Should we buy at Royal Dream??

Firstly, hello to you all. We visited your site last week to view a Macerana. The site looks very impressive and the quality of finish on the villa was second to none.

Sorry to post on your group forum, but having read most of the post, it appears that you will be in the best position to advice.

We are probably going through now, what you went through several years ago. We believed that we had found the perfect property, in the perfect area, at the perfect price. We paid our deposit and then employed the services of a solicitor to sort out the contract. The solicitor has done their job by uncovering the fact that no licences are in place to build as the land is rural. Although the local town hall has agreed for the land to be re-designated, the Comunidad Autonoma may well refuse. On this basis, the solicitor has said that we should not proceed.

Having read about all the problems that have taken place on your development and also the apparent problems at Trampolin Hills, my head is also telling me not to proceed.

Should we give up or will it be worth continuing to the end and hope that everything does work out. Is this the way it works in Spain? It appears that after all your headaches that everything is now coming together.

What I really need to know is if you knew at the start what you know now, would you have bought your houses?

Thanks in advance for your comments. 

Darren.

Hi Darren

Please look at my original post at the beginning of "A Trampolín Diary". This will perhaps give you some idea of what Antonio and co are like. No, I cannot say that I think you should buy from these people. After all, they still have 23,000€ of my money and, yes, I am in the process of pursuing them in the Spanish courts.

I am sure people like Jogary will get their escrituras in the end and I hope they will be very happy, but they should not have to go through all this heart-ache and stress. It doesn't have to be like this and I now know that there are good kind honest and honourable builders in Spain. Don't go ahead and deal with these people. You may get what you want in the end but it will only be after a lot of stress and trouble and you may end up losing your money like I did. If nothing else, you will be waiting for years to get it sorted.

If you want to talk about this in detail, please send me a private message and I will contact you.

Regards

Sally

Darren

You really have to make up your own mind. We did know that our purchase was built illegally when we bought. What we didnt know is how long it would take to be made legal. It still isn't legal today but we take the advice of our solicitor who is convinced that the authorities will make it legal one day.

Having said that, we had a few solicitors who wouldnt even deal with the company and refused to take our business! But we liked the house so much we still went ahead.

My thoughts on Royal dream are that it is probably going to be built after Trampolin Hills and their other resorts so you could be in for a very long wait. If you don't mind that, then its OK. In that waiting time though, a lot can happen e.g. company can go bust, change of local political party, intervention by central administration and decisions do get reversed. So you end up on a rollercoaster ride.

If I was doing it again, I would buy a house that is finished (built) but brand new so you can see what you are buying and have it to use straight away without years of waiting.

From an investment point of view, I do not think that 'off plans' are a way to make money and many new builds are being sold  for their original purcahse price 2 -3 years down the line.

We have stayed on La Torre a few times and you can buy a newly built apartment for less than the off plan price paid 3 years ago.

In the local Spanish papers, it stated that all developments in Murcia have been put on hold for one year due to water supply problems. What if they never get a solution to the water supply problems? Places may never get built!

If you like the Macarena, have you considered buying a Macarena on El Trampolin (there are a few resales) which are still a reasonable price now (when the deeds are issued, I am sure the price will go up)

We do love our house so I am pleased with our decision but we both have more grey hair now!

I think it all depends why you are buying a house and in what century you would like to be able to use it!  Nothing surprises me in Spain though and Sally has first hand evidence of what can happen when things go wrong. Do your research and use a good solicitor.

Thanks for your replies. We were begining to think no-one had a view on the site.

We are not buying as an investment and our plan was is to buy a house that would be ready for 2010 as that is when Chris can retire and take a pension. Ideally 2010 onwards and not before but April 2010 would be ideal. If the bank guarantee is our safeguard should the builder go bust or approval to build not be given then we are hoping that our money will be safe.

Joggery - you mention Trampolin Hills and other sites being built before Royal Dream. Where has this info come from as we know that Trampolin Hills should be done first but the builder has told us Royal Dream is next followed by Trampolin Mula.

 

 

I just picked up the information about the order of the building along the way. I am sure what they are telling you is the most up to date. El Trampolin has taken about 5 years to date (and still going) Trampolin hills is much bigger with golf course and larger commercial areas etc. which you assume will take longer to build. I did read on the Trampolin hills link that someone had said the developer is going to subcontract the building work. This would obviously speed things up. If you do decide to buy, we wish you good luck!