I bought my first property in 1989. For those of you who remember Margaret Thatcher was the Prime minister in the UK at the time and the Tories decided to give people who were living in Council houses the ‘right to buy’.
My grandmother had been living in her 2-bedroom maisonette in South London for over 40 years but she could not afford to buy it.
I saw an opportunity and bought it in her name with a clause that should she die it would be left to me in her Will. The mortgage killed me for the first few years as I was also renting a house with two other friends of mine. It was also the dark black days of the recession, which saw me keeping my job but still on a 2 to 3 day week and on top of that the mortgage interest rates reached as high as 15% at one stage!
I knew the long-term gain would be worth it but at times it seemed like a chain around my neck.
I had bought the house for 34,000 pounds, which was the price worked out by the council with respect to how long my Grandmother had been living there and the discount she was eligible to.
I eventually sold the house in 1998 for 179,00 pounds. So you can see the long-term gain equalled a nice profit of 145,000 pounds in less than
10 years, an income of 16,000 pounds a year. Before I sold my grandmothers house I had purchased a one bedroom flat in Croydon for 47,500 and after 2 years sold it for 79,000, another profit or over 30,000 pounds.
My next property was a three bedroom semi-detached which I paid 127,000 and sold it two and a half years later for 189,000, another 60,000 profit.
So what is the point I am getting at?
Yes, I do have a point, I am not just bragging about how lucky I have been.
The point being, the good times come & the good times go but the trends nearly always show that cyclically within more or less a ten year period the bad times, recession, high interest rates etc pass and property prices start to rise again and again climb to a peak.
My next point is, right now we are in a doom and gloom period and economically it looks like we could be in it for the next one and a half to two years.
So what is the good news?
Well if you go back and look at my personal story you will see that the last two properties I bought and sold were very near to end of the good times. Profits were much higher than my very first property in a much shorter time scale but my grandmothers property was bought in bad times and eventually still turned a huge profit.
Now is a great time to buy if you have some spare cash and are looking for a long term investment that you can use and enjoy as well as realising the opportunity to gain a rental income.
Recent statistics show that self-catering holidays are now accounting for 60% of all trips taken abroad, so marketed right it shouldn't be difficult to let out your property in the sun. The market research company Mintel predicts that foreign self -catering breaks will exceed 34 million by the year 2011, so it's a growth area worth tapping into.
Spain is still the most popular place in terms of volume of business and the Costa de la Luz will continue to rise in popularity.
While Arcos and the Costa de la Luz cannot escape the slowdown that has hit the southern Spanish property market, it means an end to the building explosion that has been non-stop for the last five years. In turn this will see the area retaining it’s unspoilt beauty, giving the opportunity for the shrewd investor to buy in the magical and enchanting town of Arcos de la Frontera.
Arcos is a pretty white village, typically Andalucian, situated in Cadiz province.
As you can see it is close to 3 International airports, with Jerez airport serving London only 15 minutes away!
- For Golf Lovers, there is the highly appraised Arcos Gardens Championship golf course and complex is within just 5 minutes drive.
- For Beach Lovers, the Costa de la Luz has some of the most unspoilt and best beaches in Spain.
- For Nature Lovers, the Sierra de Grazalema provides stunning scenery in one of Spain's most ecologically outstanding areas for fauna, flora and bird watching.
- And finally, for those who just love a typical white washed Spanish town with its fantastic tapas, wines, flamenco, sunshine and welcoming inhabitants. Arcos de la Frontera has all that too!
I have just invested in a development that will be absolutely fantastic when it is finished. I have bought a two bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in Novo Arcos, an extension of Arcos de la Frontera.
If you would like to find out more information about prices and how you can get up to 1000 euro refund on your flights and hotel accommodation should you purchase a property through the promoter Spanish Sol-utions, see link.
