How to Identify Affordable Property Hotspots – Richard Way

The Expo was packed – this image was taken at the very end of the Sunday – so most people had left!

I’ve been using HolidaySiteBuilder for the last couple of weeks as an early tester and it seems great! I got my site online in just a couple of hours – and most of that was spent trying to word things correctly. I reckon if I had prepared all the text and photos to upload it would have only taken 15 mins!

HolidaySiteBuilder.com will be go live on 10th April 2008 – Thursday this week. If you don’t already have a site for your property – this seems the easiest possible method. I used to use WordPress – like this Blog, but it was much easier with Holiday Site Builder as they had already added all the tools I need. My favourite is the Calendar, which is so easy to use you can update it in seconds – meaning potential customers will always have an up to date method of checking availability.

I got my testing account for Free, including a free domain name! I think the testing period is over, judging by the blog on the site, but it is still only £95 “introductory” offer. You get a domain name included in the price. Considering most .com names cost about £10 it seems a good deal.

If anyone else uses it, please tell me what you think and if there are any better tools/sites to create your own holiday letting site.

An excellent resource we have found is http://www.amberlamb.com/index.php/property/cyprus/ which has some excellent tips!

Tip 1 – Don’t just think about renting to holiday makers.

A recent report in leading British Sunday newspaper the Sunday Times entitled: “Revealed: the best places in the world for retirement,” put Cyprus firmly in the top slot for Britons seeking a more attractive destination in retirement.

Tip 2 – Consider the North.

President Papadopoulos, the current president of Cyprus, has been knocked out of the presidential running whilst his two strongest opponents are still in the running and both in favour of restarting talks about a solution to the division of Cyprus. If a decision can be reached allowing both sides of the island to self-govern and be equally recognised as members of the European Union, those who have bought property in North Cyprus at much lower rates compared to those in south Cyprus will potentially see prices rise overnight.

Tip 3 – Know the buying process

Check out this simple guide to buying property in Cyprus:

http://www.amberlamb.com/index.php/a/m/guide-to-the-property-buying-process-in-cyprus/

 http://www.homesworldwide.co.uk/europe/spain/news/articles/cheap_flights_boost_property_market_in_mallorca?news_id=0065935

Their article leads with “Cheap Flights Boost Property Market In Mallorca – As low-cost airline easyJet announces more flights to Palma the property market on the island looks set to benefit.”

It goes on to explain there have recently been a raft of new flights from EasyJet, BMI baby and Monarch which have pushed up the number of UK holiday home buyers and in turn increased property prices.

The Telegraph has also produced an excellent buyer’s guide to Mallorca, some of which I have copied below:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.jhtml?xml=/property/2008/02/02/opmajorca102.xml&page=3

PALMA
The prettiest properties are modernised old stone houses and flats in the Cathedral quarter. Most buy-tolet flats are in blocks built since the 1960s. The city centre is 15 minutes from the airport. Expect to pay £130,000 to £400,000 for apartments and up to £1million-plus for houses. Nearby Puigpunyent and Establiments offer flats from £200,000 and country houses at £600,000 or more.

SOUTH-WEST
It is 30 minutes from the airport and has an excellent infrastructure, but it also has Magaluf, clubs and all-day English breakfasts. Escape by aiming for resorts such as Portals and Santa Ponsa, or the delightful Andratx. “It’s a genuine fishing village with trawlers, harbourside cafés and restaurants, pleasure boats and yachts,” says Robert Maunder of First Mallorca. Expect to pay £300,000 upwards.

NORTH-WEST
Once this was hard to get to, but tunnels and roads from Palma mean it’s a 45-minute drive from the airport, prompting Sebastian Boelger of Engel & Volkers to declare: “There are no inaccessible or remote parts of Majorca now.” Thus tiny Soller, a quiet fishing port a decade ago, is now a property boom town: apartments with sea views fetch £350,000-plus and houses can demand up to £2 million or more.

INLAND
This mountainous area has opened up since 2005, thanks to motorways and improved rail services. As a result, oncecheap small villages, such as Llubi, Alaró and Santa Maria, now have rising demand, rising prices and a busier feel to them. Engel & Volkers says 30 per cent of buyers looking inland want plots to build their own homes, while others seek the quintessential Balearic finca – and need £500,000 or more to buy it.

EAST COAST
The best value is to be had here. It’s up to an hour from Palma airport, although temperatures can be 10 per cent lower than in the west, so it can be quiet in winter. The largely unspoilt towns of Arta and Capdepera vie for attention with brasher resorts such as Cala Bona. Small flats in dense schemes start at £100,000 while restored period houses will cost you £1million-plus.

http://property.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/property/buying_and_selling/article3409326.ece

The most interesting part was a map that clearly shows the UK’s holiday home hot spots.

Sofia is the biggest city in Bulgaria with about 1.4 million citizens (including suburbs). It is a dynamic Eastern European capital, distinguished by its unique combination of European and Communist-style architecture as well as many beautiful orthodox churches. It is also one of the few European capitals with a developed ski-resort so close to it – the Vitosha mountain.

There are some great webcams of the ski slopes on Vitosha mountain on this site – http://www.bulgariaski.com/vitosha/index.shtml

Wikitravel.org

Two new airports have been announced recently by the Spanish and Portuguese.

http://www.foreignpropertybuyer.com/2008/markets/europe/huelva-to-build-international-airport/

This article on the foreignpropertybuyer.com site says the Spanish city of Huelva has finally been given the go-ahead to build an international airport. Huelva province includes the western Costa de la Luz and is one of the sunniest parts of Spain’s coastline. It also borders the Portugese Algarve, an area that has seen massive property prices surges in recent times. Currently, the closest airports are at Faro in Portugal, or Seville, both of which are an hours drive from many of the area’s key resorts. When the new airport has been built, many of the resorts will be just 15 minutes drive from the airport.

http://www.homesworldwide.co.uk/europe/portugal/news/articles/new_lisbon_airport_to_be_built_in_alcochete?news_id=0054384

The link above says a new airport is going to be built at Alcochete, near Lisbon.

Both airports should be ready by 2012.

NATS have provided an excellent method to check if you are or will be affected. Type the postcode of your holiday home in the page below and to display a very useful map.

http://www.consultation.nats.co.uk/mapintro/6/how_this_affects_you.html

Here is a link to their site with more info:
http://www.aplaceinthesunlive.com/

**TIP 1 **

If you are thinking of going to the shows then go to WHSmiths the month before and buy the “Place in the Sun” mag. You can usually get 2 tickets for free. Issue 51 came out in January 2008 and had tickets to the Manchester show on the 29th Feb 2008. The mag is £3.50 and the tickets are £10 each… so you save £16.50, which might buy you lunch.

**TIP 2 **

My wife and I went to the show in ExCel last year and it was great! I highly recommend it. We went quite early on a Sunday and arrived for the doors opening. By lunchtime we had to leave, as it got so crowded. My tip is to go early and if you can go on the Friday, when I would hope there are less people.

**TIP 3 **

We will be going to ExCel again this year on Friday and I will post a blog update Friday 25 April for people who can’t make it or are going on Saturday or Sunday.

Show Dates

· Manchester Central (GMEX) 29 Feb – 2 Mar 2008
· ExCeL London 25 – 27 Apr 2008
· NEC Birmingham 26 – 28 Sep 2008
· Earls Court London 3 – 5 Oct 2008

Before we bought the holiday home in France we did a lot of research into rental markets and the best value for money locations. In the end we went with the easy option that was a short distance from our home in London and hopefully very low risk. For our second holiday home we will be rather more adventurous…

This blog will document our research into the new home and renting both holiday homes on the open market. I will be listing all the holiday home tips we find along the way and hope to get lots of comments and tips form the general public who read the blog. I will also be linking to all the relevant blogs and information sites I can find to help you do your own research.

I am hoping to build up a small community of holiday home owners or prospective holiday home buyers who share their tips on the blog.

Hope you like the blog and please feel free to comment and give your own advise on all articles or suggest posts you would like to see on the site.