Hi,
This is my first post. Have enjoyed most of the threads up to now but have felt there has been a lot of negativity lately about everything relating to Portofino, MRI etc.
My family and I were in Almerimar a couple of weeks ago and saw the show flat. I thought it was absolutely gorgeous. Love the kitchen which has our County colours (maroon and white) on same - sorry - just being selfish on that score....loved the marble floor. We have bought a 2 bed in Block 5 and it will be slightly bigger than the show flat with the kitchen/utility separate from the living/dining - ooh I can't wait. We will have our own pad in the sun yet.
On MRI - have to say we have had absolutely no problem with them on any of our dealings to date. I get regular phone calls from Marbella to see if I have any questions - she phones me - I don't phone her. We rented through MRI last year and was very impressed with their professionalism and efficiency on that score. I know others have had problems but I am just stating what my experience has been.
We will be going through MRI on the rental of the apartment for when we ourselves are not using it. The procedure has changed now and all bookings will be done via internet into the Marbella office. Spoke to a nice gent from MRI last week called Barrie and he gave me the lowdown on how it's going to work. We don't have to sign up with MRI to rent it but I have to say that it sounds a lot easier than us trying to do it ourselves from Ireland. That's just my personal opinion.
There is no doubt that Almerimar is a gorgeous place and will probably be like Porta Banús was 10 or 15 years ago. We have to give it a chance to grow. It's likely that the first year will give us about 10-15 weeks summer rental if we're lucky....we just have to hang in there....personally I think it's worth it.
Can't wait for our first "residents" party.......problem is I'll probably want to move out there altogether !!! Ah well, they do insurance in Spain too.
Chin up guys.....Portofino is a gem.....