Cape Verde or Bodrum in Turkey

I didn't hear the hump back whales bit but would guess that Hobbs was being funny somehow. I heard yesterdays interview and to be honest I thought Brendan was ill advised to be OTT describing overseas investment as gambling although his general point about rip off's is unquestionably accurate. Lifting information off websites and dismissing a country without better research is the case in point. The Govt person must have been shocked to hear his country with half a million mostly non-national residents described as a place with no water etc. What do they drink for heavens sake. Dubai hasn't natural water, the Canaries hasn't, instead they use desalinisation but you'd never hear these countries dismissed in this way. If we propagate the message to be reasoned, calm and well researched before making investment judgements then going on radio and blowing it with assine comments is a set back.
 
Covenant said:
I didn't hear the hump back whales bit but would guess that Hobbs was being funny somehow. I heard yesterdays interview and to be honest I thought Brendan was ill advised to be OTT describing overseas investment as gambling although his general point about rip off's is unquestionably accurate. Lifting information off websites and dismissing a country without better research is the case in point. The Govt person must have been shocked to hear his country with half a million mostly non-national residents described as a place with no water etc. What do they drink for heavens sake. Dubai hasn't natural water, the Canaries hasn't, instead they use desalinisation but you'd never hear these countries dismissed in this way. If we propagate the message to be reasoned, calm and well researched before making investment judgements then going on radio and blowing it with assine comments is a set back.
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i take it you have a vested interest in cape verde property?

desalination is expensive(approx 2k euro per family per year) but is possible.
the guy from cape verde's government said there will not be high etc and only one million visitors will be catered for,this could mean an investment is more likely to succeed as theres less chance of overdevelopment,also the preservation of the wildlife could add eco tourism to the mix,going whale watching and scuba diving etc makes cape verde sound more atttractive.if the cape verde gov are only allowing a million visitors a year theres not gonna be massive demand for apartments and hotels will probably take most visitors?
 
Conan said:
Covenant,
Eddie himself admits he has never visited Cape Verde. But his logic is that people who buy "gold" (for example) might never have seen the "gold", so buying property on the same basis is not unreasonable.
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Did he really state that?
I can't imagine any financial advisor relating purchasing gold to purchasing overseas property

The "great frugal one", who once complaimed about the price of a fry-up on a train, could not be advocating spending €100k on a property without seeing it

stuart@buyingtolet.ie
 
stuart said:
The "great frugal one" ...could not be advocating spending €100k on a property without seeing it
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Eh, that's pretty much what he did, actually — you can listen to the show . When pressed by Matt the Cooper, he admitted that he personally wasn't planning to invest there, but was adamant that it 'could be right' for others. It was Brendan who, the following evening, made the point about the need to be able to go there, walk around, see the development, etc. — which at the moment involves a €1000 plane ticket and an 11-hour journey (incl. changovers in London & Lisbon). Hardly what I'd call an 'assine' (asinine?) comment... :rolleyes:
 
Hi all did anyone attend expo on Cape Verde in Four Seasons Dublin last night?
 
doberden said:
I'd be surprised if any more than 50 people in Ireland have ever been to Cape Verde....even the great eddie hobbs who was saying it was a great place to buy has never been there....
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There have been a hell of a lot more than 50 people there. I was there in mid January, I bought a Studio in Villa Verde in Sal for less than €70K from MRI. I think there is a lot of potential there, but in the long term. There shouldn't be any concerns about water on Sal, they currently have 2 Desalination plants which are working at 25% of capacity, there are also 3 more plants planned or under construction. This is from a Government Source(the US government have provided $150M to the Islands to build these plants, other countries have also donated sustantial funds).

I'am confident that my invesment is a good investment...
 
I was at the seminar. The developers are well known Irish professsionals including a QS firm that has been involved in large scale projects in Ireland and abroad. There was a Tax Partner from KPMG and an independent overseas property Irish legal firm from Dublin. The Cape Verde speaker who I met later is an American trained MBA and I learned a lot about the islands and what its like there. It is very far removed from the description relayed by Brendan from some AAM contributors about a waterless wasteland and looks like a good opportunity to explore.
 
I was at the cork seminar for this cape verde development and after reserving an apartment i would like to briefly make potential investors aware of an important downside.

That is the developer is demanding immediate NON REFUNDABLE €1000 DEPOSITS despite not providing all information necessary to sensibly make an investment decesion.

Having attended the seminar & read the sales brochure the 1st i learned that the deposit was non refundable was on reading the deposit receit.The developer expected me to give this commitment without providing basic investment information.Immediate examples i gave off top of my head included;
1)No details on terms of guaranteed rental agreement.The only information was 5% net income.Is there limited free personal usage allowed without effecting guaranteed net 5%?If no free personal usage what are the costs to the 5%?Agent was unsure & vague in replies.
2)How can i be asked to commit financially to a contract when i hav'ent seen the details of the contract?Surely this is a matter of fundamental fairness?(Silence from agent)
3)The apartment type i was buying had no sales plan layout due to printing errors according to the agent.Again i was been asked to make a financial commitment & i did'nt know whether my apartment had an en suite,a store room,whatever?Was it next to a lift?
4)The inspection flight is taking place after the non refundable deposit is paid!How do i know i will like the area i'm buying?

The agents response was i could have found all this out at the seminar.(400 to 500 people present & generally developers/agents were mobbed!) Also that this policy was needed to deter cancellations.Thats fair enough but knowing this policy was to be implimented should draft contracts/all pertinent info be made available earlier?What is the point in potentially discovering a detail of contract that changes your investment decesion after you have paid a non refundable deposit?(EG.No limited free holiday use within rental agreement.)

I offered either to look over the contracts that day & pay deposit or to make a refundable deposit until i could see contracts.The agent rang the developer whose response was "if you don't take it this afternoon we'll put it on the market for upcoming seminars"

When the agent finially said "this is a matter of trust" i took my deposit cheque and walked out the door.

I hope this experience makes more potential purchasers of this cape verde development ask more questions.
 
Ric said:
I was at the seminar. The developers are well known Irish professsionals including a QS firm that has been involved in large scale projects in Ireland and abroad. There was a Tax Partner from KPMG and an independent overseas property Irish legal firm from Dublin. The Cape Verde speaker who I met later is an American trained MBA and I learned a lot about the islands and what its like there. It is very far removed from the description relayed by Brendan from some AAM contributors about a waterless wasteland and looks like a good opportunity to explore.
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Wow - that's a real shocker - they made it sound like a nice place at the sales seminar! And they had an MBA there - All right then, you've convinced me - where do I sign up?
 
You can take what you wish from it but that was my experience which I thought might be useful to balance some uninformed views. Investing is always a matter of personal risk assessment and what is an opportunity to some is seen differently by others. Time will be the arbitrator of who got it right. The non-refundable deposit of 1k I didn't think was a turn off not when it is compared to other I've run across like 5k on some Spanish developments and is probably there to block tyre kickers ie people messing about. If Tanora saw this as a deal breaker and he/she is chasing rents principally then not investing is right for him/her but I think that the CP will confound the skeptics many of whom appear to lack previous overseas investment experience based on the commentary I've read here.
 
Well put Ric, the 1k is refundable but only at CV dev discression. I was told this was there to deter block bookings by speculators as contracts were some way off.
Did you purchase yourself Ric ?
 
Rick/carlos,
Just to be clear i was'nt knocking the development or cape verde as an investment in my post.I also have no issue with non refundable deposits in principle whether it be €1k,€5k or whatever amount.

If you re read my post my concern was i was being asked to give a financial commitment to the developer without the developer offering me anything more than very basic details of the contract,rental agreement & apartment drawings.They were simply unable to provide the minimum necessary information as of last friday afternoon.A non refundable deposit & all pertinent information should go hand in hand.

Lads,if ye are aware of the developer stating "discressionary refunds" this contradicts the answer i got to the same question on friday afternoon.Via the agent the developers answer was strictly non refundable.I gave the agent the following example;What if after the paddys weekend inspection trip i found i simply did'nt like the island & it was'nt for me for whatever reason.The reply....i still loose my deposit!

The non refundable deposit was'nt the deal breaker for me.The lack of the oppurtunity to consider the fundamentals of the deal without the risk of loosing €1k was the deal breaker.

Just to reiterate the purpose of this post is public awareness of a definate downside to this particuliar deal and not to condemn cape verde as an investment destination.
 
Point taken Tanora, it was only when on reservation of a particular apt that the deposit info was sent, also they were asking for the 1k, while outlining the payment terms. I do think that the chips are stacked towards the developer and one would struggle to get satisfaction if push came to shove.
 
When I was over there in January, I remember hearing from the locals that when the Logerhead Turtles come to nest, the army section of the parts of the beach were they nest. that should be enough to keep the eco warriors quiet.

tanora said:
Rick/carlos,

The non refundable deposit was'nt the deal breaker for me.The lack of the oppurtunity to consider the fundamentals of the deal without the risk of loosing €1k was the deal breaker.

Just to reiterate the purpose of this post is public awareness of a definate downside to this particuliar deal and not to condemn cape verde as an investment destination.
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At the time I paid a 3000 euro holding deposit for my apartment, which was fully refundable up untill the contracts are issued(next week). I was using MacAnthony Realty, they told me about the holding deposit befour leaving Ireland, but they didn't look for any money untill I had been to the Islands and was happy to proceed.
 
RainyDay said:
Wow - that's a real shocker - they made it sound like a nice place at the sales seminar! And they had an MBA there - All right then, you've convinced me - where do I sign up?
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:D Was thinking exactly the same thing RainyDay. It was an "American" MBA though!!!!! Big difference!!!!!
 
Carlos said:
as contracts were some way off.
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The more you hear about this place, the more you gotta love it. Non-refundable deposits, no details up front, no timescales on contracts. Hopefully our FF/PD government is furiously working on that legislation to protect people from their own stupidity. And if they're not, we're going to have people calling for it soon!!!
 
any of them. go to fethiye it is wonderfull place and not to bussy like bodrum. fethiye is the best in turkey
 
lukelukas: whats the nearest airport for fethiye? looking at alanya but the airport transfer is making me reconsider.
 
In my opinion the areas of sustainable growth in Turkey are Dalaman and Altinkum.Having been in Turkey and visited all the major resorts, and met all the major developers.
I would invest in an area which is receiving or about to receive government funding to improve the resorts and infrastructure rather than ones that have already e.g Bodrum,Fethiye,Marmaris and Antalya.

Just my opinion!

Marinapark
 
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