Costa Del Sol Property

Costa del Sol Property Market.

My name is Nick Stuart Managing Director of Spanish Hot Properties. With a lot of South African citizens currently looking to buy property in Spain, I have been asked to give an overview of the current market in Southern Spain and especially the area I know most about ie Costa del Sol & Marbella

Costa del Sol property has had its challenges in the last two years and it has been interesting to say the least. Well it sure is a strange world out there with some buyers still living in dream world or reading too much into property portals messages as a catch to get a potential buyer to register but unfortunately the reality out there is the best deals were bought in 2009 and all the remaining best deals will be gone in 2010. More worrying for me is what happens in 2011 when buyers can’t buy for what they could have bought for in 2010.

I have been out with quite a mixture of clients in May and some very good ones in that they knew what they wanted and it was a case of buying the value for money apartment or the perfect apartment that was maybe 10% to 15% which is quite hard to do is this market. Then we have had clients who just have a totally false idea of what they can get for there money with a €1M MarbellaVilla for €450,000 not being good enough for them and the best value out there at present is in Marbella Villas.The reality is that there are deals out there to be done if buyers are realistic about getting good value for money. Interestingly we have closed more deals in Mallorca this year because those particular clients then to know the real value of property in Mallorca.

The best way I can describe the property market in Costa del Sol is a couple of examples. The first being a French gentleman who bought a Nueva Andalucía Townhouse for €250,000 that had a valuation of over €500,000 but if he arrived today the best I could do would be around €375,000. The other example was a client who could have bought a 3 Bed apartment in Los Naranjos de Marbella and was told on Friday to put his deposit down for which his wife begged him to do so and on Monday he finally got the courage to say yes and put down his deposit. Sadly for him and his relationship with his wife he was two hours late.

So my view about property in Costa del Sol is if you want to take advantage of the market please do it in 2010 but also please be realistic about what your money can buy.

One other major point is if you’re a buyer of International real estate compared to local real estate it is very important that you find an agent you can trust because you need to feel fully protected and most importantly that the agent you trust will find you the best properties at the best price. This differs from the local market where you can spend up to 6 weekends viewing but much more difficult considering the distances between Malaga and Capetown.

If you want to know more about Costa del Sol property contact me at Spanish Hot Properties.

Interesting reasons for using a bond originator

Handy Tips for Mortgage Originator Offices

Difference between a building loan and additions/alterations to an existing property.

a. Building Loan
A building loan is a home loan used to finance the construction of a dwelling on vacant land, i.e.

1. The client is purchasing the vacant land and wishes to building a dwelling
2. The client owns the vacant land and wishes to build a dwelling
3. The client wishes to switch vacant land and then apply to build a dwelling

The following additional documents will be required:

- Contract
- Approved plans
- Schedule of finishes
- NHBRC certificates

B. Additions/Alterations to an existing property
This is treated as an ordinary loan and could occur in the following instances:

1. The client is purchasing an existing dwelling but wants to also apply for further funds to undertake additions or alterations. As this would then be more than 100% of the purchase price these application must be capture as a further building loan. There must please be a note confirming that this is a further building loan for building alterations / additions

2. The client is undertaking additions/alterations on his existing property that is bonded to Nedbank. This is treated as a normal further loan with our without registration.

The following additional documents will be required:

- Quotes or the contract
- Approved plans if structural changes
- NHBRC certificates
- Schedule of finishes

If the application is approved these funds will be held on retention and the funds paid out as work progresses after registration of the bond.

SARB no surprise – policy rate unchanged

The Reserve Bank’s decision to keep the repo rate at 6.5%, reflects the view that GDP growth will remain relatively subdued and does not pose an upside risk to the inflation outlook.

Other potential drivers of inflation are also anticipated to remain relatively muted over the medium term (with risks mainly emanating from the global environment), hence for inflation to remain comfortably within the target range in the rest of 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The SARB will continue to assess developments and will adjust the monetary policy stance when necessary.

So FOR now, for all us English speaking citizens of South Africa, the cost of your home loan will remain the same!

WizardMan OUT!

Fnb Bank cuts costs and then raises costs

Firstly let me say I think it's the first time I've added an image the right hand side of a BLOG post. Well done WizardMan, I believe that means that I am able to adapt and change unlike the my grade 1 teacher always used to tell me.

Secondly, happy Wednesday to all of you, and thank you for being continued supporters and readers of the SA Property BLOG. We will be undergoing some changes in the weeks to come, upgrade, new templates, so please bare with me if the site looks out of shape every now and then.

What caught my eye this morning was the article on the Business Day, talking about FNB raising it's banking charges by 6%.

This comes as no surprise to me, funny enough although FNB claim to have the lowest banking charges of all banks, they are closing offices around the countries and obviously need to make this money back by increasing the charges of their loyal supports and people who actually bring them business and help them grow. Fnb bank have come under alot of scrutiny in the last couple of weeks, but as a BUSINESS banking client and PERSONAL banking client of FNB for almost 15 years now, I find that having to increase our costs to help support the loss they're going to make by closing all their smaller branches PATHETIC to say the least.

I've been considering moving from FNB for some time now, as soon as the WORLD CUP (which I have 3 tickets for, grim and weep boys), is over, I'll consider a change.

If you want to compare bank accounts - check out Justmoney.co.za.

WizardMan OUT!

100% bonds for Absa clients

Absa 100% bonds!

Ladies and gentlemen...
Absa home loans are back and they're bad! 100% Bonds!

Absa have officially announced the reintroduction of their 100% home loan offering.

There is a slight catch here. It's only applicable to ABSA cheque and transaction account holders. This means that non ABSA clients will still only have access to 70% LTV loans from ABSA, but it's a move in the right direction.

This move is obviously as a direct result of Standard Banks 100% home loan offering. With Standard Banks home loan offering of 100% for people who went directly to the banks really has given the home loan and bond origination industry a little knock, BUT ABSA have announced that this channel of 100% home loans is open to bond originators as well.

Well, does this mean we'll be seeing ABSA follow Standard Banks suit? OR will Standard Bank bow down to the might of the bond originators in South Africa?

Either which way, well done ABSA and well done to all the bond originators out there who have made this possible...

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