Before & After

Well done Zig .....its a shame when people cant clean up after themselves , and take pride in their home.

Good luck with the sale, and hopefully you get top dollar, which you shouldnt have a problem now that it looks like that.

Reading back at some of the other posts, OMG too funny

 

The prices round here are ridiculous....ours approx 300k ...half a mile up the road...800-900k plus and a couple of miles away....proper millionaires row....and i wouldn't swap mine for one of umm...even i've got a bigger garden than they have...and it certainly aint big........i would swap it for Zig's though...i love it

 

If you marry me, the shock will kill your dad and we can then go 50-50 on the proceeds.

 

Conversation went like this,

Z. Eddie wants to marry you.

W. Whos that?

Z. Bloke that makes big sculptures in his garden.

W. Did he make a big slide once?

Z. Yep.

W. I'll marry him.

 

It was a swing!

I'd forgotten just how bleak December/January looks.

 

No, she was thinking of the big ice slide that the courier wrecked.

 

One is broke and the other is going broke :-(

I will leave the correct answer to Victoria
Though I think Portugal treat incomers with better laws
ie:- They will not tell you you can build a house and then next year
the say it has to come down as they want the land back

Jack McH

 

That's a scary law they have going on in Spain isn't it. Just before that law came about, I was in the process of planning to invest in a property in Spain. That law put me right off.

That said, I can almost see their point. Spain is a stunningly beautiful country, but parts of it are being ruined by mass development of ex-pat estates. I think the Spanish authorities were a bit over the top for withdrawing permission after the house was built, but I think they are right to curb the uncontrolled development they were seeing.

I don't think it would have affected me though. I'll never know now I guess. I was after an old farm or similar way off the beaten track and most certainly not a purpose built ex-pat or investment property. I wanted to set up a basic no frills hotel, get a fleet of 4x4s, mountain bikes, and horses, and run an adventure holiday place

 

Something else that I had forgotten all about.

 

http://saydoparks.co.uk/page_16.html?frm_data1=7&frm_data1_type=large

This site had me most interested, I know lots of servicemen who have retired there
some live permanent, Others are against the rules Subletting to other servicemen for holidays at £50pw

Now a home in the Sun for less than 20k is most tempting
My worry is WHY are so many for sale this year ?

One thing to stop the worry is most of the service men who bought these were retired in 1990 and are now almost 70/75, widows and widowers, medical problems Though the best hospital in Europe is but 20 mins away

I am thinking of taking one, first as a home, or second as a family holiday home
Subletting not allowed but cousins, children, etc are allowed so bend the rules a bit
The next door ex serviceman will arrange for replacement gas if required

The biggest fright is BINGO three nights a week in the CLUB ROOM AAAGGGHHH

Jack McH

 

You wouldn't have to go to Bingo or use the clubroom Jack. But, it will be a clicky expat environment I think. Can you handle that?

 

I am approaching fifty so it is not that I am a spring chicken, but I have no desire to move anywhere...to go on holiday to places I don't mind, but the idea of changing environment completely after a certain age at the time when I would like to feel safe and familiar with my environment doesn't attract me at all.

I am perfectly happy with the weather here as it is now, I suffer quite a lot in the heat. Having said that the weather is changing and popular sunny places are now often under the rain, snow etc...

I have never been to Spain but I don't think their mentality quite matches mine. I think that I would feel more comfortable in a place like Sweden Denmark or Germany if I ever would move.

Anyway it would have been nice to hear Victoria's opinion about the differences between Portugal and Spain...

 

Good morning all from a sunny albeit chilly 14c Algarve.

Portugal has very different laws to Spain regarding selling/buying property. In Spain, rather like France I gather, you often need the permission of the local Mayor to build or renovate a property outside of the cities. Should you be granted permission after many visits and perhaps briberies all well and good as long as that Mayor stays in office. But very often the newly-elected Mayor may and does veto what the previous one agreed to. I assume you get Deeds in Spain but they are not worth the paper they are written on. For example, if you own a piece of land and someone wants to develop on a plot behind you, they have the right to come through your land with an access road and too bad if your swimming pool is in the way.

These absurd laws and shenanigans are not permitted in Portugal. This is not to say there are not strange laws here ... one we have encountered living in the middle of the orange groves is that if a neighbour puts agricultural land up for sale, neighbours bordering the property have first right of refusal of purchase. Although we may have liked a few orange trees on our land, we really didn't want a thousand of them! But that's okay as we have some orange and tangerine trees on another property now.

House prices in southern Portugal have fallen in the past five years by up to 30% and sometimes more, but in southern Spain they talking about 60% !!! The properties that have suffered the most in both countries are the large villas built at the height of the boom and were over-priced in the first place. Here is an example of one ten minutes from us ...

http://www.arkadia.com/usa/real-estate/for-sale/portugal/faro/faro/se/zpoc-t528035/

Hope this explains the differences in the property markets. Currently Ch4 is doing a new series (May-July 2012) at 11am of A Place in the Sun, Summer Sun highlighting the property crash in predominantly France and Spain (there was one episode with eastern Algarve. In Spain a beautiful villa on an estate with 3 bedrooms/3 bathrooms, a separate apartment downstairs, all fully and tastefully furnished, swimming pool and 3-year old car went for £115,000 ... it had originally sold for £275,000 unfurnished, without the apartment and car !!!

 

This has rekindled my interest in buying abroad, if only because the pics reminded me of the lovely weather and smell of Spain

 

Jack, we stayed in a cottage in the mountains near Antequera five years ago in August and it was hot as hell, mid 40s, and quite barren in our opinion. We were pleased to get back to a 'cooler and greener' Algarve. I believe it is quite cold in the winter also. In saying this, it is a lovely area and the park looks well maintained with lots of amenities.