"Pain in Spain" programme ..

Hi All.  Terry from 19b again.  Now that I've found you all I have lots of things to ask......

First off, does anyone have a plan of Los Olivas with the property numbers on?  It would be nice to be able to place you all to your apartments and work out who will be where.

We plan to holiday let during the Summer and fill the rest of the time with long leisurely visits by ourselves, family and friends.  Does anyone else plan to rent out?  If so, will you be using an agent or dealing with it yourselves?  Some of the booking interest we have had is from groups who want more than one property, so perhaps we could co-ordinate lettings?

We would like to plan an inspection visit soon.  Has anyone using Parador found them useful in finding cheap accommodation etc?  Has anyone actually stayed anywhere on Huerta Nueva?  Is anyone using Parador's 'Owners Club' and finding it useful?

Which airport are people finding it easiest to use?  Because I was coming from Cardiff and my friend from Dublin for the initial visit, Parador flew us to Alicante as the flights arrived within an hour of each other, but it was a long drive down.  How long does it take to get there from Murcia and Almeria?  Has anyone found a good source of cheap flights? 

Re two way air conditioning units, our Rep indicated that 200 euro should see one bought and fitted. That seems cheap.  Is that in line with what other people have been told?  Perhaps a few of us together could negotiate a decent deal?

Lots more to ask but that'll do for now! 

Looking forward to meeting you all eventually.

Terry (and my friend/co-buyer Janice)

 

Your questions about letting got me thinking. We sold last year in Florida - where renting out is the norm. All of the owners combined to create a website advertising their properties individually, but the 'resort' as a whole. I think we are 80 apartments, with perhaps half wanting some rental income. That could be a nice number to do something like that - though I confess I have not got the ability to create the website. I do not think it would be too difficult to get someone to do it. Joss came up with the idea of clubbing together to buy pool side furniture, and I thought that was a good idea as well. The numbers of the apartments starts at number 1 in the bottom right hand corner, and then goes around along the bottom to 18. 19, 20 are at the right hand side, and 21 starts in the top right hand corner along to 38, with 39 and 40 being down the left hand side. This is what I think - feel free to correct me!!!! Not using Parador so will let someone else respond, but if you go to www.costaalmeria.com and look at the villas to let, you will find some properties listed on Huerta Nueva. We also used Alicante, because there are many flights available from both Durham and Newcastle, but we intend to try Murcia when we go out again. It is a very straight forward run from Alicante airport but it took about 2hours 10 mins. We have asked for air con hot and cold to be installed, and I think it was nearer 4000 Euros - I will check that out. Feel free to ask anything! People may not know the answer, but I am sure we can find out!! Brian

Hi Terry ,welcome from a fairly new user at 14a.We intend to spend winters & othertimes as &when., with our family coming when they wish.We are driving over to arrive Jan 7 with our 2 small dogs.We have rented an apartment on Valle d,este until March 7, hoping to ease the "possible" completion.We were restricted in our choice because of the dogs but quickly found it in one of the many local papers.,but there are numerous available on this &other websites.

We have ordered our hot / cold air con from B.M.S via Michelle in the 3 bedrooms & 695 euros plus 7% IVA per 1750 Fuji unit & 1 at 900 euros plus IVA in the lounge.Michelle also advised a backup for winter.This is possibly expensive but convenient.

We joined Parador,s Owners Club, & have made 2 visits.On each visit we spent just over 5 hours with a very pleasant lady who was so helpful &ran us whereeverwe wanted.Their progress reports are totally useless(see previous post)

The numbers run from bottom right to bottom left 1-18 then yours 19&20 then i,m not sure.hope your plans run true

Best wishes Haydn & Judy.

Seems that i'll need to budget a lil' bit more for the air con! 

Many thanks for the replies. That has given me quite a lot to think about. I'll be back with more questions when I've had time to digest all that. 

So glad to have found you all, my new neighbours.

Cheers....Terry

Hi Terry & All

We have purchased 11b after coming out on a Parador inspection trip and thought the appartments were fairly good value for money. we are going across for a week on 23 October 06 to check on progress so intend to take some photos to share with everyone else. We are staying in Mojacar Playa and have just booked an appartment for the week. We fly from Manchester, but next May Jet2 are flying from Leeds & Bradford for £27.99 each way, bargain. Am going to sort our air con out when I get there in October however I'd be interested in partaking in clubbing together with other owners to secure a better deal for us all on air con, poolside furniture etc etc.

John & Pam

11b

 

WoW!  John & Pam, you have got a great deal on flights.  The ones I've been looking at are £150-250 return.  May I be cheeky and enquire what sort of price an apartment at Mojacar Playa is costing you?  Look forward to seeing your pics.

...Terry

Hi Terry-John&Pam& all,just to help with comparisons ,theappartment we have rented which is 10 mins from Huerta Nueva is 600 euros per month.It is a new appt similar in size and furnishings to Los Olivos.I dont know if the time of the year makes any difference.Have just seen flights from Manchester with My Travel for 2nd week in Oct. @ £120 each including all taxes return.For next year Leeds/Bradford sounds great -only extra 35/40 mins up M62 for us .

Looking forward to seeing your photos J &P.Hope you have a great time & bring back good news.

Had to find this site a different way tonight.Is it me ?

best wishes Haydn & Judy.

Hi all

How sad it this checking the sites before bed!!  I'm Pam of the P & J.  His nibs is asleep on the sofa downstairs and I was going to have an early night but it's getting really exciting now, checking the progress etc!!

I've just been reading everyone's messages and decided to reply but then realised John had already done so!!  We're really pleased about the Jet2 flights as Leeds/Bradford is only 40 mins from us and they are far cheaper than I've just paid for October - £450ish for the 3 of us from Manchester with Monarch.  I think the art is to book as early as you can. 

Terry, as John mentioned we are staying in Mojacar Playa on October so that we can get a feel for the centre and find our feet a little - we've paid £220 for 8 nights which is incredibly cheap and looks really nice on the website - 2 beds, 2 baths etc.  Also, we didn't join the owners clus as we bought our apartment already furnished and thought their was little else to do that we coudn't do ourselves.  We had already established contact by email with Michelle in the builders and the solicitors and it was a relatively easy process.  Also, still in touch with Caroline, the financial advisor who lives on site and gives us progress as requested.  Apparently Los Olivos is looking spendid, the sewerage isn't a problem and the train is over the other side, although I'm not sure where she means but it is years away if passed in the first place!

Anyway, I'm going to bed now as I've rattled on far too long.

Regards

Pam (&John)!

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Terry

I forgot to say that it took no more than 40 mins from HN to Almeria Airport - it actually took Kev, our Parador rep, 35 mins but then he was slightly mad!!

Good Night for now

P

 

Oh, someone else on board, welcome Terry (& Janet!!!).

Most questions have been answered by others, but I like your idea of a web site, you're right, this would appeal to large groups looking to stay close to one another. Unfortunately we also are not IT literate enough!

I've been lucky enough to find some Ryanair flights at 1p for next March (OK, we've not got flights home yet as they are not yet on sale but I'm sure it won't be a problem.....).

Not only is Almeria Airport only 40 mins away, the route will be (from memory): get onto motorway (next to airport), drive to Garrucha exit, take 1st right, 1st right again and you're onto Huerta Nueva. This will be great for all of us, and also a good feature to advertise - nothing worse than trying to follow complicated directions when you have just arrived!

We are out in October for 4 days, wasn't worth booking an apartment. We have used www.hotelscomparison.com to book hotel and argus car hire this time, but there are loads to choose from.

Welcome again!

Ali & Ken 11a.

 

This is Dave (of Dave & Ailsa who are buying 2A) - we like the idea of setting up a web site for promoting/advertising apartments for rent on a single or group basis.

I would like to offer my services (for free) to set up and maintain such a web site - I have many years of being webmaster for several sites including http://www.readingmountaineeringclub.org.uk and http://www.tdsounds.co.uk .

In fact I have already bought a domain name and am arranging to get free hosting for it (total cost is £35 one-off and a 2-yearly domain renewal fee of about £7).

The domain name is http://www.huerta-nueva-los-olivos.co.uk although you won't see anything there just yet. I would really welcome people's ideas on what the site should and shouldn't contain - and any reference sites would be good - I believe someone mentioned one for a Florida site ?

Looking forward to hearing more news on how the build is going - looks like our apartment is already rendered and much of the interior is complete.

Dave

 

Hello everyone,

Just a quick question for Pam and John.  Just wondered who the third person was in your group only we noticed that you were next in Spain during half-term week so does this mean that you have a little person/child in tow or is it just coincidence that you are travelling then!

Best wishes,

Carole, Steve and Calum.

 

Dave that is really exciting! The website we had for our condo (not my website I mean) was windsorhillsrent.com - but I will check that exact address. The website was a discussion forum as well as an advertising tool. It has an ever rotating slide show showing pool area and facilities (ours are obviously still in development!), and then people who wanted to have their apartments or villas added had a listing with photographs - I think limited to a couple of photos. Let me check the web site address and get back to you. We would be very happy to contribute to costs. Very best wishes, Linda

Yes - it is www.windsorhills.com and it comes up very high on google if you search for rental condos in the Orlando area. Hope that helps. This only gets us into the public area of course - the registered owners have a variety of discussion forums, a for sale column and a sort of timetable so you can say when you will be there and meet up with other owners. Have a good browse Linda

Apologies - I mean www.windsorhillsrent.com

Dave, this would be great, as long as mountaineering is not compulsory!!!! The costs are neglible, I'm sure we'll all chip in.

I've come across a site called www.laymyhat.com which gives good advice on how to market the property on line - how to take photos (e.g. from a chair to make the room look bigger). I've not had a lot of time to read it, but looks useful.

This makes the completion all seem closer and has got us all galvanised!!!

Ali (11a)

 

Caramba! I'm now so glad that I mentioned the idea of people co-ordinating lettings.  What a great train of thought has started!!  Daves offer to design a Los Olivos website is great.  It really makes sense for us all to join together on this as there is no point in us each inventing the wheel.  Janice & I both have some  IT skills, of a much lower level than Daves from the sound of it, but would be willing assist in any way we can. Our skills probably lay more in the 'Los Olivos Marketing Department' and making sure that the info on the rentals gets out to as many relevant sources as possible.

This principle of grouping together to gain extra benefit will be true in many areas, I think.  Sharing our knowledge base brings information easily to our fingertips and we can benefit from each others experience and resources. The ideas already discussed about pool furniture, snagging, etc can only give us better buying power and consistency in service.  Moreover, it brings us together as individuals with a combined interest.  That can only be good for the future of Los Olivos and its wonderful inhabitants!

Hey, it feels good when a plan starts to come together.  Very comforting indeed.

...Terry

 

 Hi all,the offer by Dave re website is marvellous. At present we have no plans to rent out but if it could be used to form & maintain the Community Committee it could overcome a lot of difficulties & ensure a well run development.I,m sure most would ,as has been suggested,chip in towards costs & perhaps Dave with your experience you would offer to play a leading role in setting up the committee.It seems a mystery to me how to get started.

With apologies to Terry for using your thread & toall if i,m asking for answers which have been given before may i ask the following,

Any ideas about building &contents insurance-with whom &how much,&how can we be sure that our immediate neighbours i.e.at the side &below are covered.

Cost of connecting gas electricity, &water.

Finally is there a maximum length of time we can stay in any 12 months without jeoparding our owner/non-resident status.Is it 6months over 12 months or 6months at one time.

Sorry once again but drifted into this buy in a daze,havebeen preoccupied since &havejust come out of it &realised,with pleasure,that time is passing .

Thanks again, best regards  Haydn &Judy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is from the Red Guide to Buying in Spain: 'Anyone planning to spend more than 90 days in Spain must apply for a residence card - the visado de residencia. You get this from the Spanish Emabssy, or you can go to a local police station within 15 days of entering Spain. This is renewed every five years.' Now, I think this is correct in terms of EU law. I think that all citizens of member states have the right to move and reside in an EU country for up to 3 months (90 days), after which you have to either find work or become self employed, or demonstrate that you have sufficient resources so as not to be a burden on the State. So for three months you need only your passport but after that you need whatever the host country has in place for a visa. Presumably this only applies to 90 consecutive days. If you spend more than 183 days in any one year, I think you have to have Spanish residency for the purposes of tax etc. We need to find out if buildings insurance is covered in the community fees. According to Altas, sometimes they are and sometimes they are not - but they did not tell us what was the case with Los Olivos. In the US there is compulsory insurance for all members of a condo association, and if you do not choose one within 30 days they do it for you. We also drifted into this, so we are madly trying to work our way through the various processes. Have a good weekend, Linda

Hi Terry and Welcome,

I too am interested in setting up a website for rental potential etc and we would be willing to contribute to costs. We have had our apt 32a up for sale but may now have a 3rd party who is willing to purchase the other half and co own with us, which will be really great as we do not really want to sell. We were hoping to go out in October but are still waiting to complete on a house purchase in the uk so I dont hold out much hope. Thanks everyone else for all your updates and photos. The development is looking great.

Regards to everyone

Anita and Mike