On the face of it, this should be a no-brainer. Euroland is displaying all the worst traits of a currency union that applies a one-size-fits-all interest rate to a group of 16 different countries. Britain, meanwhile, seems to have accidentally elected a coalition government blessed with the ability and commitment to set right a national debt that will have doubled in the space of a handful of years. Sterling is sure to be the winner? Right?

There can be little doubt that, if the leaders of Euroland were to sit a GCSE in financial crisis management, there would not be many A-stars on the list of results. The Greek crisis had been looming for years, ever since the country fudged its accounts – ably assisted by Goldman Sachs – to cheat its way into membership in the first place. On at least three occasions this year the euro zone leaders put their heads together to come up with a suitable financial safety net to bail out Greece and hold the currency union together. The first few efforts, each with a successively higher price tag, failed. The agreement reached at the beginning of May had to work; if not, Greece would have had to default on repayments in the middle of the month. The €750 billion stabilisation fund was massively bigger than its failed predecessors because the delay had added the names of Portugal and Spain to the danger list.

So far, the bailout has done its job. Greece has not gone bust because the EU and the International Monetary Fund have filled its funding gap at an affordable price. But there are rumours of two ’secret clauses’ in the agreement. One apparently says that if the bailout is proved to be unconstitutional in any European court it will be scrapped. The other says the nations providing the money do not have to do so at a loss; if they cannot raise cash at less than the interest rate charged to Greece (or Spain or Portugal) the programme grinds to a halt.  Neither clause would be ridiculous but the possibility of their existence raises doubts about commitment, especially on the part of Germany which is up for €145 billion of the money.

Britain’s new coalition government, meanwhile, has been making the right noises. Savings and waste-avoidance is supposed to save £6 billion this year but that is just the low-hanging fruit. The real meat of the strategy will be revealed in the budget on 22 June. Investors are quietly confident that the new boys will sort things out but not until a satisfactory budget is revealed will the pound – and the gilt market – fully be able to command the confidence of investors and credit rating agencies.

In the meantime sterling has gained good ground against a weak euro to break the £1.20 benchmark. There is bound to be a queue of sellers eager to take advantage of these highs but there will also be buyers keen to avoid missing the boat if the pound leaps ahead.

Source: Moneycorp

Related posts:

1. Weak pound proves boon for euro buyers

www.experienceboxspain.com is your one-stop shop for any activity in Andalucia. You can either purchase the experience as a gift and offer it to someone, or simply book it for yourself.

Experience Box propose and book for you any kind of experiences to be lived at least once in a lifetime, like for example :

-          Roll down a hill in a massive inflatable ball (sphereing/zorbing)

-          Drive a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Hummer, Formula, Quad, Off road Buggy, Kart, etc

-          Go skydiving, bungee jumping, aerobatic flight, etc

-          Spend a day pampered in the most exclusive beach Club in Spain

-          Learn about sailing, cooking, padel tennis, wines, olive oils, horse riding, …

-          Get a four hand massage, a gold envelopment or an Hindu head massage

-          Go on a 900hp powerboat for a mega speed blast

-          Enjoy oriental breaks like a stay in a Japanese hotel to learn shiatsu or sushi cooking

-          Visit Malaga on a Segway, rent a yacht or a sailing boat, sleep in a cave house,

-          And much more…

www.experienceboxspain.com has been created in 2009 with the objective to offer three main services:

• Experience gifts & vouchers : They offer English speaking people in Spain a secure online system to purchase experience gifts ;
• Holiday Activities : holiday makers visiting Andalucia and looking for great things to do can contact Experience Box  and book their activities, now !
• Events : from corporate team building outings to wedding activities, all is covered.

For more information, you can contact Experience Box Spain on +34 952 88 55 97 or via email at info@experienceboxspain.com. You can also visit their inspiration office in the Crowne Plaza hotel in Estepona (N340, km 168).

The couple wanted to use the house occasionally for themselves and their children but also to rent it out to holidaymakers seeking a spacious beautiful home in the countryside that offered a host of possibilities however long they would stay. They also wanted to be near enough a population centre so that it wouldn’t be necessary to go on a boringly long drive to access basic amenities, or difficult to call upon a caretaker, gardener, or any other help for the house.

They decided to entrust a local resident and friend to maintain the property in perfect shape year-round. They also found another trustworthy local ally to manage the construction. “We inherited the builder of the lady who had sold the house to us: a lovely Andalusian with a winning smile, for whom nothing was too much trouble. In fact, it was easier to manage this job in Ronda from the UK than many other building jobs in the UK,” John explains.

The fact that this local personal attention existed even in the owners’ absence resulted in an unusually fast and smooth restoration project. As an example of the work that went on, mouldings photographed in Mallorca were e-mailed to the builder so that they could be replicated. And it was John and Jane themselves with the help of a very talented carpenter friend who designed many of the house’s new features, while an architect was called upon only for compliance matters.

Dating back about 100 years, the original house was a simple two-floor structure, but the restoration transformed it into a veritable mansion offering endless possibilities. A wide colonnade was added along one side, perfect for outdoor dining, while a large courtyard was built along the other side, with huge gates with a Moroccan feel leading from there to the gardens beyond. Over and above providing much needed shade, these structures look, by design, as if they have always been part of the house.

New windows and beams were installed throughout, also looking as if they had always been there. Modern elements were put in such as under-floor heating. We wanted “all bells and whistles for the restoration” says John. The largest room downstairs is the living and dining space, occupying the entire width of the house and boasting windows in three directions. Adjacent to the dining area is the large kitchen, whose generous work surface overlooks the garden. The guest bedrooms, each with a different view of the surrounding countryside, and ensuite bathrooms, occupy the whole of the first floor, and there is also a lovely apartment, with its own garden, complete with a separate living room and kitchen.

In terms of decor, space, the predominance of white, and a subtle decorative style that is neither particularly modern nor classic are the distinguishing factors. This is a stately country style that is not excessively formal, resulting in a sophisticated yet soothingly simple living atmosphere. To enhance the abundance of light and space, the exposed wooden beams were also painted white. Moderately darker textiles, the earth tones of the large floor tiles, wooden furniture with soft lines, books on the many built-in shelves, and the occasional soft yellow or blue all provide a just measure of contrast to this general clarity. The emphasis is not on particularly ornate corners or flashy centrepieces. The form and extent of the natural space have been respected, and features are simultaneously handsome and functional. For example, in the pool gardens, there is a walk-in shower whose circular structures, lattice woodwork, and pastel blues recall the traditional hammam and the form of a sea shell. In all, the existing decor is stylish, appropriate, and subtle enough to make it easy to imagine a new owner deciding to keep it just as it is, at least for some time, before bringing in his or her personal touch.

Of course a key asset of the property is the seven acres of land on which it stands. There was once a market garden here, and the creation of such a welcoming outdoor space must have been made possible by the combination of Andalusia’s exceptional weather and English gardening savoir-faire. A large enclosed pool garden was created about 50 yards from the house. “Being some distance from the coast, we wanted to create a space where people could spend all day without an urgent need to drive to the beach,” says Jane. The outdoor dining rooms also includes a bar, under a thatched roof much like that of a Maldivian hut. Extensive planting around the lawned garden surrounding the pool adds to the general ambience of this delightful area.

Outside the courtyard and around the house, a complete irrigation system was installed. Large expanses of lawn were laid, and new shrubs, flowerbeds and fruit trees were added. The result is simply stunning: although major planting and earthworks took place it took just two years for the garden to green up. For shady spaces, pergolas have been used rather than less attractive and more commonplace umbrellas. And quite naturally, given the owners’ practice of horse-riding, there is a paddock and stable

But what of the countryside surrounding the property? As it overlooks a gorgeous valley of the Grazalema National Park, the finca is indeed the perfect place to keep horses and from which to go on memorable rides, or equally relaxing and varied walking excursions. The deepest section of the Guadiaro River valley, which gently slopes down from Ronda to Sotogrande, is called Valle del Libar. Far from any major road and famous for its beauty, this is the route of the railroad track from Algeciras to Madrid. Valle del Libar is famed for its natural and cultural riches: breathtakingly deep gorges, quaint villages with gastronomic specialities, an enormous cave system well-known to spelunkers nationwide, and the exotic fauna and flora of southern Andalusia– cork oaks, bougainvillea, mongoose, chameleons…

As was said previously, the Smiths wanted a rural spot but not one completely off the beaten track. The location is not so isolated that town-oriented attractions are to be written off. By car, you are only five minutes away from the beloved town of Ronda, where Romans, Moors, and Christians successively left intriguing signs of their civilisations. At the turn of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Goya frequently showcased the essence of Ronda life, depicting the dramatic old quarter, perched high up over both sides of the Guadalevín River and Tajo gorge, or glamorous fights in the bullring, as the town, unbeknownst to many, is the birthplace of this tradition.

The finca is also about one hour’s drive from either Malaga or the Costa del Sol. Malaga is Spain’s third city and as such features an international airport, an important university, and many cultural attractions including the recently inaugurated Picasso Museum and the Cervantes Theatre, where world-class events are held all year. As for the Costa del Sol, this stretch of coast includes the resorts of Marbella, Puerto Banús, and Sotogrande, as well as other noteworthy towns. The area is considered the best destination for golf and seaside luxury living in Spain, but the lesser-known hilly interior is full of secret and not-so-secret treasures. Seville, Jerez and Granada are easily visited in a day trip to each.

So it is no surprise that the finca has seen such success as a rental house, being let for no less than half the year in 2009. Testimony to this is the eloquent praise left on the wonderful Web site that John and Jane created for the house, whose design and user-friendliness echo the attention to detail so characteristic of the property itself. One of these many delighted guests offered this rather impressionistic tidbit: “The lavender sweep: the splash of the pool: the sun makes you smile, the shade keeps you cool; the kindness of hosts, the light through the grass; the food on the table, the wine in the glass; the coolth of the house, the warmth of the staff; the pop of a cork, the hoot of a laugh; the quiet of friendships, some old and some new; the noise of a party, the swallows, the view; the gold checkered valley, the blue distant mountains; the ant on the cobble, the burbling fountains; the pointing of poplars, the fragments of art; this magical finca has entered my heart.” Anyone stumbling on the Web site is sure to note the beauty of the photography in particular, which displays the home in all its glory.

What we have here then is a rural property in the heart of Andalusia bringing together local flavour and English country living traditions. In addition to the style of the home itself, a clear advantage is a location that offers the best of three worlds: the quiet and beauty of the countryside, a historic small town nearby with all its facilities, and larger sea resorts and urban centres quickly accessible by car. All of which combine to form an enticing opportunity indeed for the discerning investor searching for a country home in the sun.

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For practical purposes, the greater Marbella area can be divided in three locations comprising a total of nineteen courses: Marbella east, central Marbella, and the 64 square-mile area west of Marbella including Nueva Andalucía, San Pedro and Benahavís.

The seven-mile stretch of coast known as Marbella East features a number of luxury residential complexes sufficiently remote from the town centre to foster a quieter and less crowded lifestyle. This additional breathing room has made possible–and to an extent results from–the existence of five courses in the area. From east to west, these are: Cabopino Golf, Santa María Golf and Country Club, Marbella Golf and Country Club, Santa Clara Golf, and Golf Río Real. Situated between the N340 national coastal road and the higher Autopista del Sol motorway, these courses provide gentle slopes toward the sea, and correspondingly generous sea views.

As might be expected, there are fewer clubs in Marbella town itself. These are Monte Paraiso Golf, north of the Autopista del Sol, and Golf Dama de la Noche, situated in a relatively lush area near the eastern entrance into Marbella. More than just conveniently placed, these courses are appreciated in part because they provide beautiful views of La Concha, the seashell-shaped mountain behind Marbella.

The most famous courses of our selection, however, are located west of the town in the general vicinities of Nueva Andalusia, Puerto Banús, and Benahavís. The area is naturally propitious for golfing, as the foothills of the Sierra Blanca and Sierra Bermeja offer great topographical and floral variety, including spectacular lush river valleys, woods, large clearings, and steep slopes, with all the advantages the latter provide in terms of panorama and the game itself. More or less from east to west, the courses are: Aloha Golf, Real Club de Golf Las Brisas, Los Naranjos Golf Club, La Quinta Golf, Los Arqueros Golf, Club de Golf Guadalmina, Atalaya Golf and Country Club, El Paraíso Golf Club, Los Flamingos Golf Club, La Zagaleta, Monte Mayor, and Marbella Club Golf Resort. These twelve courses are each well-loved for a host of reasons. La Zagaleta, Monte Mayor, and Marbella Club combine challenging terrain and an exclusive club atmosphere, while many of the others provide quicker access from the coast, featuring more gentle slopes and… fees.

But wait, there’s more… Indeed, these are only the courses on the 40 kms or so of coastline with Marbella at its centre. Extend this distance just 25 kms in either direction (westward toward Estepona and Sotogrande, or eastward toward Fuengirola and Malaga) and the total number of courses rises to a whopping 50 or so. No wonder they call it the “Costa del Golf”.

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1. Best of both worlds: authentic Andalusia and cosmopolitan living in Benahavís, on Spain’s Costa del Sol
2. Golf property in Spain: Valgrande or Guadalmina?
3. Marbella Property: new opportunities in a time-tested resort

Home staging, also called property presentation or house doctoring, is the process of preparing a property for sale/rent to appeal to the widest possible audience.

Home staging, originally born in US, has rapidly gained in popularity in many countries (UK, Canada, Australia, France, etc) and is now taking off in Spain, mainly due to the current property market crisis. Indeed, as Spanish home sales decline and a record number of homes are put on the market, more and more people are turning to home staging to make THEIR property stand out, allowing them to sell faster and for more money. Home staging is a service offered directly to property owners, but also to estate agents who often set-up partnerships with home stagers and recommend these added-value services to their clients in order to gain a competitive edge over their competitors.

The goal of home stagers is to optimize the chances to convert a visit into a sale. Stagers try to make the buyer “fall in love” with your property. They help you make the most of your home’s potential by de-cluttering, de-personalizing, neutralizing spaces and rearranging your existing furniture. This explains why home staging is cheap ! A small investment made on Home Staging can help you sell your property faster and at the best asking price. Why ? Because if a property is not a good marketable product, sellers will directly forget about it or be forced to play the aggressive price reduction game.

Home Staging Spain is one of the very first Home Staging companies providing services to property owners and Estate agents in Southern Spain. They provide consultation reports and hands-on staging services on the Costa del Sol (From Málaga to Gibraltar) and propose online staging solutions if you live outside this area.

For more information on how home staging can help you sell your Spanish property, visit our friends at http://www.homestagingspain.com, drop them a line (info@homestagingspain.com) or just give them a call on +34 655 13 84 24.

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1. Price Reductions in Costa del Sol Property – July 2009
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3. Furnishing your home

For clients visiting to view property in Marbella, Estepona, Benahavis or Sotogrande the Kempinski Hotel Bahia is ideally located. To apply for these rates please contact us.

The Kempinski is an exclusive sea-side resort, set in lush tropical and subtropical gardens, with direct access to the beach and three large swimming pools. It is located only 5 minutes outside of Estepona, a small and charming fisherman’s village, which has grown into a beautiful coastal town. Puerto Banús, the internationally known yacht harbour, where a number of deluxe boutiques, restaurants, shopping malls and exclusive bars are located, is only 15 minutes, while Marbella, home to Puerto Banús, is a mere 20 minute drive as is the resort of Sotogrande and the world famous golf course Valderrama.

Links:

http://www.kempinski-spain.com/en/home/index.htm

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2. Port of Estepona
3. Furnishing your home

Price reductions keep appearing in our Estepona offices so we think we must start a series of posts related to property opportunities in the best locations on the Coast. Today we start with property in Estepona, Marbella, Gaucín and Benahavis.

If these opportunities are not yet of interest for you, please stay tuned. We will post new ones as soon as they arrive.

Alternatively, you can contact us and let us know what are your requirements, we will contact you directly once we have the property right for you.

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1. How to sell your Spanish property faster? Meet Home Staging

Sotogrande Property Guide will be one of the most informative sites related to Sotogrande living and Sotogrande property.

Staff of Terra Meridiana will join professional journalists, all of them fully integrated in to the Sotogrande community and with local knowledge of the Sotogrande area, to update the site not only with property in Sotogrande information but also with useful information about Sotogrande Living.

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Today, in mid-May 2009, a British seller wanting ₤300,000 for his Costa del Sol property can ask for €335,000. Exactly a year ago, the corresponding asking price would have been €402,000 while, going back to February 2007, the same conversion would have yielded €450,000. This amounts to a 16% discount over the last twelve months and a 26% drop over the last two years.

These deals will be of special interest in the Costa del Sol where so many UK citizens have invested in holiday or permanent homes. British sellers should not be too hard to find, with many needing a cash influx during these financially trying times.

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Marbella attracted the Arabic nobility as well. Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia, arrived in 1974 with a wealthy entourage of Saudi nobles, including none other than a youthful Osama bin Laden. Fahd continued to frequent Marbella’s casinos after he was crowned king of Saudi Arabia in 1982. The city had by then acquired its cachet as the exclusive retreat of cosmopolitan personalities, including Gunilla von Bismarck, Antonio Banderas and his wife Melanie Griffith, Joan Collins, Sean Connery, and many more. In time, it became the internationally famous seaside resort that it is today, associated with luxury, golf, and foreign tourism.

Still, Marbella’s historic and typically Andalusian centre, as well as the town’s proximity to some of the region’s natural and historical landmarks also provide a good deal of local colour to those who come here to visit or live. Day trips or longer jaunts can be made on and beyond the Sierra Blanca mountain range that is seen from the town, for instance to the Serranía de Ronda, home of yesteryear’s bandolero bandits, where a host of white villages–some humble and silent while others offer particular attractions–dot a lush landscape of alternating pine, cork oak, citrus, and almond groves in a network of deep valleys and cascading rivers. Also within reach in half a day’s drive or less are the important cities of the region: Malaga, Cordoba, Seville, Granada, and Cádiz.

The concept of the “Golden Mile” arose to designate the area more or less from Cabopino to the west of Marbella to Guadalmina, and its key feature is the N340 coastal road, on both sides of which shopping centres, golf courses, and front-line beach, front-line golf, and other residences fight for space. Among the golf clubs found a moment’s drive from town are (to the east) Rio Real Golf, Marbella Golf Club, and Cabopino Golf and (to the west) Aloha Golf, La Dama de Noche, Las Brisas, La Quinta, and Los Naranjos. The “Costa del Golf” continues west past San Pedro and toward Estepona and Sotogrande offering a total of over 50 courses, including world championship venues such as Valderrama at Sotogrande.

For its part, Marbella’s Port features both an older fishing port and a pleasure harbour, and there is Cabopino Port also a few kilometres east. The most glamorous place to moor a boat, however, is to the west in Puerto Banús, which looks and feels like a town in its own right. It boasts a multi-cinema complex, a bullring, a maritime museum, a casino and some of the best luxury shops on the Costa del Sol, including the department store El Corte Inglés. Although it began to be constructed in the seventies, Puerto Banús seems like it’s always been there.

Outside of Puerto Banús, other important shopping areas are the Marbella town centre itself, the mall La Cañada on the other side of the N340, with a variety of clothing outlets and the Fnac book, music, and home entertainment megastore–which organises cultural events–and the Centro Plaza Commercial Centre in Nueva Andalusia. Beaches, dining, and nightlife are obviously well-catered to, with some of the names to remember being Nikki Beach for soaking the rays, while two of the best-known night fun venues would be The Suite, part of the Puente Romano Hotel, and the Moorish-style Olivia Valere. As for restaurants, one of the best ways to find a good place is probably just by walking around, for instance in the downtown area near the beautiful historic square Plaza de Los Naranjos.

Marbella has grown at breathtaking speed, with at least one clear disadvantage: political scandal. The arrival on the scene of mayor Jesús Gil y Gil in 1991 was a turning point for the town. A political maverick and football team owner from Madrid of dubious reputation yet tremendous popular appeal, he founded the Independent Liberal Group, which he spearheaded to power on a populist platform that included the promise of ridding the city of beggars and petty crime. The pledge was kept, although at the expense of the civil liberties of those summarily arrested, jailed, and forced to leave. This single achievement won him re-election on numerous occasions in campaigns publicly supported by Sean Connery.

Gil began a long tradition in the Marbella town hall of enriching himself and councillors by turning over protected land to luxury housing developers. Not only did the latter pay kickbacks to the politicians in return for licenses, but the shenanigans took place with tacit approval from civil servants in Madrid who were keen on collecting fines for violating nationally protected land. Developers came to consider the kickbacks and fines a mere part of their overall investments. Gil was forced to resign in 2002 and replaced by Julian Muñoz, who was promptly dismissed by his own party. The next mayor, Marisol Yagüe, was then shown to also be involved in the scams. She went to jail before the end of her term among scores of other shady characters as part of a massive crackdown by the national government in which Muñoz was also locked up. Eventually Yagüe’s own successor was sent to prison too and the Junta de Andalucía took the unprecedented step of shutting down the Marbella town hall altogether.

The emphasis is now on regularising the situation of –or demolishing– the countless homes involved, many of whose owners had no idea they were buying an illegal construction. On the positive side, developers are now more legit and buyers more careful, while plenty is on offer. Whether one is after an apartment, townhouse, penthouse, or even a villa, falling market prices and the current general economic downturn may well translate into an opportunity to find bargains on property for rent or for sale. Last summer’s hotel traffic on the Costa del Sol resisted the foreseen downturn in bookings, so it remains to be seen if newcomers to Marbella, Puerto Banús, or the rest of the Costa del Sol will also have the pleasure of finding the area a bit less crowded than it has traditionally been. Whatever the economic fallout, Marbella, the heart of the Golden Mile, is poised to remain a unique, exclusive, and exciting luxury resort to move to or spend a holiday.

JF from Terrameridiana.com

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