Stop -Do not buy your spanish home without reading this first

English Ningún Comentario »
Nov 162011

Now I have your attention let me say that you do not need to make any quick decisions when buying a bank repossessed property in Spain!

There is a very well publicised Spanish property crisis evolving and although the market has corrected itself with many property price reductions the amount of property available for you to choose from is huge

Whether you are buying in Spain, in the UK or on the Moon – Don’t Hurry!

We all get the buzz and our hearts rule our heads when we look a property on a sunny day and we are relaxed and the dream of owning our very own piece of Spanish property heaven fills us with an urgency to buy now… This is a very human condition and we need to balance this with a rather boring common sense approach.

So what do we advise when looking for an apartment in Spain or Spanish Villa?

Follow these simple steps and you should make a better Repossessed Spanish Property buying decision:

 

  • Never Forget the Fundamentals of Spanish property buying and number 1 is Location! A good location with access to international airports is high on any overseas buyers list when buying in Spain.
  • Amenities, as much as we fantasize about rural retreats etc it is important to think ahead and into the many long years of enjoyment from your property in Spain. I am a relatively lively 46 year old but in 20 years I might need a few less steps or a cafe nearby to have a stroll and a coffee, so a property that allows me to change and will accommodate my changing needs is a sensible thought to consider
  • Aspect – sounds obvious but buying in area that is already developed solves any worry about what might be built. That said there are ever stricter building and planning laws, who says we don’t learn by our mistakes
  • Do Not Rush a decision– that is not to say that you need to take forever either , just that you don’t need to hurry and make up your mind – it is possible to see “the one” on your first visit but it is more likely that you will build a picture of what your money will buy and where you want to be
  • Lawyer – we have said  this before but feel it is really important and so we are saying it again, get a good lawyer who is independent the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have good advice and here is a link for you http://ukinspain.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-spain/property-in-spain/before-you-buy/
  • A Good Agent is worth their weight in gold – if you are thinking about buying a bank repossessed Spanish property you could listen to one of our recent buyers and hear what they have to say http://www.basicohomes.co.uk/hear-for-yourself/index.jsp

I would be delighted to hear from you and I feel you won’t find an agent better placed to help you in your search for bank Repossessed property in Spain, so feel free to email me on robert.evans@basicohomes.com or call me on +44 (0)7970 263 288

I look forward to hearing from you!!

Good Hunting for your Property in Spain

Author : Robert Evans

Publicado por admin a las 1:30 pm Etiquetado en:,

GET ADVICE – Good Advice costs Money -Bad Advice Costs You More than Money

English Ningún Comentario »
Oct 272011

The saying goes that “when the man who has the experience meets the man who has the money – the man with the experience gets the money and the man with the money gets the experience”

There are sadly a large number of people like you and me who have had their dreams shattered by trusting the wrong people. I am a happy owner of a property in southern Spain and in my daily business life dealing with Spanish Banks I do not come across unethical or scurrilous people, so I am one of the lucky ones.

This is not to say that outside my circle of contacts all people linked to real estate in Spain are crooks, patiently waiting to fleece “the foreigners”

Literally millions of Brits enjoy the love affair with Spain and in turn Spain returns that love through hot days, walks on the beach, friendly bars and fond lasting memories of times spent with friends and loved ones.

What is important to recognise that whether you are buying in Blackpool or Barcelona a certain amount of due diligence is called for to avoid the misfortune of some buyers have encountered.

A dream turned nightmare is not what you want or deserve.

So How to avoid being a victim? As simple as it may sound get good independent advice. I recently sat on an expert panel at Channel 4’s “A Place in the Sun Live” at the National Exhibition Centre Birmingham and sat at the table was Her Majesty’s representative from the British Consul in Malaga one of the busiest consuls in Spain. The Consul’s representative was there to ensure that any British buyers in Spain avoid pitfalls when buying and get independent advice was a theme that we both endorsed.

In Fact during a panel session “Our man in Spain” congratulated Basico on our initiative to include the Foreign and Commonwealth Offices website links to our site, here it is for your perusal:

http://ukinspain.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-spain/property-in-spain/before-you-buy/

The best independent advice is to find an English speaking lawyer that is independent of the party selling the properties, especially in the case of a developer

 

More advice on that here:

http://ukinspain.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for-british-nationals/living-in-spain/property-in-spain/before-you-buy/

I feel that if you follow your own good judgement and the common sense approach advocated by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on buying in Spain you should get a great property at a great price and enjoy all that the sun and sensual pleasures of Spain has to offer. Happy Hunting

Author : Robert Evans

 

 

 

 

 

Publicado por admin a las 11:35 am

Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

English Ningún Comentario »
Oct 212011

In an earlier blog we advised you to read the Foreign and Commonwealth Offices website regarding buying property in Spain.

This post we want you to benefit from the experiences both good and bad of those who have direct experience of living and buying in Spain.

Consistently the Number 1 location for Brits buying abroad Spain does have it all, Mountains, Sea , Sun , History, Culture, Food , Wine, Friendly Locals , Rule of Law, Great Healthcare the list is endless and we want you to find all this out for yourselves!

So much information is available to you about Spain it can be confusing and we suggest you try to be selective. Remember that even the most well crafted article or comment on Living in Spain and the Spanish Property market is only one person’s opinion

Frankly these opinions can range for the absurd and tragic to the sublime and everything in between! There are your obvious nuts spouting forth and sometimes it is amusing to see the human condition in all its glory but this content is rarely helpful.

Polar opposite stances are best ignored and normally the truth is to be found somewhere in the middle.

So GET INFORMED BY GETTING CONNECTED

We are all driven by our emotions. Sometimes this is good and sometimes it clouds our judgement never more so when considering moving to Spain and deciding on your new Spanish apartment or Spanish villa. My advice is when looking to buy a property in Spain is try and take the emotion out of the equation.

Start by isolating the facts relevant to your new property in Spain, price, number of bedrooms and of course location. You are in the driving seat with the “Buyer Power” (more on that in a future blog)

One way to decide on location is to engage with the large number of Forums and Blogs that exist and read what people like you and me have to say about the various regions

Here are various links to forums etc

http://www.eyeonspain.com/

http://www.myspain.es/forum/forum.php

http://www.gooverseas.com/spain-blogs

(I Hope these provide some help and would love to hear about your favourite blog or forum on Spain as there are so many to choose from.)

In the Blogs and Forums many motivated writers will have their pet subject and will be expressing opinions that are forged from some good and some bitter experiences, what is important is to filter through the extremes and take what you need to know about buying a property in Spain.

You need to be aware and see potential pitfalls, forewarned is forearmed. So GET CONNECTED and let me know what you find out and share it with us.

Now I suggest you add back the emotional drivers that make you want to take the plunge and buy a property in Spain after all that’s how we live our lives and a life in Spain is about passion, and most importantly Enjoy the Journey…

Author : Robert Evans

Publicado por admin a las 11:30 am Etiquetado en:, ,

How to Get Informed - Buying A Property In Spain - Avoid the Pitfalls - Measure Twice, Cut Once

English Ningún Comentario »
Oct 062011

Any Carpenter will tell you the maxim”measure twice cut once”. When you think about it’s obvious. Yet time and time again I do little DIY jobs that i don’t measure as I know best.

Sometimes it works out and sometimes it does not!

So what does this have to do with you and buying a property in Spain well the same is true that any information you can gather about buying an apartment or house in Spain will create the foundations you need to make the transition from fantasy about your Spanish Property to action to reality.

Like building a house no matter what you build above the ground the house will only stay up if the foundations are good so Get Informed

Tools For You To Use To Get Informed

I recently had the opportunity to serve on the panel of experts at A Place in the Sun Live at the NEC Birmingham.

 

The experience was invaluable an opportunity to hear the fears and questions of you the British Public looking to buy a property in Spain. What was even better was “Our Man in Spain” or at least at the Consul in Malaga congratulating Basico Homes on following the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) initiative of “Know Before You Go” details of which are above.

I recommend that you have a good read of the FCO and links to HMRC for tax advice.

The best choices are informed choices that does not mean to take the excitement out of finding your dream home in Spain , what it does  mean that if you follow this easy and simple advice many of the questions you need to ask are answered before you get on the plane to Spain

I have a lovely home in Southern Spain which has enhanced my life by learning a language, meeting many new friends and experiencing a new way of life. If, when you have read the FCO and BBc’s advice, you have more questions and specifically about buying a repossessed property direct from a Spanish Bank or Caja then please contact me and I will be delighted to help.. Happy Spanish Home Hunting

Author : Robert Evans

Publicado por admin a las 11:14 am Etiquetado en:

British Buyers Up By 50% - Spanish Property Enquiries Soar

English, Ferias Ningún Comentario »
Oct 042011

Will the Euro zone collapse, the Greek Debt, these problems were not the main focus for British buyers at last weekend’s A Place in the Sun Live.

Temperatures soared over Britain so you would think the best Place in the Sun would be the garden. Happily for us at Basico Homes pre ticket sales were at 10,000 UP a 100% from the 5,000 ESTIMATE!!

50% more Britsh Buyers registered with us than in the event in London in March. They were looking for Spanish repossessed property at all levels from €60,000 to €400,000.

We have 19 buyers making appointments to view in October alone!

Spanish Panel of Experts I was delighted to be invited to sit on the Panel of experts that convened at 12:00 noon each day to field questions with A Place in the Sun Editor Liz Rawlinson as Chair. We shared the panel with a Specialist Lawyer and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) representative in the Consulate in Malaga, Stephen Jones.

 

Stephen was delighted to see that Basico were promoting the FCO website

I had a real sense of achievement when Stephen publically congratulated Basico Homes on having taken this initiative as part of our own “Know Before You Go” campaign as the FCO call their advice on “Going to Live Abroad” www.fco.gov.uk we will publish more on this in future blogs along with the Questions and Answers from the sessions.

Confidence has returned? If the visitor numbers and the Spanish Property Buyers registering with us are a guide! There is no question that there is a lot to choose from but when we explained that we work for some of Spain’s major Banks and Cajas selling their new build repossessed apartments and houses. Our potential Spanish property buyers wanted to know more.

Fear of Losing Your Money –seemed the biggest concern and who could blame these questions as we hear so many stories about No Planning Permission and developers going Bust!

Banks want to know everything – You will know this if you have ever had a mortgage from a Bank or borrowed to build a property, the Bank will want you and your solicitor to provide all the documentation regarding , Planning Permission, Building Regulations Certificates and of course Title Deeds . If you can’t provide these you don’t get the money it is that simple. Well that is precisely the same in Spain, long before these apartments and houses have been repossessed or even built the Bank would have examined all these necessary documents and lent the money to the developer.

So What! Well when you buy direct from a Bank a repossessed Apartment or House the Title Deeds, Planning Permission and Building Permits will have been checked and more importantly available for your independent solicitor to check for you, that way you buy what you think you are buying and not a headache!

So thank you to those that attended A place in the Sun Live and especially those who spent time to visit us! Happy property Hunting

Author : Robert Evans

 

Publicado por admin a las 9:58 pm Etiquetado en:, ,

Imágenes de Básico en la feria de Birmingham

English, Ferias Ningún Comentario »
Sep 302011

Como sabéis, hoy ha empezado la feria en Birmingham donde Básico tiene un stand. Nuestros compañeros Robert Evans, Ignacio Rodríguez y Alejandro Otero explicarán y compartirán impresiones con los visitantes que se acerquen a recibir información sobre las propiedades en nuestro país.

Aquí tenéis una galería de imágenes que corresponden con la primera sesión de jornadas. Como podéis ver, el aforo está completo y el interés mostrado por los visitantes en nuestras palabras, es enorme…

Felicidades compañeros!!!

Publicado por admin a las 2:17 pm Etiquetado en:, ,

Time to grab a Spanish bargain – but be careful

English 1 Respuesta »
Sep 262011

On the 21st of August The Independent Newspaper published an article which we want to share with you on our social networks click here for the article

 

El pasado 21 de agosto, The Independent publicó una noticia interesante que compartimos con todos vosotros en nuestras redes sociales Facebook , www.facebook.com/basicohomes, y Twitter, @basicohomes y hoy queremos compartirlo con vosotros en nuestro blog.

La noticia se hace eco de la crisis española, sin embargo, aclara que, ahora, es un buen momento para invertir en propiedades en nuestro país.

La publicación explica las ventajas pero, también, los cuidados que son necesarios tener antes de adquirir una casa protegiendo los intereses de los compradores.

Una noticia completa, con apuntes de Robert Evans, nuestro experto y responsable en Uk

Author : Robert Evans

robert.evans@basicohomes.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Publicado por admin a las 12:51 pm Etiquetado en:,

Never Make Your Dream Your Nightmare

English 1 Respuesta »
Sep 222011

Do you dream about owning Your own Home in Spain only to worry about how that Dream might turn into a Nightmare?

-Worried about the Title Deeds being in order?

-Worried about whether the dream home has planning permission?

-Worried about the developer going Bankrupt and the property never being finished or worse still losing all your hard earned savings?

These fears are completely justified and rational after all the hard work to build up your savings to buy a Home in Spain you certainly don’t want to become a victim of an ill funded developer and an unscrupulous salesman,, you only have to read the papers to see those whose dreams have turned to nightmares as they struggle to get their money back and live with the consequences of a dream turned to a nightmare! After all these are people like you and me. People wanting to enjoy a new lifestyle in the sun. Basically they trusted the wrong people and have paid dearly

So what is the solution to this dilemma and how to find it?

One option is to keep the money in the bank and forget the dream. Certainly a clear and precise solution but one that is never going to lead to living the dream either..

So have the dream without the potential for the nightmare well we at Basico Homes see it as simple transparency.

As one of Spain’s fastest growing and leading experts in Direct Bank Sales our clients are all major Spanish Banks and Cajas   (A Caja is a Spanish Savings Bank) we only sell for the Banks and that benefits you in a number of ways

Remember the worries, Title Deeds, Planning Permission, Getting what you paid for and being able to enjoy it.

Well I am sure you know if you have tried to borrow money from a bank secured against a property you know what I mean. The Bank wants your solicitor to tell all about the property, and that includes: Clear Title Deeds, Planning Permission and any aspects that would prevent the bank getting its money back should the loan default

Well that is what happens in Spain too, so when a property is repossessed by a Bank or Caja you know that the lending institution has done extensive due diligence before lending its money to the developer. It is that due diligence by the Bank or Caja that as a Spanish Property Buyer you can rely on when you buy a property Direct from a Spanish Bank via Basico Homes..

Last year we sold 592 properties to Spanish Home Owners people like you and me. Now we are offering this opportunity to you so if you have any questions about buying in Spain Direct from a bank get in touch with me Robert Evans and live the dream not the nightmare!

I Hope to Meet You in Person at A Place in the Sun Live at the N.E.C. Birmingham Friday 30th September to Sunday 2nd October Please click here FOR FREE E-Tickets

Email: robert.evans@basicohomes.com

Author : Robert Evans

Telephone : + (44) (0)7970 263 288

Publicado por admin a las 11:57 am Etiquetado en:, ,

“Chatting with the BBC – A Ghost Laid to Rest”

English Ningún Comentario »
Ago 022011

As a Brit securing an interview with the BBC for my boss to talk about the Spanish Property Market is a big coup!!

So when I went to meet the distinguished Peter Day and Sandra Kanthal of BBC´s In Business program at Madrid Airport I was both excited and apprehensive.

Peter and Sandra are charming and as we drove to Cuidad Valdeluz  Spain´s most infamous  “Ghost Town” they seemed concerned that we were taking them to an Dead Town and  Dead-end Story, a carcass that had been picked over again and again in the media (New York Times and Spain´s El Mundo )

Of course no one, including me, is going to deny Property in Spain has not undergone a significant “shock and awe” encounter with the economics of supply and demand, impacting on homeowners, developers and banks alike.

What is interesting and why we wanted to take Peter and Sandra to Cuidad Valdeluz was the altered attitudes of Spanish buyers. These attitudes have shifted and to show this we will strip away the emotion and focus on the facts.

We are Renting with Options to Purchase and Selling in Cuidad Valdeluz: Los Fresnos de Valdeluz,Yebes, Guadalajara approximately 70 kms outside Madrid with high speed train links  (AVE), as well as local trains and buses service the area, with the A2 motorway taking you to Madrid .

The point is that this is the “Ghost Town” most quoted and our recent experience is this: we advised our Client, a Major Spanish Bank, that if they wanted to sell and move these properties they needed to offer the Spanish property buyer something new. So we reduced prices by approximately 25%

We got to work and 7 months later out of a total of 113 apartments that were available in this building there are now only 44 left unoccupied, that is 69 properties in seven months or almost 10 properties per month (9.85) that we have sold or rented with options to purchase for our client.

Our client is happy, the new residents are happy and needless to say we at Basico Homes are happy (You can listen to one of the residents as she chats to Peter by the swimming pool in the interview with the BBC)

What was good to witness was the altered attitudes of Peter and Sandra as they toured the poolside and a three bedroom apartment, the thing that seemed to stick out most was that these are well constructed and frankly quite smart residences if located in leafy Surrey would probably fetch 5 times as much. What I liked was that despite the story being one of contrast between Spain and Poland, Peter and Sandra warmed to the location and the properties and could see that the residents were happy with their decision to live in a supposed “Ghost Town”

In conclusion I think we can look at the experience of the buyers who purchased at the peak of the market and certainly feel compassion for their plight. We can gather some strength from the facts that what was the ugly poster boy of the Spanish property crash is working through its most difficult adolescence and we can derive hope from the undisputed results we have delivered for our clients.

Property is Spain is selling with the better properties securing buyers all over the country whether on the Costas or in the Towns and Cities. So is this the time to buy your home in Spain ? Drop me a line or give me a call for a chat and make your own mind up !

Are these exaggerated claims – We think not – our experience shows us they are not

Author : Robert Evans

Publicado por admin a las 10:22 am Etiquetado en:, ,

Your house will last forever... your consumer goods won't

English Ningún Comentario »
Ene 262011

Did you know that the bulbs could last almost a century? So why do we need to replace them with new ones at a much higher frequency? How is it that nylon stockings, a product manufactured with a highly resistant material, break so easily? How often you change your «old» phone for a new model? How many hi-tech products have you acquired in recent years?

As the slogan, in Spain, of one of the stars of the current phone market put it, everything changes back again. Behind this philosophy that is committed to constant innovation, is a society whose consumption is becoming unlimited on the basis of their growth. A socioeconomic model, backed by big brands, engineers, manufacturers and consumers themselves, which encourages us to invest our resources into goods that will be obsolete and replaceable within three months. How is it possible that given the technological means available to us, fewer appliances last?

All these issues are reflected in a direct and simple «Buy, Throw, Buy”, a message delivered by Spain’s television channel TVE documentary that exposes the hidden reality of the planned obsolescence. Objects designed to die before they shouldn’t stop working. This concept is creating a stir on social networks like Facebook or Twitter.

Basico Homes invite you to reflect on these issues, because after all, when making an investment, buying an apartment or house in Spain has always been and will remain a safe long-term bet 🙂

Author : Robert Evans

Publicado por admin a las 12:10 pm
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