New OverseasCafe.com homepage

At last, we have a new homepage. We've been waiting for it for ages and it has eventually arrived, but it has been worth the wait. Not only that but there are a raft of new initiatives being rolled out by the site between here and Christmas so keep an eye out, some of the changes may involve things that will interest you.

Current changes give us a listing of Premium Properties on the homepage. If you are an agent with property on the site and your properties aren't premium properties they won't be seen on the homepage so you'd better get some Premium Property credit as soon as you can for maximum exposure, it's very cost effective advertising. End plug.

As well as this you'll now find up to date listings for all the news, agent news and editorial articles right there on the front page. It does make it a whole lot easier to see what is most recent on the site, which was the most frequent criticism of it in the past. It also saves having to click into all the different categories to see what is going on in the overseas property market.

Our blog also has its own little section down the bottom so you can see what has been tickling our fancy right from the homepage.

Thanks to the lads at Think Tank Marketing for getting this over the line for us, it's not their fault it got delayed (much too long a story for a blog) but they've come up with the goods when we needed them. Well done guys.

If you've not already been there why not visit OverseasCafe.com and check it out for yourself.

UK Land Banking Scams

For those of you who have ever considered one of those 'small investments' in UK land which is being presented as land with the potential for 'rezoning' then you may well need to have a read of the following and the Guardian's piece here.

This particular area of the property market is fraught with danger, particularly for those with no knowledge of the UK property market and the ins and outs of the planning process across the UK. In the main the UK is very slow to rezone green belt land, so be very careful about what you're buying, no matter how inexpensive it may seem. That is, of course, unless you are happy to lose your 'investment'. 

If you visit the UK Land Investments site all you'll find is a letter from the administrators. This liquidation of companies is a typical ploy by land bankers, which usually just pop up again a couple of months later with a different name. Although on this occasion they may have been helped along the way by the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA).

There are a few operatives outside the UK which also look pretty dodgy but nothing concrete has been proven against them yet so we'll refrain from mentioning them until there is proof that we should do so. 

The FSA has released the following statement for those considering investing in Land Banking schemes.

Read an advisory article about Land Banking on the OverseasCafe.com site. 

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UK Property Links

For a selection of property in the UK click here.

For a list of agents selling property in the UK click here.

For independent articles on overseas property click here.

For advice on purchasing in the UK click here.

For news on the UK property market click here.

For new releases and product updates from UK agents click here.

For a selection of property exhibitions featuring UK property click here.

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Ryanair Full Year Results

For those interested in what the future may hold for the price of flight tickets based on the rising cost of oil then the announcement of Ryanair's end-of-year results yesterday may prove interesting, if not entirely uplifting.

All you need, as usual, is Mick O'Leary's comment: "I've now come to the view that I hope oil does stay at $125 or $130 a barrel during the winter because I think that will bankrupt half of the airlines flying today, in which case we'll still be the lowest-fares airline in Europe, bur our fares won't be €40 a passenger, they might be a little higher."
I suspect they may be not a little, but quite a lot higher Mick. I doubt very much if you're going to sit and watch your airline make no profits while travellers still avail of low fares. Less competition changes the game for everyone and those left standing can name their price.

You can find the full article here.

Aer Lingus' decision to hike fuel surcharges to the US again today will not fill the market with much cheer either. See full story here.

Click here for articles related to the aviation industry on OverseasCafe.com.

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Couple fail in case against Platinum Developments

This is a story that seems to have come in under the radar for some reason. It's a worrying one as it involves Platinum Developments in Sandyford, a company lauded for pulling its Sunset Beach Resort in Pomorie (pictured) out of the fire when the Dutch developer legged it with a bag of cash. Credit is most certainly due to the company for not folding its tent and heading for the hills as many others would have done. The company morphed from an agent to a substantial Bulgarian developer, the largest foreign developer in the country as far as we can ascertain, and completed this development. Credit where it's due then.

There would, however, still seem to be substantial problems at the original Pomorie development in relation to promised refunds, which the Irish company is foisting on the Dutch parent, the original cause of all the problems, but also with rentals and management. See the totally property forum if you want to get in touch with others in the same boat. The forum doesn't have a posting since last November, but we're not sure whether this is because everything was settled to the owners' satisfaction or if Platinum had it shut down (it doesn't appear to be closed though). AskAboutMoney.com was threatened by the company over a posting on its forum, which you'll find here, some months ago. It was subsequently suspended.

The most recent story about Platinum is in last Wednesday's Indo and Times (you need to be a subscriber to view the whole lot). The Indo version (it was on page 4 beside a picture of Bono in Japan) doesn't seem to appear online for some reason but Eircom, God bless 'em, appear to be able to provide the full story, even though it too came from the Times.

Some excerpts:

"Mr and Mrs Uwen had said they remortgaged their home in England in 2003 to invest in the Pomorie Golf and Beach Resort in Bulgaria, owned by a Dutch company, NV Capital Ground and Building Investment (CGBI). It was developing the lands through a holding company.

The Uwens say they paid CGBI €215,000 for 14 apartments and two commercial units, representing 20 per cent deposits on the purchase, and received receipts.

In mid-2004 the Dutch authorities froze CGBI's assets after it hit financial difficulties. Works ceased with about one-tenth of the complex complete, Daniel Simms, for Mr O'Reilly, told the court.

Mr Simms said Mr O'Reilly, whose Platinum Developments firm had acted as a selling agent for CGBI, put together a team of investors to "salvage" the project, and they acquired the CGBI holding company. This firm's name was changed to Sunset Resort OOD and, in letters to the Uwens, Mr O'Reilly said he was the owner of Sunset.

In an affidavit, Mr O'Reilly said the Uwens were offered options on how to deal with their investment, and they chose repayment on completion of the development.

Mr O'Reilly denied they were entitled to receive €215,000, and said the amount was just €12,800. CGBI had informed Sunset the Uwens had paid that latter amount, he said in his affidavit.

Because the Uwens had chosen a refund on completion, they had no contract with him and acceptance of this option stipulated that the laws of Bulgaria would apply in any dispute, he said.

The Uwens claimed Mr O'Reilly repeatedly ignored letters seeking a refund and was "deliberate" in trying to avoid refunding them.

If Mr O'Reilly was sued in the Bulgarian courts, he would say there was no contract between his firm and the couple, they said. Despite Mr O'Reilly saying in May 2007 that the resort was complete, they had not been repaid."

The Uwens were essentially told to go sue Neill O'Reilly in Bulgaria although the judge did agree that they appeared to have a case and granted them costs.

The full story is here.

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For a selection of property in Bulgaria click here.

For a list of agents selling property in Bulgaria click here.

For independent articles on the Bulgarian property market click here.

For advice on purchasing in Bulgaria click here.

For news on the Bulgarian property market click here.

For new releases and product updates from Bulgaria agents click here.

For a selection of property exhibitions featuring Bulgaria property click here.

Register now to receive our informative newsletter, save searches and tailor your OverseasCafe.com experience to your own needs.

End of Cheap Air Travel?

Now sit down for this one. BA chairman Willie Walsh, yes he who presided over the Terminal 5 fiasco at Heathrow, claims that we've hit the end of cheap air travel.

According to the Guardian Willie has said; "... the soaring cost of oil allied to global economic uncertainty would force airlines to raise fares in a scramble for survival that will see many of them go bust." Not good news for the consumer obviously. Less airlines = less competition = the backside being ripped out of the market.

This announcement comes the day after the world's biggest carrier, American Airlines, announced huge cuts in routes and jobs because of rising oil prices. Walsh also said that; "budget airlines would have to increase fares and add-on charges such as baggage check-in fees and that many unprofitable companies would simply go bust. The industry has no future if it does not price in its costs." Ah, has that not been happening already Willie? Aer Lingus and Ryanair have both announced increases in baggage charges and boarding fees over the past few weeks.

The prediction is likely to send shivers down the spine of Irish owners of property abroad, many of whom bought on the back of cheap access and who rely on such cheap access to visit their properties regularly.

Let's hope Willie's predicitions are as reliable as his ability to open a new passenger terminal.

You'll find Mr. Walsh's rather unpopular prediction here.

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For an advice article on the risks of basing your purchase decisions on the availability of cheap flights click here.

For other stories referring to airlines click here.

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