Costa del Sol in Drive to Attract New British Home Buyers
November 9th, 2011
The Tourist Board of the Costa del Sol has created the new brand ‘Living Costa del Sol’ with the aim of encouraging the British to buy a home and reside in the region for at least six months of the year, an initiative which is directed at clearing some of the surplus of about 30,000 homes.
The President of the organisation, Elias Bendodo, presented the brand at the World Travel Market tourism fair being held in London this week. He also told reporters that it is their intention that this initiative will also be used in promotional activities to be carried out in Germany, France and the Nordic countries.
According to Bendodo, ‘Living Costa del Sol’ was developed in collaboration with developers, insurance companies and financial institutions, and aims to attract new British residents, reduce the amount of unsold finished homes, located primarily in the west of the Spanish mainland, and boost Spain’s economic recovery.
The President of the Malaga organisation also assured that the developers are “fascinated with the idea”, and stressed the importance of having legal guarantees, for working with insurance companies in the countries to which the brand is focused, reported El Mundo.
This product is aimed at attracting primarily people without work commitments, such as pensioners, and to highlight the climate of the Costa del Sol, as being an “open all year round” destination, which already has a substantial number of British residents.
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Why does the tourist board and politicians think it is going to make any difference when they insist on only dealing with developers, insurance companies and financial institutions and never involve the people who could make a REAL difference and involve real estate agents.
We are the ones who have the databases and who speak with the clients directly.
It’s about time Spain recognised the professional real estate agents who operate legitimate business’s as we are the main ones who can make the difference!
Well that’s already very well, but maybe the Spanish authorities should get the problem of so called “illegal builds” sorted out before they try and tempt new buyers. Many of us have bought our properties, fully trusting estate agents, developers, solicitors and local town halls only to find that all of a sudden our homes are declared to be illegal for one reason or another. Houses have been demolished and people have been left homeless with their life savings evaporating in a cloud of dust as the bull dozer moves in. Where do the authorities think these people, many of whom are pensioners, are going to find the money to re-build or re-home themselves? Yes, buy and move to Spain but be prepared to spend thousands on top of the purchase price to sort out the ensuing mess.
The message should be ‘buyer beware’. We recently bought in Coin only to find that the Town Hall put their own valuation on the land and property for tax purposes and want 7% tax on their figure which is 50% higher than the purchase price adding an extra €7000 in tax. No-one tells you about this until you are committed. Why aren’t Estate Agencies telling the truth. This grossly unfair tax is being challenged all over Spain with all new buyers opposing it with the risk of adding up fines and interest. Why would anyone buy with this hanging over their heads?
Don’t buy. Even if you can afford to.Rent for at least 12 months. Apart from the fact that prices are still sliding you can get all the info.about the down side of buying.Meanwhile property taxes etc.are not your problem.
You can also experience the Spanish winter.It’s surprising the number of people you meet who have decided to live full time in Spain who’s only experience of the place is their summer holidays.