many writes about the Cypriots not liking UK and other expats and if all they here is how bad their country is then I can understand them.

I have been fortunate to live in many countries all over the world and the key has always been to adjust to the system, not try force the system to adjust to you.

I dont think that UK would change if the expats tryed to change the UK system.
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Well said Anders:) Unfortunately some people forget that when you are in a foreign country things are not always done the way you are used to and think that everyone should adapt to how they want it rather be willing to adapt to how things are done in the coutnry they have chosen to live in.
It is unfortunate that some people have had bad experiences buying here but the fact is that the vast majority of people who own here are happy with their decision.
Unfortunately in the Larnaca area there are a large number of developers and lawyers who have failed their clients miserably. We met the lawyer who has been taking on cases against fellow lawyers with a great deal of success and he told us that Larnaca has by far the largest number of bad lawyers and developers.
Thank heavens we don't sell much property in that area because it sounds like a nightmare over there.:eek: Give me Paphos any day, we know who to trust here and who not to trust so have nothing but happy clients:clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2:
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I didnt say it only happens in Larnaca. I said that Yiannis Georgiades said that there are far more rogue developers and lawyers in the Larnaca area than elsewhere.
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John Palmer is only one of many British scum bags who have swindled their fellow Brits. We have had several of them working here in Cyprus, Andrew Nolan, Ian Beaumont, Darragh McAnthony are just some examples.
These people are parasites who prey on others and when things get too hot they run off and start again in another country.
One project that has been in the news is Paradise Hills which was covered on the TV programme holiday homes fromn hell. The programme failed to mention that the 'developers' were in fact Brits and left people assuming that it was Cypriots.
One of the partners was a British Born Cypriot while the others were a husband and wife who were British. One of the partners in fact ended up in jail for drug dealing. The scum of the earth.
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kempo23 said:
Even if the title deeds are available, what other 'dangers' are lurking in the process?
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If the title deeds are available there should not be any 'dangers lurking'.

The danger without title deeds is that the developer could still have money owing on the landand if he goes bankrupt the bank has first call on the land. Title deeds will not beissued to the buyer if any money is outstanding on the land and once the deeds are in the buyers name no one else can borrow on it. The only thing you must make sure of is that the seller has not borrowed on it and if they have your lawyer should make sure that is paid before the seller gets a penny from you.
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kempo23 said:
But this is just common sense! It is normal practice for a solicitor to do these types of searches in the UK. Are you saying that this is not done as a matter of course in Cyprus? How can I "make sure that the seller has not borrowed on it"? What are you paying solicitors for if not to do these sorts of checks and be made accountable?

I am getting more concerned!
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Yes of course it is common sense but in the past some of the lawyers here were very lax with their searches. They are now much more diligent as there have been several law suits against lawyers for failing to do their jobs properly so in fact that problem should not arise now. The lawyer we always recommend to our clients has always done the relevant searches which has resulted in us losing some sales when they found out there were problems but we would rather lose a sale than put someone into a problem. We live here and intend to be around for many years and don't want to have people gunning for us. All of our clients become friends and that is how we want it to stay.
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Da Funk said:
There is a lot you would think is common sense in Cyprus but you will find common sense goes straight out the window in Cyprus! Question everything even with your solicitor! Do not take anything for word, everything you do should be in writing! One thing I have found that happens in Cyprus a lot is that they tell you what you want to hear and have a very selective short memory and this can be everything from buying goods, lawyers, developers, agents, bankers, government officials. Trust no one and get everything in writing! Sounds like common sense, but it really does apply in Cyprus!
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I totally agree, make sure you get everything in writing. Many people think a promise on a hanshake is OK but too often that means nothing. The more someone tells you they are honourable and you can trust them the more suspicious you should be. Always, always get things in writing.
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kimn said:
Hi Veronica
This is my first ever visit to a forum & as you give sound, real advice, I hope you can help my husband & I regarding property in Cyprus. We bought our villa from a developer in Paphos a few years ago as an investment while we were still living in Dubai, but we got retrenched & couldn't afford the monthly payments anymore, so we agreed for the villa to be repossessed by the developer. We do not have the title deeds for the property. Now our so-called "administrator" for the property group has told us that as & when the villa gets sold, we will have to pay them any damages, losses etc. Could you please help us with some advice as to our situation? We are now living along way away from Cyprus, in Australia & would really appreciate some help as we feel we have been left in the dark by these people. Could you recommend a lawyer, should we need one? Thanks.
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Hi Kim,

There is a lawyer in Nicosia called Yiannos Georgiades who has taken on many cases against developers
Yiannos Georgiades - Advocate / Partner - GMSK Solicitors LLP
He has a very good name.
Also if you go to our sister forum, Property Community For Overseas Real Estate News, Forums, Blogs, Discussions and Comments there are threads on there about certain developers who have left people with problems and some of these developements have facebook groups etc of people who are grouping together to fight.
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