A near-zero energy house in Spain

Villa Ana, a sustainable private residence, was designed by architects Iván López Veiga and Juan R. Iglesias Babío in cooperation with Annabella Ortiz, José Álvarez and the engineering studio Indugal. The goal of this group of experts is to become the first Breeam Es certified sustainable building in Spain. This green construction project is located in Santiago de Compostela.

I’ve always imagined a project like Villa Ana on the landlot we offer on this blog and the idea of a near-zero energy house sounds very tempting, especially now that the electric bill has gone up again.

Are any of my readers ready and willing to take the plunge and create something like this green construction project in Caión? It would be adding to the already high environmental and landscape value of the village’s natural surroundings.

Luxury and beauty in a seaside apartment

 I can't believe that no one has yet made the property investment of their life by purchasing the landlot on sale here!

Maybe it's because my readers prefer a fully furnished, luxurious apartment in the same spectacular setting of Caión. If what you're searching for is a beautiful home with incredible seaviews, high quality finishes, top of the line wood flooring plus an unbeatable location in the heart of the villa, then you've surfed into the right blog post. To see details of this wonderful apartment, visit my ads on idealista.com and tucasa.com

 Don't let this opportunity slip past you.

I have a feeling that it's not going to last.

The realistic optimist

Realism means facing the announcements made yesterday by the new Spanish government regarding important tax hikes, drastic cuts and an unprecedented GDP deficit of 8%.

Optimism means relying on the new regulations that promise to stimulate the stagnant real estate market. Among the measures just established are the reintroduction of a tax benefit and a super-reduced VAT rate of 4% on the purchase of new homes.

In addition, the new Public Works Minister Ana Pastor has included a housing policy in her portfolio and made reducing stockpiles of unsold new homes one of her priorities.

These measures tell us that this may a good time to purchase buildable land like the plot offered on this blog.

We shouldn’t forget that investing in land continues to be an option that promises benefits in the medium or long-term, whilst gold and silver prices threaten to begin their downhill or at least unstable course in the coming year, especially if the European debt crisis continues.

Whatever the news, I wish everyone a happy New Year full of optimism, mixed with a bit of realism!

Good day for the housing market

We’ve gotten used to the markets’ to-the-minute rss feeds on how they respond to every bit of economic news released in Europe. It’s hard to get a firm footing in this financial storm.

However, this past Tuesday was a good day for the housing market as stocks surged, partly in response to positive economic data on the housing sector in the U.S. and positive indicators from the euro zone.

According to the N.Y. Times, the hopeful mood in Europe was sparked by reports from a study showing that “The German economy seems to be successfully countering the downturn in Western Europe.” as well as by the successful auction of three-month bills in Spain.

The promise made by Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s newly appointed president, to stimulate the housing market through a housing policy geared towards growth and cohesion is also seen by investors as a positive and encouraging news feed.

Playing it safe as the Euro currency crisis continues

It seems that I'm not the only one who thinks investing in land can offer protection against the possibility of an even greater economic downturn in the Eurozone:

"From a personal investing perspective, therefore, it is advisable that one consider holding at least some small part of their assets in “hard asset” alternative investments such as precious metals, oil, agricultural land, and others. These hard assets can act as a hedge against inflation, thereby offering some protection from the worst effects of massive QE."

Read more: http://technorati.com/business/finance/article/why-the-crisis-with-the-euro/page-3/#ixzz1gWxgPyfc

As good as —no— better than gold!

No, it doesn't shine like gold, it's not the same color as gold and it certainly hasn't got the same texture as that precious metal. And we all know that you wouldn't be able to wear this fabulous piece of land to your next dinner date because it just wouldn't look right.

On the other hand...

Smart investors know that this real estate asset is as good as—or even better than—gold. I keep wondering how long it will take for that perceptive buyer, knowledgeable about the market, to purchase this buildable property.

Real Estate Investments: As Good As Gold?

In these economically uncertain times, many people are turning to gold as a safe investment. But is gold as brilliant a choice as it seems?

... some argue that investing in real estate continues to offer the security that investors are searching for in recession-plagued Europe or even the U.S.

Read more: http://technorati.com/business/article/real-estate-investments-as-good-as1/#ixzz1g86jEKGI

The Ultimate Christmas Gift: Real Estate

The Ultimate Christmas Gift: Real Estate

article published on technorati.com

Selling Property Amidst the Turmoil

In the aftermath of last week’s apocalyptic announcements that Europeans are about to live through the end of their relatively short-lived Union, and in the midst of Spain’s upcoming general elections, the rightist candidate assures that the real estate bubble burst is a fiction created by the socialist party now in government.
Whether the bubble really burst or not, the truth is that there are too many empty apartments and houses sitting in the shop windows. The strong right wing candidate, who all the polls predict will be the next President, promises to reinstate tax benefits for those citizens willing to purchase a home. Newly arrived mayors (elections were in May) state that construction will reactivate the slumping economy. But consumers, alarmed by recent events, are not willing to take any investment risks.
In the meantime buyers—investors with plenty of equity—are looking for a good bargain. Sellers, however, won't give their property away at a cheap price, and so the real estate market is at a standstill and no one can say what direction it will follow. Selling property is a short-term goal that in Spain has necessarily become a medium or even long-term one.

Read more: Selling Property Amidst the Turmoil at technorati.com

A successful business (ad)venture

This blog is not just a business venture--it's not just about offering an unrivaled real estate investment. It's turned into a chance for me to reminisce and to share some memories, anecdotes and stories with my readers--anecdotes and memories related to the land that's been in my family for generations, to the place where my dad was born, to an incredible little fishing village called Caión. I so enjoy writing about the truths and tales I've been hearing all my life, like the (true) one I'm going to write about today.

Restaurant "Casa de la Fuente"

I'd like to tell you a little about the business that my enterprising mom and dad ran between 1955 and 1969 in Caión. When they married, my parents decided to settle down in Caión (my mom was from Lendo, a nearby village) and set up a small grocery store on the ground floor of a house located in the main square of this tiny peninsula. They began selling oil, sugar, flour and other basic food stuff during what were very hard times for Spain's population. My mom still remembers how they sometimes sold just a little bit of oil to a customer who simply could not afford more--maybe no more than 1/8 liter at a time.

Inside the café-restaurant

It turns out that my mom was a tremendously hard working woman and an excellent cook. My dad was also a hard-worker, but when it came to cooking, he knew better than to try a hand at the culinary art. They soon set up a new business in that same locale. They turned that small shop into a café, restaurant and hostel which eventually became as popular with tourists from Madrid and other areas of Spain or Galicia, as with the locals.

My parents' fish delivery truck

In one of my last posts I mentioned the popularity of my mom's Spanish tortilla and promised to upload her recipe, so here it is. But tortilla, although the most controversial, wasn't the only popular dish on the menu. She made other specialties such as seafood, tripe stew with chickpeas (callos), octopus, among others. Wedding parties were also celebrated at the restaurant. Their business became very successful and so well known that even an association of French chefs once wrote to ask if they could hold their annual convention at my parent's restaurant.

My parents' fishing boat

And regarding the hostel, they could boast of guests such as a cousin of the present-day king of Spain, H.M. King Juan Carlos I. Less illustrious but still fondly remembered guests include two very young geologists from Holland who spent four summers in Caión while they were working on their PhD. Caión was such an isolated place back then that I used to wonder how these people could possibly have got to know about it and about Casa de la Fuente. Perhaps the article I'm attaching here (there were others) can shed some light on the matter. Another mystery is how these people were actually able to reach Caión at that time. Roads were not like they are today and the way to Caión was one of the scariest in the area. No doubt the landscape and natural beauty of this unique spot, as well as the impressive cuisine were to blame.

The road to Caión is no longer frightening and the village is well-communicated, but luckily it hasn't lost its charm. Beauty in nature never fades. So why does ours?