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The Poor Spanish

The Poor Spanish

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Old Sep 30th 2008, 7:48 am
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Default The Poor Spanish

A Dutch friend recently told me that in Holland the ratio for privately owned/mortgaged houses is 0.7 per family but in Spain its 2.3 houses per family!!
Many may be cash poor but many are also asset rich!
Good luck to em!
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Old Sep 30th 2008, 8:00 am
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Default Re: The Poor Spanish

Rotor,

Sorry. I dont understand the ratio? Could you explain?

(On a point of information, I seem to remember about 10 years ago house prices in Holland absolutely collapsed)
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Old Sep 30th 2008, 8:05 am
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Default Re: The Poor Spanish

Originally Posted by Rotor
A Dutch friend recently told me that in Holland the ratio for privately owned/mortgaged houses is 0.7 per family but in Spain its 2.3 houses per family!!
Many may be cash poor but many are also asset rich!
Good luck to em!
That is certainly the case up here. Most of the properties around here in the campo are weekend and summer homes. They all have flats or houses closer to the city for the weekdays, even though we are only 25kms from the City!
They all have new cars too, but always complaining that they have no money!
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Old Sep 30th 2008, 8:12 am
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Default Re: The Poor Spanish

OK, silly of me - I get it now.
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Old Sep 30th 2008, 8:15 am
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Default Re: The Poor Spanish

Originally Posted by Rotor
A Dutch friend recently told me that in Holland the ratio for privately owned/mortgaged houses is 0.7 per family but in Spain its 2.3 houses per family!!
Many may be cash poor but many are also asset rich!
Good luck to em!
The price of houses in Holland are extortionate!
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Old Sep 30th 2008, 8:39 am
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Default Re: The Poor Spanish

But then home ownership throughout a lot of Europe is a fairly modern thing anyway, with most families renting. I would have thought the ratio for Holland would have been less. Easily available credit and mortgages have only become popular here in the last few years, hence all of the issues with black money.
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Old Sep 30th 2008, 9:33 am
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Default Re: The Poor Spanish

Originally Posted by valenciatim
That is certainly the case up here. Most of the properties around here in the campo are weekend and summer homes. They all have flats or houses closer to the city for the weekdays, even though we are only 25kms from the City!
They all have new cars too, but always complaining that they have no money!
when we moved over someone told us that the Spanish are more likely to take out a loan for a new car than a house - seems right if they all part own one somewhere
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Old Sep 30th 2008, 3:22 pm
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Default Re: The Poor Spanish

Originally Posted by Rotor
A Dutch friend recently told me that in Holland the ratio for privately owned/mortgaged houses is 0.7 per family but in Spain its 2.3 houses per family!!
Many may be cash poor but many are also asset rich!
Good luck to em!
Are you talking about the whole of Spain? I can maybe shed some light on the whole affair. I am sure that people who live from away from the "Brit enclaves" in places like Leon, Galicia, I am sure Casa San Estevo will have noticed, that there are lots of empty ruins.

Most of these properties are unsaleable, some because of inheritance disputes. Others in some remote villages are deserted be cause of now job prospects. The houses are then left to fall into decay.

Nobody would buy them when they were in good condition, so there is no chance if they are not. Between my husband and myself we have about 40 pieces of land (At least 3 of them have properties in ruins on them) . Stone country houses.

They are worthless, because there is no access to the land. So we are classed as owning 5 properties between us, not to mention land. Some of the plots of land are about as big a a garden shed.

Like us there are hundreds of thousands of people, owning houses that they have inherited and do not want, but cannot sell. I would say that is how the figures for property ownership are so high.
If we could, we would sell our "assets" and have a bloody good time with the money.
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Old Sep 30th 2008, 8:52 pm
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Default Re: The Poor Spanish

Originally Posted by me me
Are you talking about the whole of Spain? I can maybe shed some light on the whole affair. I am sure that people who live from away from the "Brit enclaves" in places like Leon, Galicia, I am sure Casa San Estevo will have noticed, that there are lots of empty ruins.

Most of these properties are unsaleable, some because of inheritance disputes. Others in some remote villages are deserted be cause of now job prospects. The houses are then left to fall into decay.

Nobody would buy them when they were in good condition, so there is no chance if they are not. Between my husband and myself we have about 40 pieces of land (At least 3 of them have properties in ruins on them) . Stone country houses.

They are worthless, because there is no access to the land. So we are classed as owning 5 properties between us, not to mention land. Some of the plots of land are about as big a a garden shed.

Like us there are hundreds of thousands of people, owning houses that they have inherited
and do not want, but cannot sell. I would say that is how the figures for property ownership are so high.
If we could, we would sell our "assets" and have a bloody good time with the money.
You must have had a lot of relatives pass away
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Old Sep 30th 2008, 10:02 pm
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Default Re: The Poor Spanish

Originally Posted by Cape Blue
You must have had a lot of relatives pass away
Not really a lot of relatives passed away. In Galicia people bought land as it became available.
There are lots of fincas, which although they look like on plot of land, in reality they are made up of half a dozen small plots, all with separate deeds
Neighbours often bought plots of land from each other, and so on.

My paternal grandparents had a piece of land about 10000 square meters in all, but it was made up of about 14 smaller plots.
Each of their children inherited their share of the 14 plots, and then each child in the next generation inherited their own share.

If all of the heirs dont want to sell, then the land cannot be sold.
So now each of the 14 plots of land have about 40 owners. So us, the grandchildren each have about 14, 1/40 of 10000 square meters.
All divided out like a chess board. Then we have the same on maternal grandparents side. So now you see how it can all add up.

It is very difficult to explain to someone who has never been there and spoken to the locals.

All in all, totalling all the land I own, which is dispersed over a very wide area, would total about 200 square meters in all. Some of the plots are just big enough to put a beach towel on.
Not exactly a landed gentry am I, eh?
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Old Oct 1st 2008, 1:03 am
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Default Re: The Poor Spanish

Originally Posted by me me
Not really a lot of relatives passed away. In Galicia people bought land as it became available.
There are lots of fincas, which although they look like on plot of land, in reality they are made up of half a dozen small plots, all with separate deeds
Neighbours often bought plots of land from each other, and so on.

My paternal grandparents had a piece of land about 10000 square meters in all, but it was made up of about 14 smaller plots.
Each of their children inherited their share of the 14 plots, and then each child in the next generation inherited their own share.

If all of the heirs dont want to sell, then the land cannot be sold.
So now each of the 14 plots of land have about 40 owners. So us, the grandchildren each have about 14, 1/40 of 10000 square meters.
All divided out like a chess board. Then we have the same on maternal grandparents side. So now you see how it can all add up.

It is very difficult to explain to someone who has never been there and spoken to the locals.

All in all, totalling all the land I own, which is dispersed over a very wide area, would total about 200 square meters in all. Some of the plots are just big enough to put a beach towel on.
Not exactly a landed gentry am I, eh?
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Old Oct 1st 2008, 8:12 am
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Default Re: The Poor Spanish

Originally Posted by poshnbucks
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Old Oct 1st 2008, 6:01 pm
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Default Re: The Poor Spanish

A lot of ppl.who found themselves on the wrong side of the fence in the years after the civil war hi-tailed it out of the country to safer places.
Venezuela was one favourite destination partly due to its oil boom.
In addition to leaving behind individual houses and fincas where present day rights cannot be clearly established,I have seen complete villages deserted both on the Peninsula and in the Canaries.

As previously mentioned there are many holiday homes and weekend houses especially in my region of Valencia.
These however can vary from complete dwellings down to paelleros of which there are many around here,often consisting of little more one room used mainly for cooking and washing etc plus outside toilet and little else although some are just large enough for 1 or 2 small beds for an overnight stay.
I would think that these will also probably be included in the total numbers.
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Old Oct 2nd 2008, 8:09 pm
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Default Re: The Poor Spanish

Originally Posted by Dick Dasterdly
A lot of ppl.who found themselves on the wrong side of the fence in the years after the civil war hi-tailed it out of the country to safer places.
Venezuela was one favourite destination partly due to its oil boom.
In addition to leaving behind individual houses and fincas where present day rights cannot be clearly established,I have seen complete villages deserted both on the Peninsula and in the Canaries.

As previously mentioned there are many holiday homes and weekend houses especially in my region of Valencia.
These however can vary from complete dwellings down to paelleros of which there are many around here,often consisting of little more one room used mainly for cooking and washing etc plus outside toilet and little else although some are just large enough for 1 or 2 small beds for an overnight stay.
I would think that these will also probably be included in the total numbers.
That is a good point about the people leaving their property behind, and now it is difficult to establish ownership.
Also the point about properties being little more than rabbit hutches, which are counted as a dwelling.
In the UK we tend to think of second or more properties being rented out at a profit or as an investment, ie buy to let. I know the bubble has burst now on the BtL front, but only recently.
Most Spanish "multi property owners" became so by chance rather than design, like ourselves.
Far from being an asset most properties like this are a liability.
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Old Oct 2nd 2008, 9:22 pm
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Default Re: The Poor Spanish

rabbit hutches my 2 bedroom rabbit hutches

look mate i going to nice on this one i got very nice 2 bedroom mansion under my mansion i like to beleve that are Severents live in down stair apartment the germanys that live the next block over are locked in at night Stalag 13 with Schultz , dew early put of beach towel beside the pool and alwas give out when we come home early 2 are 3 am shout drunk them mid night cool off sex swings on the estate the Penthouse look no where as it tiled roof
and next year we think off floodig under ground carpak so kids in the block can used the ramp as slide
a fack it its fawlty towers on the cost del Rodney with pool side bar like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtboTwW-Jao


Last edited by jurdyr; Oct 2nd 2008 at 9:29 pm.
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