De La Luz

Buying property in Vejer? Is the euro going to collapse?

Duncan De La Luz — Wed, 02 May 2012 21:10:05 +0000

The Spanish economy has been taking an absolute pounding in the British press in the last few weeks.I guess Spain is the most popular destination for British tourists, and more British people own holiday homes in Spain than in any other country. The Spanish generally like the English and pretty much put up with even the most inappropriate lager- induced antics! It must help sell newspapers and provide a distraction from the reality of the equally bad British economy. These days I seem to spent a lot of my time discussing the high charges of interest for Spanish government bonds with clients rather than about property. For example, before a house viewing last week an existing client questioned me re whether the euro was going to collapse and would Spain need a Greek-style bail-out. I tried to explain that I thought the situation was similar in Spain to the UK. Certainly houses in the town of Vejer, and indeed in many other areas of Spain, offer extremely good value for money. At least an investment in “bricks and mortar” is safe whereas the same cannot be said for savings accounts, pension plans, stocks and shares (unless you bet on them going down) or other bank-related investments. Not long after this discussion with my client amazingly the UK economy double dipped into recession, the same as Spain. I don’t think it would take an economic genius to have have warned the Tory Chancellor that this was inevitable given the savage cuts and lack of government investment in job creation and government support of induatry. So now hopefully the media will lay off Spain for a while!!

Lunch at L’ibiona Restaurant, Plaza de Espana, Vejer de la Frontera

Duncan De La Luz — Wed, 02 May 2012 20:41:06 +0000

We had lunch at L’ibiona restaurant in the prettiest
square in the town (if the town council pedestrianised Plaza de Espana in Vejer it it would be even prettier than it is today). L’ibiona is is owned and run by “Fred”,a colorful bubbling-with-life restauranteur from the Basque country. There is limited space outside but the sun usually shines here and we spent an extremely pleasant hour basking in the sunshine and eating “Fred’s” delicious and creative food. We shared pasta in a chorizo sauce, chipirones Cadiz-style and Basque chicken stew with rice. There are a good selection of wines by the glass and the draft beer is deliciously cold and good value at 1.30 euros for 33 cl. Fred will chat to you endlessly about wine, food or anything else you care to
talk about. He speaks French, Spanish and English and has just had a new addition to his family, twin baby girls. The food was all extremely good, as was the service and I would thoroughly recommend a visit to L’ibiona if you are in Vejer.

A visit to Seville on the day of the National Strike

Duncan De La Luz — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 22:20:19 +0000

Drove to Seville airport on Thursday to drop off passengers who were hoping to catch a flight to the UK.
We prefer the Seville to Gibraltar option as a fair percentage of planes destined for Gibraltar end up in Malaga and the border
crossing into Gibraltar by car can be unreasonably slow. Seville Airport was amazingly quiet on Thursday with a few serious looking passengers dotted here and there but because of the “Huelga”, the planned strike in response to planned austerity cuts, all the shops and bars were shut. Despite this small inconvenience we were very lucky as the flight we went to get was one of the 20% of flights between Spain and the
rest of Europe that were not affected by the strike.
I decided to head into Seville for a tapas lunch and a stroll around the old town. I parked in my regular underground car park by the Jardines de
Murillo at the back of the Alcazar. It was 24degrees and the protest was starting to take shape. I walked to the Guadalaquivir and decided against a 15euro boat trip. I then walked back past a myriad
of tourist shops selling a wide variety of pottery, tee- shirts and flamenco dresses. The old town of Seville, the Cathedral, the Alcazar and the inviting tapas bars have to be experienced. Yes it is inevitably a bit “touristy” in areas but still on my list of one of the top ten best cities in Europe to visit. After Pescaito Frito and Albondigas, Langostinos y Chocos I sat on bench and watched a very peaceful protest march. When you have 30% unemployment in Andalucia, with 25% of households without adequate income, one can understand a reaction to a Conservative Government’s statement that things will get worse. As in the UK, there seems to be no economic
regeneration programme plan here, just cuts. Capitalism is entrenched in a boom and bust cycle which nobody has any idea how to get out of.

Relocating or retiring to Vejer de la Frontera, Costa de la Luz

Duncan De La Luz — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 20:41:00 +0000

I just had a beer with Wendy and Paul, two retired teacher friends of mine from Cumbria, UK. They bought a flat in Vejer on an off-plan basis in 2004 for 80.000euros. The apartment is in the new town of Vejer with three bedrooms and a small balcony and their sons and grandson come to visit them here. Before buying in Vejer they had visited and considered various locations in Southern Spain but chose Vejer because they liked the “Moorish Architecture” around the town,the friendly and laid-back residents, the reasonably priced property ,the proximity to the coast (Paul is a keen fisherman),and the huge expanse of completely unspoilt countryside. They spend around 5 months a year here and commented that living expenses here, especially council /rates and food, are significantly cheaper than in the UK. They are taking Spanish lessons, have bought a Citroen van (although Paul thinks it is a car but it really is a van) that does 78 mpg on long journeys and they like to goo off on little trips, most recently to Portugal. They have English and Spanish friends here and both love the town.

Villa for Sale, Chiclana de la Frontera, Costa de la Luz

Duncan De La Luz — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:31:26 +0000

Reduced by nearly 50% is this 4 bed, 2 bath villa set in a nice plot at the end of a lane in Pinar de los Franceses. Owners will now accept 160.000euros ONO. This villa features a swimming pool, roof … Read More

Getting Exercise in and around Vejer de la Frontera

Duncan De La Luz — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:16:43 +0000

I have noted a huge change in the number of people in Vejer taking part in physical exercise in the last 5 years. Every evening groups of ladies can be seen walking
south into the countryside and back through the new town. The Gym Centre in Vejer is very popular and offers various group exercise classes, yoga and pilates at reasonable rates and spinning classes too. Gymcentre Vejer is in the La Noria area on C/ Pintor Fco. Prieto. Telephone 956 451 320 and email gimcentervejer@hotmail.com
In addition you can find padel tennis courts, tennis courts and football locally at www.deportesvejer.com and very well organised swimming facilities www.piscinavejer.es Both at the local townhall sports centre/Depotivo in the new town. There are stables within 2 kms of Vejer offering horse riding lessons and group excursions and there are astro turf 5-aside football pitches for hire too.
All of that together with the rapidly increasing number of mountain-bikers all over Vejer and the surrounding countryside demonstates just how popular exercise has become locally over the past few years.

Carnival in Vejer de la Frontera, La Cabalgata de Vejer 2012

Duncan De La Luz — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 15:02:46 +0000

The town was alive with the annual Carnival festivities all weekend. My young cycling partner Antonio missed our 10 am Sunday rendezvous with the tame excuse that he had been chatting and partying with two ladies from Seville until 6am. Bars were teeming with people of all ages, shapes and sizes in fancy dress whilst various groups of wandering singers moved from bar to bar. Our 3 year old daughter and friends did their best to dance flamenco in front of an audience of around 200 excited parents at the bar on C/Santismo. On Sunday plenty of people were looking extremely jaded in Bar Siglo when I returned from my 2 hour mountain bike ride but by 2pm they were ready to party again as the parade, cabalgata kicked off at 5pm.The whole community was involved in the festivities and the town buzzed with life. Spanish people must be at the top of the tree for knowing how to have a great time.

Tim and Graham in San Ambrosio

Duncan De La Luz — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 22:50:50 +0000

Tim Southall and Graham Cooke are off for a short stay in the UK to promote their Etchings Exhibition at Number Nine the Gallery in Birmingham from 10 to 25 March. We wish them all the best.

Apartments for sale in Vejer Old Town

Duncan De La Luz — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 22:42:54 +0000

We have a client interested in buying an apartment in the old town. She has visited Vejer a number of times now with her partner, a keen surfer. Completely coincidentally I bumped into them on a plane from London to Colombo where they visit regularly. They are very keen on a spacious apartment in the old town they saw last year, one bed and lots of character, approx. 70m2 with a share of a communal patio.
The apartment is for sale for 145.000 euros but their budget is 115.000 euros. Everyone says its a “buyer’s market” but there are only a finite number of apartments in the old town, even less with private outside space!Let’s see if we can make this work, they are a nice couple.

SOLD IN VEJER!

Duncan De La Luz — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:01:27 +0000

Early evening yesterday I was cycling back to Vejer through San Ambrosio when I received a call from the Owners of a country property to tell me that they had finally sold! Great news for the couple who have been trying to sell the Finca for the past 5 years and had reduced the price from 900k euros to 450k. Not good news for my clients who were due out to see it next week!
I had to make the call and they were a little upset. The Finca has around 200m2 of living accommodation and is 2 kms south of Vejer, set in a plot of around 50.000m2 with stables and solar. Despite fears about the Spanish economy and the “crisis”, at the right price, property in and around the Vejer area is still selling!