New Photos courtesy of The Godfather

Thanks to "The Godfather" for pictures from his latest visit to Terrazas. Unlike my own experience of being turned away he is a phase 1 owner but not only did he gain access to phase 1 but he also made it down to the site of the temporary clubhouse and supermarket.

This is taken from the area near where the Town Centre will be built and shows the view back to the apartments and the undulations of the golf course.


The temporary supermarket is in the foreground with the clubhouse behind and to the right.

A closer look at the supermarket - looks a little small but single storey buildings can be deceptive. A bit like "The Tardis." With luck it will not be too long before it is replaced by a permanent structure.


The other building houses the clubhouse and the post boxes.


The final photo shows the area where the Town Centre is to be built and beyond it the country house. Further on is where , some day with luck, Las Islas will be built.

FOLLOW UP TO RECENT VISIT

I am grateful to Javabean45 & Hollydog for permission to use their photographs here following my Easter visit when I was denied access to Terrazas as I am not on phase1.

There are a few others which I have have used despite not being able to contact the author , so if you recognise them and they are yours - sorry but I searched the forum for ages looking to get in touch by personal message.

I hope that these photos, which were all taken within the last 2 months, will give you a better idea of progress on the golf course than my ground level shots could.

I have read on the PW Forum tonight that there has been a constant to & fro of lorries on the new phase over the last week. Sounds encouraging and if anyone is going out there soon please take a look to see what progress there is and if you post a comment here we could hopefully get in touch and post your photographs.

EASTER VISIT APRIL 2009 - PHASE 2 STARTED

Well the good news is in the title but what a very frustrating experience.

I attempted to drive in as if I owned the place rather than just a little bit of it but was turned away by a simple but resolute soul in a security uniform, who credited me with a much greater command of Spanish than I possess. Didn't even get a chance to say "mas despacio por favor" before he was heading back to his box / cage.

I had a slightly less frosty reception at what appears to pass for customer service but was firmly told that as Las Islas is a "distant prospect" (my words - not hers) I really have no business being there.

I was absolutely denied all access. Was I annoyed? About a 9.99 on a scale of 10.

These shysters, sorry property developers, have 70000 of my money and I am not allowed so much as a peak at what has been done to date. Outrageous is the nicest thing I can say about it, I was able to offer proof that I was indeed an "owner in waiting" but it made no difference.

I had also been told by a reasonable source that Terrazas had been withdrawn from sale and it was likely that people on later phases would be offered a transfer at a discount to either completed properties or off-plan alternatives at Condado or Mar Menor 2 where some completions are approx 2 years away.

I visited PWHQ were I met a very helpful lone salesman who has slowly become isolated with the loss of 9 colleagues over the last number of months.

I told the guy why I was there - to see what the story was with Terrazas and what alternatives were available. He told me that Terrazas is definitely available for sale but unfortunately he couldn't show me anything because the computer was down. Within a few minutes the same computer was able to print out all available properties on Mar Menor 2.

I try to be accurate on this blog in recording what I have been told by people, either good or bad and completely stand over all the info, stories, rumours as being a true account of what I have been told. The "real" truth or otherwise is obviously in the eye of the beholder. Draw your own conclusions.

I told him that I have no interest in Condado so he took me through the options at MM2. My Terrazas property is 3 bed 1 bath @ 260000 so he was showing comparable properties which were 2 bed 2 bath with good size terraces which would complete within 12-24 months (completions are available within 4 months but that doesn't suit me.)

They seem a little more spacious however all but a few were considerably more expensive than mine. There were also many smaller apartments with smaller terraces available but it appears they are generally more expensive than at Terrazas. Accordingly, if it is desirable to transfer, unless a discount becomes available (isn't at this stage) it is going to be an expensive process.

The salesperson assured me that Terrazas is not in doubt and told me that his best estimate would be that phase 2 will be completed within 18 months and that Las Islas should complete within a further 12 months. Discounting the possibility of further delays that means completions on the islands at the end of 2011 rather than end of 2010 as I was recently told by the Customer Service department.

The good news, yes there is some, is that phase 2 has started and there are maybe 30 guys there working on phase2 to the side of the road leading into the Town Centre further away from phase 1, in other words the right hand end of phase 2.

The picture below shows some temporary storage and if you enlarge the photograph you will see that a fence has been erected to separate phase one during construction.


The following photo shows a little of the area that they are working on at present. There really wasn't too much to see but is very encouraging to see a start made to phase 2 and hope that this will provide happy news for anyone on phase 2 who happens to read this.



Further good news is that despite my doubts there is plenty of evidence of work on the entire golf course. Despite the fact that much of it is a long way from readiness it is great to see that the intent is there to provide 18 as I had feared that Terrazas may have continued as a 9 hole course for some time to come. There are even some cart paths in place at the southern end.

The one concern I would have is that albeit my view was limited at ground level, from what I could see of the more advanced holes near phase 1 they still look an woefully long way from readiness.

The following shots were from from various angles around the perimeter and I have labelled them to give an idea of location, remember phase 1 is at the north end of Terrazas.

East Side

South Side

West Side

Finally and another thing I view as a positive sign, I noticed that down the east side where sales are definitely off the radar at present there have still been changes since my last visit in August.

I noticed that they have done a substantial degree of planting and there are nice chunky trees, possibly cork but I'm no expert, on the many small roundabouts at what were to be the U shaped apartment blocks down the east side.


I hope this is a useful update and an encouragement to those on phase 2. As usual any comments or additional information would be very welcome.

Terrazas Update on PW Forum (not an April Fool)

For those who haven't seen it on the Polaris World Forum there was disturbing news that apparently both the Town Centre at Terrazas and Las Islas phases have been indefinitely postponed.

Furthermore the suggestion was that the Las Islas phases could be cancelled completely.

I emailed PW and received a phone call yesterday 31st March. Just as well it wasn't this morning or I might not have believed every word they told me!!

In a nut shell, Town Centre will not be built until there is an economic upturn - this will clearly be soon given that Obama,Brown et al are meeting today, always assuming President Sarcastic of La France doesn't give a Gallic shrug & storm out as threatened.

I digress, the gist of things is that a "real" Town Centre" is some way off however they are building a temporary clubhouse,supermarket and bar, apparently as we were speaking!

I asked about when other phases will be built and in what order. The amazing response was that when they start, they will work on all phases together and the Town Centre will be built at the same time. Las Islas will definitely not be cancelled. Completion for the entire resort will be 2101 - whoops I meant 2010 and this has apparently been confirmed by Santa, The Tooth Fairy and the soon to visit Easter Bunny. So that should be fine then.

The lady also said that all 18 holes will be open this year albeit late in the year.

I am going to Murcia on 11th April and will tour the perimeter of the resort to look at the golf course but frankly I will be surprised if more than 9 holes are being prepared at present. Photos to be provided of course.

I also raised my doubts about the Town Centre given that Hacienda Rick still await theirs. She told me that HR was a different case as there are complicated planning issues given that the Hacienda is an ancient historic building. Good news then that the planners apparently don't give a toss about our own crumbling ruin referred to I believe in the marketing material as "the historic Casón de Los Saurines manor house" apparently soon to become a swanky drinking den of the idle ex-pat.

So what can we take out of this information? Not a lot I would suggest.

I am talking to a few agents at La Torre at present and asked one as to the truth of the suggestion that Las Islas has disappeared from the current price list of available property. One guy denied this and sent me the price list which obviously only had phase 2 penthouses.

When I pointed this out he replied that it appears I am correct that Las Islas is off the market and then told me that his information is that PW will build what has been started at this stage and then sit it out and hope for the much talked of but yet unseen upturn in the market.

I believe that what he says is more likely to be closer to the truth than what I was told by the very nice lady from PW who I suspect was telling me exactly what she has been told by PW and maybe even believes it to be true.

So as usual confusion reigns and we are no further towards a complete resort at Terrazas.

My contact at La Torre also told me that a company of solicitors are taking a case to PW for pre trial discussion demanding return of deposits. They apparently need a Power of Attorney to act for you in this capacity.

No doubt you will have seen various threads on forums on the subject and it appears to me that those who have been given refunds would generally have some reason other than simply being fed up waiting so at this stage I am not inclined to join this action.

Finally what may be of interest to those of you with large suitcases bulging with Euros, the lovely lady at Polaris did tell me that PW are happy to transfer you to a key-ready property. What she didn't say but you can bet your bulging suitcase on is that they will transfer you to a property of equal or greater price.

Don't think you will get the sympathy vote from PW by droning on about the horrific effects of the slump in the value of sterling or the catastrophic downturn in the housing market or even the global economic crisis. These people have their own problems!

Have a Happy Easter and do check back for photos and any new info I get when I am out there.

Hope you might find the gadgets useful

As an old codger I find it impossible to get a handle on what centigrade actually means in terms of "do I feel warm/hot/cool/baltic" so I have added an easy calculator. I would like to be able to say that I would prefer to use KELVIN given that Lord K was a Belfast born man like myself but sadly I find it totally baffling.

There is also a calculator to show you how little your sterling is worth! I long for the heady days of 1.40 + Will we ever see their likes again? Possibly but not until we have all been fleeced by buying our properties.

Bank Guarantees and Why Polaris Doesn't Want to Issue Them

Hi Anonymus!

Decided to post a response simply to celebrate the fact that someone cares!!!

Anyway I assume you have made 2 payments? I have not yet made the 15% payment which was due last July. I contacted them and told them my solicitor had advised me not to make the payment until I had possession of the initial guarantee.

What I had not realised is that the Spanish bank guarantee is very different from the system here. They must set aside the amount guaranteed in a seperate account and therefore it is "lost" to them as working capital. The only benefit to PW in having these guaranteed funds is that they have a certain amount in hand should a purchaser fail to complete the purchase and forefit funds paid to date.

If working capital is tight, as most people believe it must be, then it makes sense for them to retain use of my 25% - 70000 already held rather than hassle me for the 15% - 41700 for which I would then be hassling them for that to be guaranteed also. I have not pressed for the guarantee since July as I don't want to give them the next 41700 which I have on deposit @ 5%.

I believe they are working on the capital provided by those who haven't got guarantees and they are building only properties - no facilities - so that they can then collect as much as possible from completions to keep the company going.

The problem as I see it then comes when the resorts are almost complete. What incentive do they have to provide the suggested / promised facilities on the resorts? They will have got as much out of the buyers as they are likely to. The only prospect of getting the facilities would be in terms of preserving credibility assuming they wish to continue as resort / property builders.

We can only hope that PW survive and prosper if we are to get the resorts we want.

ANYBODY STILL THERE?

It has been months since I have posted anything to this blog. The main reason is that there has been little or no news to stir my interest.

I am going out to Murcia rather unexpectedly in April for 5 days so I intend to take a good look at Terrazas and will post some photos on my return.

I thought prior to going out I would get my thoughts together on what news and rumours have been circulating since my last visit. I will try to confirm whatever possible on my return but so far this is the situation as I understand it.

As we all know completions have been proceeding on Phase 1 properties for about 2 months now. There have been many comments on the various forums that I use and invariably people appear to be delighted with their properties albeit some have the usual teething problems with utility connections.

In terms of forums I get most of my information from Eye on Spain, Polaris World Forum and the less well used Living the Dream. I also find Spain Expat quite good for more general information on aspects of Spanish life.

Photographs are harder to find and the best I have come across is http://www.fotothis.com/ which I understand is run by a snagging company. They require you to register but it has not resulted in any contact from them.

Back to phase 1, I have seen some of the early owners have been posting their intention to try to get together so that they can present a united front to Polaris World when it comes to starting a community with all the admin that comes with it. They are hoping to avoid appointees of PW charging over the odds for facilities as they develop, hoping in that way to keep down community fees. Sounds like a good idea worthy of support.

In terms of facilities I understand that a temporary bar and clubhouse were delivered to Terrazas but when I last heard they were empty. It seems quite clear that only 9 holes of the golf course are being developed at present, the nine visible from phase 1.

It is difficult to see anything further being provided in the near future and apparently any complaints are being addressed by suggesting that the comprehensive facilities at La Torre are close by. I noticed on the El Valle forum there was a statement quoting Mr. Polaris himself as saying "PW have not forgotten that El Valle is the flagship resort and that when the financial situation improves there will be greater facilities provided." He also said "building the Town Centre now would be a financial disaster" and given that he lives there it is pretty sure that Terrazas will be at the back of the queue in terms of providing a town centre. It would appear that the sign at Terrazas (beside the sales office) saying Town Centre Coming Soon is just window dressing.



For those of us waiting patiently for the Las Islas phases to be built, possibly even within the next decade or two, there is at least evidence that the lake has been formed and therefore it seems unlikely that they will be cancelled.


It seems to me that we are in for a very long haul before we see Terrazas taking on any shape resembling the showroom model particularly with regard to facilities.

The main encouragement is that fact that PW are still building houses with apparently 1000 now at work on Mar Menor 2. A look at the fotofthis site will show that it is progressing although it looks far from complete. My understanding is that this workforce is destined for Terrazas on completion of MM2. It looks like that is some months away and the start of phase 2 therefore doesn't appear iminent.

PW Customer Service are still saying that Terrazas will be complete by the end of the summer 2010. No doubt they also tell people to expect visits from the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny.

I will post again before too long and if anyone gets to read this perhaps you might leave a comment just for my benefit to know I am not just talking to myself. Thanks.