Distressed Spanish Property Tours
Jun - 09 | 
4 comments. | 
Overseas Property News, Spanish Property
Fresh from huge success in America, the bargain hunter property bus has driven all the way from the states to pick up passengers on the Costa Del Sol in Spain – offering tours of distressed real estate for sale at rock bottom prices, so get your tickets now…
Ahhh, the world of bus tours – from oohing over celebrity houses in Hollywood to creeping across Austria with a group of pensioners, to living it up on an 18-30’s coach.
Now, there is a new trend in bus tours – the credit crunch bus. Already hugely popular with bargain hunters in Florida and Arizona, the bus, which tours distressed property for sale, has made it to Spain.
Organisers Circulo Financiero Internacional, a property investors club, is offering tours of luxury properties on new developments, some of which have had their prices slashed by as much as half.
The organizers said that all properties featured on the tour were ‘real bargains,’ with other developments all offering discounts of between 20 and 40 per cent.
The first tour of the Costas took place earlier this month with a bus-load of Spanish, German and Russian bargain hunters sniffing out the best deals on new developments in Marbella, Estepona and Benehavis.
They saw golf and beach real estate and penthouses, one of which had 50 per cent slashed off its £967,000 original guide price.
On a new development in Puerto Banus, 250 square metre penthouses were going for under £440,000 and 200 square metre apartments were on offer for £351,000.
On a golf development, 200 square metre semi-detached properties that had been repossessed by the bank were for sale at £262,000, a reduction of almost 50 per cent on their original asking price.
The tour is free for members of the CFI investors club and £17 for non members and the property prices can be negotiated still further with the Spanish banks, which is currently far easier than it has been in the past.
A CFI Spokesman said, “The market is stagnating and developers need to shift new homes that in some cases they have built and paid for or are being repossessed or belong to the banks.”
Following the initial success of the credit crunch bus in the Costas, CFI are now planning to introduce similar bargain hunting bus tours in other parts of Spain, possibly in Barcelona and Madrid.
News submitted by Dan Johnson, The Move Channel
If these tours are so successful why is there a need to charge a “bus fare” What makes them so special, any agent worth his salt can show clients:-
1/ Genuine Distress sales
2/ Discounted property direct from the builder
3/ Bank repo´s
The question about the later of the three is “are they genuine bargains”
Time will tell if these tours become a success here in Spain, but my personnel opinion is not. As banks in Spain won´t take a loss like the American banks will..
Anthony Duggan
Its definitely the best time for people with savings but unfortunately not for the majority of investors who aren’t willing to spend their money.
There was a documentary on Spanish TV about that kind of ‘tours’ recently. Prices mentioned were much lower than those listed here, but on the other hand, interviewed people were saying that they know about it from ‘a friend’ in the bank etc. so I’m not sure it was the same tour.
I wonder if the real bargain tours are only for ‘friends’, and not so ‘bargain’ for the rest of us [since the difference in price for similar - by the data in the post here - properties was huge].
Can see how it can work down in the Costa del Sol, but up here on the Costa Blanca south – they would find it hard to get the double decker buses through the one way streets of Torrevieja!