ITV show on the Costa Del Sol

Hi Rixxy,

Whereabouts was that house that the blond woman put the 185K bid in for? It looked really nice.  Prices are starting to look very cheap now, so might be time for us to think about buying.  Maybe we´ll pop along to one of your auctions....

Thanks

David

On another forum someone has contacted the local papers to suggest that people volunteer to help Wally on his urbanisation.  The Coastrider told him that the sewage problem has been fixed.

It seems that Atlas was also selling this urbanisation 3 years ago, pity that wasn't mentioned on the programme.  Would have like to seen the response from the happy estate agent.  Both they and the builder have pocketed the money and no one seems willing to finish the project.

Also how can the Town Halls allow buildings to be constructed on land that is used for water drainage.  What's the point of submitting plans.

Wasn't there another urbanisation featured in another programme where the same thing had happened.  From memory it only effected houses in one part of the urbanisation and they all had to be underpinned.

Years ago someone had built a conservatory on their bungalow which was on the side of the mountain. and after a while it started sinking.  On talking to elder inhabitants in the village they had also built on the course of the flood drainage.  Moral I suppose is talk to those that know what happens in the area rather than the numpties that work in the town hall.

There are some awful situations in Spain and I'm sorry for people in any difficulty and hope their situations are resolved. But a few things came to mind when watching the programme:

• The La Zenia site looked like it may still be on builders electricity, if this is the case people may have completed before the Licence of First Occupation has been granted by the Town Hall.

• If you take out a mortgage, you have to pay the money back and you don't own the property until you do.

• Would you purchase a property in the UK without visiting the site and on the word of a salesman?

Rixxi ........ Go Girl!

Anybody down that way who knows Wally (Irish fella) tell him he's a true hero. Never give up and doesn't just sit around waiting for the fairies to finish his little bit of 'heaven'.

Better still if your place is complete and you live loacally, forget the day on the beach, pick up a trowel or a spade and go pay him a visit and give him a hand.

Steve

 Hi David, sanchez1, the house is in Nueva andaluca near aloha golf about 4 mins from banus. Love to see you at the july auction

Hi Rixxy

good to see you on the show last night.  The auction looked good for buyers, if desperate for sellers who have lost so much. Mandy did indeed seem to have her head screwed on right, and looks sure to get a bargain by waiting for the right deal and being on the spot.

Looking forward to part 2.

I watched the show last night and my question is:

Why are none of the agents talking about all the properties for under €150.000 2 bed 2 bath and over 75m² being sold on the coast. 

What bank is still valuing 2 bed apartments in any area at €450.000??

Felt really sorry for the Irish man and i hope that everything resolves for him, could not bare living in that mess all the time.

Joan

I wonder how many people watched the programe last night and thought, there but for the grace of god go I.

When we originally bought in Spain we were introduced to a small local estate agent who bent over backwards to help us, they warned us of all the pitfalls, got us a good lawyer and helped us set up bank accounts. When after a few years we decided to move we made a point of going through the same people again even though it was a new build and we could have saved some pennies by not doing so. Once again these people proved themselves to be invaluable. We can only think that the people shown last night were unfortunate and did not have the benefit of reliable people to help them with their purchase. We to got the impression that some of them had moved in before the first occupation licence had been granted, something we were warned to avoid.

We count ourselves very forunate things could have easily been different for us had we not met the right people.

Bob

Exactly Jet48, there are not only bad experiences. thank you for sharing your good experience with us and prove that there´s still nice people living in Spanin.

Ana

Jet48 i completely agree with you.  Unfortunately there are agents out there who do not care, they are there to make their money, i myself nearly got caught buying in a development which 7 years later still has no first occupancy licence, luckily I had a very good lawyer and they advised me well and we bought elsewhere with no problems.

There are so many agents its impossible to choose from and many of them just want the sale, there are very good agencies on the coast and also incredible lawyers but you need to find them.

Buyers really need to research before putting a deposit down and not let themselves be pushed specially with lines like:

"This is the last unit at this price"

"You will not find anything better"

There are thousands of properties on the market and there always has been, the only difference now is that they are cheaper due to the economic crisis. Take your time and make sure that this is the correct choice!

joanmalaga

many of us swindled were not taken in by agent claptrap, or glossy brochures, but we did think the UK lawyer (in our case)  would be working in our interest as would the Spanish one we were transfered to.  Quite a shock to find out you are a victim of a triangle of lies. We all have to trust a legal body at some stage, when that trust is betrayed, that's wrong enough, but then you face years of court battles in Spain, just to get back what is rightly yours, not common sense fast justice, for being conned by someone in a position of trust. It's a farce, it really is.

goodstich44

Obviously i agree with you, i know that for some the whole experience has been a nightmare and for others a dream.  Unfortunately there is no way of being guaranteed a brilliand agent or fanatstic lawyer, that would be too easy!

Nevertheless now that times are bad it is when peole wanting to buy should be really carefull as scams are comming up all over as people do not want to lose their money!

I think if I was Wally, instead of building, I'd start dismantling other unfinished properties and selling the materials.

I try not to criticise for fear of being labelled meanspirited and unsympathetic, but I still struggle to understand what people mean when they say things like UK pensions are down the pan so we decided to "invest" in Spanish property - by taking out a mortgage, the payment of which depends entirely on the "promised" rental income. How is borrowing money, with no guaranteed return from what you buy with it, to be seen as a good investment? If you borrowed money to fund a business venture, but failed to meet your projected t/o & profit figures and went bust, you'd be unsympathetically tossed out of the dragon's den as a bad businessman. What's the difference?

Heart breaking stuff indeed, my heart goes out to all those people that find themselves in such distressing circumstances.

But as they said in the programme, what is it that keeps us Brits buying in Spain, despite all of the warnings and horror stories that we hear about like those featured both in the programme and here on this forum.

I have come to conclusion that Spain will never make any sense from an investment/financial perspective. Anyone buying in Spain should do so only because they want a lifestyle change. If they are lucky enough for the deal to go through without any of the typical problems, even then they must be prepared not to be able to sell the property when they want to.

I know of someone who bought a lovely, typically Spanish village house in a pretty village near Granada a few years ago. Unfortunately they have to sell due to a family bereavement and although the house has been on the market for over a year now with both English and Spanish agents, there has been no sign of a single buyer, British, Spanish or otherwise. Any investment is only a good one if you have an exit route and can sell when you want/need to.

When we buy in Spain, we tend to imagine that market conditions are the same as in the UK. What we forget is that in the UK generally there are more buyers than properties. I know this in not true right now, but we keep hearing about the 4 million new homes that are needed in the UK to keep pace with demand.

In Spain however, the complete opposite is true. There are far more properties than buyers and this situation is not going to change for many years, if ever, due to the ridiculous amount that have been built (or half built) during the 'boom' years. There are literally millions of properties available for sale across Spain and very few buyers. Yes there are some 'bargains' around now (I use the term bargain loosely) but why should property prices rise in the future? Simple economics of supply vs demand dictate this and while there are so many houses to choose from, prices will remain flat at best or at worst, will fall further - I tend to believe the latter.

Many people are buying overseas because they are so fed up with things in the UK, crime, politics, stress, weather etc etc and believe they can find a better life elsewhere. If you want a change of lifestyle and a home in the sun thats fine - but don't expect to make money on it or or to be able to sell it when you want to. Its time every one woke up to the reality of buying in Spain.

I missed the programme last night, and forgot to set to record. Does anyone know if it can be watched on line?

I have tried website and because we are in Ireland itv dosnt allow us watch on line. Any suggestions please?

Google the title, I did and part 3 came up, maybe the other parts  have been entered on line as well.

Didn't realise it was on again next week, same time .

Hi Maureen

Next week is a continuation not a repeat.

Last nights show can be found here, if you have a suitable player on your computer, it works ok on mine.

http://www.itv.com/ITVPlayer/Video/default.html?ViewType=5&Filter=43785

Steve

roybud

well said. Your post shows a human side as well as the reality. Yes people made errors but I wish more blame on this forum was aimed at those who caused so many problems in Spain, rather than their victims! 

7 years ago when we tried to buy, prices were cheap and prices were rocketing. It looked a good time to get in then, but now ???.  Who knows where it's heading, but the warnings are plain for all to see.

A lot of people actually started the buying process some years ago before there was such awareness about the corruption etc. I think today's buyers are far better informed.

Regards

Poppyseed