Valencia's Central Market

There is no more pleasant a way to spend Saturday morning than having a stroll around Valencia's Central Market followed by a coffee at one of the Cafe's surrounding it with some tapas. So this morning we went down there and took some photos and a video to prove it.



It is a really great place and finally after I don't know how many years there is no scaffolding obscuring the views inside and it seems ever so light and airy now it is restored. Enjoy the video of another great thing to do in Valencia.

By the way, I have just updated the website www.valencia-property.com with new properties and lower prices on some. Check out the Featured Property on the homepage at 265k.

New "Spot" About Valencia in Spanish

Makes it look nice doesn't it!



Also very nice although this is a repeat. It looks so cool.

What You Need to Know pt 9, The Spanish Work Ethic

If you are going to be working and living in Spain then you will have to adapt to the customs of the place to enjoy yourself fully. Many things are different but here are the main ones.

1) Expect a longer day. Because of the break at midday in most jobs, between 2pm and 5pm in general, the working day is longer. And not many people do the siesta in that time anymore, they are too busy shopping in the department stores and hypermarkets and eating long lunches.

2) Expect plenty of breaks during the day. The morning coffee is sacrosanct for most office workers and others. A car repair shop I know closes for a quick coffee at around 10am and they often don't get back until between 11 and 11.30. Remember though there is also the frequent fag breaks now smoking is prohibited indoors, toilet breaks and general "just got to run down to the shops/take kids to doctors breaks.

3) Civil Servants (I will not rant here) do not actually do anything most of the day. There are millions of them in Spain and their jobs are guaranteed for life. Kill the boss, do your time and come back to your original comfy chair with all the paperwork in the outbox still waiting for you is perfectly feasible. If you have to deal with officialdom in Spain be afraid, be very afraid.

4) The Spanish will work late to finish off jobs. (Sorry I missed a not out of that sentence) This is a particularly good trait as it means that they can always justify their existence in the job by having work ongoing at any point should a boss pop in from the cafe or bar to have a look what is going on.

5) There is a laissez faire attitude to work which resonates with the pace of life in general. If you want to work at your usual rate you may have to wait around a while so get used to playing with your Blackberry in waiting rooms.

6) I think Spain has the biggest GDP in the World. However on the official lists it is just eighth in general. (The best unofficial list is here in Wiki) The reason I say i think it is the largest is that the black economy in Spain is huge. The government is perceived to take such a cut from taxes and, more especially, social security payments that most people consider that it would not be right if some avoidance didn't go on.

7) If you run your own business prepare yourself for a myriad of red tape. Don't drown in it though. Hand the job over to a Gestor. They can do the drowning for you.


8) The Spanish believe in a job for life rather than testing out opportunities and different experiences. That is why they want to become Civil Servants. Unfortunately, there are not many private sector full time, permanent contracts around as it costs an absolute fortune to sack someone in Spain. Therefore expect short term contracts renewed at the end if both parties are satisfied and there is still work to be done.

9) There are expected to be around 5 million unemployed in Spain by the end of this year, around 20% of the workforce. If you are coming to work in Spain have a good life plan and business plan and expect to work for yourself to start with.

10) Unemployment. There are few benefits if you haven't worked in Spain before. If you have then benefit payments are generous but run out after two years maximum.

Valencia is Buzzing Tonight

It is La Nit del Foc. The night when the planned firework display starts at 2am, I think, it might be 2.30am. Anyway the hours before are a cacophony of sound with the Valencian three fingered handshake being perfected as more and more careless people use high grade explosive to blow off their fingers as they keep hold of semtex style bangers for just slightly too long.

A good night will be had by all of course and eardrums will be shattered as the late night firework display enchants all. However, the question is, is this the last night of the proms? Are people in denial about the Crisis? Is the Fallas holiday just an excuse to take minds off the serious situation that Spain is finding itself in currently or is this the way to carry on in life, as if nothing untoward is happening. One million people expected at the Nit Del Foc tonight to watch Lord knows how much money being burnt, blasted and whizzed away. Spain is different.

(The Fallas model pictured takes the mick out of Valencian Football. 90 Years of Valecia, about to go bust, and 100 years of Levante, about to go bust!)

This is What Valencia is Really Like Then!

The tourist board at Valencia have put together a new video to promote the City. It is presented like a film. Have a look and comment.

What you are not Looking For

If you listen to almost all of the news and views spread about the World economy at the moment there is nothing but doom, gloom and despondency. However what you are not seeing is what the news agencies, papers, TV and people in influential positions do not want you to se. Business is still happening, people are still buying and as Richard Branson said in Davos last week, fortunes will be made in the current crisis. Just to illustrate that point, watch the video and see what you make of it. It has nothing to do with Valencia property, houses for sale in Spain or anything of the sort but you might well get the point.

Mortgage Options

The following article has been taken from the Homes Overseas website which you can visit here. Just to say if you are having problems with your mortgage and need to renegotiate with the bank at Valencia Property we can help you as we have already done for many of our clients here.

A number of people who are struggling to keep up mortgage payments on homes in Spain are being offered alternatives to repossession by some Spanish some banks, reports Spanish Property Insight, citing a recent article in Spanish daily ‘El Pais.

Resolutions include switching to renting with an option to buy, or suspending mortgage payments to a later date by electing to take out a mortgage holiday.

The editorial in El Pais looks at the incident involving Salvador Aguado, who was recently made unemployed at the same time as his mortgage payments increased from €900 to €1,100 per month.

After trying various remedies without success, the manager of his branch of Caixa Catalunya, a Spanish savings bank, offered him the option of converting his mortgage into a rental contract with monthly payments of €650.

“As I have an option to buy, even though the rent is slightly higher than market rates, I’m not throwing money away,” Aguado, who lives in Valencia, told El Pais. “Also the bank is paying the rates and community fees.”

The option to switch mortgages into rental contracts with the opportunity to purchase the home at a later date is one of the ways that Caixa Catalunya is trying to assist mortgage borrowers in financial difficulty. The bank claims that rents are often up to 50% below mortgage repayments.

This option is seen as win-win for both banks, which continue to receive an income and avoid the costly process of foreclosure, and homeowners, who each get to keep their property.

Other mortgage lenders are also trying to help struggling homeowners by introducing other potential solutions such as extending mortgage terms, and adapting interest rates to clients’ ability to pay.

Just look what you can get for 100k

If you would like a good place near Alicante airport, 40 mins, and just 20mins from the palm tree paradise that is Elche. This six bedroom house with a good sized pool and huge roof terrace is totally modernised and the owners have dropped the price enormously to 100k Euros for quick sale.

It is a total bargain so if you need any more information or want to go and see it then get in touch quickly.

Google Trends and the strange case of MK.

I have just done a search for Valencia Property on Google trends and some interesting facts came out of it.

Firstly, whenever there is a big event in Valencia the searches peak amazingly.

Secondly there is a downward line since 2005 which was only to be expected as prices got higher and fewer people from the Uk could afford it.

Thirdly, and this is very interesting, more people from Ireland are searching than from the UK. Could this mean that the Ryanair effect is greater than I thought?

And lastly just the weirdest stat, the largest number of requests come from Valencia of course and the third is Dublin, a big city, however London is not second as I anticipated it is only tenth just behind Poplar! The weirdest thing is that Milton Keynes is second. Has anyone got any ideas why that could be? Is there a huge server database or something in plastic cow land or is it just so awful that Valencia and anywhere else on the Mediterranean will see the same results? (Sorry if you live in Milton Keynes because the likelihood is that you will find this page)

Happy New Year

So 2008 ends with the Spanish property market in a bit of a rut. Hopefully 2009 will be the time when you realise yur dream if you want to live in Spain as banks start lending again and new businesses sprout up everywhere to react to the economic situation.

So Happy New year from Valencia Property and we hope that it turns out to be your best one yet.