goodstich44

I apologise if I perhaps sounded unsympathetic in my recent blog. I feel very much for the people who are at their wits end and living a nightmare instead of the dream.

However it is because of the very biased nature of these programmes that all builders, developers, lawyers, estate agents etc are all labelled as unscrupulous. Perhaps a documentary that is thoroughly researched, that gives the best advice on buying a home in Spain, with interviews from happy purchasers, would better benefit potential ex-pats.

The unbiased nature of such a programme would highlight the pitfalls but at the same time offer impartial advise on how to avoid the conmen. After all, as you said, there are many people who have hit on the right formula and have settled here with very little hassle whatsoever.

I would support any action that identifies and brings to justice, the liars and cheats who prey on the naivety or take advantage of anyone in this situation. Such behaviour goes against all that most decent foke believe in. If it means bad press for them then so be it, but a television programme or newspaper article should not conclude that it is the same for everyone. I also believe it to be very realistic that one day the decent operators will prevail. The culture that believes in greed and corruption is slowly beginning to show cracks as more and more investigations and arrests continue. But do we really know the true scale of this situation or how deep it goes? Are we just chipping away at the surface and not really uncovering or understanding it's origins?

Let us not forget the many successful purchasers, who have invested their life savings in a property market that, hopefully, will provide for their twilight years. Too much biased bad press could seriously dent that part of their dream?