Re: COSTA ESURI - AYAMONTE
 

In the Sunday Telegraph ( Property section ) today.

"Found: lost treasure of Andalucia" Huelva.

With half a page about the region and 1 line mentioning Costa Esuri at the end of the article. Various comments about Nuevo Portl and El Rompido.

It is nice to see CE getting some press however small an amount

Re: COSTA ESURI - AYAMONTE
 

[QUOTE=rogerbilko;5969564
Can anyone post any recent pictures of CE?[/QUOTE]

At last I have found the time to update my webpage, with various pictures and blogs from last year, and the beginning of this year. Hope you find some of the type of pictures you are looking for here (Golf Course, Commercial Center progress, Clubhouse etc.)

Re: COSTA ESURI - AYAMONTE
 

this picture rago1 was taken on Saturday will put up more tomorrow

Re: COSTA ESURI - AYAMONTE
 

Good weather on Saturday!

Re: COSTA ESURI - AYAMONTE
 

An interesting note from Reuters:

MADRID (Reuters) - Basque property developer Ereaga has filed for creditor protection, El Pais newspaper reported on Sunday, the second Spanish real estate company to declare insolvency as sales slow and banks cut back their financing.

The paper said privately held Ereaga had filed for protection in the mercantile court of Bilbao because it could not meet payments on 160 million euros ($233 million) of debt.

Nobody was immediately available for comment at Ereaga's offices.

The filing comes two months after Llanera, a property firm based in Valencia, asked for creditor protection. Since then, several other real estate companies have tried to sell assets or refinance their debt to ride the drop in the housing market.

The Spanish property sector has rocketed over the last nine years but is suddenly screeching to a halt with house sales falling and price growth slowing quickly.

While developers were confident that they would have a soft landing, the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis suddenly made banks much more wary of lending to them and even if they do get a loan, they are being charging ever higher risk premiums.

Real estate developers built up hefty piles of debt to build projects and until this year could pay it back quickly as houses were sold almost as soon as they were built.

Firms are now looking for other ways of riding out the crisis and lowering their debt burden.

In the last week alone, Colonial (COL.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) has said it is in talks with French property group Gecina (GFCP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) about possibly merging which would lower its debt-to-asset ratio, Fadesa MFAD.MC has sold half its Moroccan unit, and privately held Habitat has put property up for sale.

And



Martinsa Fadesa cut the size of its loan to 2.581 billion euros from 2.995 billion euros after repaying 414 million euros in two instalments and is now seeking to refinance around 2 billion euros.

Martinsa Fadesa and its arranging banks Ahorro Corporacion, Caja Madrid, La Caixa and Morgan Stanley are in refinancing talks as the company seeks to extend the maturity of the loan to five or seven years, the spokesman said.

The loan was part-repaid by group revenue, together with proceeds from the disposals of land and hotels, as well as the sale of a 50 percent stake in Fadesa's Moroccan unit Fadesa Maroc to local real estate firm Addoha for 169 million euro.

Refinancing negotiations began after the Martinsa Fadesa merger was approved in December 17 and were a condition of the company's existing facilities, the spokesman said.

Martinsa Fadesa originally took a 4 billion euro loan in April 2007 to finance its merger, but the credit was hit by negative sentiment towards the Spanish real estate sector after equity prices dropped in the first half of 2007.

The loan was cut to 3.016 billion in May after raising 850 million euros of equity privately, and was subsequently relaunched in June 2007, having increased the interest margin by 100 basis points (b.p.) to 350 b.p. over EURIBOR. A group of 35 banks signed into the transaction.

May be the lack of cash or the need to hold cash in the bank until the refinancing is done is slowing progress of the hotel, the commercial centre and the improvement works on Rago 1.

I was told yesterday that the improvement works are on hold pending instruction from Fadesa Martin.

Re: COSTA ESURI - AYAMONTE
 

I think it is a bit more complicated than that. Fadesa used to build and own hotels and they were operated by Barcelo ( there seemed to be a strong relationship between the proprietors of those two companies. When Martin became involved he wanted to take the new Martines Fadesa in a different direction. In order to reduce his debt he has sold off a number of the hotels and I suspect it was whilst this policy was being evolved that the parting of the ways came at CE and without a willing operator Bacelo MF suspended work until they could sell the shell of the hotel on. The current world economic climate is not conducive to a rapid resolution so it could sit for some time unfinished.

The improvement works are in a different category it is extra money to spend so why should Martin (he presumably took the decision to downgrade the quality in the first place) if he can get enough punters to complete at the current level, if not then he might spend just enough to tip the balance.

It is interesting that as this has evolved I have become more aware that the Spanish Consumer Law is quite strong and would seem to be on the side of the buyer in cases like this. The Town Hall should have a department to deal with this and if a body of people were to take concerted action then they would either be reimbursed their deposits or the improvements would happen. The hand of the buyers is strengthening as time passes since the banks are putting the screws on MF to reduce their borrowings and one obvious way is to collect the other 50% on pre sold properties.

A new act of May 07 (see attachment) strengthens the hand of buyers to insist that all the paperwork is in place before completion at the Notary who has to register it all at the land registry. So if the developer is overtime and the paperwork is not there, which it can't be if for instance mains electricity is not connected, the buyer can exercise the bank guarantee and get his money back plus interest which puts further pressure on MF.

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The recent posts about water problems have started me thinking about this again. When we first moved into our Apartment in Rago2, the water was turned off at the cupboard in the Portal entrance, and we had to turn it on. As a matter of course, we turned it off there as we left after each visit, when we were setting up the Apartment. We then started to leave it on all the time, which was just as well, as now the cupboard tends to be locked.

However, I have never been entirely happy with this arrangement, and would prefer to have the water turned off between visits (as we do with the electricity). Whilst the electricity is easy to turn off at the mains just inside the door, turning off the water would be much more difficult, as the mains inside the Apartment is controlled by those awkward valves with a screwdriver head, hidden under a cap, almost inaccessible at the top of the wall half hidden by the units in the kitchen!

On my last visit to CE, I called into ADA, and asked if we could have keys to the cupboard. The guy there said not, but suggested we could turn off the water from the hatch on the landing, outside the Apartment. When I investigated this, I found that you need one of those special triangular keys to get into this hatch. Anyway, I managed to get in (come on, I am a scouser), and it is possible to turn off the water here by the handle valve, turned 90degrees. However, the four valves are not readily identifiable to each Apartment; I found the right one through trial and error. Whilst I could do this, I wouldn’t like to have to ask my visitors, who may not possess my breaking and entry skills, to do so.

I have heard that other Apartments/Town Houses have sensible wheel valves located in the kitchens. Could anyone confirm this for me, and does anyone have details of a plumber who could change/ re-locate the existing valves.

Re: COSTA ESURI - AYAMONTE
 

Hi Bob,
Yes, the majority have a simple wheel valve and you can turn off all water easily. I would suggest you change the valve near the door so you can switch it off at a whimp. However make sure it is done properly or else you could end up flooding your place and any neighbours.

Regards

MichaelH

Re: COSTA ESURI - AYAMONTE
 

The point I was making is that Fadesa Martinsa is cash strapped. It is holding on to cash to make its balance sheet look stronger for refinancing....it also needs cash to service its huge debt. In the building game a slowing down of activity is a sure sign of cash flow problems. FM has until September to sort things out.

There is clearly some sort of fire sale going on...selling the morocan interest and so on.

My fear is that Fadesa will not do the Rago 1 improvements until (and if) it refinances. If it does not refinance then it may not be able to service its debt without a major sale of assets....CE could be one of those assets.

If it cannot sell....who knows insolvencey.....yes it may have a lot of land....but you cannot service a debt without cash.

FM could be between a rock and a very hard place.

Re: COSTA ESURI - AYAMONTE
 

FROM SPANISH PROPERTY INSIGHT

Big Spanish developers see sales fall by between 30% and 50%
The downturn in the Spanish property market is hitting the sales of Spanish developers hard. Sales at 3 of the biggest quoted developers – Martinsa-Fadesa, Metrovacesa and Acciona – are down by between 30% and 50% to September this year, according to recent company filings with the stock market regulator. Needless to say, sales could fall even further if buyers hold off in anticipation of price falls.

And talking of price falls, the developer Martinsa-Fadesa does not rule out lowering its prices “if market conditions demand it”, according to a recent article in ‘El Mundo’. The article reports that Fadesa can afford to lower its prices if necessary for various reasons. Firstly, it has a healthy gross margin of 45% that gives the company room for manoeuvre, and secondly, with a land bank of 28 million square meters, a third of it outside of Spain, Fadesa’s land costs are only 10% of its retail prices, compared to 50% for developers who buy land with planning permission in place. No mention is made of Martinsa-Fadesa’s huge level of debt, and whether the company can afford to lower its prices in a falling market and still meet its interest payments.

Re: COSTA ESURI - AYAMONTE
 

Hi everybody,

I am having a problem with Fadesa that I had hoped we could resolve quietly. They have gone way over the top I feel now, and I am wondering if someone can give me the right addresses and right names of the top Fadesa executive/s that is/are involved with the CE project.

I cant go into it right now - but I know that others have had to write to the exec, in the past,:thumbdown: and I suppose its my turn now...

Thanks in advance

From a frustrated, Jon.

Re: COSTA ESURI - AYAMONTE
 

Just sent you a pm

Re: COSTA ESURI - AYAMONTE
 

We are on Rago 1 and have a silver "Quarter-Turn Knob" just inside the kitchen between the door and edge of the kitchen units. It shuts off the whole apartment very quickly and easily.

Does this mean Rago 1 has some "mod cons" that Rago 2 has't got, now that's a first...??

John&Lynn

Re: COSTA ESURI - AYAMONTE
 

I noticed a new avatar has appeared now The Toffees are doing well! ;)

Re: COSTA ESURI - AYAMONTE
 

Never too shy to jump on the bandwagon !

Actually, I have been looking for an Avatar for awhile, but couldn't find anything suitable. Then I was browsing the Photo Gallery last night, and found that a Simon???? from another thread had posted the picture, so I snaffled it.

He must be the other Evertonian :)