Graham Smith Inventor

Hi everyone,

Myself my husband and 2 girls are relocating to Spain in September 2009, we have been looking at the villa's at Finca Parc and really like the look of them could anyone please give us some more info about the Villa's, Location, Schools, Development ect any info would be gratly appriciated,

Also I will qualify as a nurse next year (just before we move) any info about hospitals/medical centres where I can find work would be lovely,'

Thanks Gail

Gail the adjacent village of hellin has schools and the university city of albacete is feasible as your children get older.

I think there will some sort of medical centre on site which could well be needing staff.

I have a lot of stuff on area i can get across to you send a pm

would definately recommend a site visit, do you know how to arrange

Hello Gail,  welcome to our forum you will find loads of info on here to help you, Im sure you will love living at finca parcs the area is so pretty far nicer than the over crowded coast but still within a nice easy drive if you wanted to take your children to the beach for the day, we love lo pagan its great for the children and mainly spanish compared to many other areas. There is a lovely primary school in the village for children from the age of 5 to 10 or 11 and then they will go to the high school in Hellin.  There is also a massive hospital on the  back road leading into hellin form agramon ( local village ) maybe if you can learn some spanish this could be an option for you.  Have you contacted Mandy from finca valley, she is the manager for the company that will be looking after finca parcs, she has sent us lots of very good information over the past months and even looked for other services for us, plus we also get a monthly newsletter which normally has lots of useful information, im sure she also has children that will be going to the local school as well, maybe worth contacting her if you pm me I can give you the contact details if you wish.  I wish you and your family well with your new venture and hope to see you one day at finca parcs.

Hi Lady Dallowa,
Thanks for all the information and advice,

I have been in contact with Mandy for a few months now, she has been very helpful and our children are the same age so we have a lot in common, she is sending me some info on the delelopment via Gill at Finca Parcs.

I have also been looking at the resale properties on the town and county website and they seem to vary in price quite a lot for example a Rosana villa is between 229,000 euros and 300,000 this seems a lot of differance for the same property.

Could anyone let me know if they are thinking about  renting their villa out for holidays as we are thinking of coming over in October for a look around and to view the propertys, it would be great if we could actually stay in a villa within the development 

Hi  Gail, have you spoken with Mandy about this only we were chatting with her earlier in the week about the same thing for some friends of ours that maybe interested in buying a property and would like to try the area first,   she said that she has quite a few on the part that will be finished first  and a few of them have pools as well, maybe worth speaking with her.  As for prices I think you will find that it is mostly investors that put their properties on the resale market so i would assume it depends on how much profit thay are looking for, normally the nearer the completion date  they start dropping in price a bit cause investors dont normally want to go through to completion.  From what i can gather the other difference is if you buy a new one from the developer the deposit is very low and you dont have to pay any more till the house is finished, with a resale the deposit is normally the profit the investor has in the property so the deposit could be a lot higher.  but you could get a bargain if the investor is desperate to sell  quickly.  Im sure you will be very happy here, we are moving away from the coast as it is turning into little britain in the sun, not that there is anything wrong with that if thats what you looking for, but sometimes its hard to remember that we are actually living in another country if you get my drift !!  Good luck anyway with what ever you decide to do, im sure your children will love it here, my grandchildren never want to go home.

Chingo

Hello Gail,

My advice would to be very, very circumspect about purchasing property at Finca Parcs at the present time. It is a lovely location, but, based on the rate of progress to date and the number of properties which the developers say they are going to build, I would estimate that it will be at least 5/6 years before the project is completed assuming that it ever is. In the meantime you would be living on a building site. Also do not believe anything the agents or developers say in relation to this project as they are most economical with the truth. I was interested in this project and visited the site about 15 months ago. I have been monitoring progress since then and it has been pretty dismal. These developers say that they are one of the biggest construction firms in Spain. Well if this is true, why do they not put enough men and machinery on the job and actually build the houses and commercial centre without undue delay. For example, I was told that the commercial centre would be completed at the same time as Phase 1 but  I cannot see that work has even commenced on the commercial centre. Why is this? Futhermore the completion dates are continually put back for the various phases of the constuction. I am afaid that it does not inspire confidence in this project.

Furthermore, the property market in Spain is crashing at the present time and the pound is weak. Financially speaking it would be disasterous to purchase a property from the developers at the prices they are asking. As regards the resale market, when I was first interested I would say that the agent had perhaps 12 to 16 properties on their books. They now have over 60 and I cannot see that they have sold one property in the meantime. I would expect that at least 90% of the resales are by investors who hoped to make a quick profit on a rising market which is not the case. Most of these people will not want to complete their purchase and many will not have the financial resourses to do so. The result  of  this is that, as and when the houses are near completion, many people will become desperate to sell. The result will be competitiion between the vendors and therefore falling prices. Indeed, you can see that this process has already started  by the many reductions on resale properties advertised by the agents. You have pointed out a difference in price between two Rosanas of 71,000 euro which tells its own story as regards a desperation to sell. Accordingly, if you wish to purchase a resale property, the advice is to be patient and wait for the prices to fall as completion approachs and the competetition to sell increases. Good luck.

Will, I too have been in this for the long term so fully aware of the delays and problems that have been caused but from what I could see last week the project seems to be in full swing with loads of works going on, although I agree with some of your comments I would be interested to know why you think that they are being economical with the truth.  As for the commercial area I did get a quick glance of where the ground is being prepared but I was always led to beleive that this would start with the second stage of houses and had to be finished with the last phase, maybe Im wrong and Im sure that someone will put me right on this point. I had a chat over the weekend with another chap who is going to be living there and he will be going to check on things later this week so maybe we will get more information then.

this sounds like someone with an axe to grind or a chip on their shoulder to me, I have made numerous trips to the site over the past four years and rightly so as pointed out work was a bit slow on the uptake in the early days but during the past year there has been a vast amount of works carried out both under and above ground. I hope to go and take another look later this week so will keep yo posted.  EVERYWHERE including the UK is experiencing a down turn/ crash in the market at the moment, so if you are looking for a bargain ANYWHERE in Europe or USA surely this is going to be a good time to invest if you can take the stress and strain for the next few years. This is no different to what was experienced in eighties,all doom and gloom, negative equity etc etc, most of us came through it in the end, got to take the rough with the smooth it cant be plain sailing all of the time thats a fact of life. Now , if you are looking for trouble tjust ake a look at some of the coastal sites where there are far more problems to overcome.  Anyway  on a lighter note,  Thank you Spain for giving us a memorable night last night, spent it in the village square to the wee early hours this morning with the locals, the atmosphere was electric, and not one foul mouthed larger lout in sight, and as predicted everyone partied all night in the street with every generation participating young, old, and local cops mixing and having a splendid time, great stuff, for me it is up there with the memory of England winning the world cup all those years ago.    

Chingo

I quite agree Chingo.  I think somebody has an axe to grind.

In reply to the post by Crafton.  I reserved two houses four years ago and have found the developers to be completely honest.  I unfortunately reserved my houses and paid my deposit to an English Agent  that went bankrupt and my deposit (along with that of many other people affected this way) was honoured by Cleyton Gess although all these deposits were not passed on to them.  I was also promised white goods by the company that I reserved with and these are also being provided by Cleyton Gess.  Many people were involved with this and it did cause delay in the construction.

I visited Finca Parcs earlier this month, having not been there for two years, and the development is coming on on very well.  The two houses I have reserved are on schedule for finishing, one likely to be two months earlier than the completion date I was given last year.  I was always told that the commercials would be built at a later stage of the development.

I wasinformed, on my recent visit,  that the site has to be completed by the end of next year, or very early the following year at the very latest. 

Granados are a very large, very well know reputable building company in Spain.  They are involved in many quality developments, motorway construction, etc.

I also would be interested to know why you think they are being economical with the truth, and if it is as dismal as you say and you have found the developers dishonest, why have you bothered to carry on monitoring the site for 15 months?  Surely you could just move on and look elsewhere.

As Chingo says, with the property markets everywhere experiencing a downturn/crash, it must be becoming a good time to buy.  With prices as they are investors are likely to be returing to the market.  Also very many people like to retire to the sun in Spain, they do not have an unlimited amount of time to wait and see if things get worse or improve, they want to retire now and enjoy the remainer of their lives and what better place to do it.  It is so beautiful, and just now they could pick up a real bargain.
Once people start living on the urbanisation and the gardens are landscaped I doubt there will be the same opportunities to buy at prices they can be found now.

Well said Sun Lover and Chingo,  its good to see that some of us are happy with our purchase and the way we have been treated by the developer.

Totally agree with your comments Sun Lover, I have always received excellent service from the sales staff and although the project has been subjected to delays caused by various situations I cant see that the developers want delays any more than anyone else, surely at the end of the day they would like to see a return on their investment as well.

Crafton, you come across as someone that just wants to stir up a bit of mistrust here, do you have an ulterior motive or just someone with a boring life intent on trying to put others off of trying to make the best of their retirement years.  I assume that with your views of the project we have no likelyhood of you becoming one of our neighbours on Finca Parcs.

Chingo sounds as if we missed a great night lucky you.  No response from Amanda about the bottle party though, do you think she is ignoring you !!  hope not sounds like a great idea.   Are you there Amanda  ??

Hello Palomino, Chingo and all,

Please rest assured Palo that I am not ignoring you!! I am a very busy lady and only look at the Eye every now and again.

With our forthcoming move to Spain approaching rapidly, Im sure all you folks can appreciate how busy it is for us at the moment.  

Regarding the bottle party, Im up for it if everyone else is!!!!  As soon as we are settled we will send out the invites.  Perhaps all the chaps out there can bring a crate rather than a bottle!!???

Anyway, I look forward to seeing you all soon, and putting faces to the names.

Regards  Mandy

Seems that I have upset some folk. No axe to grind and shoulders are currently chipless. Also I think I am not boring but who knows what others may think.

My advice to Gail was simply to the effect that she should not trust everything that the agents /developers may say and that she should not  purchase either a new or resale property now as the prices will undoubtably drop. I did not say that the developers were dishonest as that would be rude. They are however economical with the truth and prone to making misleading statements.

I was told 15 months ago that the major delays to this project had been caused by geological problems which were found when site work commenced ( these of course should have been idenitfied in advance of any work if a proper topographical survey had been done) and also due to some new regulations concerning solar panels and lightning conductors.( As regards the latter, apparently the local authority had insisted that these must be fitted.  Strangely enough I would have thought that any competent developer would fit conductors to houses being constructed in a mountainous region). I was told that all the problems had been overcome and that the developers would be flooding the site with men and machinery. I was told that Phase 1 would be completed by July 2008, Phase 2 by October 2008 and the entire project by October 2009 at the very latest. I questioned whether these were realistic dates and was assured that they were although there might be a few weeks slippage.  Well this has not happened- no where near and what is the reason. Simply that the developers have not put enough men and machines on the job. What other reason is there for the furher delays unless it is lack of cash.

I took notes of what I was told. Somewhat amusingly, I was also told that the Ester showhouse, on which work commenced in June 2006, would be completely finished by August last year and that I could then revisit the site to inspect this. This did not happen and the amount of time it took these people to complete one show house was astonishing.

I was told that the deposit on Phase 1 and 2 houses was going to be increased to 25% within 6 weeks of my visit and that I should therefore buy then when the deposit was only 10%. Pressure selling and totally untrue.. Deposit on these phases is still 10%.

My notes indicate that there are 105 houses on Phase 1, 71 on Phase 2, 66 on Phase 3, 208 on Phase 4 and 150 on Phase 5. A total of 600. Well if you assume Phases 1 and 2 are completed by March next year - 2009 ( and I would not bet on that)  the developers will have constructed 176 houses and will have a further 424 to complete by January 2010. I myself would regard the possibility of this happening as somewhat remote to say the least as it would have taken the developers 2 years to build 176 houses. Yet apparently sunflower was told on a site visit last week the the project has to be completed by very early 2010. Others may wish to view the world with rose tinted spectacles and accept what the developers say. I am afraid that I do not. I simply do not see how the deveopers can maintain, in view of the current pace of construction, that the project will be completed by early 2010 at the latest. Sorry, this makes no sense.

I also question whether this project will ever proceed to completion in the current economic climate. It is difficult to see why the developers would complete all the Phases of this project if they have not sold the houses as this would  not make any sense either commercially or logically. The fact is that these houses are currently not selling well at the prices being asked. If this remains the position the prices will have to drop in order to move the property or they will not be built  unless and until the market improves. This wiould not be the first time this has happened in Spain and it would not be the last.

Sunflower refers to "Granados" which I suspect was meant to be a reference to Dragados who are indeed a large and reputable Spanish construction company. However, I was told that, if I purchased a property, my contract would be with the developers- Cleyton Ges SL which appears to be a small company incorporated in Murcia. 

There are indeed many bargains to be found in Spain if you are patient and methodical and prices are dropping every day. Unfortunately, in my view and to which I am entitled, the prices at Finca Parc are presently too high especially given the uncertainty as to whether or when this project will be completed.

Finally sunflower, if you are a lover of Spain, as I am sure you are, you will know that Granados (Enrique) was a celebrated pianist and composer of classical music who could also paint a bit. A dashing and entirely non-boring chap with a handlebar moustache. i quite like some of his stuff altho, to be truthful, I would prefer Jimmy Page or Clapton.

Ooops!!  yes should have read Dragados.  I reserved an off-plan some years ago with a constructor called Granados - that along with too many grey cells is my excuse.  But fortunately too young to remember Enrique Granados!!  and I too really like Clapton.

I have to agree there have been many delays for various reasons as you have pointed out.   Apparently the first houses are now due for completion in 12 weeks, so here's hoping.  

Prices are dropping everywhere, I would not like to guess where it will end.  The financial and property experts seem to differ widely in their predictions.  If U.K. banks are suffering from a lack of cash then it can affect anybody.  Presumably if, as you say, you question if  the development will proceed to completion, this would have the effect of less houses at Finca Parcs available for re-sale, in what I think is a very desirable location.  There are a few re-sales available now at very low prices, this appears to be because the personal circumstances of people who reserved four and five years ago have changed and they are now unable to proceed.  Hopefully once they are sold the prices will stabilize.  I have looked at another very attractive development due to start construction shortly, and show houses are already built, and I think the Finca Parcs properties, especially the larger ones on the 800 sq.mtr. plots and the situation at Finca Parcs  compare very favourably price wise.  Although I must say that on the other development you are given a wonderful choice of tiles and kitchens, as one would expect in propery in these price ranges.  People can then individualise their homes with these important items.

Hi all getting very heated on here, just to let you know I have passed on a copy of your  2 comments to the developer to see what their reactions are to your allegations. Im curious, are you a disgruntled agent cause it certainly seems to be coming across that way to me, and why on earth are you wasting your life monitoring something that you are clearly not interested in.  Anyway Im happy, I already live here, not effected by the exchange rate and used to living on fresh air which at the moment is still free of charge !!   Mandy the crate of beer is on order, have to pay for it by weekly installments so hopefully it will be paid for before we get to drink it especially if  this crofton chappie is correct about the delays, Im going up tomorrow so will judge whether I have time to purchase one or two party seven's.    Chingo

This message was last edited by Chingo on 7/2/2008.

have just got back after an early start,  my other half thinks I should join Paco or Pedro whatever his name is on the security gate as I seem to be spending more time with him than her recently, not true of course you women do no how to exagerate. I could only get to the show house again, I think the girl is begininng to think Im a bit of a nutter, possibly right, anyway from what i could see there are well over a hundred houses having the roof tiled at the moment plus a lot more in different stages of build. There were other houses in the distance up on the higher piece of land as well, not sure what was going on but according to maria they are preparing the roads. A lot of work seems to be going on with the water plant as well, i pulled in from the side of the road and had a nosey at that bit as you can see it clearly from there. As for completion dates, well i suppose we will still have to give the builder the benifit of the doubt until the latest deadline has expired,  im still expecting to clebrate xmas there so hang on in there gang.

Chingo

Hi just got back from Spain and a visit to the site last Saturday. Looked round the show house and our actual esther on phase 1 as the builders aren't there on Saturdays. There is certainly alot of work going on and we were very impressed with the standard of the esther show house. Maria told us that the builders will work through august as they have to finish phase 1 in september because that is when their 18month building contract runs till as they started on that phase properly in March07. I was feeling very pleased and positive with what I saw but felt a bit down at all the negative stuff on this thread. However I realise that there is alot of worry in the property market generally both here and abroad. I sometimes worry incase all the promised things ie tapas restaurant,tennis courts gym etc didn't get done but surely as we've only paid deposits and pay no more till completion of our villa it is in the builders best interest to complete properties on all the phases? it is a beautiful area and the houses are being finished to an excellent standard compared to alot we saw round the coast.
Changing the subject slightly does anyone from the Finca Valley team have any info on companies locally that would fit mosquito nets and ceiling fans (both of which we have found to be very valuable on our flat on the coast)?
Cathian

Hi Cathian,

Yes we are able to help you with those services.  I have sent you a PM.

Amanda

Some good news Cathian in all the property doom and gloom.

The June bulletin of Spain's National Institute of Statistics just released I read the following:

"On closer inspection, the April figures reveal that much of the market’s decline was driven by falls in a few key areas such as Catalonia, where recorded sales fell by 33% in total, with new build down 32% and resales down 34%. The Balearics were also down, by 28%, and Madrid down by 17%. Surprisingly the Valencian Community and Andalucia, which rely heavily on the sales of holiday homes, were only down 1.7% and 0.9% respectively. Murcia was up 12% (new build up 33%, resales down 9%), Extremadura was up 12%, Galicia up 7%, Cantabria up 13%, and Castilla-La Mancha up a whopping 46% (new build up 67%, resale up 31%)."

Hellin being in Castilla-La Mancha.  Although a lot of the new build sales have been in the pipeline for some time and it does need taken in context with the rest of the report, which can be read on Spanish property insight website.