Could you be a Spanish property developer?
Feb 13th 2008, 7:02 pm
#1
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Location: España
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Could you be a Spanish property developer?
With the fascination us Brits have in property prices and property development, it's not surprising that many have considered making money from property development here in Sunny Spain. Of course, the rules over here are very different. So to help the would-be developer aclimatise I thought I'd devise this simple test. Have you got what it takes? Could you be a Spanish property developer?
INSTRUCTIONS: There are ten (10) questions. There is no time limit for this test. You can overrun by up to six months without penalty. Good luck!
1. If it takes two men seven months to build a house, and you pay your Romanian workforce 91 euro a week, how many extra Jaguar cars can you afford to buy if you switch to Peruvians at 84 euro a week to complete the development?
2. You acquire 200,000 square meters of land through 'land grab' at a cost of 2 euros per square metre. How many houses do you need to build in order to pay off the local Mayor?
3. A world economic slowdown looms and property prices look set to crash.
Do you:
a) Run for the hills?
b) Sell everything you own and move back in with your Mother?
c) Build more houses?
4. You currently supply 300 homes with 'builders water' which is derived from a nearby stagnant lagoon. How many types of bacteria can the householders expect in their tap water?
Bonus question: Will you give a toss?
5. A customer would like another electric socket installed in the kitchen of their off-plan home. If the outlet costs 5.89 euros, 23mm rigid PVC conduit costs 16 cents per metre, 1.5mm2 rigid single core cable costs 18 cents per metre per core, and first and second fix labour comes to no more 16.73 euros - please explain how you justify the 500% markup you intend to charge the customer?
6. A buyer's solicitor has starting asking difficult questions about paperwork. What is the going rate to ensure that the non-existent building licences get mysteriously "overlooked"?
7. You are building an illegal house on a plot of 2,600 square metres. When is the best time of night to sneak back and move the neighbour's boundary markers in order to steal enough land for the swimming pool?
8. The sewerage treatment for your urbanisation is undersized and as a result poo is slowly seeping into everyone's luxury villa. Explain how the rules of Valencian land grab mean that you didn't have to pay a penny towards the sewerage infrastructure in the first place - instead the previous owners of the land did!
9. How many times do you have to repeat the term "Only highest quality materials used" in a glossy marketing brochure for people to actually believe it?
And finally:
10. You're about to pay your brother-in-law (the local Mayor) a visit to discuss a planning matter. How many more bin bags will you need to take with you if you were to use 200 euro notes instead of the normal 500 euro notes?
INSTRUCTIONS: There are ten (10) questions. There is no time limit for this test. You can overrun by up to six months without penalty. Good luck!
1. If it takes two men seven months to build a house, and you pay your Romanian workforce 91 euro a week, how many extra Jaguar cars can you afford to buy if you switch to Peruvians at 84 euro a week to complete the development?
2. You acquire 200,000 square meters of land through 'land grab' at a cost of 2 euros per square metre. How many houses do you need to build in order to pay off the local Mayor?
3. A world economic slowdown looms and property prices look set to crash.
Do you:
a) Run for the hills?
b) Sell everything you own and move back in with your Mother?
c) Build more houses?
4. You currently supply 300 homes with 'builders water' which is derived from a nearby stagnant lagoon. How many types of bacteria can the householders expect in their tap water?
Bonus question: Will you give a toss?
5. A customer would like another electric socket installed in the kitchen of their off-plan home. If the outlet costs 5.89 euros, 23mm rigid PVC conduit costs 16 cents per metre, 1.5mm2 rigid single core cable costs 18 cents per metre per core, and first and second fix labour comes to no more 16.73 euros - please explain how you justify the 500% markup you intend to charge the customer?
6. A buyer's solicitor has starting asking difficult questions about paperwork. What is the going rate to ensure that the non-existent building licences get mysteriously "overlooked"?
7. You are building an illegal house on a plot of 2,600 square metres. When is the best time of night to sneak back and move the neighbour's boundary markers in order to steal enough land for the swimming pool?
8. The sewerage treatment for your urbanisation is undersized and as a result poo is slowly seeping into everyone's luxury villa. Explain how the rules of Valencian land grab mean that you didn't have to pay a penny towards the sewerage infrastructure in the first place - instead the previous owners of the land did!
9. How many times do you have to repeat the term "Only highest quality materials used" in a glossy marketing brochure for people to actually believe it?
And finally:
10. You're about to pay your brother-in-law (the local Mayor) a visit to discuss a planning matter. How many more bin bags will you need to take with you if you were to use 200 euro notes instead of the normal 500 euro notes?
Feb 14th 2008, 7:13 am
#2
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Joined: Mar 2007
Location: Costa Valencia
Posts: 14,800
Re: Could you be a Spanish property developer?
Love your posts. You are an excellent story teller, have you thought about writing short stories?
Rosemary
Rosemary
Feb 14th 2008, 9:50 am
#3
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Joined: Jun 2006
Location: Back home
Posts: 4,573
Re: Could you be a Spanish property developer?
Brilliant TT 
Just to add an extra one ..
11. The purchasers get wise to you and decide to pull out, do you ..
a) Offer them an reduction on the price of 20,000 euros
b) Lie and say all the paperwork is in order
c) Ignore them and refuse to answer phone calls and emails
in the hope they will give in and proceed without asking
any more questions.
Just to add an extra one ..
11. The purchasers get wise to you and decide to pull out, do you ..
a) Offer them an reduction on the price of 20,000 euros
b) Lie and say all the paperwork is in order
c) Ignore them and refuse to answer phone calls and emails
in the hope they will give in and proceed without asking
any more questions.
Last edited by Lionda; Feb 14th 2008 at 9:54 am.
Feb 14th 2008, 10:31 am
#4
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Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: España
Posts: 728
Re: Could you be a Spanish property developer?
Brilliant TT
Just to add an extra one ..
11. The purchasers get wise to you and decide to pull out, do you ..
a) Offer them an reduction on the price of 20,000 euros
b) Lie and say all the paperwork is in order
c) Ignore them and refuse to answer phone calls and emails
in the hope they will give in and proceed without asking
any more questions.
Just to add an extra one ..
11. The purchasers get wise to you and decide to pull out, do you ..
a) Offer them an reduction on the price of 20,000 euros
b) Lie and say all the paperwork is in order
c) Ignore them and refuse to answer phone calls and emails
in the hope they will give in and proceed without asking
any more questions.
Am I right? Do I win a prize? Please tell me I've won a luxury property in Spain on an urbanisation which doesn't have an adequate water supply or enough electricity even to run the streetlights!
Hey, isn't that the local Mayor driving past? Nice car...
Feb 14th 2008, 11:26 am
#5
Popping in for a chat
Joined: Jun 2006
Location: Back home
Posts: 4,573
Re: Could you be a Spanish property developer?
I think the answer is (b), (c) then (a).
Am I right? Do I win a prize? Please tell me I've won a luxury property in Spain on an urbanisation which doesn't have an adequate water supply or enough electricity even to run the streetlights!
Hey, isn't that the local Mayor driving past? Nice car...
Am I right? Do I win a prize? Please tell me I've won a luxury property in Spain on an urbanisation which doesn't have an adequate water supply or enough electricity even to run the streetlights!
Hey, isn't that the local Mayor driving past? Nice car...
First prize to the lad carrying the rolled up copy of Murkyseas Properties Guide
Feb 14th 2008, 11:42 am
#6
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Thread Starter
Joined: Mar 2007
Location: España
Posts: 728
Re: Could you be a Spanish property developer?
Meanwhile, completely off-topic and totally 100% unrelated to your reply, we learn today that the English translation of our purchase contract passed to us by our friendly UK PLC ISO-registered estate agent is different to the Spanish contract we signed.
Quel surprise n'est pas?
