New RTE programme "Burnt by the Sun" - Part 2 will be on Monday 18 May

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In the discussions of French leasebacks on askaboutmoney at the time, it was pointed out that under French law, the company to whom you lease the apartment and who guarantees you rent, has a right to renew the lease and if you want to cancel it when the leaseback period ends, you must compensate them.

Brendan
 
There was also a person on the program, who bought in France, who (used my most hated phrase) "Released equity" on their PPR in Ireland.
In other words "I BORROWED MONEY, and used my house as security".
/Rant off.

It also brought back memories as my wife and I watched it. We were also "too conservative". I remember saying that it doesn't make sense for us to buy in Lanzarote, and we went there twice a year for the last 15 years. The sums never added up. How could we think about buying somewhere where we've never been?
 
But......the French lawyer advised the couple to renew their lease on their house now valued at €40k......it would have been nice to know how much this might have cost....

I think it said they paid €125k but got a VAT rebate of 21% so €100k approx. plus costs


Also in Bulgaria…...are the people who are paying their increased management charges on Sunny Beach getting water and electricity as normal, or has it all been switched off?

Presumably so, I think the man featured who had his cut off had stopped paying.
 
But......the French lawyer advised the couple to renew their lease on their house now valued at €40k......it would have been nice to know how much this might have cost....

My interpretation of what he said was that it would be worth €40k on the market without a lease but it would have cost them €25k to buy out of the lease. He said it might be worth more with a renewed lease. He said the would not advise them to buy out of the lease and then sell it - that they should renew the lease and then either sell it or hold on to it.
 
Re Bulgaria, I had a suspicion that the end game was to force the paddies to sell out at a rock bottom price to the local “businessmen” who would then do them up and resell or use as a hotel. Either way, a nice profit for them.
 

This shows the massive influence AAM had though on this issue - and you undoubtedly helped save many many other 'investors' from falling into this trap with the discussion that was permitted here.
 
We went in a holiday to Sunny Beach in about 2008. Fantastic value half board package, about ⅔ the price of an equivalent holiday in Spain. Stayed in an absolutely beautiful hotel, splendid room with sea view, impeccably cleaned top to toe every day. Buildings were flying up all along the strip and there were ads all over the place for apartments aplenty. Prices, from memory, were around €50k upwards for a studio/1- bed. A few things struck us. The hotel was run by the local mafia and you would see top of the range mercs pulling up regularly and disgorging a very well dressed Mr Big and entourage.
The area outside the strip was desperately poor looking. Roads were appalling, houses looked very poor quality. The cars were wrecks. Even the road from the airport to the resort was dreadful.
The local population was very poor. The staff who worked in the hotel worked their butts off and were always rushing around visibly doing something. We tipped quite generously and the maid who cleaned our room was so grateful for what we gave her. She said it (€20) was more than a weeks pay! There was obviously a kickback system going on because we gave her the same the second week and she was absolutely bowled over but made a point of saying "no tell, no tell, secret, yes". It was like she had to hand over some of the first tip but could get away with keeping the second week for herself.
Anyway, back to the apartments on sale. It was quickly obvious that the cheaper ones were set well back from the beach and the quality didn't look great. A huge amount of stuff was selling off plans and there were the usual fast talking salesmen, some Irish and UK nationals. Deposits taken by credit card! Prices rising next week, month, etc. Alarm bells ringing. But FOMO too! On the one hand it was an interesting proposition. Rapidly modernising country, newly admitted to EU membership. Good value. Regular flights from Dublin. Just like Spain a few decades previously, wasn't it? And that worked out well. Tempted to invest on the basis of what could go wrong? Surely it would hold its value at least? Anyway, wiser counsel prevailed and we walked away. Thankfully!
Watching last night, brought it all back!
 
In summary, a programme about people from an agrarian society having notions about themselves getting rich
 
At 9.00pm last night I had a decision to make watch (i) Burnt by the Sun Part 2 on RTE or (ii) two episodes of Normal People on BBC. The most truthful programme won i.e. Normal People after which I again rued the day I never went on to 3rd Level Education. My lesson here is that all our grandchildren will go on to 3rd Level if I have anything to do with it.

Earlier today I watched Burnt by the Sun on the Player. My thoughts:-
1. Bulgaria - Educated Irish people (probably 3rd Level qualified with little Street Cred.) buying several properties hoping for an easy killing (large profit). This was never going to happen. One sold one property for half what he paid and the other property for two thirds. Lesson - A nice loss. Others lost too.

2. France - Couple nailed for €100K for a property that is now "worth" c. €40K. Lesson - A dreadful loss to the couple who couldn't afford the hit. Best Case Scenario is to sell for €40K - €45K. Add in the anguish and hospital bills too.

Cold Positives (from where I sit):- The €40K apartment in Carcasonne now appears to be good value for anybody with the money to spare. It's not an inordinate amount to gamble and with a bit of work long term rentals should bring in a nice annual income to anybody facing retirement. I don't think (even with Covid-19) the price of that property will decrease further to any great extent. It could be a nice little earner for somebody willing to put in some effort.
 
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