Another nail in Spain's coffin?
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Beachcomber
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Sadly it is all true!! We bought at the top of the market nearly 2 years ago and now are really trapped, with a mortgage we chose to offset IHT but is now a financial millstone, it increased by 25% this year and will no doubt do the same for next......what with that and exchange rates and pending urbanisation cost we could lose everything and we can no longer afford to reduce our mortgage.
Our consolation is that the town hall is also struggling for funds, as are most in Andalucia, and I understand they cannot make us pay 100% of urbanising costs by law (?) so those costs to us could be some time in coming.......so we are staying positive and accept this is a much nicer place to be if you are in dire straits than a high rise in the UK, despite the lack of benefits here.......so long as we are not re-possessed.
However some coastal apartments along here are still selling, quite fast it seems.......
It is an important lesson for Spain though to really get its act together - I see 200 demolitions are announced for Cantoria, another town in Almeria and that will put the kybosh on property in Almeria for a while....... plus there are literally thousands of other outstanding cases. The only sane answer is to legalise all the properties that are not dangerous, such as on the edge of ramblas, and ensure that Seprona do an inspection visit at the beginning of EVERY building development they have not already seen licences for in future, that way work can be stopped very early on with no rape of the countryside...........and no fleecing of foreigners by wily locals or british conmen/wide boys......it would also help unemployment by increasing the number of Seprona inspectors!!!!!!! Unless the concept of leaving things for years and people then being able to fiddle it for paperwork has 100% gone as a possibility then rip offs and problems will still go on as its in the spanish and western european immigrant psyche and has been since Franco.
Equally it shows that you should never put all your eggs in one basket as the Vera divorcee, but spread your risk over at least two markets.
Our consolation is that the town hall is also struggling for funds, as are most in Andalucia, and I understand they cannot make us pay 100% of urbanising costs by law (?) so those costs to us could be some time in coming.......so we are staying positive and accept this is a much nicer place to be if you are in dire straits than a high rise in the UK, despite the lack of benefits here.......so long as we are not re-possessed.
However some coastal apartments along here are still selling, quite fast it seems.......
It is an important lesson for Spain though to really get its act together - I see 200 demolitions are announced for Cantoria, another town in Almeria and that will put the kybosh on property in Almeria for a while....... plus there are literally thousands of other outstanding cases. The only sane answer is to legalise all the properties that are not dangerous, such as on the edge of ramblas, and ensure that Seprona do an inspection visit at the beginning of EVERY building development they have not already seen licences for in future, that way work can be stopped very early on with no rape of the countryside...........and no fleecing of foreigners by wily locals or british conmen/wide boys......it would also help unemployment by increasing the number of Seprona inspectors!!!!!!! Unless the concept of leaving things for years and people then being able to fiddle it for paperwork has 100% gone as a possibility then rip offs and problems will still go on as its in the spanish and western european immigrant psyche and has been since Franco.
Equally it shows that you should never put all your eggs in one basket as the Vera divorcee, but spread your risk over at least two markets.
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hillybilly
- Andalucia Guru
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Basic maths. This statement is completely wrong - the fall is aboutWhen I first came out here, you got around €1.40 for a pound. Now it's more like €1.25. I've noticed a fall in my pension of about €100 a month; that's down by about a quarter
10% - OK, a little more. If this is representative of the accuracy of the
article as a whole (and as it's one of the few pieces of verifiable
information in it, I'm going to assume it is) then the article is basically
just a scare story.
Yes, I know some people who want to sell are having a tough time. A
lot have buyer's remorse and a lot didn't do any proper research
about jobs, prospects, language etc. However, I can't help feeling
there's a large degree of schadenfreude in this piece of writing.
My cave house adventures http://www.pete-lynch.com/la_casa.html
I'm just really glad that we have no outstanding mortgages. We bought this house outright for about £30,000 in 2001, spent about another £50,000 reforming/extending (in the days you were allowed to extend), all without needing any loans. The house we have bought to reform (and move into) was also bought mortgage-free. That to us was the whole point of moving here, to clear all our debts etc, and still have money to live on (we have savings in a BS in the UK, I work, from home, dp works in the UK and hopefully we will rent this house out once we move out.). Even though prices have risen here loads, compared to the UK, most things are still way cheaper (utulities/council tax etc).
I think it's crazy for people to mortgage themselves up to the limit and not expect their payments to fluctuate.
Why did the woman in the article buy THREE properties if she couldn't really afford it? Why doesn't she rent out the two apartments ( I assume people are still coming on holiday to Spain?)? And being 'told' she would find work wasn't a lot to go on. She does have my sympathy, but not that much.
Sorry if I sound smug! I may be eating my words in a year or two, but so far things are working out fine, and we are much much better off than we were.
I think it's crazy for people to mortgage themselves up to the limit and not expect their payments to fluctuate.
Why did the woman in the article buy THREE properties if she couldn't really afford it? Why doesn't she rent out the two apartments ( I assume people are still coming on holiday to Spain?)? And being 'told' she would find work wasn't a lot to go on. She does have my sympathy, but not that much.
Sorry if I sound smug! I may be eating my words in a year or two, but so far things are working out fine, and we are much much better off than we were.
Finally really and properly living in Andalucia.
Why did the woman in the article buy THREE properties if she couldn't really afford it? Why doesn't she rent out the two apartments
I expect one of those lying Estate Agents told her to buy one, flip one and rent one
As for why doesn't she rent out...haven't you heard there aren't enough renters to fill all those thousands (maybe millions!) of units built in the last 5 years.
These "churnalists" do seem to have a knack of picking out the worse examples. I don't think the majority who moved out to Spain will be the one with mortgages.
One thing is certain though it is going to be doom and gloom for Spain for at least a decade.
I expect one of those lying Estate Agents told her to buy one, flip one and rent one
As for why doesn't she rent out...haven't you heard there aren't enough renters to fill all those thousands (maybe millions!) of units built in the last 5 years.These "churnalists" do seem to have a knack of picking out the worse examples. I don't think the majority who moved out to Spain will be the one with mortgages.
One thing is certain though it is going to be doom and gloom for Spain for at least a decade.
Why is it always someone elses fault?
These are all adults, they took risks and it didnt work.
The woman is 51, no mention of the new boyfriend though.
Why did she imagine that she would get a job when its common knowledge that there has never been many job opportunities for expats. With no job why did she take on around 300,000 Euros of mortgages? She was clearly irresponsible in my opinion.
She and the boyfriend should get off their backsides and go back to the UK and work to pay their debts. However, lets hope she doesnt go back in to social services.
*beep* happens and not just to stupid greedy people like those mentioned in the article and not only to Brits who come to Spain. I am fed up with reading the same old carp rehashed to fit the profile of the reader.
These are all adults, they took risks and it didnt work.
The woman is 51, no mention of the new boyfriend though.
Why did she imagine that she would get a job when its common knowledge that there has never been many job opportunities for expats. With no job why did she take on around 300,000 Euros of mortgages? She was clearly irresponsible in my opinion.
She and the boyfriend should get off their backsides and go back to the UK and work to pay their debts. However, lets hope she doesnt go back in to social services.
*beep* happens and not just to stupid greedy people like those mentioned in the article and not only to Brits who come to Spain. I am fed up with reading the same old carp rehashed to fit the profile of the reader.
The idea of raffleing your house off seems a good one to me, the guy in spain trying to do this has been stopped as he must have a lottery license.
The same is being done in the uk, a large estate and big house, tickets are 25.00 pounds. He can carry on with no problems. I wonder would it be possible to run a raffle from england for a house in spain. makes sense to me. I shall look into it.
The same is being done in the uk, a large estate and big house, tickets are 25.00 pounds. He can carry on with no problems. I wonder would it be possible to run a raffle from england for a house in spain. makes sense to me. I shall look into it.
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princess peach
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I know quite a few people that have been extremely silly and bought houses here and there,one even has 110 per cent mortage(they even had to borrow the 10 percent for the fees)they are in up to their neck even 1 year ago when they first got the property they struggled,this was before all the crisis hit.They are now considering finding weekend work (they both work fulltime thru the week)to keep their house.
Like my hubby says...its no loss to them if they lose the house,they havnt put anything into it(only monthly repayments)
people like us who have put all the money we have into our house stand to lose a lot more.But then our mortage repayments are manageable for now.
How long that will last for heaven knows..I will worry about that if and when the time comes. 
Like my hubby says...its no loss to them if they lose the house,they havnt put anything into it(only monthly repayments)
people like us who have put all the money we have into our house stand to lose a lot more.But then our mortage repayments are manageable for now.
How long that will last for heaven knows..I will worry about that if and when the time comes. -
mijasmagic
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scampicat
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I am so glad we were in a position not to need a mortgage to buy our Spanish property, and not only that, managed to keep our house in the UK which we had finished paying for in our forties.
Our main Spanish house cost 51,000 euros (paid for from the proceeds of the sale of an investment property in the UK) and the little 'ruina' next door that we bought soon after arriving cost 17,000 euros (paid for with the lump sum from my husband's pension). We spent about 15000 euros from savings doing them up. So- in total we spent 83,000 euros.
TBH, if we hadn't have been able to be mortgage-free with at least SOME sort of bolthole in the UK, then we wouldn't have come. We came here as early retirees on my husband's Teachers' Pension, so we knew where our income was coming from and knew that even if we'd wanted jobs there was virtually no chance of getting one.
The pension has to stretch a lot further these days, but we can still manage.
It is very hard for those with mortgages and/or young families and I would not recommend either unless you have a guaranteed job, plenty of savings and/or a bolthole if it all goes pear-shaped.
Our main Spanish house cost 51,000 euros (paid for from the proceeds of the sale of an investment property in the UK) and the little 'ruina' next door that we bought soon after arriving cost 17,000 euros (paid for with the lump sum from my husband's pension). We spent about 15000 euros from savings doing them up. So- in total we spent 83,000 euros.
TBH, if we hadn't have been able to be mortgage-free with at least SOME sort of bolthole in the UK, then we wouldn't have come. We came here as early retirees on my husband's Teachers' Pension, so we knew where our income was coming from and knew that even if we'd wanted jobs there was virtually no chance of getting one.
The pension has to stretch a lot further these days, but we can still manage.
It is very hard for those with mortgages and/or young families and I would not recommend either unless you have a guaranteed job, plenty of savings and/or a bolthole if it all goes pear-shaped.
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wagon ropes
- Andalucia.com Amigo
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We bought our house for cash 8 years ago and have spent the first 7 of those 8 doing it up. We had no water or electric and the roof leaked in many places but after 6 years hard slog we now have a lovely house in the hills which has even got a small swimming pool. We did all the work ourselves, including the pool!! and now, as we are reaching actual retirement age we have NO DEBTS a lump sum still left in the bank and a delightful house.
To my mind, if you are going to move to a strange country this is the only way to do it. Borrowing to make a move into an uncertain future is little short of madness
To my mind, if you are going to move to a strange country this is the only way to do it. Borrowing to make a move into an uncertain future is little short of madness
Life is 'ard den you die!
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princess peach
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Beachcomber
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No-one should consider moving to Spain unless:
a) they are able to purchase their property outright
b) they can afford to lose the money they pay for a Spanish property and
c) they are able to retain ownership of their property in the UK as a bolt-hole if things go wrong
When I first opined these views in the early days of this forum I was pretty universally castigated and some of the more polite accusations were of elitism, self indulgence and smugness to name but a few. I am glad to see that, now, other contributors are beginning to share my view.
Dodgy mortgages of 110% of the property value were common in the crazy days between 2001 and 2005 and the fact that this resulted in instant negative equity did little to dissuade desperate prospective purchasers from indulging in this risky enterprise.
The progress towards democracy in Spain made since the late 1970s by both the Partido Popular and the PSOE government of Felipe González has been comprehensively reversed in the past four years and the situation is not going to improve any time soon.
Do not confuse liberalism with democracy.
a) they are able to purchase their property outright
b) they can afford to lose the money they pay for a Spanish property and
c) they are able to retain ownership of their property in the UK as a bolt-hole if things go wrong
When I first opined these views in the early days of this forum I was pretty universally castigated and some of the more polite accusations were of elitism, self indulgence and smugness to name but a few. I am glad to see that, now, other contributors are beginning to share my view.
Dodgy mortgages of 110% of the property value were common in the crazy days between 2001 and 2005 and the fact that this resulted in instant negative equity did little to dissuade desperate prospective purchasers from indulging in this risky enterprise.
The progress towards democracy in Spain made since the late 1970s by both the Partido Popular and the PSOE government of Felipe González has been comprehensively reversed in the past four years and the situation is not going to improve any time soon.
Do not confuse liberalism with democracy.
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scampicat
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Beachcomber, I agree absolutely - even if the bolthole is a mobile home or a studio flat at least it is a safety net.
We have always said that if things went that way we could just walk away from our Spanish property and lose the money (although I hope of course it doesn't go that way).
I can't imagine why anyone would have 110% mortgage on ANY property, let alone one in a foreign country. I suppose it's the same sort of thinking that makes people believe it is going to be easier to run a business in a foreign country where they don't speak the language and don't know the rules, than it would be in their own country.
Beats me.
We have always said that if things went that way we could just walk away from our Spanish property and lose the money (although I hope of course it doesn't go that way).
I can't imagine why anyone would have 110% mortgage on ANY property, let alone one in a foreign country. I suppose it's the same sort of thinking that makes people believe it is going to be easier to run a business in a foreign country where they don't speak the language and don't know the rules, than it would be in their own country.
Beats me.
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Beachcomber
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I`ve seen all this before Boom and bust it seems to be a cycle, I`m just hopeing this is the same as all the other times.
I`m sure it will recover in a short while and then in about 7 years after that we will be booming yet again ready for the next bust about two years later again.
I somtimes wonder if its all done deliberately to make the rich richer.
I`m sure it will recover in a short while and then in about 7 years after that we will be booming yet again ready for the next bust about two years later again.
I somtimes wonder if its all done deliberately to make the rich richer.
Snot me, stwiscki
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