QUAD For Sale

Hi All

I was just wondering if anyone is able to give me an idea as to how best to furnish our apartments to a reasonable standard, i.e. is a 'furniture package' the best option, or is it a practical option & is it a more cost effective option to buy beds, sofas etc locally?

I haven't got much spare time on my hands unfortunately, & so a furniture package sounds quite attractive as I don't really know the area yet, & it would be more convenient, particularly as they seem to deliver & set everything up for you, even if you are in the UK at the time. However, I would like our apartment to look reasonably trendy: also I wouldn't want to go down this route if it is miles more expensive to do so, & if it is possible to kit out our apartment locally with good quality furnishings.

If anyone has gone down the furniture package route, has this been through Polaris World's outlet, or another provider. I appreciate that it is still early days from a completions point of view & so many fellow buyers many not have got as far as this, but any feedback or recommendations would be much appreciated.    

We had a look at a few furniture places after signing at the Notary and we will be going for a package as we are all in the same boat as far as time is concerned. We found that the packages were very similar but we found that a company called "Inside Right" had a good stock of furniture in their warehouse and so were ready to install immediatly, Gareth was  very helpful and you could add or remove any item from the package.

In the end we decided to go for a package which was furniture only, as we decided to shop for the electrical goods (fridge/freezer, washing machine, dishwasher and TV) ourself. We felt we could drive a harder bargain with an electrical store because of the ammount we were buying. At least with the furniture installed we could use our place as a base to work from rather than renting again, if the utilities get connected.

Inside Right are in an industrial estate between La Torre and the main Polaris office, its the "Roldan" turn off on the main C-3319 road. They all have discounts, so drive a hard bargain, theres so much competition. DFS in San Javier is another popular one, but we were happy with Inside right,

John. Salvia 4. Phase 1.

Hi all

We have kitted out a 2 bedroom apartment on the Polaris developemnt La Torre and used an English company called Furniture4Spain. They are also based on the commercial site between La Torre and Polaris World head office, just off the Roldan road. We went for a furniture package and in the main were very pleased, they fitted everything in and unpacked all the items and cleaned the property ready for us to go over and stay there. We are shortly due to complete on two more properties on the Hacienda Riquelme Golf Resort and would certainly consider using them again. The total price was in the region of 8,000 euros, including appliances, TV crockery, cutlery, bed linen towels etc. etc. Basically everything you would need to stay there and or let the apartment out.

However, in respect of the Hacienda development, we are disappointed that Polaris are now pushing us to complete, yet the properties are not finished and no facilities are available. Having been over to Spain last week and looked at the progress, it is clear Polaris are rushing the building work to push for completions and the quality is certainly dropping from that on La Torre. It would be interesting to hear from anyone else who share this view. Apparently, the Town Hall has provided Polaris the licence of habitation, but the properties are certainly not habitable and we could not let them out.

Regards

Les Gray

Thanks Guys

The info you forwarded will be really helpful - interesting that you didn't choose a Polaris World option -  did you consider or view any of their packages, & if so, did you reject PW as they were a more expensive option?

Lobster,

Furnishing depends on what you arte doing with the apartment.  if you are renting, lots of people go for packs.  Some companies let you chose items and build up a pack.  prices at PW homestyle seem to be coming down but they don't want you to chop and change.  We were told it was a take it or leave it situation.

We are not renting and had the time to shop around.  We are kitting out the bedrooms from DFS and the lounge from Murcia Furniture,  with lighting from Ilucom.  All very helpful.

Les,

Don't get confused with the standard of build and the lack of facilities.   Not sure what you mean by saying the properties are not finished and uninhabitable.

Quite agree that the lack of facilities is going to be an issue for some time.  However, apart from the lack of shutters, the standard of build seems every bit as good as LT and most posts from those that have completed are very positive.  Snagging issues seem far fewer than those experienced at LT.  None of the properties are inhabitable until utilities are connected and the place is furnished, but that has been the case on all the resorts.

HarrynHelen,

From what I have seen on our actual apartments, the standard of build on HR is worse than the apartment we purchased on LT. We are property developers in the UK and I am trying to take into account this is Spain and not the UK. I believe it may vary from phase to phase, depending on the builders you get. For example the nice stone cills built into the walls have been "butchered" and I mean three inch lumps knocked out of them. Clearly the furniture and kitting out is down to ourselves, but with footpaths not finished, large holes in the ground around the apartments, no services connected and such things as lifts not working I would say you could not safely live there.

On a positive note, from what I have seen, Polaris quality is better than many other developers in Spain and in general HR is architecturally superior than their previous developements. Also, the low density and pleasant location makes HR a better investment, in my opinion.

Les

Hi Helen & Harry

Thanks for your input, which is really appreciated. We are not planning to rent out & so I like the idea of sourcing individual items ideally, rather than like some items & hate others, which I fear would be the case with a furniture package. I was concerned that this would be an expensive option & time consuming, as we wouldn't know where to start, given that we don't know this area at all, & so your info is really helpful.   

Your comments were also reassuring re the build quality etc! It is good to hear that the standard at handover is ok as we once bought a new Barratts home on the 23/12/1999 & they rushed it through to get the funds in before the end of year. We then had 2 builders in our house for about 3 months putting everything right, so keen not to repeat that experience!

I take it that you have already completed & that you are happy with your apartment - just wanted to clarify - are the utilities in place, i.e. could you stay there now if you wanted. If not, have you any timescales as to when you will have electricity, water, etc?

 Thanks once again for the info,

Kind regards

Jan 

Hi Jan,

See our post on HRGR completion stories.  Hoping for utilies to be connected within the snagging timescales. 

Lighting is going in on 8th Jan and furniture shortly after.  We plan on going out mid Jan.

Hope that helps.

H & H

Hi Everyone

This is our first post.

We are completing   january on Phase 4. Going out this weekend to have a look and hopefully  snagging. I am concerned with Harry and Helen's comments about lack of shutters, we were expecting shutters as on LT, on each window. Are there any on Hac apartments? Anyone checked this with Polaris?

Will take some photos and post them after the weekend,

Many thanks for all the great advice posted.

Anita

No, only shutters on the bedrooms.  Yes - disappointing - but as they aren't on the spec,  we won't get anywhere on it.  We have raised this with customer service - You can fit them afterwards yourself,  and I'm sure many people will be doing this - and there will be a good industry installing them - it's not a major job.   It depends which way you face as to how the sun will affect your apartment.  We've got several months of winter before this will become totally necessary!

maggie

Thanks Maggie, that is so disappointing as when we went to see an apartment at LT we were told that HAC would be the same with shutters all round. But of course we naively believed the Polaris rep.

Does anyone know if this was specified in the documents for LT?

Thanks Anita