Moneycorp open a new office in Puerto Banus

The glamour, the celebrities, the free bar...

Many thanks to Mark Lewis for the invite to his company's swanky new office opening in Puerto Banus. A good time was had by all, and I even got a bag of freebies!

Plus the girl from Absolute Magazine appears to have photoshopped out my beer belly, bless her: http://www.absolutemagazine.com/faces.php?faces=party&pos=0&p=13moneycorp_pil4239.jpg

Just so you all know, I will attend the opening of a paper bag, as long as there's free booze/gifts etc...

Yet More Friday Tat

I'm already anticipating my Friday beers, so here's some timewasters for those among you who share the Millsbomb (lack of) work ethic. Last one to the Irish Bar is buying...

• The Oops! List - planes, trains and automobiles in various states
• How to do that David Blaine levitation trick
• File Swap - upload a file and receive a random one in return!
• The new 24/Lost: Fantastic new series on Sky telly called Heroes, read about it here, I watched the first 2 episodes and am now hooked
• Some of the best pics from Google Earth
• Fine Purveyors of Friday tat: MentalFloss.com
• Create a poster from any image on your PC
• Build your own city

Hasta Lunes!

Eye On Spain Agent & Developer Survey

Remember I mentioned a while ago that Justin over at eyeonspain.com was conducting an agent and developer survey.

Well have a look at his results, with around 700 respondants, it should make for interesting reading.

If you're a misunderstood/maligned agent have a rant over on his forum: http://www.eyeonspain.com/forums/threads.aspx?&dev=FB42

But I wouldn't expect too much in the way of sympathy...

Kaboom.... er oh

The Aifos Booby Prize

Fantastic story reported by Mark Stucklin here.

Apparently the disgraced former mayor of Marbella, Marisol Yague, had breast and bum cosmetic surgery which...

wait for it...

was paid for by dirty money from controversial developer Aifos.

Headline competition:
A free nip and tuck for the winner, a free Aifos brochure for the loser.

Spanish Property Lessons

Not going to be a huge amount of posts this week, since I managed to crash my car at the weekend and am trying to sort out insurance etc...

But this is worth a read: its a thread from a UK investment discussion site entitled Spanish Property Lessons. It is a funny read. The guy offers his advice (gained through experience) on buying in Spain.

It includes little gems like this:

When an agent in Spain mentions the phrase “off-plan” to you, look over your shoulder and spit.

Fairly polemic in tone, he has an equally low opinion of real estate agents, lawyers and the off plan property industry in general.

If you thought that the agents in the UK are un-trustworthy, then just
checkout the ones operating in CDS. There, you will find the biggest
collection of wide-boys, barrow-boys and thugs outside of Romford.

Whilst many will agree with his comments - particularly those affected by the innumerable property scandals across the Costas - it is important to remember that the vast majority of foreign buyers in Spain have a positive experience.

I, for example, don't find myself counting the silverware when my estate agent friends have been round to dinner, since, most of them are decent blokes who want to do a good job: i.e find a client the right house at the right price.

Also, I am writing this post from my lumpy settee in an off plan purchase my parents made about 4 years ago. Which (along with everyone else in the urbanisation) has made them a very nice profit, thank you very much.

I even know a decent lawyer!

So beware of those who vent their spleens, the negative emphasis serves more to alleviate their own frustration, I suspect, rather than offer the benefit of experience to others.

No, Spain is not utopia: shysters and scrotes feed on the unprepared and the ill-advised here just like anywhere else.

But at least there's 300 days' sunshine a year.

Friday Rubbish

Hello!

Its Friday, and I'm back from a brief trip to the UK to watch a rather disappointing England lose to Spain at Old Trafford. So to cheer us up, here's some Friday tat:

• Best ever wedding dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPmYbP0F4Zw
• U2 released 2 videos for their last single Window in the Skies, have a look at them both here. One is a clever CGI U2 nostalgia trip, not bad, but the other one is a very clever piece of editing. Indeed.
• Why not to answer the phone whilst ironing
• Play the Cube Game
• Play the Squares Game
  

Have a good weekend. I'll be in the Irish Bar, La Cala, cheering on England against Italy in the 6 Nations. Let's hope they do better than our footballers.

If you ever need a graphic designer...

Love this guy's website. Its one of the most original I have seen in ages.

http://www.phatterism.com/