It's getting cold now

Hi Tom and everyone,

I have added some more photos onto the Playa Golf III photo page, as that is were our property is, but it seems to me that the Playa Golf estate (I, II, & III) is like one large community. Do you think it should be combined?

The photos are of our road, house and the pool or were the pool will be!

The last photos must have been compressed so they do not expand to the same resolution, hopefully these are better.

We are over in late September so I will take some more of the new shops and some of the local area.

If anyone is over sooner, some more photos would be nice….

All for now, Sping…

Hi Evereyone,

Good suggestion from 'Sping'. I sent an email to Justin to ask him if the message boards for PG 1, 2, 3 could be combined. He sent an email back stating he will combine the boards in the next few days.

In addition to the photos and the like please could someone advise on the rental potential of the development. Since it is a huge site presumably when it is finished there is going to be significant competition between the properties for rentals etc. My concern is that people will start dropping prices. The downside in this is that no one wins because you start 'cheapening' the Playa Golf 'product' (if there is such a thing!!).

Regards,

Shabbir.

Hi everyone,

now that we are all one community it would be good to expand the postings. Most of us have bought off plan and have just moved in or are about to, but from previous postings, I get the impression that some of you have already settled in on the on the Playa Golf complex.

It would be nice, if you have time, to hear of your experiences upon moving in.

Did you have bogus sales people cold call? Has there been any reported crime on the complex that we should be aware of? How social are the owners, is this a community or is there little contact due to the properties being rentals? Finally have you found any exiting places to visit or eat at?

 I know that this is probable an annoying post due to all the questions but since I first posted the traffic has come to a stand still and I was and still am looking to hear more about the Playa Golf estate and surrounding area. I am over in late September – early October to complete on our place, so hopefully on my return I will post some more photos and more information.

That’s all for now, hope this will start more postings!

Sping…

Hi Sping (and everyone else),

We've already taken possession of our place in PG II R-2 (May 06) and been over a couple of times since then. You are right its a fairly big development but the people we have met have all been very friendly. Many of the houses & apartments in PG II were still empty when we were over in August, but there seemed to be people moving in somewhere every day. As for salesmen calling, we had one or two - mainly for air conditioning and for building work, but I wouldn't say we were pestered with them and they didn't seem to be bogus. The community committee for PG II is just being set up now to deal with maintenance etc.

Places to go ... well start with Alfie's bar at the edge of PG III, and the good Indian Restaurant upstairs from Alfie's. The best place we found was La Finca de Eduardo's which is 5 minutes walk from Playa Golf. Really nice restaurant for both day and nightime. It has a  large pool and loungers so you can while away the hours in the sun as a waitress plies you with cold drinks and lunch. Campoamor Hotel & Golf Club (about 5 minutes drive) - good for lunch.

As for crime - there have been a couple of attempted break-ins, mainly thwarted by the grills and alarms. You just have to remain vigilante, ensuring when you go out that that you always lock doors, door-grills & windows, put blinds down, leave a light & radio/TV on and arm the alarm. Aparently this is common in new developments but as they become more populated they become less attractive to would-be thieves. It seems that the thieves are 'opportunist' and are only after easy takings like credit cards, wallets, passports etc. I hope I don't make it sound like the wild west - it's not like that at all, but you just have to be aware.

We'll be going back out again in 1st week in November, so if there is anything anyone wants us to photograph when we are there, please post a message.

Cheers and hope to see you all in sunny Southern Costa Blanca sometime soon.

Tom & Frances

Hi Tom and Frances,

Thanks for the reply, its good to be street wise.

When we were over last year to look at the PG III development, we met a colourful character by the bars on the main N332. Apparently his scam was to ask if you were British and then ask for change. As you got your wallet or purse out he would make off with it.

We were saved from this thanks to the local bar staff who alerted us to his game.

But you are right the area is great and so are the locals that we have met on our two trips.

I noticed that you mentioned you have grills on your doors, if I have understood this to be correct, then could you let me know who installed them for you or were they part of the build?

That’s all for now, see you all soon in Alfie’s Bar.

Sping…   

Hi Sping,

Yes I have grills all round in my Azucena. The ground floor window grills are standard fit by San Jose - the rest were extras. I got them to fit a main door grill and grills to the upstair windows and balcony doors. The main door grill is there mainly so that we can leave the door open for ventilation but still have the grill locked to prevent unwanted entry if we happen to be in the loo or something. Laura in San Jose "extras" department can give you prices for any additional grills you need.

The Securitas Alarm guy on site (Luis) advised us also to change the standard San Jose grill on the kitchen window because there is a gap underneath it which gives any intruder a bit of leverage to prise out the grill.. I thought initially that this was a bit of overkill but I have now replaced this grill with one which fills the whole window opening, since a guy we know up the road had his grill prised off. The thieves got in  through the kitchen window but were chased off by the alarm.

I haven't got the number to hand of the guy who fitted my kitchen grill - I'll post this tomorrow.  He did a good job and he also fitted window locks to all my sliding windows as an added deterrent (this was also recomended by Luis the security guy).

cheers

Tom  

Thanks Tom for the information, we will look into having the extra grills and window locks fitted.

Have you come across a security clip designed to clip onto the shutters to lock them in place. My friend has a place closer to Torrevieja and he told me about them. It’s a small plastic clip apparently.

Thanks

Sping

Hi Everyone, i am hoping to acquire my own property on playa golf II in the next couple of months. I hear it is cheaper to buy furniture in spain than the furniture packs you can get in the UK. Please does anyone have an idea of a good furniture company i can go to.

Cheers

Anthony

Hi - we have just paid our deposit on a Tulipan apartment on Golf III development. We plan to live in Spain permanently in 3 years time - something we are really looking forward to.

We will have Spanish mortgage and still unsure of how to pay this monthly - anyone help on best way to do this from UK bank account - or transferring funds to Spanish bank account?

We are very much novices at this!

Buenos dias fellow Playa golfers.

Hi Sping: I hadn't heard about these plastic security clips for the shutters. I would be interested to know more about them though if you get any more details. I tried using wooden clothes pegs jammed in at both sides of the shutters (as suggested by Luis the security guy), but they didn't seem to be too effective. (PS: sorry -  forgot to dig out the number for the grills guy - I'll try and remember tonight)

Hi Anthony: Furniture does seem to be cheaper here and there are loads of companies who can do complete packages for you. The next time you are out, pick up a copy of one of the free newspapers, you'll get some names there. A couple of names that spring to mind are Hnos Garcia (Garcia brothers) and Arca Mobilaria, both based in Torrevieja and I know Arca Mobilaria has a website where you can see typical furniture packs and prices. I think you can 'pick and mix' a bit within these furniture packs and the price is adjusted accordingly.

Hi thehalls : I also have a Spanish mortgage which is debited directly from my Spanish bank account. I just transfer funds occasionally using one of the currency exchange agents from my UK bank into my Spanish bank whenever I need to top it up to cover mortgage payments and the other payments such as electricity, water, community charges etc. All of the currency exchange agents are pretty good, but the one I use is Xetrade because I can do the whole thing on line.

Adios all and keep posting .....

Tom

Hola y bienvenidos a Playa Golf,

Hi thehalls, if it any help we have a Halifax account in the UK and also one in Spain. Transfer from one to the other is free and you can do most of the work online.

To get the purchase sum over to Spain we used a company called Travelex, this way we got a business rate of exchange. As an example, on the BBC business web page the rate was 1,4850 and we got it at 1.4775. We had to pay £25 for the transfer cost but if you are moving large amounts of money it is worth that extra cost.

Hi Tom, I believe this clip can be purchased from the diy store on the main N332.

We have now got our completion notification and will be out there in early October so will look out for the clips and post the info.

Hi Anthony, here are some web links to two furniture stores.

http://www.mundomuebles.com/eng/inicio.asp

http://www.arcamobiliario.com/index2.htm

I hope these do not conflict with the rules!

Also there are some second hand shops that do some nice furniture if you need any extras. New2You is one, and it’s on Urb. Mar Azul near to Torrevieja. We were told that there are lots of furniture manufacturers near Torrevieja. This trip we are going to have a look for them. 

Happy hunting.

hasta luego.

Sping

Thanks for your replies about furmiture. They were very helpful.

Anthony

Hi Sping,

Re: Security grills - I replaced my kitchen window grill with something a little more sturdy and the guy I used was Craig Johnston (0034) 687242485 - I found him very good. Measured up, got the grill made and fitted it, all within 2 days. He also came back and fitted window locks to all of my sliding windows.

cheers

Tom

Thanks for the information Tom. We will contact him as soon as we get the keys!

Sping..

We're really pleased to find this message board. It's great to hear about people who are a little further down the completion road to ourselves. We are currently awaiting our completion on R4, Playa Golf III so would be particularly interested in any feedback on progress.

Thanks for the tip about the kitchen window - we had been advised to fit grilles on the top floor of our Azucena (we visited Playa Golf II last November), and are in the process of instructing our snagger to get them installed.

When we visited we were told about a planned slip-road directly onto the toll road. Does anyone know if this has happened?

R and D

Hi I signed up for an Azucena Villa in Playa Golf III back in the summer of 2004, and am still waiting to complete !  We are waiting for a Habitation Licence to be granted by the local mayor and have been told that they have a backlog of over 12 months.  We applied in March 2006 and are still waiting.  We purchased off plan through Inside Track, with a view to selling before completion. The whole  market has changed now and this looks highly unlikely. 

Are there others out there who have had a similar experience?  How important is the Habitation Licence? I have been told that you dont need it to complete, but then you cant get any utilities. Does anyone know the truth?

We went out in January 2006 and there was still a lot of building going on.  Is this still the case, or is it all comleted now?  Are there lots of empty villas all trying to be sold, or is it possible we might be able to sell it.

If anyone can enlighten me as to the set up out there I would appreciate it.

Wendy

Hi Wendy,

Play Golf III has 4 plots, R1, R2, R3 and R4. Plots R3 and R4 are complete and people completed and have moved in. Water and by the end of the month power will all be connected. R3 has the first stages of a residents committee.

San Jose are in the process of building R2 (nearly complete) and then R1.

We have not got our habitation licence as yet but the deeds have been signed and are at the town hall, we completed and moved in in October 2006 without these documents without any problems.

Which plot did you buy on?

I hope this gives you some more info.

Sping.

Hi Sping,

Thanks for the reply.  It's difficult to get hold of decent information.  We are buying on R4.  Do you know what the purpose of the Habitation Licence is?  Do you know of a website that has any decent info or pictures on it to give us an idea what it is now like, as we are unable to get out there this year.  Sorry, its all questions, questions, questions, but Inside Track are useless at providing any useful info, just excuses.

Wendy

Hi Wendy,

Basically the Habitation Licence is when the council agree to take over the urbanisation or property and issue completion licenses to the developer. Without the license you can't really register your property with the local authority or electric company.

However, and this is the big however.  There is a catch 22 and many people who buy off plan are caught up in this. 

The developer builds the urbanisation and completes your property, but still have a few hundered more to build, therefore the council will not take over the urbanisation (for council tax purposes etc) until all the roads, infrastructure, lighting, shopping centres, etc are all complete as per the agreed plans.  The developer will urge you to sign and pay your final payment, and you will be keen to sign as generally as long as you're happy with your property you will want to start using it.

The truth is that the majority of large new urbanisations, do not yet have habitation licenses.  This can also be a good thing because it means the council are forcing the developer to complete what was agreed and therefore you end up (eventually) with a working community not an eternal building site.

You would of course be running all your power and water from the developers supply, which isn't as bad as it sounds.

If the developer charges you for this (power and water) it is somewhat illegal, however, if you keep all your receipts you might be able to claim the monies back when eventually the council do take over.

Don't take my word for this, ask around, I know of one large urbanisation that's been in progress for almost 10 years with over 4000 properties (and still another 3000 to build), many people live there, banks and businesses operate from there and none of the properties have licenses de habitacion, mainly due to the fact that the urbanisation is unfinished (and probably won't be for the next 5 years).

Regards,

Redman

c/o www.spanishvillacare.com