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Sorry if this news hits you as you sit at your desks with the rain lashing against the window, or as you sit at home with the curtains tightly closed and the central heating turned up full blast, but here in Southern Spain we are still waiting for winter to arrive.
Apart from a few indifferent days in November, we have seen clear blue skies most days, with daytime temperatures averaging around 18 degrees – extremely pleasant for this time of year, and a real contrast with last winter, when it seemed the whole of Europe took a real battering from the weather.
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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 Blanca Continue reading »
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With the value of sterling finally beginning to rise against the single European currency, we are likely to see a shift in the type of deals that we have become accustomed to here in Spain.
During the last 6 months, with sterling in freefall and the Spanish property market in dire straits, it has seemed that most property transactions in the Brit-dominated areas such as the Costa Blanca and the Costa del Sol have consisted of a British vendor who is happy to trade with a strong euro, and a buyer from the eurozone, keen to snap up a Spanish property bargain and take advantage of the thousands of Brits making the exodus back to the UK.
Continue reading »
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The notorious bend in the road on the Costa del Sol coastal highway at Torre Real, 3 kilometers to the east of Marbella centre, has just received an official title - ´Tramo de Concentracion de Accidentes´ - or in other words, an Accident Blackspot.
Signs have already been erected in the area, although none are in English, so any tourists hiring a car on holiday in Marbella this summer should make sure they sold down as they approach the area on either carriageway.
There are 2 other blackspots in the province of Malaga, with a further 231 nationwide in Spain.
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The attitude of some Spanish property agents is surprising to say the least.
Here we are in the depths of a recession, with dwindling numbers of prospective buyers and with a growing number of desperate sellers, and just at the time when agents should be going that extra mile to sell their properties and think of expanding their routes to market on behalf of their vendors, a surprising number are happy to sit back and wait for the business to fall into their laps.
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These are tough times in the Spanish property market, and with estate agents closing down throughout Spain on a daily basis, you would have thought that those remaining would be trying to find smarter ways of working and exploring new opportunities to sell properties in Spain.
There is now a buyers´ market for Spanish property, and most prospective purchasers want to find a genuine bargain in Spain. To do so, they are far more likely to shop around to find their ideal Spanish property bargain, and to use more than one agent.
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There are many layers of healthcare for the non-resident in Spain. Firstly, as residents of an EU country, you would be entitled to free emergency healthcare in Spain, but if you are likely to be staying in Spain for more than a couple of weeks, there are plenty of other paid options available to you.
Firstly, there are a number of English speaking doctors in Spain, with typical charges of around 50 euros for a consultation.
Another useful service for those people on the Costa del Sol is the Helicopteros Sanitarios, otherwise known as the Flying Doctors. For an annual fee of around 200 euros (there are also special deals for couples and families), the company promises to dispatch an ambulance or helicopter to you, equipped with the very latest equipment and manned by English speaking doctors in order to adminster the first treatment and if necessary to transport you to the nearest hospital. Continue reading »
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Pharmacies in Spain are great. When I first landed here on the Costa del Sol 8 years ago, I was amazed to find that the local pharmacists in Marbella would dispense a month´s worth of my beta-blockers over the counter without prescription. Even now, I´m still buying over the counter, and paying around 3 euros for the privilege. Imagine that in the UK?!
My friends were equally impressed. In fact, in the event of us having any aches, pains or sniffles, we would simply pop along to the pharmacy, ask for a solution, and “hey presto!” we were feeling great again in no time. Who needed doctors?
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I haven´t got a clue what the figures show (in any event we normally have to wait about 2 years to find out!), but from anecdotal evidence alone, I am convinced that the Costa del Sol property market is showing signs of recovery.
Like most areas of the world, here in Marbella we saw a painful 2nd half to 2008 as the credit crunch gripped the markets in a vice and buyers were reluctant to invest. The last 6 months have seen several rounds of aggressive price-cutting by property vendors, and sales prices are now down to pre-boom levels in some places.
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Those of you who are already familiar with Puerto Banus will probably already know of the frontline Italian restaurant, Picasso. Serving a variety of pizzas, pasta dishes, salads and meat, this restaurant has been a thriving presence in Puerto Banus for several years.
Here we are in February, traditionally the quietest time for Costa del Sol tourism, and if you took a stroll around Puerto Banus at the weekend, you would have seen most restaurants struggling to attract diners through their doors – in fact, I noticed a few that were absolutely empty.
