Much To-ing and Fro-ing

Friday, 1st September 2006

At last my apartment has been allocated. The overall site plan is attached and I'm located in the 'parcelle' labelled AP-7, although this is now AP-4.

It was a confusing few days. First of all, I was to be allocated somewhere in Block 12 of AP-8. AP-8 then became AP-1 and there was no longer an apartment for me there (apparently it was over-subscribed). So, I was moved to AP-4 that was AP-7... All change!

The agent sold AP-4 as being better than AP-7 as it was more spacious and there was more greenery. I've also been told I'm in a block overlooking the swimming pool. But there are no plans yet so I'm not sure how they know this. I rang the developer, Fadesa, to try to find out more. They revealsed that the plans are not available yet as they architect hasn't finished with them! All sounds a bit iffy. I shall just have to wait and see what happens. Afterall, I can still walk away without losing anything if the apartment isn't quite right.

How I Decided to Buy In Morocco

Monday 28th August 2006

Here's where I'm at so far...

I've been looking to invest in foreign property for about 3 years now. My end game is a converted farm house in Le Marche in Italy where I intend to spend at least half the year. The real dream is to own several properties around the world, in some of my favourite spots - the Greek Islands, Costa Rica, Sri Lanka, the Peak District in England and of course Italy.

I was about to buy an apartment in either Kalkan or Side in Turkey but had reservations about capital growth. Maybe there was some stretch remaining in the Turkish market and if they were successful getting into the EU, then a hike might be expected. However, I decided I'd missed the boat and property prices were already too far up the "hockey stick".

How did I decide to buy in Morocco then? Well, a bit by accident. I was on holiday in Mojacar in Andalucia in Spain and came across an advert in the local newspaper for Moroccan property. I did a bit of research and it appeared truck loads of astute Brits who had made fortunes buying in Spain ten years ago were now looking at Morocco to 'sweat' some of their excess capital... Many Spaniards were also looking to buy in Morocco as the Brits had priced them out of their own Costas...

When I started looking at Morocco, I was a bit surprised that the prices were quite alot higher than I expected. "Here we go again" I thought, "missed the boat again". However, eventually I came across a Spanish developer - Fadesa - who was building a new holiday development in an area on the Med called Kabila.

So here I am. I've placed my £2,000 pre-registration fee with Saffron Villas (www.saffronvillas.com) and I'm now waiting for confirmation that I've been allocated a 2 bed, 1st floor apartment with sea views and overlooking the pool.

Just heard via a "Kabila" forum (www.kabila.co.uk) that the release prices will be higher than the £55,000 anticipated and will be about £59,000 due to high demand for pre-release registration. You'd hike the prices if you were the developer wouldn't you? Anyway, I re-ran my business case and even though I'll have to borrow a little more, it's still within my budget, and the NPV (the amount of money I'll make taking everything including inflation and alternative risk-free investments into account) is still very positive. I hope to make enough in 5 years to buy my Italian project and I'm hoping for enough rental income to cover the mortgage interest.

Anyway, I'm hoping to hear from Saffron on Tuesday as to whether I've got the apartment I wanted and how much I'll have to fork out. I'll keep you all updated.

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