20" case £6.97 suitable as hand luggage on offer at Argos only till tomorrow close (8th July)

Hi to you all, have been to the site on Friday 27th July, still alot of work to be done, completion they say now is November, December, have taken photo's and sent to owners who I have e-mail addresses for, if you would like to see them please contact me, I will be going to the site again next month, as I already live in Spain.

This message was last edited by sandra 2 on 8/2/2007.

Hi Sandra 2

any chance of uploading the photos on eye of spain .thanks

Sandra - if you are NOT going to post on this site, could you send me your recent photos please.

Also, who gave you the info about the site not being finished until Nov/Dec - Lourdes?

Hi All....has anyone discussed the value of these properties yet.......I know for a fact that 14 months before me paid approx 185k euro whilst I paid 265k.

 

 

Also, has ANYONE been contacted either direct or via their solicitor by the new developer. The way we have been treated needs publicising...am thinking of going to the Sunday Times to tell my own story!

While i was out on the Sol  2 weeks ago i went onto the spanish Google website and the cheapest i found a two bedroom apartment on La condessa for sale was 240,000 euros.

Gill

The last time the developer was selling 2 bed apts in Condesa (around February 07), I heard the price was Euros 276,000.

I wrote to a couple of estate agents on EOS over the last 6 months or so and they said nothing would sell for more than Euros 200,000.

I spoke to an estate agent 2 weeks ago and he said the best way to know what price to "ask for" is as follows:

Take the covered / built area of the unit and multiply by Euros 2,500 to 3,000 per square metre. For uncovered areas including terraces and gardens you multiply by Euros 1,250 to 1,500 per square metre. Using his formula you can get,

for the built area of 80 sqm you get 200,000 to 240,000

plus for a terrace of  20 sqm you get 25,000 to 30,000 Euros.

That gives you a total of Euros 225,000 to 270,000.

Which comes out to what I heard the current developer was last asking for Condesa apartments.

Then ofcourse how quickly and easily it sells depends on the desirability of the location, the development, proximity to beach, golf, orientatin of the unit, etc. That is quite understandable in any country.

I have no evidence the above formula works or is universally accepted by other agents. This is only what I was told.

Gill - you might have read that one of the buyers has been told by their lawyer that they can get "compensation for losses". See thread on the Condesa Forum.

 

This message was last edited by Captain007 on 8/8/2007.

Hi Captain 007 and Gill and other fellow buyers

Re the value of our apartments and their value - Who Knows is my thought.

The formula you mention Captain is one I have seen before and its not uncommon to use this model. The value it comes out at feels about right to me but as with everything, they are worth what someone will pay for them today.

If anyone is still expecting to make the massive bucks that we were promised when we bought, with a  pre completion sale and €100k + profit I think you will be disappointed. Annoyed as we might be, the market isn't what it was when we bought and there is not a lot we can do about it - we took the risk. I don't think we burned our fingers completely but I also dont think this deal will make us rich short term. As with all investments, some you win, some you dont.

Bad as it might seem, there may well be some buyers who are simply not in the position to go through with the final purchase for whatever personal reasons, and so those looking longer term (and that now includes me) need to hold our nerve if a lot of apartments come on the market very soon and sellers trade down to shift their liabilities.  Its possibly a short term inevitablity and will not really impact those with a long to medium term view.

Sorry to sound glum, its not meant, but with my longer term perspecitve I am not going to lose sleep over this dip in the market. I am looking forward to living in the place as soon as I can.

 

Appreciate your glum sentiments mfurukawa20. However, what is out of order is that neither Banco Pastor nor the Developer give any information officially. All we get is hearsay.  This situation of not knowing is not pleasant or helpful. I for one would like to be able to plan what I am doing with the investment, plan the mortgage I need, or do something else with my money.  If we were all told offcially that the development will be completed December 2007, or Dec 2008 or Dec 2009 - I think most of us would be unhappy but satisfied. But every 3 months we "hear" of a new date unofficially. It does not matter so much what the date is, but that it comes as official communication and people stick to it. We had the same with Stephanie and her gang and now it is still no different. Any questions to Lourdes at the Sales office are met with "I am seeing the developer this afternoon". But we get no answers. I suspect it is not Lourdes to blame but the "management of the development" who must force her to give the same unhelpful answers. It has become nothing more than a silly game that is down right unforgivable and unprofessional.

 

This message was last edited by Captain007 on 8/10/2007.

This message was last edited by Captain007 on 8/10/2007.

Good point Captain 007 about frustrations on lack of information"directly from horses mouth".  Have to admit I have never  directly asked the developer when they expect it to be completed, so have just sent them an email asking exactly that. Will see what comes back.

Tom

Tom,

I'll keep everything crossed for you to receive a reply or even an acknowledgement that you have contacted them.

I am still awaiting a reply to a query that I sent via Lourdes of 'Insitu' months ago. When I eventually resorted to telephoning her, she told me she would supply the answers when she had contacted the developer to get them.

Just before Christmas 2006 we were told  the development was 90% or 95% completed (I'm not sure which without searching out the emails). If it took 4 years (Jan 2003 to Dec2006) to complete the 90% then it does not take a mathematician to work out that 10% would not take almost a year!

UNLESS of course, there was really more than 10% to complete. But that would mean someone was being economical with the truth. Now who could that be?

They (whoever is ultimately responsible for ensuring the developments completion and whoever has the biggest financial interest ) have dangled the 'carrot' of completion for far too long!! They are keeping it dangling because they need us all to stump up the rest of our cash as soon as they can  lawfully get us to cough up! It would be of no benefit to them for us to ask for the return of our deposits, they would have the whole lot to market and sell again and in the current market!. Better for them that they keep information to a minimum and us completely in the dark. Also, do not forget that huge commissions (over 28000 euros in my case) have already been paid to selling agents when the properties were originally sold. 

  Personally, I think SMD have done magnificently but are answerable to a higher force, i.e., the bank who asked them to complete the development.

 

Whilst we agree with much that has been posted on site recently,we should remember that  NO monies are payable until completion  and the granting of Licence of habitation  has been issued by Mijas Town Hall. Snagging has also to be caried out by future owners.Do not be persuaded to moove in until the licence has been issued as many developers try to get buyers to do,on the promise they will provide power and water. We have heard many tales of woe where owners were persuaded to moove in under these conditions.. Those of us who saw the site last summer were awhere  that the work was half complete,and we feel sure SMD have had to redo some,They have done well to get to where they are now.However the MD did expect to finish by late September or earlier,those were there words in a letter published last winter. Like Tom and many others we feel it is time for a more positive  statement on the Developers position. David.

Tom - I think SMD have performed miracles with the progress they have made so far. Every week we can see progress including our first Palm trees around the pool. That is certainly comforting. SMD inherited a bad job and are trying to turn it around as quickly as possible. They must feel like working for the Returns Department in IKEA. It is a thankless task. To answer your question on developer quoted dates, if you go to www.smd-spain, you wll see a letter from the Chairman. It still says "construction will continue and the project is estimated to be finished at the end of the month of September if not before".  That is the nearest we have got to being given an official target date.