Driving to Spain from England

Has anyone buying in phase 1 seen the end result on the inside yet ? I'd be intrested to hear your impressions..thanks.

This message was last edited by Cathron on 7/16/2007.

We have just came back from Arcos and were able to view our apartment which is in Phase 1.

We were very impressed with the finish. All the rooms are tiled . The kitchen is tiled from floor to cieling the kitchen and appliances are not fitted as they are not done until we have completion certificate therfore I cannot comment on the quality as yet. All door finishes fitted wardrobes are to a high standard as is the entrance to the building which again is all fully tiled. The bathroom is also finished off well. The only problem we can see is with the shower room in our apartment as the tray is directly under the window which means we cannot have a cubicle fitted. However all said we are very pleased with the end result and looking forward to getting the keys hopefully next month.

Cathron

Thanks for feeding back your impressions....good to hear that finishes etc are of a high standard.I have difficulty in visualizing the size of the rooms....dimensions are given in sq metres on the plans.What was your impression of the space within the flat & room size??Does the appt feel spacious?  cheers..

Difficult to say without the furniture in situ but two of the bedrooms are spacious and have lovely fitted wardrobes from floor to cieling would fit a double bed or two single beds with bedside cabinets. The third  bedroom is slightly smaller and does not have wardrobes but having said that you could still fit two single beds with cabinets. The livingroom is average size large enough for a two and three seater couch plus table and chairs tv etc.Bathroom good size and shower room adequete.All I can add is that we are happy with the size but will update you once we have the apartment furnished.

Cathron

Hello, thanks to everyone who has contributed to these notes.  I am buying in Phase 1 and am really excited re the news of completion.  Cathron, it was interesting to hear what the apartments are like inside.  Do you remember the colour of the tiles in the rooms including floor tiles?  Does anyone have any info on furniture packages and know any info on the company recommended by Sunset Estates?  I went out to Arcos last November and loved it and have been really pleased with both Sunset Estates and Luis as a solicitor (so far!). 

Jackie

1st phasers......have you had any consultation re finishes etc/colour schemes or do you just get what the developer gives you??Cheers.Mallj.

This message was last edited by Cathron on 8/14/2007.

This message was last edited by Cathron on 8/14/2007.

You just get what the developers give you. Floor tiles are cream throughout . The bathroom is tiled cream with black border. Shower room tiles are cream. Kitchen tiles are white with a small yellow and blue border around the middle . 

We have ordered our furniture from Furniture Express in Estepona. When last in Spain we went to the warehouse to have a look and were very pleased with the quality of the furniture and linen etc. Having said that we did upgrade our package to leather sofas which are excellent quality.

This message was last edited by Cathron on 8/14/2007.

Hello all,

I have just stumbled across this site and have been reading all the comments (good and bad) regarding Novo Arcos and Sunset Estates.

I will give my impressions on both as I too have purchased here ( 2 bed Phase 1).When I puchased I was looking for a property that would give me the usual rental income and capital growth.As I had been living on the Costa del Sol for seven years I felt I knew the surrounding area.I spent a long time looking in my area and found generally prices too high and far too much competition for rentals.I came across Sunset Estates on my travels and found out about Arcos from them.I turned down an invite to join them and decided to do my own research on the development.My first impression of the area was positive,especially liked the lake and quaint town feeling.I discovered the Novo Arcos development which was basically empty ground with a great view,nothing built apart from the skeleton frame of Phase 1 apartments (not very inspiring ).

After much investigating I found that the developers (Romanber) were well respected and local.I then approached Sunset Estates as they were sole agents for the sale.I had dealings with Tim Davies one of the owners and found him to be professional and helpfull.I decided to buy a 2 bed 2 bath in Phase 1. I was a bit sceptical about using their recommended lawyer (luis Mendez ) but having bought in Spain a few times this is quite normal.

The completion date was put back a few times but again this is always the case in Spain,but it looks like Phase 1 is now there.

Only one problem for me now,I have moved to the Bahamas.Anybody want to buy a new apartment ??

Barry Harker (contented purchaser )

There is a facility on this site to display pics....anyone who has seen the finished 1st phase feel like sharing their pics??

Does anyone have any pictures of the finished apartments yet that you would like to share?

Is there anyone intending to set up a web site to promote renting out their apartment - if so maybe you would like to let us know about it?

I have set a up webspace just to keep Arcos things togehter until our place is ready.

www.arcos.me.uk

This is mostly a collection of things from the web, but I would be grateful for any comments or suggestions.

Also, would be interested to know if anyone has sold on a property from phase 1 and if there was any profit in it.

By the way there is a webcam in Plaza del Cabildo

www.ayuntamientoarcos.org/webcammy.shtml

The weather always looks good whenever I have had a look.

Regds

Nigel Baker

Hi,

I have sent you a P.M.

The latest pictures of phase 2 and some of the rest of the plot have been sent to me by Paul at Spanish Solutions.

I have put some on my web site www.arcos.me.uk



Hope this is useful

Regards Nigel

Hiya, I have purchased a property in Block 2 - my sister in block 8 and her solicitor said the completion date is now March 2009 (could overun by three months as well) has anybody else heard this??

I have sent you a PM.

Hi martinez.....I think the original delivery date was nov 07...which changed when the decision was made by Romanber to build all phase 2 blocks at once.When I agreed my purchase in portal 5 in march 07 the delivery date talked of was in march 08.lately this seems to have changed to August 08.I recently had some email correspondence with Lynda at Sunset & she told me only the other day that the appts would not be ready 'till the end of the year at least......so you may well be right.!!

 You would think the builders could be alot more accurate with these matters & probably ought to be tied into some kind of penalty if they fail to deliver as promised as we all have large amouts of money tied up in this & need to be able to plan ahead with a degree of certainty...........all the best mallj.

Hi Everyone

We were in Arcos June last year (07) at that time the Portal 1 and 4 were almost complete, we had a look inside one of them and they were working on the interior.

From the pictures sent to me it looks like work is well under way on Portal 2 and 3 but not even started on 5 / 6 yet. But as the site was apparently secure pictures had to be taken from outside the perimeter fence and it is not easy to see exactly what work has been done. I am no expert but I would say the next phase won’t be ready until the end of the year; but I could be wrong. 

It will be interesting to see if the Northern Rock debacle and current stall in the British housing market have any significant impact. In today’s Daily Telegraph there is an article saying that Barratt Dev shares are now down 74% on their year high, Taylor W -69% Persimon -56% etc. House prices in the UK are now falling noticeably and this will obviously have some knock on effect as the development seems to be targeted at mostly at UK buyers. I suspect there is a similar slowing down in the Spanish property market generally and the building work will slow down or speed up to match demand. That said anyone that visits Arcos and the surrounding area must surely prefer a property in this area than anywhere else in Spain (certainly anywhere else I have been). There is some strong competition at the moment  (especially with the poor £ / € rates) and other places like Dubai and the US are being promoted quite a bit just now.  I think Arcos can hold its own with these places and is actually better placed than most of the rest of Spain to ride any property downturn.

I don’t want to be all doom and gloom, just think we need to be a bit realistic. I am under the impression the builder has to start paying forfeits if they are the cause of any delay past March 09 (and of course they want the rest of the money) – so if it’s all ready before then I’ll be satisfied.

Regds

Nigel

www.arcos.me.uk

HI all..well lets hope there is no down turn as buying offplan only works in an aspiring market.The price you buy at hopefullly being less than the value at delivery....this being the reward for buying blind to an extent & for the wait 'till your investment returns anything.......in a falling market after a long ( and getting longer!) wait we may find ourselves buying at a price more than the property is worth!!Lets hope we dont see this scenario....mallj