For Northern Europeans seeking a holiday home in the sun, Greece has long been a favoured destination, offering the chance to mix beauty and solitude with a pulsating nightlife. Despite this attraction, the country has remained relatively untapped as far as Greek holiday homes are concerned, especially when compared to the traditional hotspots in Spain, Portugal and France.
The new Prime Minister of Greece, Georges Papandreou, made a powerful statement of intent when he announced that the Greek government would be seeking to push through its first green property development in Greece. Whilst visiting the Ilia prefecture, home of the site of Ancient Olympia and a region devastated by fires two years ago, the PM announced a scheme to completely redevelop the area and make it into a showpiece for sustainable development.
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Fractional Ownership – Greek Property Investment on the Cheap?
Fractional ownership is a relatively new concept, based around the idea of buying a part share in a property. There is a little confusion between fractional ownership and timeshare, but the two ideas are slightly different. Fractional ownership gives you a portion of the deeds, rather than the mere right to occupy the property for a number of weeks in the year. This ownership allows you to take advantage of any rise in value, and promises to avoid some of the pitfalls associated with the notorious timeshare industry. In a way, most Greek properties are fractionally owned, and are often shared between many family members.
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Often, Hollywood is a great friend to Greece, and films shot in the Greek Islands give the country a lot of free publicity. Zorba the Greek made Crete into the most desirable location in Greece, Shirley Valentine promoted Mykonos, and Captain Corelli’s Mandolin boosted tourism in Kefalonia for many years afterwards. Recently, the film Mamma Mia, based upon the works of ABBA, filmed on the island of Skopelos, promises to have the same effect. This small island, lying near its better known neighbour, Skiathos, is set to become a major tourist destination, despite the one hour ferry journey.
Greek Real Estate and Tourism – A Glimmer of Hope
Despite the doom and gloom surrounding the world economy, we did find some good news that cheered the Greek people up.
Finding a Good Contractor for your Self-Build– The Final Part of your Overseas Property Investment.
With the help of your lawyer and architect, you have bought a plot, finalised your designs and can now move into the final stages of your overseas property investment. Some decide to save money and organise the building work themselves, others choose to use a contractor. Saving money is always a powerful motivator, but you must ask yourself if doing all of the site management is false economy. Unless you have some experience in the building trade, and knowledge of Greek, it can end up costing you much more money.
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Greek Property Investment Advice – Buying a Building Plot
For many people, especially those with a low budget, buying a plot of land and self-building is one way of affording a dream home in the sun. In Greece, the whole process can appear to be a little daunting, but finding and employing the right professionals makes the task easy and relatively painless. The first, and most important stage, is to find a good lawyer, who will guide you through he legal niceties surrounding buying a good plot of land.
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Corridor 10 – Good news for Greek property investments
Greece has always suffered from one unavoidable weakness when attracting investment of any type. Its relative isolation from the rest of Western Europe makes the swift transit of goods extremely difficult, so the country relies upon shipping or long and arduous routes through Eastern Europe. Obviously, this is a major problem for freight companies and exporters, but it also creates difficulties for foreigners moving to Greece on a temporary or permanent basis.
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Gorgeous George and Real Estate Investments in Greece
In a recent interview with the national newspaper, To Ethnos Tis Kyriakis, George Papandreou unveiled his vision for the future. The leader of the opposition socialist PASOK party laid out some of the changes that his party will make if he is elected as Prime Minister. The ruling New Democracy party possesses a wafer thin majority in parliament, and the increasing unrest amongst the population means that a snap election could be called at any time. Opinion polls indicate that PASOK has edged ahead of ND, and the consensus opinion suggests that Papandreou could be forming the next Greek government before the year is out.
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