Andalucian or Abandoned Dream Homes?

Having just returned from a recent jolly to the Costa del Sol to catch up with some old friends, we were very surprised to see one of Spain's property behemoths with empty offices. The very hefty presence of Andalucian Dream Homes on the Fuengirola Paseo is no more!

Obviously some googling was required and it would seem that this news seems to have got lost in the obsession for recession and other gloommongery type news at the moment, but that have been a couple of interesting points made out there.

Craig at Marbella guide seems to have been the first to notice what was going on after some contact from the public, and according to his posting on MarbellaGuide.com it would appear that he has not been able to reach them either at the ADH numbers, or the international arm, Dream Homes Worldwide.

After some further looking around, it would seem OPP did release an article about one of the former members of Andalucian Dream Homes, David Honeyman. Honeyman is apparently still a "non active partner" in ADH but now involved as a consultant to newly formed Property Revolution.

The article itself can be seen reproduced on Kyero (OPP unfortunately needs membership to read) and as an outsider, the article itself does read rather tongue in cheek, featuring some interesting excerpts of a conversation with Mike Liggan of DCC International Property.

Both Honeyman and Liggan appear very adamant and quick to point out that the new ventures "are not an offshoot" of their former companies and are "something new and fresh"

Honeyman with Property Revolution to a degree can be forgiven to an extent, Property Revolution is selling fractional ownership in Spain. One has to wonder a little at some of the claims they make in places on their site such as "zero risk property abroad" (We're sorry, but there is no such thing as "zero risk") and more importantly the claim that mortgages are available, yet when you go to the Fractional Ownership Consultancy finance page that they recommend, you come up against the following quote,

"An exclusive FOC finance package for shared freehold/fractional buyers. The Fractional Ownership Consultancy and an English bank are currently collaborating to provide regulated mortgages for fractional buyers. This means that when buying a second home, mortgages could be available using, as security, the buyers fractional certificate only.
The Fractional Ownership Consultancy anticipates that this scheme will be rolled out into the US and other markets in due course."

Hmm, So, maybe, one day, possibly, I could get a mortgage on a fractional? If it is in the USA? Or possibly in the UK? Come on guys, tie it up a bit more than that! We have commented on fractional ownership before, and once again, nice idea, makes sense on paper if you read it all quick enough, but when it comes down to it not quite enough homework as been done.

To be honest, in our personal opinion whilst it is possible that fractional ownership may well be regulated at some point in Europe and the UK, at the moment it isn't, and until it is, it's basically an extended and even more expensive timeshare. Make no mistake, when something needs to be sold from the angle that it saves you money so therefore it must be an investment, (which is a ploy that most fractional agents will use) alarm bells should be clanging. Saving is what banks are for. Investment is where risk takes place. So when someone gets a chance, I am sure the world would love to know about "zero risk property abroad".

As for DCC International Property, Liggan harps on about "completely separate company" etc etc in the article, but also states they "occasionally sell MRI property in Portugal, DCC is mainly focusing on Spain."

Hmm, so what is Aspen Valley doing on the site then? Is that not an MRI Construction development anymore? We would link to it to show you, but for some reason the completely unrelated entities that are MRI and DCC really don't like that apparently.

Anyhoo, whilst the property industry news specialists OPP continue to announce that all is well in the overseas property world, and that there is no smoke or mirrors or anything like that, and act as a very efficient announcement platform to say your old companies are not related to any "new and fresh ones", and whilst the British media still can't decide if house prices are rising or dropping, we are off to see what else lurks in the dingy realms of the investment property world.

We will return soon, with so much gossip out there at the moment, there is a lot to investigate. Tales from the public about offers to switch from one development to another are rife at the moment, some feasible, many not. We are trying to get to the bottom of it all, and rest assured, the moment we do, good or bad, it will be here!