Bright Weblog Category Archive
Listed below are all articles related to The Great Housing Debate
September 5, 2006
Industry Responce to Viva Estates Dropping Commissions
I came upon this news letter that was recently circulated to estate agents on the Costa del Sol. Pretty interesting reading and it also highlights the resentment the industry feels as well as the cynicism towards Viva´s ulterior motives.
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July 17, 2006
Licence of First Occupation, some rules for purchasing off plan
I have been following this really interesting forum about Licences of First Occupation, the thread relates to developer forcing buyers to complete on their properties even though it is unlikely the project will receive its licence. Although there was a lot of negative sentiment I wanted explain that from a developers end, getting a LFO is not always easy even if everything has been done by the book.
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July 9, 2006
Release: Property Guide Spain!
Announcing the launch of the Property Guide Spain! A unique online resource that provides the complete “HOW TO” on buying, selling Spanish property and relocating to Spain in English (with Dutch, Danish and more languages coming soon).
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June 24, 2006
Why inflation is great for property owners
Filip Vercauteren | Fincalena
You can’t open a financial paper these last weeks without being confronted with the word ‘Inflation’; it is the talk of the day and it is responsible for rising interest rates which make our mortgages more expensive. Now, there is a big difference between the causes and the consequences of inflation, something that confuses a lot of people. Rising prices for goods and services are the consequences of inflation not the cause. The cause of inflation is monetary easing mainly in the form of credit expansion.
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May 22, 2006
Now is a great time to invest in property
Filip Vercauteren | Fincalena
Few people who have bought property in the last three years have made a return on their investment that was high enough to justify the risk that they undertook. This has decreased the popularity of buying property as an investment and it has especially hurt the off-plan purchases of still to be built units.
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March 9, 2006
The current causes of "Investor Fatigue in Spanish Property"
The property investment frenzy of the late 1990's and early 2000's in Spain is a momentous example of a sound principal grievously misapplied. The forces that drove the boom had more to do with the psychology of human nature than sound, rational economic argument.
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February 23, 2006
Avoid the Herd: Property Purchase in Spain's Downward Market
Another question I commonly get asked.
"How will I know that the price I bought for is the lowest achievable price I can get. Surely its better to wait while the market corrects and then buy a property?"
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February 10, 2006
Real Esate Agencies on the Coast and the Need for a Code of Ethics
Agents are torn between the discordant function of protecting their client’s best interests and finding them a great property while making their commission.
There are a few companies on the Costa del Sol that sell in an ethical manner but over the years there have been numerous examples of those that don't. The industry has suffered from a disastrous relaxation of business ethics, due to real estate agents offering inferior property at over inflated prices and selling on the basis of future price increases to create irrational expectations. Agents have also been guilty for selecting property purely on a basis of maximising their commission and not on what is most suitable for the client.
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November 22, 2005
The psychological tipping point
Property: Nowhere else is economic and emotional argument so
intertwined. I was sitting round the dinner table the other day with some of my neighbours and it suprised me how personal a thing the price of your property is.
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September 11, 2005
Property press releases about the housing price in UK up until 1998
Press clippings from Britains major papers give a good break down of the historic fluctuations of the UK housing market over the last decade.
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September 8, 2005
What is happening to the OECD property market and what are the implications
I just thought it would be good to get down on paper all of the ideas that may affect the property markets in Northern Europe over the coming years, as these obviously have implications for the Spanish second home market.