King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia officially opened the new Terminal 3 at Malaga Airport on Monday 15th March. The new terminal doubles the capacity of the airport from being able to handle 4,500 passengers to 9,000 passengers per hour. The new terminal has 180 check-in desks, 48 boarding gates, 11,000 m2 of shops, 3,700 parking spaces, and is capable of handling 14,000 suitcases per hour.The opening took place in the presence of 500 local and national dignitaries, including the President of the Junta de Andalucia , Juan Antonio Griñan. The first flight to use the new facilities left Malaga at 06.50 on Tuesday morning, bound for Barcelona . Unfortunately, most visitors from the UK won´t get to use the new terminal, as most of the low-cost carriers will continue to operate from Terminal 2. Related Posts The Ideal House in Spain… Malaga Cruises Booming Travelling by Train in Spain

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King of Spain Opens New Terminal at Malaga Airport

I was involved in a bizarre situation last week. A client of mine, let´s call her Mrs. Smith, responded to a property advertisement on the internet for a 3 bed property for sale in Marbella , priced at €195,000. Another Costa del Sol property agent had advised me that he was dealing directly (and exclusively) with a local bank that had repossessed the property and that he had been asked by the bank to find a buyer within an agreed timescale of 3 weeks, of which there were 7 days remaining when my client took a look at the property.Of course, my client feel in love with this distressed property in Marbella , and a deal was agreed at the asking price. We faxed through all the necessary paperwork to the bank and advised them that we had taken a reservation deposit……..and heard precisely nothing back from them. We followed up with several phone calls over the next 48 hours, but nobody within the bank with any power to sign off the paperwork was ever available to talk to us or ever returned our calls. After the weekend we then made further efforts to make contact with the bank, and all the while Mrs. Smith was becoming increasingly frustrated and concerned that she may be in danger of losing her bargain property in Spain . But how could she lose it? The agent was operating under an exclusive agreement with the bank, so nobody else could surely arrange viewings or reservations to beat our client to the sale. But the silence continued past the expiry of the period of exclusivity, and we then received a call from one of the administrators within the bank to ensure us that the property had actually been sold. There was no explanation, no apology, no nothing. My client was distraught and very, very angry. We have since discovered exactly what happened. It seems that the details of the distressed property in Marbella were circulated to the staff of the bank as part of a regular newsletter, and at fairly late notice, a bank employee decided that he wanted to take a look at the property for himself. So during the same weekend when my client was panicking about losing the property that she had reserved in good faith, the guy from the bank was inspecting the property and securing the deal. And the reason for the delay? The buyer from the bank had to arrange his flights to Spain and was struggling to get the time off to make the trip. You see, this wasn´t a bank in Spain messing everyone around. No, no – this was a highly reputable British banking institution with an offshore division here on the Iberian peninsula. It seems that bad manners can be found everywhere. Related Posts Repossessions in Spain – worth the fuss?? Repossessions in the Spanish property market Telefonica – What´s the Problem?

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Spanish Property Buyers Lose Out to Bank Staff!

During the Spanish property boom that took place during the earlier years of this decade, buyers became so caught up in the purchasing frenzy that the type of stock that they actually acquired really didn´t make too much of a difference to them. The most important thing in the (then) rising Spanish property market was to get a foot on the ladder, and with the glut of new-build 2 bedroom Spanish apartments that were built, most speculative investors ended up with this type of stock. If you analyse the proportion of 3 bed units that were actually built within any given development of apartments in places such as the Costa del Sol or the Costa Blanca , you will son realise that in most cases, only a small proportion of the development was allocated to 3 bed stock – normally the corner units and maybe some of the penthouses. So if we estimate that 3 bed apartments make up approximately 20% of the total number of apartments and penthouses within most developments in Spain , it is safe to assume that this ratio still applies in today´s rather more depressed and distressed Spanish property market. When we couple this with the fact that most buyers in today´s market are making the purchase with a longer-term vision and with the intention of using the properties themselves for family and friends, then a 3 bed property suddenly holds extra appeal. This is something that we have noticed in the last 6 months here at Your Key to Spain. Most enquiries via our website are from prospective purchasers looking for a 3 bed property in Spain . This presents the market with something of a problem. The glut of available stock is made up of 2 bed properties, while the majority of demand is focused on the harder-to-find, less frequently available 3 bed properties. Therefore while there are savage price wars developing between vendors of 2 bed Spanish properties in some developments, the well-located 3 bed units within the well-regarded projects are holding their own, and are actually sometimes in high demand. This doesn´t prevent eager buyers from expecting big discounts across all sectors of the Spanish property market, but prospective purchasers need to be realistic and take into account that smaller, micro-markets exist within the market as a whole, and these micro-markets are governed and manipulated in line with the same rules of supply and demand. Related Posts Everyone is after a Bargain Don´t Forget Spanish Property Purchase Costs! Don´t Buy Cheap – Buy Value!

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3 Bed Spanish Properties – Not as Cheap as You Think

I believe that the best way to go about searching for Spanish properties in the current market is as follows: 1.    research the areas so that you have a specific location in mind, eg Marbella 2.    browse the internet and speak to agents with properties advertised in your chosen area. 3.    ask the agents how they work – do they have their own stock of properties and do they have access to any more? 4.    ask them if they collaborate with other agents, and ask them if they work purely as ´property finders´ . With the sheer volume of properties in Spain for sale, many prospective buyers are turning to Property Finders for guidance. Here is why: Good property finders will have access to several thousand properties via their network of agents and the various multi-listing databases at their disposal. They will also have an intimate knowledge of your chosen location, and will be able to suggest plenty of options to help you. Property finders work by talking to you at length to ascertain your buying criteria, and they will then approach other agents via their network to get hold of the most suitable stock – imagine Phil and Kirsty on Location Location Location! This means that instead of only having a few hundred of the agent´s own properties to choose from, buyers can literally access the entire portfolio of available property in their chosen location. The other huge benefit is that buyers only need one point of contact to co-ordinate viewings, so rather than having to liasie with several different agents, you can work ´with´ the property finder very closely to fine-tune the search and secure the best property. Also, property finders have no allegiance to the vendors, so they are sure to try and secure the best possible deals for the buyer. Also, they are not tied by the handcuffs of representing both parties and so can give you their honest opinion of the Spanish properties that you are inspecting. And if you think this property finding service attracts an up-front cost, you are wrong. Property finders simply take a cut of the commission that the listing agent earns from the vendor. Related Posts Advice to Buyers – Who Can You Trust in the Spanish Property Market? - PART 1 The Weak Pound – Tips for UK Buyers of Spanish Property – Part 2 Mortgages in Spain

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Advice to Buyers – Who Can You Trust in the Spanish Property Market? - PART 2

The recent torrential rain that we have seen here on the Costa del Sol at least provided some small shred of comfort for local residents. The region´s reservoirs have doubled in capacity in the last few weeks, with December´s rainfall alone guaranteeing water for the next 2 years here in Andalucia – yes, it rained THAT much! The volume of rainfall wasn´t uniform across the region however. For instance 362 litres of rain per square metre fell in Cadiz, guaranteeing the water supply there for the next 4 years, whilst Almeria only received 148 litres per square metre. The level of the well-known La Concepcion reservoir in Marbella rose from 40% capacity to 97.5% in just a 2 week period, to the extent that the reservoir´s sluice gates had to be opened in order to release the excess water into the sea, amounting to the Costa del Sol´s normal supply for a 6 week period. No shortage of water here for a while then! Related Posts The Rain in Spain New British Consul Appointed for Andalucia Spanish Culture - overheard conversation

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Andalucia´s Reservoirs are Full

Leading travel search website Skyscanner has revealed its top 50 most searched for destinations from UK airports for travel in 2010. Moving up one place from last year, Malaga is in top position, with Tenerife and Alicante in 2nd and 3rd positions respectively, meaning of course that Spanish airports occupy the top 3 places.In fact 11 Spanish destinations occupy places within the Top 50, with Palma, Lanzarote, Barcelona, Gran Canaria, Murcia, Ibiza, Fuerteventura and Madrid being the others to feature. Interestingly, the 2 Spanish airports suffering the biggest drop in positions within the Top 50 were Murcia (down 13 places) and Fuerteventura (down 10 places). Data is based on searches from UK airports for travel in 2010, using search data collected in the final quarter of 2009. Related Posts Easyjet Winter Schedule – not so easy anymore? Brits Behaving Badly in Spain? Are the Brits really leaving Spain? – PART 2

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Malaga is Top Flight Destination for Brits

Here are some facts. 1. We are in the midst of a recession. 2. It is not the best time to be looking to achieve the best price for anything if you are selling. 3. There are some great deals to be had. Now, let´s translate these facts to the Spanish property market. If you are a prospective buyer and you have found a property in Spain that takes your fancy, then you will clearly want to secure the best deal. Now let´s pause a second……this is not an entirely different scenario to shopping for other commodities. For instance, if you fancy a new Mercedes, you would probably go and take a look at one or two dealerships and then haggle for the best price. Likewise, if you wanted some work doing at home, you would get a few quotes together and then try to secure the best price for the job.So, you´ve seen that perfect car for sale at €30,000 – would you go into the showroom and offer €15,000 for it? You´ve got your quotes for the jobs at home – would you realistically expect to get the job done for a 50% discount? The answer to these questions is likely to be ´no´. Ok, so you may well ask the question, but my guess is that is the answer is ´no´, you´d end up settling on a price that both parties deem fair. You certainly wouldn´t walk into Tesco and haggle over the bill at the checkout. So why do some Spanish property buyers think that they can make ridiculously low offers on properties that are already very clearly priced to sell? True, there are some desperate vendors and developers out there, but they may not necessarily be selling what you want to buy, and ALL of them are working to some sort of margin. In fact, in my experience most of them would rather wait and sell their properties at a fair price than simply give them away to the first low offer that comes along. Furthermore, a lot of sellers have mortgages to repay, and they simply cannot go lower on the price. I can understand buyers wanting to haggle, and I can understand that people want to secure the best deal. But there are some offers that are simply ridiculous…..and some that are also insulting. Related Posts The Spanish Mortgage Market Don´t Buy Cheap – Buy Value! The Weak Pound – Tips for UK Buyers of Spanish Property – Part 2

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Haggling Over the Price of a Spanish Property

The profile of the typical Spanish property buyer has shifted markedly in the last 5 years. During the boom years, buyers were snapping up anything they could, with demand for Spanish properties outstripping supply, meaning that most buyers contented themselves with buying off-plan and waiting for completion………..just happy to be part of the investment bandwagon. One of the most in-demand regions a few years ago was the Costa Calida, located in the south-eastern corner of Spain, and home to the well-known Polaris World golf resorts . At the time, buyers felt that consolidated areas such as the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca had reached their peak, and that better investment returns could be achieved by buying into a lesser-known area with big plans.With the onset of the recession, and the shrinkage in the demand for properties in Spain , many recent investors in the newer Spanish markets have taken a hit. With prices falling in many parts, buyers have been keen to buy into the more consolidated areas, and so we have seen a boom in enquiries for properties on the Costa del Sol and properties for sale in the Costa Blanca . The Costa del Sol and the Costa Blanca represent the 2 most popular areas of Spain for mass tourism, with a ready-made infrastructure that has stood the test of time. With most current Spanish property buyers searching for well-priced holiday homes in the most popular locations, instead of off-plan purchases in some promising backwater, the Costa del Sol and the Costa Blanca are coming into their own……..again! Related Posts Costa Blanca property - The Dream Haven Bad Press - Media Coverage of the Spanish Property Market - Part 3 Marbella Property - a market within a market

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Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol are the areas in demand!

With the European housing market stagnating, it seems that more and more home-owners are choosing to renovate their properties in Spain , instead of trying to find a new one. Acccording to Ted Jones, one of the most respected British builders on the Costa del Sol, he has seen a huge upsurge in the number of clients seeking his services for renovation projects on the Costa del Sol . Of course, many of the best-located properties in Marbella and the Costa del Sol in general were built over 10 years ago, and with many being used as 2nd homes or rental properties, some are now looking a little tired and shabby. So instead of taking a hit and trying to sell in a depressed housing market, many owners are simply investing in updating their properties – new kitchens, bathrooms and flooring seem to be the most popular updates. Although I actually bought a property in Marbella recently, I knew that it needed a lot of work to return the house to its former glory. Located on a stunning ´pueblo´ style development on the Golden Mile in Marbella , the house had not been touched by its former owner for 27 years, so it consequently needed a new kitchen, new bathrooms, new floors, new windows, re-wiring, and a substantial lick of paint. I have to say that Ted and his team were superb, completing the work on time (within 6 weeks!) and on budget….almost to the penny. They were also a pleasure to deal with, and have honoured their commitment to fixing those small snags that always crop up a few weeks after completion of the project. If anyone needs a good builder on the Costa del Sol, just get in touch with me and I will pass on the details to you. Related Posts Looking to build your dream villa in Spain? – now could be the perfect time! An Agent Buys a Property in Spain - Part 8 - Signed Up! Communal Living in Spain - A Few Things to Consider

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Builders on the Costa del Sol

Rumour has it that the world´s most expensive footballer, Real Madrid ´s Cristiano Ronaldo, was spotted in Puerto Banus last week. It seems that the £80 million star, accompanied by Paris Hilton, brought traffic and passers-by to a standstill as Louis Vuitton opened its doors to the couple……and promptly shut them on everybody else! Apparently, while fans outside chanted his name, the famous couple enjoyed a spending spree inside the world-famous store. Related Posts Fireworks in Puerto Banus Davis Cup in Puerto Banus is a Huge Success Davis Cup Tennis Comes to Puerto Banus

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Ronaldo Spotted in Puerto Banus!