About to buy

Sorry to have to say that, despite a lot of hard work trying to resolve the situation,  my wife & I won't be buying at Jumilla after all.

San Jose has refused to amend the contract and so, as it offered almost no protection to us as purchasers, we've cancelled. Furthermore, we're finding that there are questions over whether the golf course(s) will be 36 holes, 18 holes, 9 holes when built,  or even possibly none (i.e. whether it will be built at all). There are also unanswered questions over licences to build other properties or facilities and concerns over potential other mass developments in the area. All-in-all, we felt it too much of a risk for us without having appropriate contractual protection.

I sincerely hope that all goes well for those of you who are already committed, and for anyone still in the process I strongly recommend you give great consideration to having your contract carefully checked and amended if appropriate, to protect your investment  (and don't assume your spanish lawyer will do this - ours certainly didn't).

We're continuing our search for an investment property and wish everyone on the Jumilla board the very best of luck for the future.

Good luck & best wishes

I am also hearing the same stories about the licences, and san jose cannot commit to me or my solicitor that the complex will be completed as adverstised, ie hotel, shops, golf courses and all of the properties.

i will give it a little longer as the elections for jumilla are soon and we may get some new news.

I am getting a bit concerned now as to what is going on.  I have just sent an email to my Spanish lawyer and my developer telling them I want an update as to what is going on at Jumilla

Will let you all know what they say

Its a shame that just a couple of people can start others panicing. Its always been a worry buying off plan but you need to hold your nerve.  Alot of negativity can also cause other buyers and potential buyers to cancel or not to proceed.  Myself, im not worried as it will happen in some form or other. Obviously i hope it to be as the original plan, but who knows if it doesnt it may end up even better in a smaller scale as from original.

Malc,

Yes  a smaller prestigious developement at Santa Ana with just one PGA standard golf course would be absolutely fine. I can only assume that sdboyle  and maybe others went into this without securing bank guarantees for their deposit which is why they feel like jumping ship. Good luck to them

Hi sdboyle.

I wish you both all the best for the future.

I do agree with malc that it is silly to start panicing just because of a small setback which will probably be resolved after the May elections. As far as my wife and i are concerned it will probably end up a nice complex and we hope that there will only be 1 golf course and a few thousand properties built with pools and a couple of shops, as we think a smaller complex than originally planned will be much better all round. Anyone who has been to see the complex being built at Mazzaron will know what we mean. It looks awful.         

             Bob.

i'm sorry to hear  that S &S has pulled out, we should all followow our gut fealings.  I don't  know what their problems are or what they are expecting.

This is an ivestment opertunity so there is a risk.  Decide what you whant a cheap holiday home or a quality invesment.  I am investing in Smart investors part of Equity international, and i don't think they will put their name to a bad developemeny as it would damage their image,

Fom all my research i canot find anything bad about the developers, so i feel things will be ok.  ask yourself if you want a holiday home, of somewere to live, even for 3-6 montgs a year.  if you need the beach this is the wrong location. If you prefer to be away from the tourist this would be ideal.

I am proceeding along with a lot of other people, are we all wrong?  Mayby you shold take another look, there is only two guaranteess in life.  Do the diligence and decide what you want.  Rember in life there are doers and thinkers, thinkers never end up doing.

Recardo

Hi Everyone,

My husband and i purchased at albatera from San jose nearly 3 years ago, since then san jose have been holding 55000 british pounds of our money. It is our experience that we have been told one lie after another which San jose have done through our agent as communicating with san Jose directly has been a nightmare.

The last straw has been when we received our 1st email from the spanish solicitor a few days ago saying that if we stay with the development she will accept no responsibility whatsoever as San Jose have told her they cannot renew our bank guarantee due to being unable to provide satisfactory documents to the bank to support the progress at albatera.

This has left us with no alternative but to ask for a refund which has prompted an angry reaction from our agent on the phone to me and left me with the feeling that this is going to be more stress getting back what belongs to us in the first place.
I emailed the solicitor back to say we would take our money back out but i expect i will not hear from her again which is why my husband and i are going to see a solicitor here in the uk who is an expert in spanish law.

All i can say is that if i could turn back the clock i would not go within a million miles of san jose, in fact it has put me of going anywhere near spain ever again, we have been told they are a reputable company which for the life of me i cannot understand WHY!!!

We got a letter from san jose back in 05 saying how they had finally turned a corner and that they were starting to clear the land that june followed by building the properties in september, strangly enough a week later a new contract arrived to be signed which of course we now know the original letter was a ploy to get another signed contract.

I suppose all the lies and deceit will come back to haunt some  developers in spain some day when the british people all decide enough is enough and that we are not going to be treated in such a callous way anymore, dont they even care about their reputation being in tatters as the horror stories are everywhere, in the newspapers, on tv etc.

I wish all of you the best of luck and i am sorry to have to write such a negative message but unfortunately sometimes the truth hurts!


FAR

Its alarming to hear all these horror stories but of course we only hear one side of it. This is why at the beginning it's so important to have a good independant Spanish lawyer and to ensure you have full bank guarantees to secure your deposit if things go wrong.

This message was last edited by taxiparrots on 4/29/2007.

This message was last edited by taxiparrots on 4/29/2007.

Hi All

Sorry to hear we are losing a potential neighbour but we must all do whatever our hearts feel, I personally don't mind the extra wait EVEN THOUGH I WANT TO BE IN SPAIN NOW & SHOULD HAVE ALMOST COMPLETED.

Far you are not alone at Albetera Steve Hollings has also had his fingers burnt so I understand

Like Bob Hawkings I would rather like a smaller complex but it doesn't really matter too much it is the change of lifestyle and climate I am most looking forward to

All the best in your future search S&S

GAL

Hi everyone,

Just want to make things a little clearer in response to what taxiparrots wrote.
We thought we had a very reputable spanish lawyer and we did have the bank guarantees at the beginning but are being told they cannot renew them because their (san jose) bank wont let them.
Our agent is having a meeting asap with san jose and is getting back to us and also to let us know if we can stay with Albatera by leaving our original deposit of 3000 euro in to keep our property secure until such times as building really does start (even though i feel like running a million miles ) but my husband wants this so much and i do love the site at albatera and the properties.

The message board for albatera seems to be static for a long time now which is why i am using this one in case you are all wondering!  Who knows maybe the may elections will make a difference, if i get any good news i will certainly let you all know, best wishes to auntie linda!

FAR

Finally, some passion on this Forum and here's our two-pennyworth (controversial as ever)

S&S, we wish you all the best for the future no matter where you end up and you obviously have your own reasons why you are not progressing with the SADM urbanisation. Similarly, FAR your input is very much appreciated and it's good to get an insight into issues that occurred on another development...but that is another development.

Definition of Forum - "public meeting or assembly for open discussion "

We've read some comments on here and other Forum's "I'm fed up with all the negativity", the reason we come on this Forum is to share information BOTH good and bad regarding our investment in Spain. To obtain a true reflection of what is happening, we need people to be open and be prepared to talk negatively otherwise we'll all be guilty of viewing the World through rose-tinted specs. I've handed over nearly 70K of my money so far to SJG and damn-right, I want to know what is happening, bad rather than good. As a business we've had to delve further than most as our futures rely on this going ahead and yeah, some of the stuff we are hearing isn't good news......so why don't we share it ? because 90% out there don't want to hear it and we get shot down in flames for the negativity. But let me say, if you heard a lot of what is being said, everyone would be up in arms....but is it factual, who knows because we are not hearing it from SJG, just snippets here and snippets there from the press releases, ayuntamiento officials, Forums, agents, people, towns-folk.

If i was a potential buyer, (we were once), I would want to know the pit-falls of buying off-plan. I would hazard a guess, many of us have never had the experience of doing that before and therefore rely on the experience of those that had, and I'd expect those in trust to share with me both sides of the experience without any conflict as a result.....again, something we are accustomed to (and probably will be with this post). I would be amazed if anyone out there has also handed over a fair amount of their money and doesn't want to hear the bad-press.

So yeah.....a big thank you to those that have expressed concerns and our appreciation to you for sharing it with us. Our personal take - this is a journey we have embarked on and intend seeing it through to the end, regardless of the outcome (as long as our investment is safe). We have business relationships with two major Financial Investors buying on this urbanisation who have just as bigger stake in this as we have at SADM and to date, none of them are making any noises regarding overall concern, and since they are in responsibility of others money, I would expect them to be the first to get twitchy.

One thing this Forum does offer is an amount of honesty and now passion.....let's not get caught up in the 'back-slapping' and 'how wonderful the world is' scenarios and lets keep this Forum REAL !!!! 

Darren & Michelle

 

This message was last edited by Darren Ward on 4/30/2007.

far,

It is quite distressing to hear your plight. A bank guarantee should always tie in with the completion date on your contract. If the contract completion date was extended then the guarantee should also have been extended at the same time. If whatever party, SJ or their bankers refused this condition then that was the time to walk away. It is kind of you to share your problem with us as it might save somebody else having a similar experience.

 

This message was last edited by taxiparrots on 4/29/2007.

Darren,
I had just posted a similar message (not quite so forthright)on the other board and agree 100%. I have been on the receiving end of the "wolves" from a previous developement who attack people who report anything negative. We need to be aware of all news not just the good stuff. We do however have to try and be aware that some people will deliberately try and stir things up for their own means, whatever they may be! I for one will continue to ask questions of my agent, my solicitor and SJ in the hope that someone might actually tell me the truth! We need to keep on sharing information, good or bad but try and stick to facts when we do. I am sure everything will be fine and my own opinion is that SADM will eventually complete but in a smaller scale (not such a bad thing). It would just be nice if Sj would actually communicate with us and tell everyone exactly where they are up to and what the next stages are.
Stay positive everyone
Ian

Too true u lot out there keep the momentum going we all need to know,

I realise I sometimes seem flippant it is not really the case just want to keep everyone upbeat

I like the majority, am desperate to get to Jumilla and see the fruits of my working life in the form of a new way of life ,new friends and neighbours who care about each other

and even though my husband  Dave won't post,  unless he feels very strongly, and I can tell you he has given Ambasun a run for thier money. Any questions he wants answering they are bombarded with emails till he gets what he wants

Anyway enough said I'm off to bed BUT beware I'll be back  "as Arnie once said" TTFN

GAL

 

Thanks to everyone for the kind wishes. We wish you all the very best too.

We thought long & hard before pulling out of Jumilla. Finally, the primary reason was because SJ would not write a contract which protected our investment. This included a refusal to give details of their bank guarantee and insurance polices required by spanish law.  The only deposit we submitted was a reservation deposit  to the agent, and that is safe so we have no problems.

We know there is a risk to buying off-plan (this is not our only property investment) and we were, and still are, happy to take that risk - but it has to be a managed risk. As everyone advises, we have done our due diligence and in this case we were not comfortable with what we found based on our circumstances & needs.  But please note that, if we had been buying this property to live in ourselves, or as a holiday home, our views may have been different. We aren't buying for those reasons, so we had no emotion tied up in the decision. It was purely risk management. We sincerely hope that all goes well for everyone on this board. There is already a great sense of community which we're sure will continue into the Jumilla complex when it is complete. Best wishes to you all.

Hi sdboyle,

If SJ had refused to give me a bank guarantee i would also have pulled out. Luckily however, i have one in place.I understand from my solicitor that quite a number of her SADM clients have requested bank guarantees which for whatever reason have not been forthcoming . They are giving SJ 20 days to produce guarantees otherwise they are pulling out.

This message was last edited by taxiparrots on 5/13/2007.

This message was last edited by taxiparrots on 5/13/2007.