Castle Asia Share Discussion Threads

[bluenose851] 26/6/2008 17:41

would be interested in peoples views on distressed property purchases

[bluenose851] 14/6/2008 15:10

email me at and I will send you the documents

[bird of dawning] 10/6/2008 11:40

Bluenose,
Can you post up further details of these 8-10% yield developments? Is there a website?
Regards
bod

[bluenose851] 10/6/2008 07:59

i know of a couple of moroccan developments that will give a 8-10% yield guaranteed for ten years

[wig123] 09/6/2008 09:33

Been looking at Brazil for some time now, planning first trip over end January. I know a lot of Europeans have headed to the North East of Brazil ie:Natal etc. , however think their is bargains to be had around Rio.

Looking for a place to holiday 3 months of the year Jan-March, then rent out to buisness men/families. Cost of living etc. pretty cheap, house prices on the up some areas still seeing 20-25% growth p.a. ., downside crime & spiders.

Buying process is fairly straight forward.

[bahtat] 09/6/2008 09:26

BobP

I've just bought there.

Got Brit tenants in it on a long term rental, though may look to living there in next few years, maybe 6mths there, 6 mths here, we'll see!

Needs a lot of research and a good local based lawyer. An, errr,.... unusual legal process,... but straightforward.

[bobp] 08/6/2008 14:39

New to thıs sıte. Anyone buy and rent ın Northern Cyprus..

[bird of dawning] 08/6/2008 14:29

I cannot comment readily on mainland Spain, but have noted the rise in prices in Lanzarote (since 1993). Clearly there is the relative high density of low rise housing there compared with the mainland. Also the rental season tends to be year round.

Easyjet have recently placed Arrecife on their shedules and doubtless this will add more `joe punters', assuming the rise in fuel prices doesn't choke the surge. Lanzarote is also a retirement home venue with its winter sun and retirees are a demographic growth phenomenon....right?!

However, I'm not posting just to ramp the Canaries!....just 90 miles away from Lanzarote is Africa and Morocco. Morocco has embraced globalisation with their new King's open door economic policy, which includes being the only African country that has a free trade agreement with the U.S.A.

New holiday home developments are being constructed along both the Atlantic & Mediterranean coastlines. Easyjet and Ryanair are also beginning to plaster the country with scheduled flights, along with Atlas Blue, the cut price operation part of Royal Air Maroc. The upshot is, places like Marrakesh have become a sort of trendy, chic `city break' destination, and Atlantic coast resorts such as Mohammedia, adjacent to Casablanca, offer new, already constructed, beach fronting, 2 bed apartments, at around £62000.

The difference is of course a cultural one, also the legal system can mean establishing title can be difficult in some areas....but then Spain isn't free of legal complications either! At just 3 hours flying distance from the U.K. this looks a likely area of continuing holiday home development. If you check the Century 21 website for any Moroccan city, there are new and existing flats (not just `off plan') available. Suburban areas of Marrakesh are like an enormous building site....albeit moseying along at a Moroccan pace!...... "there's life down there Jim....but not as we know it"! (see photo of Marrakesh Menara airport).

I'm looking for a flat to buy there, that is near the city and also lettable long term, to (say) government employees....perhaps in Rabat? The Dirham is currently at 15dh/£1, just a few years ago it was only 7dh/£1.
Regards bod
www.moreinfo247.com/8821255/free

[bluenose851] 08/6/2008 12:22

Is it time to buy in spain?
I have lived here for nearly four years. The area I live in pretty good (northern Costa Blanca) and as a result we have not seen the drops that the southern parts of spain have seen. I see in the Homes section of the Telegraph today that the "vulture" funds are starting to buy property here. As a former stockbroker, I know that it is always the big boys who start the market moving, and joe punter, catches the upturn when it has already started. So it is an intersting time.

I think Joe punter will begin buying when the euro starts to weaken (assuming it does!), but the turn will already have occured. People moan about the exchange rate and how bad it is but it is only bad if it recovers from here....if it drifts toward parity then now is a good time. I think it is so difficult to predict a currency where the constituent members have such differing fundamentals. Try comparing the economies of Germany, Spain, Italy and as a real siily point Cyprus. Will the euro continue?...there is an interstng article in the Telegraph perdicting its demise today, personally I never liked the idea, and would love spain to go back to the peseta. We will see.

I am not talking my own book here, although I do work in the property devlopment industry. I think currenct market conditions will last for a further 12-18 months. But the time to buy is when there is blood on the streets, and looking at the share prices of the major property shares here, there has been a bloodbath!

I would welcome other comments.

[maxk] 20/5/2008 08:56

spanish property market
British dreams shattered
Inflation, the devalued pound and the slump in the real estate market threaten the more than a million Britons with property in Spain
19.05.08 - 17:29 - ÍÑIGO GURRUCHAGA | LONDON

[maxk] 18/5/2008 08:43

She's leaving home (again) ... The woman who inspired a Beatles classic has had to quit the Spanish house she built illegally
By ZOE DARE HALL - More by this author »

Last updated at 21:52pm on 17th May 2008

[maxk] 12/5/2008 08:05

From The Sunday Times
May 11, 2008

Spanish property: why it's crunch time on the Costa del Sol
Falling prices, rising mortgage costs, lower rental yields – is it time to say hasta la vista to the holiday home in Spain?

Mark Stucklin





Has your dream of a holiday home in Spain turned into a nightmare? For many Britons who borrowed heavily during the years of cheap credit to buy on the costas or beyond, the answer, unfortunately, is "yes".

Those persuaded to finance their purchase with a Spanish mortgage are being hit by a triple whammy: rising euro-mortgage interest rates, a surging euro that makes their monthly repayments even higher in pounds, and falling house prices that threaten to push them into negative equity.

Furthermore, even when they succeed in letting their properties, the rental yields often bear little resemblance to the exaggerated claims made by estate agents when they bought.

And that is not to mention the thousands of people who own homes that, it has transpired, were built without proper planning permission and could now be demolished following a clampdown by the authorities.

Related Links
Costa del Sol property sales drop, but top of the market is strong
Patrick Cassidy, 58, and his wife, Joy, 61, are among those ruing the day they bought in Spain. In spring 2006, at the peak of the market, they paid €375,000 (then worth £262,000) for two flats near La Manga, on the Murcian coast in the southeast of the country, with a deposit of just £6,000 and a 125% mortgage. Things rapidly began to go wrong.

"At first, our mortgage payments were about €740 [£510] a month for each apartment, but that went up to €940 [£660] a month in late 2007, when the interest-only period expired and interest rates went up," says Cassidy, a taxi driver. "We had one tenant for seven months, but his rent didn't even cover the mortgage. Now, with the exchange rate going bad, the apartments are costing us about £2,000 a month. We are taking a pasting and we can't afford it."

Several months - and several thousand pounds - in arrears on his payments, Cassidy has handed back the keys to the bank. Because of what appear to have been irregularities in the way he was sold the mortgage, the matter will probably end there. Other British investors caught in negative equity may not find it quite so easy to walk away from their debts - which have been exacerbated by the pound's 15% slide from just over €1.50 early last year to the current €1.27.

"Under EU regulations, Spanish lenders can pursue outstanding mortgage-related debts against assets in the UK," says Susana de las Cuevas, a dual-qualified Spanish and British solicitor with Irwin Mitchell in London. "Ignorance is no defence, so you can't argue you didn't know you would be liable in the UK."

So, what do you do if you find you can't keep up with your payments? The important thing is to act sooner rather than later. "Don't ignore the problem, and talk to your lender as soon as you can, preferably before missing a payment," de las Cuevas advises. "You may be able to negotiate a solution - and, even if you can't, burying your head in the sand will only make it worse."

Going into denial and hoping your debts won't catch up with you back home is a big mistake: it drags out the process, which drives up the final cost to you. "All missed payments are added to the debt, as are any legal fees the bank incurs, and you start paying a higher penalty interest rate, so your debt escalates the longer it takes," says Lee Lyons, who runs The Spanish Mortgage Company, a home-loan broker.

Fortunately, the last thing mortgage lenders want to do is repossess your property, especially if they have to pursue you in Britain, so your negotiating power with the bank may be stronger than you think. "They are likely to give you every chance to negotiate better conditions - perhaps a longer term or an interest-only period," Lyons says. "If you can get your payments down to a manageable level, and make a bigger effort to get some rental income, it may give you breathing room to survive until the market picks up."

For many overextended Britons, however, better mortgage terms might not help much. In this case, damage limitation is required, and a quick sale at a loss is likely to be the least bad solution. Dropping your price might mean having to pay more to clear your mortgage debt, but in the long run it could work out cheaper than repossession.

If all else fails, your mortgage lender will repossess the property and sell it at public auction, which could take up to two years. If the proceeds from the sale are not enough to pay off your mortgage, along with the penalty interest and all other expenses incurred, then the bank will have to decide whether to pursue you in Britain. If your outstanding debt is small - a few thousand pounds, say - then they may decide that it isn't worth it, as debt collection is not cheap. If your debt is sizeable, however, don't be surprised if you hear from the bank's UK-based lawyers.

What if you are in the happy position of being a buyer in this market? Can you take advantage of rising foreclosures on holiday homes in Spain to snap up a bargain at auction? Probably not, is the honest answer. Really great opportunities still get snaffled up by insiders long before auction, and those that do make it through may be earmarked by the "auction mafia" - who are people you don't want to cross. If you bid against the wrong person in a public auction in Spain, there is no telling what might happen to your property. Your best bet is to let bank managers and estate agents in the area know that you are a solvent buyer in a position to move quickly. That way, you might find a distressed vendor who is prepared to take a big hit for a quick sale to avoid the costs of repossession.

One final word of warning: anyone struggling to pay their Spanish mortgage should be wary of refinancing solutions that sound too good to be true. In times like these, scams that prey on desperation abound. They nearly always leave you worse off than you would have been dealing with your original lender.

[miata] 05/5/2008 09:46

MADRID (Thomson Financial) - The index for consumer sentiment fell to 63.8 points in April from 73.1 in March, the lowest level since the indicator began in September 2004, state financing body Instituto de Credito Official (ICO) said.

[bluenose851] 30/4/2008 09:38

u still around John?

[bluenose851] 22/4/2008 12:22

are you still looking John. Be careful with Ocean estates, they have a bad reputaion. email me at [e-mail] and I will send you some info

[maxk] 06/4/2008 13:55

Spanish Property Auction Flop Brings Down Gavel on Housing Boom

By Ariadna Carbonell and Ben Sills




April 4 (Bloomberg) -- Thanks to Spain's slumping property market, house buyers are as popular as movie stars -- and they can cause even more excitement.

Reporters outnumbered bidders as lot No. 1 hit the slate in Europe's first ``Dutch auction'' for real estate last weekend in Madrid. Of 216 lots, 194 were withdrawn when they weren't purchased at the reserve price. One man, investor Manuel Sainz, bought almost half of everything sold.

[d9shell] 05/4/2008 10:04

JONNO1

You could try the direct site www.wherepropertysells.com.
Now the blatant 'sell'! There's a nice house a bit further north under ref 463 - not leaving, just moving across the valley.
Seriously, it's a decent 'direct' site with descriptions composed by the owners; anyway, it may give you some ideas.
Good luck.

[maxk] 04/4/2008 18:46

JONNO1 - 4 Apr'08 - 13:04 - 307 of 308

Try this mob, very professional (dont laugh) but on the ball.



I know someone who used to work for them. They are in Moriara so know the area well.

A lot of the agents who were party-ing it up three years ago have folded their tents and crept into the night.

BTW, when dealing with any agent down there, it's best to count your fingers after shaking hands (bluenose excepted) And dont believe daylight out of them, biggest load of crooks I have ever met. That goes for the lawyers as well.