Are The Conned Better Off

[Jim Allen]

Hello
Spanish forums over the past years seems at times to have been dominated with those unfortunate victims of corruption and lose of their deposits on off plan properties
Some may get deposits back if the Spanish Justice System ever gets sorted.
Either way and taking the falls and desperate state of the property market in many areas are many better off than those that completed on their properties
After all if they really wanted a Spanish Property they could buy one now at a lesser price even after taking the deposit lose into consideration

Jim Allen

[julian]

Hello
It just goes to show that every cloud has a silver lining.

julian

[TinaTapas]

IF they ever get their money back in their lifetimes, then yes, hopefully they'll be up on the deal - although the stress of losing large sums of money (or thinking they have) will no doubt have shortened their lives

Let's face it, by the time the courts get their acts together, we'll all be dust.

[pigs-might-fly]

"You And The Law In Spain"
.......a complete oxymoron.
(Apologies to Brian Searl- but the IS no practical law in this country. Theoretical - yes but only theoretical)

[Jim Allen]

Julian
Hardly. Reality is that during the boom and bust almost all lost.
The biggest loser by far being Spain and its reputation world wide I am afraid.

Jim Allen.

[julian]

"during the boom and bust almost all lost"

depends when you bought and when you want to sell, and how greedy about how many properties you wanted to buy off plan just before the end of the boom.

people tend to have selective memories and forget bout the many years when their properties were increasing by leaps and bounds in value year after year, and now can only think about the times when the values have fallen.

"reputation wordwide" ..spain gets a slating daily in the british press, but in many parts of the world people don´t even know when spain is !! britain is not the world !!

I think that america is the country whose reputation is most affected by this world wide recession.

[markwilding]

When I compare The price I paid for my house here in 2002.Its increase in value compared to my old house in Wimbledon,which was on the market a couple of months back, so I have an idea of it's current value. Then taking into account the exchange rate,I'm better off finacially than I would have been if I stayed put.This may change some time in the future but that's my current situation
I know that this is Andalucia.com but Andalucia isn't a country,It's a region of Spain. It's not Andalica's fault that there has been a world recession, although I will admit it's house building program was ill thought out. However, many people have speculated on the housing market and if you speculate you are just as likely to lose as win
Imagine 1 million Spanish people moving into Cornwall within 2-3 years. Wouldn't it cause similar problems there too such as, lack of motorways, few jobs and bad infrastuture?
Again we get wild statements on here that it's a lawless country.I'm afraid that's not my experience in fact I feel a lot safer walking on the streets here than I did in London.In England many court cases take years to pass through the system too so I agree with Julian there are too many selective memories on here

[frank]

Imagine 1 million Spanish people moving into Cornwall within 2-3 years. Wouldn't it cause similar problems there too such as, lack of motorways, few jobs and bad infrastuture?

Cornwall has been an extremely popular resort for years, but unlike, say CDS, they haven't thrown up thousands of concrete monstrosties, nor are they ever likely to. So there is no chance of 1 million Spanish or any other nationality replicating in UK what they have done in Spain.

Again we get wild statements on here that it's a lawless country.I'm afraid that's not my experience in fact I feel a lot safer walking on the streets here than I did in London.

And so you should, but unless you are comparing similar places, like London and Madrid, it's a pointless comparison. I feel safer living where I do than living in London, but I also feel safer here than living in Málaga. There is no comparison. I have only ever been a victim of crime twice, and they both have been in Spain, but that doesn't make the whole of Spain the same.

[Jim Allen]

Hello Mark
Yes I agree that there are very selective memories.
Perhaps if you purchased 3 Years after you did and lost your deposit your memory may be very different.
Julian. I think that you may have the U.K link to Spain a little to much in your head.
Spain has screwed far more the just ex pats.
Memories = Very Bitter and Very Smug comes to mind. Some things cant be defended.

Regards
Jim Allen

[katy]

Andalucía was heading for a train crash long before the USA problems. Anyone on the ground could see it coming, started to fail around 2004. If I were going to take a gamble it would be for the house in Wimbledon, no contest!

Possibly the conned are better off, depends what they wanted when they bought. The ones who bought for a lifestyle maybe enjoying their purchase and may get some return after about 10 years, who knows. I just feel happy with my money outa that corrupt country, we did ok. but only through sheer luck!

[frank]

If I were going to take a gamble it would be for the house in Wimbledon, no contest!

Have to agree, as a long term investment, I cannot see money invested in property in Wimbledon being much of a risk.

[janda_grant2]

Cornwall has been an extremely popular resort for years, but unlike, say CDS, they haven't thrown up thousands of concrete monstrosties, nor are they ever likely to. So there is no chance of 1 million Spanish or any other nationality replicating in UK what they have done in Spain.

Yes it is, so popular in fact that it's now one of the most expensive areas in the country to buy a house, some villages are now 2nd home enclaves, locals can't afford to buy and local amenties are being lost as there is no one living there to use them - schools, post offices etc. The 1 million or so in second home owners in Cornwall are people who made a fortune in the financial industry in the UK or people who made a killing on their homes in other areas! (And yes I do know what I am talking about, I come from the SW and have seen it first hand!)

[julian]

"If I were going to take a gamble it would be for the house in Wimbledon"

I agree, that would be a gamble

[markwilding]

If I were going to take a gamble it would be for the house in Wimbledon, no contest!

Have to agree, as a long term investment, I cannot see money invested in property in Wimbledon being much of a risk.

I didn't say it was a risk but with the exchange rate and and the rise in house prices (and falls) my house here in Spain has done better..But the house in Bilbao wasn't a risk either even taking into account that your money buys you less because houses more expensive up here.

There are problems on the Costas but go to other parts of Spain and it's not quite the same story mainly because people will alway need somewhere to live and a second house is a luxury and that will always be the first to go in a crisis.
A long term purchase in any part of Spain, apart from the holiday parts coastal areas or the villages where the city folk spend their summers, still remains a good investment over the long term

[julian]

a lot of money is to be made in andalucia by investors who have read history books ...boom-recession-boom-recession-boom.............it´s really very simple.

those who prefer to search the newspapers for negative news instead of reading history books will be too busy preaching that negative news to have the chance of making money from andalucian properties.

[markwilding]

That's it exactly
The ones who have lost are those who bought when the market was at their highest and then needed to sell. Even then someone who bought when prices were high, and who isn't intending to sell will get a good return some time in the future.
Those who bought many years ago and want to sell now can't really say they've lost money.They just won't make as much as if they had sold a couple of years back.
Fraud is a different subject completely,which would need to be dealt with by the courts.
However, buyers who have bought off plan and later those companies have gone bust I suppose would suffer the same fate as the same situation if it happened in the UK.
And as Jim has said there is a chance that they could be better off now,although there are situations where they wouldnt be such as losing your deposit and not having enough money to put another one down on another house.

[katy]

However, buyers who have bought off plan and later those companies have gone bust I suppose would suffer the same fate as the same situation if it happened in the UK.And as Jim has said there is a chance that they could be better off now,although there are situations where they wouldnt be such as losing your deposit and not having enough money to put another one down on another house.

I agree with most of what you say Mark except for the above. Off-plan buyers in the UK don't have to hand over such large deposits as in Spain. The norm on the CDS was 30% even when the soil hadn't been turned over! I have never heard of anyone losing large sums of money this way in the UK. Someone I know lost 100,000 euro on spanish off-plan, with little chance of getting it back.

Anyone thinking of buying now on the Spanish Costas would have to be looking very long term taking into account the poor exchange rate and the probability that prices will be lower next year.

[julian]

"Anyone thinking of buying now on the Spanish Costas would have to be looking very long term taking into account the poor exchange rate"

brits are not the spain´s only buyers and investors, most do not have to "exchange" to buy in spain.

[masterob]

The only people who would not have to exchange their currency would be those from other Eurozone countries, so you are saying that there are more Eurozone buyers than British buyers? Interesting, I don't suppose you can steer me towards the stats?

[Bongtrees]

so you are saying that there are more Eurozone buyers than British buyers? Interesting, I don't suppose you can steer me towards the stats?

I can tell you from my own personal experience that this year (2010) the ratio of potential buyers for my property is 1 Brit and 9 from the Eurozone.