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I suppose everyone watched the hour-long programme dedicated to the woes of the Spanish property market, broadcast last night on ITV.
“Paradise Lost” took a long look at several buyers who had all encountered terrible hardship after buying their dream home in Spain. Let´s look at the cases that were featured:
- a middle aged gentleman who had bought an overpriced 2 bed apartment in an undeveloped area of the Costa del Sol during the height of the property boom. He had paid €250,000 euros, and he couldn´t sell the thing at €180,000 at auction.
- A British couple who had bought a villa in Marbella and had been forced to move out as they were unable to afford the mortgage repayments.
- 2 buyers who purchased on a decidedly dodgy development on the Costa BlancaAmidst all of this trauma, we had a couple of highly effusive estate agents, a property auctioneer who had a lot to say for herself but wasn´t really able to offer a solution for anyone, and a Bradford-based lady who decided to relocate to Marbella and was determined to bag a sea-view penthouse for less than €100k, as ´she had seen them on the internet´. Needless to say, she ended up renting in Puerto Banus with a lovely view of a wall, as she couldn´t actually afford what she wanted.
Desperate stuff. Apparently I watched with my mouth wide open, as the programme lurched from one extreme to another - hard luck stories to cases of sheer stupidity.
I´ll only say one thing about all of this.
Life is far from perfect, wherever you are. A lot of people came to try a new life in Spain without the necessary planning, preparation, skills or resources, and these are the people who are now complaining that they feel hard done by.
I have complete sympathy with buyers who have ended up on unfinished developments or found themselves victims of planning irregularities, but my sympathy cannot extend to people who´ve simply run out of money in a foreign country, or who made a bad investment decision and who are now looking to sell during a crippling recession.
comments
anne juddsaid
tragic,but i’ve heard so many times that people leave their brains on the runway as they arrive.whats the matter with old cortijos?they may not be close to the sea,but they’ve got real character,are normally legal,are in a usually friendly spanish village,so you don’t get burgled every time you go out! come on-life in spain is hard cos the pounds gone down,but do you want to be back in england with the chance of being mugged every night:?paying god knows how much gas,electric,water and community charge each month?yes its not ideal but its a hell of a lot better than the good old uk!!!its home now for the rest of the pigging world-but not us mate!!!
bill fairbrothersaid
i have been a resident in spain for the last 20 years, i watched your programes “paradise lost” doing the usual horror stories about ex pats in spain, another totally negative load of outdated information, in last nights programe the item about the houses in cantoria (almeria) being under threat of demolition was resolved, by the government, in the owners favour six months ago, a bit of old news there then.
you programe makers always start off by saying over a million ex pats live in spain chasing the dream,well, i can tell you its one and a half million in reality, the reason the other unregistered half milion are not recorded is because they dont want to officially apear as being spanish redients, why, well its because the majority are still on u.k. benefits and use the NHS in the u.k. its call fiddling the system, it cost you taxpayers billions, now theres a good idea for a program. with regard to the property situation, you never mention these properties were sold to these people by unqualified dodgy british estate agents, like in the case of the unfortunate couple who paid 60,000 pounds for the “rusty nail” cafe in benidorm, that was a small rented property not worth 10,000, just how much did that british agent rip the people off for, you see a lot of the problems in spain are caused by the british themselves, who delight in ripping each other off, i could give you scores of examples of that i have witnessed over the years i have been here.
according to your own misguided figures, over a milliom ex pats live in spain, can you not have a program showing the 90% of people who live in spain are quite happy, i know lots of them, me included, or do you just want the usual bad news, i can understand the u.k. are worried about the number of people planning to leave and live abroad, which is understandable having to live in a corrupt, overtaxed country like it is, and it wil become worse over the next five years, believe me, why dont you do a programe on that and leave us alone.
every british t.v. program, including yours always highlight the case of the house that was illegally demolished in vera, the home of len,and helen prior, that was a really bad situation that should never have happened, a typical example of spanish beurocracy, well the high court has now decided the government was wrong and the priors are to recieve compensation, your misiformed reporters with their one sided report either did not know that, did not bother to find out, or as i believe didn,t want to report it because it does not suit the purpose of your program,which is to discourage people coming to spain. in my opinion you should stick to coronation street and emerdale, obviously fact based information t.v. is not your strong point. bill fairbrother
seansaid
Bill, I completely agree about the problems in Cantoria - indeed, these issues were resolved some time ago…..but that wouldn´t make great tv, would it?!
I´ve been here in Spain for 8 years…and absolutely love it. Every time I visit the UK, i simply cannot wait to return! I am sick of the UK media dredging up the same old horror stories year after year. Maybe we should all complain to ITV.
sarahsaid
Great posts by everyone so far, i have lived in France for 6 years and the same thing is happening here but does that get shown on tv no because its france not spain.
People come to france with the dreams of running bars, holiday homes, english shops etc….. but are soon to find out brits here don’t have any money to splash out because they carn’t get proper jobs and end up going bust.
If you think spain is bad for brits ripping of brits it has nothing on france.
“the reason the other unregistered half milion are not recorded is because they dont want to officially apear as being spanish redients, why, well its because the majority are still on u.k. benefits and use the NHS in the u.k. its call fiddling the system, it cost you taxpayers billions, now theres a good idea for a program. with regard to the property situation, you never mention these properties were sold to these people by unqualified dodgy british estate agents” all can be said for brits in france aswell.
The french property market is now full to bursting of over priced brit houses because they now want to try and run back to the uk and forget all about France.
I would love to move to Spain oneday and no itv programs would put me off doing it.
I think its time the uk media showed what france was really like instead of always picking on spain.
seansaid
I think Spain has always been in and out of fashion, and will continue to be so. I just despair that the place gets criticised because ill-prepared British people fail, due to a lack of finance or planning. They expect Spain to be this ´paradise´, a land of sun, sea and excitement…..and then they complain that it doesn´t offer them the support that they would perhaps get in the UK when things go wrong, and that they have to speak Spanish to actually survive! Astonishing arrogance when you think about it.
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