Keeping Busy

Its been a while...

Have you had a stroke?

No. Just been so busy with real life that blogging and other online activities have taken a back seat. Apart from ranting at substandard car companies here's what I've been up to:

• Got made redundant. Boo
• Got a new job with a great web design (york) company: Brightfive. Yay.
• Built some new web projects of my own, the best of the bunch by far is my clever Hotel Finder application. Its pretty useful (I think). I did a more detailed write up of it here.
• I got married. Yay. Wife has a blog too. Best link to it I suppose. Its mainly hormonal rants and recipes. You have been warned.
• Having a baby. Yay. Boy. Due in September.
• Got sunburnt like a proper Guiri (or is it Langosta?) on my last quick trip to Spain. Boo.

So its been a busy year so far.

Whilst not really my line of work any more - I still like to keep tabs on the Spanish property market. Here's a post I made on Spanish Property Insight using Google's Trends for Websites to compare traffic levels.

Lets not leave it so long next time...

Gran Scala - Spain's Las Vegas?

I note that the much touted Gran Scala project is now looking much like an outside bet. The developement set to invigorate Zaragoza as a Spanish Las Vegas style gambling and golf resort, now looks highly unlikely. A mixture of hyperbole and underfunding seems to be the cause.

Mark Stucklin notes in his blog:

The problem with ambitious plans like these, is they go nowhere without serious money and serious backers. It now looks as if the government of Aragon might have fallen for a bluff.

He continues:

...the company due to create and run two of the theme parks in the resort was only set up in Reno in September with capital of just 950 Euros.

Ehhh? 950 Euros! I think they need to spend a little more time at the roulette table. Or maybe they've spent too much there. Read more in Mark's blog.

On an unrelated note, Turkey's authorities have apparently suspended foreign property purchases. Read more here.

Anyone got any good news?

Vorderman Dream Homes

Look out estate agents, not only do you have to contend with a declining market, corruption scandals, bad press and a lack of buyers, but now a new force has entered the overseas real estate playground.

Carole Vorderman Overseas Homes.

Yes, really.

Not content with hawking loans to misguided punters, the Sudoko queen is now flogging off-plan property in Florida, the Caribbean and Spain.

Often criticised for putting her name to everything from detox diets through to margarine, Vorderman has herself amassed a pretty substantial property portfolio. She owns around 20 houses in the UK, and revealed to the Telegraph that she made in excess of £700,000 profit on one property alone.

Whilst this will no doubt give her critics more ammunition, it isn't really any different from the recent crop of celebrity endorsements we have seen: Ian Botham for Viva Estates - and currently for ADH, Jack Nicklaus for Polaris World and so forth.

These celebrity endorsements, whilst not cheap, presumably offer the consumer a degree of confidence. Additionally a celeb such as Carole Vorderman has much to lose, reputation-wise (if not financially), should this partnership go south. A tarnished reputation is not conducive to earning future advertising dollars.

Anyway read the full Telegraph article here. Visit Carole's rather nice looking website here. Also a big hat tip to the eagle-eyed contributors of Spanish Property Insight for digging this up.

Electric Lady Land

On the off chance anyone has missed me, I have just returned from a fantastic 3 week holiday in Thailand. In case anyone is thinking of going there, all I can say is that I had about the best holiday I've had in a long time.



Whilst the busy nightlife of Pattaya was pretty damn seedy (but very lively), the real joy was getting out to the islands such as Koh Chang.

Anyway, before this turns into some boring backpacker travel blog, I am now firmly back in the Costa del Sol and whilst I am obviously out of the loop, I did notice Justin's post about a couple's villa that got demolished.

Not the best start to 2008...

Viva Estates Closes?

A pre-Christmas flurry of real estate office closures appears to have taken place on the Costa del Sol with the most high profile fall being that of Viva Estates. The once ubiquitous agent has now apparently closed all its offices apart from its large Expo hall.

Perhaps Viva in some sleeker, lightweight new clothes, will make a re-appearance in the near future? Dynamic management and a cracking website count in their favour if nothing else.

Also rumoured to have closed large offices are Andalucian Dream Homes and high-end Marbella agent Kristina Szeckley.

Efficient rationalisation or death rattle?

Either way a large number of sales staff are now knocking on the doors of Wemploy and co. Not the best start to the festive season.

Spanish Property Weather Report

More doom and gloom if you are an estate agent on the Costa del Sol. Half of those who set up in the last 4 years are reportedly struggling to keep their doors open.

Whilst some agents are going under or finding new jobs, some are "re-structuring". Large developers are reporting fairly whopping losses too.

However you dress it up the market has undergone a distinct slowdown and most agents are downsizing or cost-cutting in one way or another.

Some would argue that there are fewer buyers than previous years. What there definitely is, everyone will agree, is a surplus of (often overpriced) product. And a surplus of agents trying to sell it. With fewer transactions there will inevitably be fewer agents in the near future.

So where's the good news?

Well if you're a buyer, then brilliant. You can expect agents to be tripping over themselves to welcome you into their shops. Hungry agents will nearly always cut their commissions with a bit of gentle nudging. Plus a good proportion of vendors will be desperate to sell, and will often accept significant drops in price.

Spanish Property Podcast

Mark Stucklin, he of the Sunday Times & SpanishPropertyInsight.com, writes:

The Spanish property market’s obituary may have been written prematurely, but
much of the news coming from the market is far from reassuring.

Certainly agents on the Costa del Sol have had busier times. For the best part of 10 years prices rose, buyers came and houses sold. Whilst the predicted crash has failed to materialise, times are certainly leaner, with some agents either closing their doors, focusing on rentals, or looking to overseas markets.

Darwin. Natural Selection. Survival of the fittest. The market will find some kind of balance and every other shopfront will not be an estate agents. For a more educated stab at the future of the Spanish market, listen to these three knowledgable gas bags. (Its a Podcast, buy some speakers you pikey).

Spanish Property - My Investment Strategy

Every newspaper I pick up at the moment seems to have articles with headlines like The Sun Sets On Spanish Property or Has The Bubble Burst?

Basically the media are in a frenzy over the fact that a Spanish construction company's share price has dropped by 5%. The Telegraph is predicting a collapse, then an implosion:

Britons thinking about buying property abroad were told yesterday that the
predicted collapse of the Spanish housing market would create a golden opportunity to pick up a bargain.

But there was little comfort for the many who have already bought homes in Spain. More than 250,000 properties along the Costa del Sol and the Costa Blanca are British owned.

"The housing market in Spain is about to implode," economists at Lombard Street Research warned yesterday

Read the article

Loving this language. Are we all going to be squashed?

Chill Out

For buyers like myself these scare stories are great. Vendors reduce prices, many buyers are frightened away from the market. Supply - Demand. Bargain. In theory anyway.

Whilst there is an oversupply of housing product in Southern Spain, and much of it is overpriced, the demand is still present and constant for good value, good quality housing. Yes, buyers are more picky, they have more choice! But there are still plenty of them flowing over from the UK looking for a holiday home or a place to live.

No one has bought for a quick investment return in Spain for years, the market has matured beyond that point now. Go see Morocco, Turkey or Brazil for those "buy to flip" returns. Spain is a place to buy if your investment strategy is all about enjoying long summers, cold beers and not caring much about share prices.

Etoo - Crimeshare Chameleon?

ETOO, a company with a rather chequered past in the timeshare resale business are under the spotlight again.

The Daily Mirror tracked them down operating under a new offshore setup called the International Timeshare Resale Association.

So we phoned the Association with some simple questions. Simple Question
One: Is ETOO a member of the Association?

The strangely suspicious spokesman
was more interested in finding out who was calling.

Timeshare scams are so 80's aren't they?

Read the full article here.

Bon Voyage

Jason Godwin tells me he is relocating to Majorca.

Jason is the man behind Infocasa - far and away the most popular and accomplished of the various real estate applications in use here in southern Spain.

Millsbomb would like to wish him well and hope that we catch up for a pint during one of his next monthly commutes.

Modesty

Someone once wrote:

It is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help

Shame no-one told Darragh.

Spanish Airport Info

If you are an expat like me or own a place in Spain and spend more time than you would like to at or between airports, then you ought to meet Gary Ingram. He runs a great site called Spanish Airport Guide and is more helpful than your average trolley dolly.

Gary has researched all the airlines, their destinations, the cheapest car hire and transfers at pretty much every airport in Spain. He currently runs a message board where he answers any questions and posts travel tips like how to save money on flights, for example.

In fact his message board has become so popular, he is looking at turning it into a forum, so he can answer more of your questions. Isn't he good?

IN reverts to 7.5%

The Inmo-network, the MLS that was born from the Viva/IN brouhaha, has decided to revert to listing shared properties at 7.5% (up from 5%).

Also worth noting is Viva Estate's new venture into overseas markets, planetviva.com.

Spanish property market review & forecast

For anyone considering buying (or selling) in Spain, read Mark Stucklin's great report on the current state of the Spanish property market.

Comparing stats and garnering opinions he points to a buyers market where vendors need to adjust their price expectations and where a clear oversupply of product will further the current price stagnation.

No huge crash though:

Based on the Spanish government’s figures, it looks like the Spanish
property market is on course for a soft landing, in which property prices will
rise in line with general inflation.

Rather than me misquote him, read the full report here. It is well worth it.

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...

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...

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.

BBC Real Story: Pain in Spain

Just watched the BBC 1 programme Real Story, with a report entitled "Pain in Spain" (how do they think them up?).

It detailed some of the all too familiar horror stories that many expats seem to experience after following their dream of moving to Spain.

Illegally built homes, for example: residents on a development built near the popular town of Albox, are pulling their hair out, since - surprise, surprise - the project never had permission from the town hall. Therefore they enjoy no street lighting, no roads, no mains water and the ever present threat of demolition. Not exactly a stress free retirement.

The majority of the residents are UK expats and most used the lawyer that the developer Procoal recommended. So no conflict of interest there then.

The Beeb hack dutifully tracked down the Procoal MD at his offices for a showdown. They couldn't have been in and out faster if the office had a revolving door. A piss poor impression of Roger Cooke and an Adios later they were back on the street.

By the way Procoal are still advertising, so you have been warned!

Healthcare was also on the agenda: retired couples found that they were not entitled to coverage under the Spanish state health service until the age of 65. The rub is, that the UK will not afford them healthcare after 2 years of residency abroad. So that leaves a lot of retirees, stuck between a rock and a hard place, having to cough up for private healthcare. Ouch!

Complaints were also aired about the lack of out-patient and social care. Whilst commonplace services in the UK, Spain sees these more as responsibilities of the family. "But my sons live in Australia" complained one old guy.

Whilst I wouldn't wish the above problems on my worst enemy (OK, maybe my worst enemy) - I am constantly astounded by the incredible lack of judgement people show when making some of the most profound, expensive and life changing decisions.

Where is the healthy dose of skepticism Brits usually reserve for any slick suited salesman?

Where is the fastidious research that normally precedes a weekend in Filey, let alone a lifetime in a foreign clime?

Good sense appears to be wined, dined then royally shafted by an unoriginal mix of naivety and seductive marketing.

I hope this programme (along with the endless similar press stories) shakes those contemplating a move abroad out of their reverie, and forces them to really do their homework.

But then what do I know? I landed here with about 25 quid and wide eyed optimism. So shut up Millsbomb.

Read more here. And if you missed it, keep an eye out on BBC News 24 for a repeat.

Agent Survey

Like a Spanish Esther Rantzen, Justin at eyeonSpain.com has had the bright idea for a consumer survey of Spanish agents and vendors. He wants your opinions (but no rude shaped vegetables) at: http://www.eyeonspain.com/questionnaire-rating.aspx

The idea, presumably, is to poll results and get a top 10 (or even better a worst 10!), to help inform new buyers about the outsanding moral fibre - or otherwise - of their prospective agent or developer.

Any bets on where Aifos will be in this poll?