Big Pete

Hi

Being a sensible logical man , Wanting to move away to Sunnier climate and clear seas , and have a lovely home with as little Stress as possible ..

I cant get my head round this urge that seems to grip people to buy OFF Plan ??

OFF PLAN ! Lets analyse this ?

1/ It is a property that has yet to be built , so therefore you are trusting that the build quality will be 1st rate ? (As its sold and they are pushing to deadlines you can bet there rushed )
2/ You pay money in advance for this privelage and lose interest on moneys paid or if borrowed money your paying interest ?
3/ The hand drawn pretty picture never shows such minor things as the Phase 2 which will be built in front of your new build , normally phase 2 is kept under wraps until phase 1 is completed and sold !
4/ You have no way of knowing in advance what the neighbours will be like ?
5/ You would take the property over when complete and then probably suffer dust and noise Trucks running on your unmade roads for further years , while the other buildings are finished !
6/ Gardens are un established and have a new baron look !
7/ You have the hassle and worries of obtainning the legal paperworks !
8/ You have the address allocation issues , Electric connection issues , Sattelite installation issues etc,etc.. !
9/ After build snags always occur , so then you have the first years minor leaky pipes , roof leaks as it never rainned til you moved in ! Settlement cracks , etc..
10/ Until the final property is finished , you suffer the unmade road that fills with giant puddles and mud every rainstorm !
11/ Countless nights lost sleep wondering how they are doing whilst your back in the UK !
12/ Numerous phone calls and visits chasing up the build as they nearly always mis qoute finish dates !

So with the stress of moving to a new country already giving you stress overload ! Surely is this OFF Plan such a wise move , as i for the life of me cant see this route nothing but a additional hassle that could end in tears !!

So could someone please tell me what the plus points are ? apart from the only advantage i could see of huge discounts and returning a good profit , by selling onwards at a profit on completion ?
Even this however i am unsure to with the Market in a slowing down state !

So love to hear what have i missed that makes you so "OFF Plan Crazy"
Or do you maybe enjoy the dangerous side of life

Mitzyboy

1. Do your research and see what other houses they have built. In our case I had 20 years of history to inspect
2. You pay stage payments on your property, and generally when the villa is finished you make an immediate financial gain, hence it covers your interest
3. Again, research .... I have green belt in front of mine which is impossible to build on
4. You have no way of knowing what your neighbours will be like with a resale !!!
5. Maybe with some urbs .... ours was one of the last to be completed
6. So what .... blank canvas
7. No, done through the builder / notary
8. Leccy arranged via the builder ... Sat connection ..big deal!!!
9. Not a problem, as with any new house .... they came back and second fixed.
10. We've got a new road outside with nice pretty street lights
11. Contract with dates to finish to certain levels. Penalty clauses for finishing
12. Make sure you have a decent contract with finish dates and penalty clauses

Give me a break with you ... if off plan doesn't suit you then thats good, but its not always the nightmare that you point out.

I'm sure if I put my mind to it we could find lots of peoples nightmares with re sales. The guy in the valley below for instance who will never have any leccy cos he was hoodwinked.

MnM

Hi Big Pete,

Buying off-plan is very attractive to some buyers because:

1. You only have to put a small deposit down (initially) and in some cases there are stage payments. Some people do not have all the equity available to purchase a property straight away. Others want to keep their property in the UK and pay the stage payments off without having to obtain a loan or sell their UK property. Also, when the property is completed, some stand to get a 100% mortgage off the bank because of value increase. Not all who buy offplan buy to sell on.

2. You can have a bespoke property to your own personal taste and design.

3. Not all off-plan properties are on urbanisations.

4. There's usually a 10 year builders guarantee regarding build defects

5. The paperwork/legalities are not the burden of the buyer, but of the builder/seller.

I could go on and on, but just because it is not attractive to you does not mean that there are no reasons for buying off-plan.

When you buy an established house/villa, how do you know what your neighbours are going to be like? If you're lucky and they are nice, how do you know they won't sell up to the neighbours from hell. How do you know that your villa will not have any defects that are not obvious? How do you know that in a few years time the town hall won't decide to run a road in front of your house? How do you know your next door neighbour won't obtain a disco license and turn their property into a nightclub?

There are so many arguments for and against any type of purchase, I just think it's up to the buyer to weigh their needs and requirements

Mitzyboy

Exactly!!!!
Now I'm off to start a "why oh why do people buy re sales thread, are they mad"

MnM

*lol*......good idea Mitzyboy......I'll contribute tomorrow as I'm off to bed

Nite, nite!

Big Pete

Well you havent added 1 plus point to convince me its the way to go ?

Well apart from having to research the builder ?
Research the land ?
Fingers crossed good neighbours move in ?
Wait til the end of the development then buy the last one ? could be 3 years or so ?
And pray to god all goes well

Why not simply find a lovely Villa all finished with all paperworks power and all little extras done . pay the money and move in . seems simple to me ..And if your lucky you stick a offer in 20% below asking price if they brought it cheap they will take it , so seems logic to me . just cant see what the off plan route has to benefit ?

But and a big BUT ! maybe someone will explain ?

ps; Your biased Mitz Your sharper than most did your research all ok .. but to some i bet the builders and agents rub there hands together and say "Here comes another lamb to the slaughter "

Mitzyboy

Yes but even so man you can't keep knocking off plan! I'm not trying to convince you, because you won't be convinced, you've already made your mind up. I couldn't have asked for a better home that we ended up with, and everyone can do the same if they want to with care. I wince when I see people acting in haste, because we've all seen what can transpire.

Softly softly catchy monkey!

Douglas jack

Skimmer.

Mitzyboy

Eh?

Big Pete

Well you threw up a better argument than Mitz .. I grant you that But have seen loads of postings about people worrying about there paperwork stuff , electrics and how the developments over deadlines and things !!
Seems more `stress when you should be destressing right ?

Didnt you see the program the other night "Selling houses abroad " I bet they were glad they brought OFF Plan right ? And that poor couple at the end spoilt there dreams and the cave people lost thousands ?
Yes your right its not for me .

I will meet the neighbours check the area , have a solicitor (independant) , Surveyor and only when everything is 100% will it be purchased .. And all this will be done before a OFF Plan has laid its foundations .. So yes Resell is my way ..

Douglas jack

Homework,didnt your teacher tell you?

big wheels

I'm sure that buying "off plan" is more stressful, and can come with lots of problems. That is why I would never do it.
But there is no guarantee that buying an older property is "Sin Problemas"
The houses in our street have been there for more than 50 yrs so you would assume that you were safe right?
Not so, a house opposite our neighbours was recently purchased, knocked down, and a new house built 5 mtrs higher than the original. Leaving our Spanish neighbours with a former sunny roof terrace (handy for drying the washing) in total shadow.

Big Pete

Well yep thats unlucky for sure . and eveything is still a unknown future all we can do is narrow down the risks and hope ..

Lionda

Yer pays yer money and yer takes yer chance

keithwalters

Can´t believe nobody has mentioned black money yet. One of the biggest problems of buying resale if you ask me.

I´m in the process of (trying) to buy a resale at the moment and am hating every minute of it.

I accept that everywhere is different, but here if you are not willing to pay black money you will remain homeless. (None of the developers ask for black money).

And if you don´t live in one of these areas (CDS) where they say that property is 30% overpriced, then you have no hope of getting the owner to reduce the price, knowing full well that the git is making a hell of a lot of profit out of YOU, instead of you making a profit out of the developer.

I´m going down the resale route this time because I have no choice, but I preferred the process of buying both my off-plans.