Spanish bank repossessions attract more buyers

Property prices are still falling in Spain with international buyers cashing-in on bank-controlled discounts and 100%-plus mortgages in some prime Costas.

With house prices continuing to fall in Spain, more international buyers are tapping the Spanish bank repossessions sector with its even lower prices and bigger loan to value mortgage deals.

The latest Knight Frank Global House Price Index, Q1 2011, shows that in Spain average prices are down 4.6% year on year, but drastic discounting on repossessions and developments controlled by banks has forced prices down a further 4% so far this year. This has resulted in the highest-ever LTV advances - some as high as 110% include most of the buying costs.

The general IMIE (Spanish Property Market Index) for May recorded a higher year-on-year price decline to 8.1% compared with 6.4% in April for villas and apartments on the main Costas. But while the official cumulative fall in prices, showed 21.5% and surpassed the 20% mark for the first time, hefty discounting in some Costas resulted in average prices 34.5% lower than the peak year 2007.

There are plenty of bargain properties in the main Costas with discounts on book price ranging from 16% to 53% that come with guaranteed 90% mortgages and others with 80% mortgages and interest-free, repayment -free offers for the first three years.

One of the best deals for key ready property is at Mojón Hills, Costa Calida, where a bank-controlled developer has slashed prices by almost half to EUR 135,000, supported by the bank with 107% mortgages that include Government tax. There are similar deals at Coto Real Duquesa, Costa del Sol where 50% price cuts are supported by 100% mortgages.

In Mallorca, one bank has forced the distressed owner to cut EUR 500,000 from the asking price of EUR 1.7m on the sea-view finca estate near Pollensa.

Bank property specialists, PropertyInSpain.Net have reported sell-outs on developments offering big discounts and top-level mortgages as developers sought to meet their bank loans and bankers reduced the level of toxic assets under the orders of regulator, the Bank of Spain.

Buyers mainly originate from Scandinavia, Belgium, Holland and Russia with Britain, mistrustful of banks, bringing up the rear – and missing out on many of the best deals.

 

Read More

Swedish holidaymaker, 19, murdered in hotel room by sexual predator

30-YEAR-OLD Moroccan national has been arrested in connection with the homicide of a Swedish holidaymaker, 19, in a Costa del Sol hotel.

Police say A.B., a resident in Spain, reportedly called round at the room in the Hotel El Cid in Fuengirola (Málaga) where the teen was staying with her friend of the same age and nationality.

The girls had apparently met the accused at a disco on the night of the incident and it is believed they opened the door to him when he knocked, as in the city were no signs of forcible and violent entry to the room.

He is said to have booked into the hotel for just one night, and gone to the girls’ room with the intention of forcing them to have sex with him.

When they resisted, the suspect is said to have pulled a knife on them.

One girl perished instantly from stab-wounds to the neck, and the other suffered deep cuts.

She ran from the room and called for help, and both the clerk and on-duty police officer pinned down the man until extra forces arrived.

The surviving teenager was taken to Marbella’s Costa del Sol hospital for treatment, and later discharged.

Hotel sources say the two girls had been staying at the hotel since June 16 on holiday following the end of their first year at high school.

 

Read More

A TIMESHARE salesman who allegedly made a fortune from dodgy cashback schemes on the Costa del Sol is said to be buying a three million euro mansion in the UK.

Anthony Larvin, an associate of infamous conman Garry Leigh, is said to have made an offer on stunning Bentley Hall, in Yorkshire, it can be revealed.
According to sources, the former director of Cashback Sales and Administration, has had an offer accepted on the six bedroom mansion that comes complete with three acres of grounds including a fishing lake, clay pigeon shooting, tennis, a gym, a swimming pool and sauna.
The news will come as a bitter blow to the hundreds of holidaymakers who lost their life savings in the  cashback scheme linked to the late Garry Leigh’s notoriously dodgy Incentive Leisure Group.
Larvin, who fled Spain last year, was taken to court in 2008 by his former business partner Stuart Tristram for stealing money from the company and putting it into liquidation.
Enviable
In a letter sent to all clients in 2009 Tristram wrote: “Anthony Larvin has been removed from his position and is currently being pursued through the courts.”
He added: “Mr Larvin has made a preliminary court appearance and appears to have admitted to most of the charges against him; he has also surrendered his passport and agreed to remain in Spain until the case is resolved.”
This, however, is apparently not the case and he is currently living an ‘enviable lifestyle’ back in the UK, the Olive Press can reveal.
According to a family source, Larvin is driving around in a brand new top of the range Mercedes and is known locally as someone ‘who likes to spend big’.
She said: “Larvin has put in an offer to purchase Bentley Hall and it has been accepted.
“Not bad for a guy who left Spain with what he could carry in the back of his car.
“He says he earns his money in investments but I don’t know how because he doesn’t appear to do anything all day.”
Local estate agent Matthew Limb confirmed that the property had been sold but was unable to reveal the name of the buyer.


However, when the Olive Press spoke to Larvin he denied his millionaire lifestyle.
“It is absolutely not true,” he said.
“I am not buying a mansion and I am not a millionaire although I wish I was.”

Read More

They say money can't buy happiness, and for many of Britain's wealthiest, the answer lies abroad.

While they might have the cash at home, the nation's highest earners say they would leave the UK to find a better quality of life.
A survey of rich Brits finds that wealthy people overwhelmingly think the UK offers a poorer lifestyle, worse well-being, and less 'general happiness' than other developed countries.

The YouGov study for Lloyds TSB International Wealth, which surveyed 923 people each of whom had more than £250,000 of savings and investments, has added to fears that Britain's well-heeled residents might move abroad in search of a superior lifestyle.

A meagre 5% of Britain's high flyers believe people living in Britain are happier than elsewhere.

The grass is greener for 53% of those polled, who say people living in Britain are generally less content.

The poll took place after the government announced plans last November for a 'Happiness Index' – a measure of well-being based on more than simply money.

The project, undertaken by the Office of National Statistics to measure the nation's happiness, is expected to provide a regional breakdown of nationwide 'life satisfaction' levels.

An exodus of miserable millionaires could spell trouble for the economy, as it would direct much-needed investment and skills away from Britain. The survey revealed that 36% of high-earners are keen to move abroad, while 14% are considering moving in the next two years.

The research reveals a perception among richer residents that life in the UK is more stressful than elsewhere. Only 3% think people in Britain are less stressed than in other developed countries, compared to 58% who think they are more stressed.

According to the poll, cash is not the key when it comes to being happy. Just under two-thirds of high-earners think that when measuring well-being, monitoring happiness is just as important as economic measurements such as GDP. Only 13% disagreed, saying money is all-important.

Nicholas Boys Smyth from Lloyds commented: 'Many wealthy people are downbeat about life in the UK. There's a groundswell of opinion that the key to happiness may not be found in Britain and that a better life can be had elsewhere.

Maybe Britain needs to get serious about being happy – certainly wealthy people think that monitoring national well-being could be a means to start improving it.'

Read More

The celebrities of the golden age came to Marbella to see and to be seen, a sentiment echoed by the current generation. In the Nineties, the genteel glamour of old Hollywood was replaced by the flashing of Euro-cash

The celebrities of the golden age came to Marbella to see and to be seen, a sentiment echoed by the current generation. In the Nineties, the genteel glamour of old Hollywood was replaced by the flashing of Euro-cash – emblazoned with designer logos was the only way to dress. Fashion may be about being more discreet, but tell-tale signs, such as the red soles of a pair of Louboutins, show that the credit card is pure gold, if not platinum.

For the British tourists flocking to Marbella this summer, the party starts even before they board the plane. The Friday afternoon flights are filled with women with rollers already in their hair. The tabloids might have had a field day implying that Samantha Cameron was raving it up in Ibiza last weekend, but the party she attended was actually over by midnight.

At that time, the bars of Puerto Banus, the main strip in Marbella, are only just beginning to fill up. Here, while the money flows, so will the champagne and vodka on tables which have a minimum spend of €450 (£400). Nights are spent partying until the small hours, but here the mantra is "go hard or go home" and after a couple of hours' sleep it's time to stumble down to the beach to soak up the sun, before heading back into town later to do it all again.

There's no rest for the wicked, and Sundays are no exception, when the beachside Ocean Club hosts the only party to be seen at. Entrance to its Champagne Spray Party, held on the last Sunday of every month, comes with a €125 price tag, for which anyone willing to stump up the cash will receive a bottle of Veuve Cliquot.

You would be forgiven for thinking the champagne is for drinking. The aim of the game is in fact to spray your fellow revellers, preferably while jumping around on the sun bed you've paid €1,750 for the pleasure of renting. Bacchanalian revels had nothing on this lot.

Marbella, it has to be admitted, is something of a cultural vacuum, so the word on everyone's lips this summer is not the Arab Spring. Instead, the main topic of conversation is the meteoric rise to D-list celebrity status of the cast of The Only Way is Essex, or TOWIE, a Bafta-winning reality TV show which documents the lives and loves of a gaggle of young Essexians.

The cast of TOWIE, who were recently spotted in Marbella, are adored by their fellow holiday-makers because they are famous – which most people still equate with being rich – and "just like them".

Revelling in their fame, the cast were seen socialising, playing up the catchphrases and signature looks that have caught the imaginations of their audience. They readily posed for photos with intoxicated and awestruck fans as well as the paparazzi, who lined the beach waiting for a sighting of their cash-cows.

The key to a successful holiday in Marbella, as with so many things in life, is to be part of the in-crowd. Entrance can be bought via the appropriation of extension and augmentation hair, eyelashes, nails and breasts – nobody sunbathes topless so as to keep their surgery scars hidden.

Tanning is an important part of life, and melatonin injections are commonly used by men and women. The Ocean Club boasts a large pool, but few people venture into the water. This is probably just as well, as all-day drinking and deep water do not happy bedfellows make. Instead the time is passed dancing, posing, and ogling each other from behind the lenses of designer sunglasses, before the revellers make their bedraggled way back to their accommodation when the venue closes at 9pm.

It would be wrong to represent the revellers in Marbella as being purely of Essex-extraction. The accents of Newcastle, Liverpool and Manchester mingle with those from the Estuary, but whatever the accent the sentiment remains the same. The only way is excess

Read More

Back in the Fifties, the Spanish resort was a magnet for movie stars. These days, it's full of reality TV stars with money – and bare flesh – to burn

David and Samantha Cameron, or more likely one of their advisers, may have thought they were showing a common touch when they chose a family getaway in Ibiza this half-term, but really the place to be seen this summer is an old Andalusian fishing village.

The coastal resort of Marbella may not boast the pure white sands of nearby Ibiza, but that hasn't stopped the European jet set from colonising the warren-like alleys of Arabian architecture and luxury hillside villas for their summer playgrounds for decades.

The resort first attracted the spotlight in the Fifties and Sixties when it played host to stars of the silver screen such as Sean Connery and Diana Dors. George Best, football's first sex symbol, was a regular visitor in the Seventies, a tradition – along with the partying and fondness for company of the opposite sex – which his son Calum, a recent visitor, has kept alive.

 

Read More

Holiday homes bosses accused of huge swindle

The founder and top executives behind former holiday home giant MRI face legal action in Spain after hundreds of Britons allegedly lost money estimated to amount to £13million.

Dubliner Darragh MacAnthony, who owns Peterborough Football Club, which has just won promotion to the Championship, set up MacAnthony Realty International (MRI) in Marbella as the Millennium began.

Hugely popular on the British market, MRI boasted a £100 million annual turnover before the credit crunch. As well as property development in Spain, MRI marketed villas and apartments in Morocco, Bulgaria and Cape Verde, where the company also arranged furniture supplies.

But now MacAnthony, 35, and his former joint chief executives, Michael Liggan and Dominic Pickering, have been accused of ‘theft by swindle and misappropriation of funds’ in a claim filed in Madrid by 60 British and Irish claimants who say they lost more than half a million pounds in undelivered furniture five years ago.

Lawyer Antonio Flores of Marbella- based property solicitors Lawbird, accused MacAnthony of failing in an obligation to file for insolvency for his Spanish companies.

 

Read More

The body of a man was discovered at 13.30 hours on Wednesday in the pool at a "hostess club"

The body of a man was discovered at 13.30 hours on Wednesday in the pool at a "hostess club" located at km 221 of the N-322, in the Jaen town of Puente Génave .

To the scene, a brothel called The Tamaral, have moved troops from the Civil Guard and Underwater Group (GEAS) from the operational center of Seville.:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder

Read More

Mary Esther was reported missing from home on the night of Jan. 19. Alarmed that she did not come home, her mother reported her missing

:n the past 13 days, the Civil Guard has been working flat out to solve the crime. DNA testing has been key to limiting the number of suspects, according to sources close to the case.

The agents have questioned more than 30 friends, relatives and neighbors of the child to reconstruct her last hours alive. After the talk, they were asked to contribute a DNA sample voluntarily. The research team has received support from two psychologists from Madrid.

Mary Esther's father, Juan Isidoro Jimenez, said on Thursday that she had received two anonymous threatening before she died, but he had not given importance to them because they thought they were "childish pranks". The messages, written schoolbook lined notebook paper, arrived one month and one week before her disappearance.

Mary Esther was reported missing from home on the night of Jan. 19. Alarmed that she did not come home, her mother reported her missing early that morning in the Civil Guard barracks in Ronda. After several searches, a firefighter found her body at 19.30 the following day in the shed of a sewage pumping station with a broken door. She lay on the floor, her face disfigured by a beating, allegedly with a stone the size of a small melon. On February 1, she would have been 14 years old. Her parents paidher tribute on Tuesday evening bringing her a bouquet of flowers to the building where she was found dead.

The girl was last seen alive by her friends on the afternoon of Wednesday, sitting at the bus stop located on the outskirts of town. That afternoon she had been seen buying sweets at a cyber cafe located opposite the bus stop and was believed to be visiting a friend at the gym in the town and passed through a pizzeria where she wanted to celebrate her birthday. Both her friends and her family described her as a girl "very good, quiet and innocent."Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder

Read More

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire scrapped after ratings tumble « Leader Television – TV for the Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Costa Calida, and Costa Almeria

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire scrapped after ratings tumble « Leader Television – TV for the Costa Blanca, Costa del Sol, Costa Calida, and Costa Almeria: "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is to be scrapped due to dropping ratings

ITV has made several changes to the show’s format in recent years in an attempt to shake things up, with moves such as reducing the number of questions from 15 to 12 and introducing a time limit failing to entice viewers.

However, the show will not be disappearing from screens completely, as ITV still plans to show some celebrity specials."

:Text may be subject to copyright.This blog does not claim copyright to any such text. Copyright remains with the original copyright holder

Read More