The Real "On the Ground"Market Overview

If you have been following developments recently in Spain in the UK press you could be mistaken for thinking that the sky was falling in as the country grinds to a halt. The British press loves giving grief to others when ignoring problems at home except when it is politically expedient to point out the problems. Look at the news in the UK last week about mortgage approvals being down 47% year on year and prices down 2.5% in a month and you have a much truer comparative picture with what is happening there. Here in Spain, much the same really but mortgage approvals have dropped about 20% despite the banks seriously cracking down on credit. Prices are dropping as many sellers were asking over the top prices. On our page we have some sellers who are British who need to take out money because of the huge increase in the cost of living in the UK. That allied to the weakness of the pound against the Euro has given them the opportunity to drop their prices to achieve a quicker sale.




So what about quality of life. Here we generally wake up in the morning knowing that it will probably be sunny and warm and knowing that when we use the water or gas for our morning shower, go to do the shopping or even fill the tank with petrol that, despite the fact that the Pound has depreciated against the Euro 15% recently, it is still much cheaper here to live a simple life. Public transport is cheaper and you can get about happily by metro, train or bus for pennies rather than pounds. It's not all good news though, electric is roughly equivalent to the UK and phones and mobiles cost more. Crime is lower, people are generally healthier and the World Health Organisation recommends Valencia and the surrounding area as one of the best places to live in the World from a health perspective.



According to the UK press the Brits over here are all bored as they do nothing all day except drink. Untrue again, many of our clients here work in multinationals, in the oil industry, in I.T, in international sales and development roles and they are given a choice of living anywhere as long as they have good communications. Believe it or not they choose Spain and more particularly Valencia as their base and have a thoroughly great time.

So what will your money get you currently? Evidently you have to spend fewer Euros to get a great property because sellers are more willing to accept offers whereas previously they would only sell at asking price. Factor in the need of the seller and you will generally get good discounts but don't set your heart on one single property as there are plenty on offer. Take a good look through the main site at www.valencia-property.com and see for yourself what you will get.




(The photos illustrating this article are of two houses at the following links, Almansa, La Pobla a typical Valencian Paella, an image of the current America's Cup holders Alinghi and the end of a rambling route by Olocau.) For more info get in touch on info@valencia-property.com

Back Again

Sorry for not posting more recently but the blog keeps getting blocked by Blogger for some reason. However we now have a tranche of news that may be very useful for you when purchasing your Spanish property.
Firstly, we have a lot of new property in and away from Valencia. Keep an eye out for our Polaris World offers as they come in. Some areas are looking at a slowing down of sales but quality and location will always sell and Polaris World is a huge success that keeps growing day after day. Backed by a new ad campaign in the UK Polaris keeps up its impeccable standards and looks to the future with confidence. The gated golf resort at a good price still maintains its allure for buyers. If you want to arrange an inspection trip get in touch and they will look after you well.

Next we have managed to get hold of a lot of BMV(Below Market Value for the uninitiated) properties that we have negotiated with some banks here. We have cherry picked the best deals at under 60% of valuation and if you have cash to proceed then we can get you a really good deal which you can then refinance, flip or use as a cashflow property as you wish.
We have been in touch with many of our sellers to get them to drop prices, especially the English sellers as the pound rate is favourable for them on sale at the moment. Therefore many great value properties are now on site at much lower prices than comparable properties in the market. Check through the pages at www.valencia-property.com for examples.

So have a look at everything, get clear on what you want and get in touch with us to view.

Tickets Please?

Well a lot of our clients have asked us to keep them up to date with the Grand Prix ticketing arrangements. Finally we know. They go on sale from the 1st of April and no this is not an April Fool's Joke, prices range from 190-480 Euros. Apparently they are expecting them to go quickly so if you are here...

Meanwhile Fallas is in full swing and lots of people are in the city as it runs straight into Easter. Chaos ensues of course.

New Podcast

Our second podcast should be up and ready to listen to here. (Just having a few problems uploading) This one contains info about Fallas, the elections, our Lanzarote offer, news from Moneycorp our currency partners and a market overview.
Hope you enjoy listening to it and you will get in touch very soon to purchase your own place here or possibly elsewhere.



I have just listened to it and for some reason it has recorded a little bit slower than it should do. Therefore bear in mind that I talk a bit faster not so low and I am not putting on a voice! The feed is at http://vpaudio.jellycast.com/ Listen to it at itunes by subscribing to the podcast and you will hear it at the correct speed.

Well That Was a Hectic Week

Last week was hectic, back to the days when we had so many people visiting that there was no time to have a life outside of the business. So many things going on but in effect the following were interesting for the clients that came over, refurb projects in Valencia, villas around 250000 Euros outside Valencia by around 20 minutes and flats in and around Valencia at around the same price. Therefore we have started to upload more flats in the villages and firstly as you can see here we have some that we have got from my town La Pobla de Vallbona. New flats here with all amenities to hand in a very friendly little town are around 190-250000 Euros. The illustrations for this article range from 195 to 239 so have a look and get in touch and buy a place here.

(We also have villas, terraced houses and other stuff in and around La Pobla, which you can find just 18km away from Valencia to the North West but to finish off the article I thought a comparative in La Eliana might be apt. Lovely rustic style on a large plot with indoor swimming pool for a cool 1.2 million Euros. Check out the last photo)

Off Plan Mountain Flats

Teruel Exists! The people of Teruel like to remind everybody that their community exists as the central government seems to have spent years ignoring them. Motorways are now appearing, and even railways and the fast ones may soon make an appearance. Off the beaten track is the word. So why write about them here? Well Teruel has skiing in the winter, is cooler in the summer and is a rural dream activity holiday place. We have been approached by a friend who is developing a project there of seven flats to sell them for him. There are six flats available from 127000 to 151000 Euros of one and two bedrooms. The building will be finished by the summer, it is set in a lovely old village and will match the village as it will be a stone block. See the latest pictures as it moves along but here are the latest. If you are interested then send us a mail and we will get back to you. Just an hour away from Valencia.

The Curse of The EMails

If you have tried to get in touch over the weekend please send your mail again as the dreaded e- mail curse struck again. However we have now discovered why and this will make you laugh or cry depending on your affinity for technology.

We get spam, a lot of it and most of it is caught but now we have discovered why we keep getting problems with the email and it tends to be at the weekends. Every week our server purges the spam at the end of the week so that it is not left on the server. Everything that has been sent to any Valencia-property.com address is there. We should only get mail to existing mail addresses but for some reason we get other stuff too addressed to Mitch at vp etc... Now no Mitch has ever been seen in our offices! This goes into a folder which acts as a catch all I found today. Well it turns out that things didn't work at the weekend because the folder was full. We have had over 84000 spam e-mails in the last week. 84000!!! That is a few too many I think. So if you want to know anything about erectile dysfunction, cialis spelt in any number of different ways, the NatWest bank wanting me to send them my details, Viagra, Pfizer, or any other number of common spam mails then just send me a mail and I will respond to them for you so you too can try and beat my 84000 Spam mail messages in a week.

New Financing Option

Our sister company Devanio has just completed its first financing agreement. Check out our website at www.devanio.blogspot.com for details. If you have a property for sale and want to release some cash or if you are an investor looking for a safe haven for some money then read about how it is done on that page.

How to get ahead in selling your Spanish Property

The pound has flopped, dropped like a stone and left many Spanish property owners who wish to sell and repatriate their money in a strong negotiating position. What? I hear you say. How can the economic problems mean good news for me?

Currently the Spanish property market is very slow for Spanish buyers due to higher than usual interest rates, the price of properties versus the average income and the uncertainty surrounding the market. Therefore, if you are a British seller who will be repatriating your money into pounds, now is a great time to cut your price and still get the same amount of pounds out that you would have a month ago at a price 10% higher in Euros. The price cut will have two positive effects for differing buying groups.

The Spanish or European buyer who purchases in Euros and doesn’t have to think about the exchange rate will see your property at a lower price than competing properties being sold by non UK nationals who will not be repatriating their money. This might tempt them to visit and make offers.

The British buyer who has seen prices rise when doing their calculations by 10% will find that your property is not more expensive than it previously was. They may well be willing to go the extra mile to purchase their dream house in the sun.

So what are the risks? Well, it is perfectly possible that in the future the pound will go back up but as a 1% cut in interest rates in the UK is being talked about after the carnage on the stock exchanges yesterday don’t expect that to happen very soon, giving you a window of opportunity now to sell at a lower price. Secondly, someone may offer you even lower. It is currently a buyer’s market and this is going to happen anyway at the higher or lower price. However you will get more offers on the property at the lower price obviously and if you are doing a relocation to another property here in Spain then remember that you too can offer a lower amount and expect to see it accepted at the moment.

Bear this in mind when pricing your property and if you want to sell then look seriously at your asking price as you have a compeititive advantage there. This is particularly important in areas where all of the houses are similar in style and build, for example two bedroom flats bought off plan a couple of years ago. We do not handle many of these properties as they are more prevalent in Alicante and Murcia but if you want to see the price cuts we have in place then go to our January sales at www.valencia-property.com and have a look.

More About The January Sales

You may have the wrong impression by the site at the moment as so many properties have been reduced. This is actually because we have been ringing up the owners who are selling, especially the English owners who will be taking their money back to the UK. The changes in the exchange rate mean that UK based owners can drop their prices somewhat and still receive the same money in pounds. Therefore it is a good time to buy even though in principle it may seem otherwise. Bargains abound on our site so have a good look through. The photos that accompany this piece belong to some of those reduced price houses in different price ranges. The top is of a house in El Rebollar in inland Valencia. Current price is 279000 Euros and it is in effect two houses with 7 bedrooms. The second is a village property near Casinos at 125000 Euros. The third is a central Valencia flat at 218000 Euros and the last a beautiful B+B place for 325000 Euros near Villamarchante and the racetrack at Cheste.
Make an appointment to see them.