Mortgage dramas etc

[Jock719]

Well we have found some nice properties in Caleta and we are attempting to buy one....after a visit to the bank to find out about a mortgage both Mrs Jock and I were staggered to find that we were offered nearly 5%....which is a bit on the dear side! We are looking at a golf villa either throug an agent, private sale or a repo and in this connection my questions are:
Has anyone obtained a mortgage from a local bank here to finance a property and if so were the terms any good?, is it best to try and buy a repo from a bank, do they offer better terms for such properties, and finally this thorny issue of offers, we can't find out what the protocol is for offers, we have been told by many local people to make offers at half of the stated price especially for bank repos...on the other hand the estate agents we have been dealing with are telling us that there is little possibility of making an offer.....anyway, we are selling our UK house and coming out with a good deposit so we can't understand the banks poor mortgage offer (solbank)....any thoughts would be most welcome

[Spike On Q]

It really depends on the asking price - some repo. properties on The Golf have been selling for half of their original price - one two bedroom semi detached place I saw went for 115,000 Euros!

Repo. house in the sticks are even better value - buy direct from the bank

Just look around at similar properties

The main problem with private purchases through an estate agent is that the seller bought at the top of the market and therefore has a mortgage bigger than the current re-sale value of the house. They cannot sell at less than their mortgage value and take a big hit - so you are paying off their mortgage not buying a house at current market value

The calculation for me is what will the house be worth in 5 years time?

Mortgages - no idea but I imagine their previous experience of mortgage business means they are not that keen to trade. They would also review your status and the security of their money - lots of expats have just disappeared leaving the bank with a debt and yet another un-sellable property on their balance sheet

[Trumpy]

Jock,

When I looked at a morgage (Solbank) as well as the poor rate theyalso added a payment protection policy with the total value paid up front and then added to the morgage so you then paid interest on that

[woe10]

We are looking at a golf villa either throug an agent, private sale or a repo and in this connection my questions are:

Friendly bit of advice. If you are thinking of buying a Villa on the Golf to live in, and expect a quiet peaceful life, forget it.

My friends have just left the Golf for somewhere else, after 2 years of nightmares from Holiday-Makers from hell. If you buy an Apartment there without a pool, you will be OK. The Villas with pools attract the scum of the Earth, with shouting, screaming, loud music etc.. and there's nothing you can do about it. July and August being the worst

Buy a Villa with a pool and you'll be sorry. Remember, you can't choose your neighbours.

[IsThisForumStillGoingWow]

There's no fibre optic internet on the island, in fact all the internet is pretty slow.

[SheilaW]

we have just seen a two bed villa for which the vendor wants 254 on the same street as we have seen a 3 bed villa for 150.... Madness, utter madness!

That's how things are here at the moment. We've been looking on the Tamaragua estate outside Corralejo and there a 3-bed is a 3-bed - they're all practically identical structurally so all you'd be paying extra for would be a pool, aircon, modern kitchen etc. Nothing that's worth more than a couple of grand.

We were offered a repo for 94k that had been stripped bare, trees roots undermining the foundations, a damaged roof etc. We were told that some repos could be bought cheaper but that one had a massive mortgage on it so the bank couldn't budge much. We saw several private sales around 150k, then we looked at one for 136k that was (sort of) fully furnished, clean, with pool etc. When we expressed an interest but hesitated the price came down in 2 quick steps to 115k. The seller's idea, for a quick sale, and it worked. It must be so difficult for owners to accept their house just isn't worth what they paid, but some are realistic and sell; others will have to wait and see what the future holds.

@hev: fibre optic is planned but of course so is the motorway . But I get 10mbs (if that's what they are) and I doubt that that's considered desperately slow. I use it for business and it seems fine for that but maybe it isn't fast enough for watching TV etc.

[Spike On Q]

You get fantastic speeds on the internet if you are living in somewhere like Antigua, Tuineje or Pajara because they are local government centres and are well looked after by Telefonica. Much better that resort areas and the best you will get anywhere on Fuerte.

That means up to 8.5 Mbps on a straight connection and up to 15Mbps using a good quality professional VPN into UK business servers

If you are not buying unencumbered freehold remember your monthly management fees will go up and you have no idea by how much they will be, say in ten years time

Remember also places like Golf are not designated "tourist" developments and people that have bought homes as their permanent dwelling get very upset when holiday makers spoil their quiet enjoyment