The euro is on a rollercoaster

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Paul

I’m no economist.

If I cast my mind back far enough I can just about remember that I got a grade D at A-level for Economics, only marginally better than the ‘fail’ that I got for European History. Poor Mr Metcalfe did try and help me along with my understanding of ‘supply and demand’, ‘keynsian economic theory’, and ‘economies of scale’ but I most remember him as the ‘person in authority’ who kindly signed the back of the photo included in my first British passport application.

I’ve definitely got more joy out of my passport than I’ve ever taken from economic theory. In a way Mr Metcalfe is responsible for travel around the globe over the last twenty-five years.

That said I am a bit of a closet Euro watcher. With a property in the Euro zone and the impending requirement to transfer considerable funds to our Spanish bank accounts to pay for renovation work, it is difficult not to find yourself consuming any newspaper or internet story about whether the pound sterling is getting stronger, or indeed weaker, against our fellow europeans ubiquitous coin.

Euros by Petr Kratochvil

The ticker ‘plug-in’ on the right shows the current interbank (two to three cents above the currency exchange rate available to us mere mortals) value of the Euro against the pound. After a high in the last twelve months of 1.23560 (Euros to the Pound) it is currently trading around the 1.14 mark, which means that for £10,000 you would be getting almost €1,000 less than you would have been at its height.

Which way is the currency going? Should I buy now before sterling crashes any further? It is all a bit of a gamble. There are several trains of current thought which help to muddy the waters;

  • Should UK inflation stay high then bank interest rates will inevitably increase and the pound will become a better investment, strengthening it against other currencies.
  • Should Portugal, and then Spain, and then who knows who, need more economic bail-outs their bonds become increasingly worthless and once again the pound appears to be a stronger investment.
  • Should the eurozone crisis (stolen link from Colin Davies Blog) continue then there is an outside chance that some countries may opt back into an independent currency with a chance to devalue themselves and become internationally more competitive. In this case the euro would likely become controlled by the Germans and its strength against Sterling would improve.

Blimey, now I’m sounding like an economist. Mr Metcalfe would be proud!

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A double celebration

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Paul

Last night saw a double celebration in our house, not because we’d finally found a cat food which our increasingly grumpy and tempramental tom cat would eat, but because of quantum advances in Galicia. So much so that we cracked open a bottle of the ever so trendy Albariño, although it didn’t really go with tuna pasta bake, and went searching on EasyJet for cheap flights to Asturias in May (I won’t tell you the dates as I am sure that Sir Stelios would increase the price if he knew).

(C) Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez

Around five-thirty a flurry of e-mails hit my mailbox with attached PDF documents conveying the good news. For the first time since we completed the purchase on the 21st June 2010 it seems as though we are moving in the right direction.

Ten months of pushing, shoving, kicking and straining and we were underway.

Good News No. 1

Inma, who we now know from the company formation documents has the first names Inmaculada Concepción (it really does translate literally exactly how you think to ‘Immaculate Conception’ and I’m guessing meant that she got a fair amount of ribbing at school), sent through our certificate of incorporation for our Spanish company.

Amanda and I are now joint shareholders in Casa Liñeiras S.L.. This means that the 3.000€ which Inma had been sitting on since January is now in a bank account in our companies name. Problem is, we have no details of this whatsoever. Good job we trust our solictor!

Good News No. 2

Even better good news came in the form of an e-mail from the architect who cannot be named who gave us the excellent news that the Galician Patrimonio (similar to our English Heritage) have granted us permission to renovate the roof for the small house and to fix-up the horreó. We still have to await the formality of an actual license from the Pontenova Council but this is a rubber-stamping formality.

All we have to do now is pick a contractor, and settle on a fixed price for the works, and then we can get on with the very first stage of our renovation.

From the doldrums of the last three months the wind was now picking up and we were hoisting the main-sail. We are just checking the dates that the architect, solicitor and grants ladies (for they are three different women) are available and we’ll be booking flights, a car and hotels.

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Let the real waiting begin

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Paul

We’ve had some paperwork through, yes…more paperwork.

The good news is that this one bears an official stamp of the local council, the ‘Ayuntamiento de A Pontenova’. According to the architect who cannot be named, what this signifies is that our planning application to renovate the small house was finally submitted on the 29th March 2011, and this means that we can ‘officially’ start waiting.

Officially stamped

It isn’t going to be all plain sailing though. At the moment the application can’t actually progress further than the local council as our ownership documents are not attached. These are still being awaited from our solicitor in Ribadeo, who is in turn waiting for them from the land registry. I think I’ve explained all this before. Breath won’t be held, as it is likely to be six to eight months.

What this does however signify is that we owe more people more money, which seems par for the course. I don’t begrudge paying the architect, I think that she has worked extremely hard for the amount in the bill that she has sent us, but we’ll soon owe a percentage of the renovation costs to the council for the application.

In other news, as they say on the telly before telling you the ‘happy’ end of bulletin story, it appears that our minor works licenses may, just may, have been considered. We don’t know the outcome (everything crossed that it is good), but the architect believes that both the ‘repair’ of the roofing on the small house and horreo were considered at a meeting last week, and we should hear soon.

As if by magic a local builder, who we asked for a quote three months ago, did finally send through their proposal to undertake the minor works. Perhaps they listen to the same grapevine as our architect?

I’ve also been trying to find a way to get an advance screening of the new Martin Sheen film about walking the camino, ‘The Way’ but so far every option it seems would involve me breaking a number of copyright laws, the words being out of syncronisation with the images, arabic subtitles, and opening myself to being ‘grassed up’ by my internet service provider. It looks like the opening night on the 13th May will be my first opportunity. From the trailers it looks like the big screen will be required to do it justice. As soon as I have seen it I’ll review it here.

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I’m just a jealous guy

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Paul

I am not normally the jealous type.

I don’t envy someone driving around in a Ferrari or Maserati, I don’t begrudge those people who get a big win on the lottery (well, not for more than a few seconds). I don’t even covet my neighbours wife, house, or field, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to my neighbour (to get biblical for a second). But today I feel jealous, and it’s over something really very minor.

On Thursday evening one of my work colleagues gets on a plane, with his son, to fly to Porto on a school exchange visit. Porto is in Portugal, so what’s the issue?

The reason for my jealousy is that his final destination is Nigrán, near Vigo in my beloved Galicia.

What he’s got to look forward to is a full week of superb food, excellent wine, spectacular scenery, all the culture he could ever desire, and lungs full of fresh air. He’s got day trips planned to Santiago de Compostela and, if the ferries are running, over to Islas Cies where one of the beaches was voted by the Guardian as ‘the most beautiful in the world’.

All this while I am back in the office in Salford with dodgy air conditioning, the near constant sounds of police sirens, and something in a barm cake for lunch.

Begrudgingly I have given him the name of a great little back street restaurant in Santiago de Compostela, ‘Restaurante Central’, where Amanda and I have eaten a couple of times on house hunting visits. We were introduced to it by an architect who works nearby and dines there regularly, so you can’t get a better recommendation than that.

Restaurante Central, half way down on the left

Through gritted teeth, I’ve also recommended the grilled scallops (Vieiras Al Gallego), anything with hake (merluza), and for him and the other Dads to try a small plate of Goose Neck Barnacles (Percebes), washing everything down with a mandatory glass of ice cold albariño.

I’m certain that he’ll have a great time…I just wish it was me.

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What a lot, for not a lot

Posted on April 1, 2011 by Paul

While we sit idly, twiddling our thumbs and growing ever more impatient (in a not very Spanish way), awaiting news from Galicia about;

  • the establishment of our company
  • ownership documents
  • our minor works license applications
  • the submission of our planning application
  • our quotes for roofing works

I can’t help but let my thoughts continue to be dominated by Galician property. In my boredom this has led me to do what you should never do, scour the Galician real estate agency sites after you’ve bought, to see what else is on the market.

What is blatantly obvious from my internet research is that there are still a load of great bargains to be had, and without knowing anything about the location or state of any of the following, I thought I would bring some of these to your attention. I hope that the agents won’t mind me pinching their photographs in exchange for some publicity (if they do please get in touch and I’ll take them down).

This one has been added recently by Mark of  Galician Country Homes and it is about an hours drive from our house right in the north west of Galicia. It is a stone house with  nice balcony and around 70 square metres per floor. The house comes with a large barn which has a traditional bread oven. The whole thing is in need of total renovation but on the market for a staggeringly low 15.000€.

One of Ramons Houses

Ramon, of Spanish Country Cottages, has a house much closer to ours which is a couple of valleys away. Situated in a small village it used to be a school house and is 83 square metres per floor. It doesn’t have any land to speak of but is available for just 14.000€.

John, from GaliciaVista, has this quaint little beauty on his books near Mondriz (near Lugo). It is in a rural location near a small road but within a few paces of a well stocked trout river. Needing complete renovation it is 112 square metres per floor and has 400 square metres of garden. A bargain in anyones books, especially those of a keen fisherman, at 27.500€.

So as you can see, you can get on the property ladder relatively cheaply in rural Galicia but be warned that depending on location and condition a good quality renovation is likely to cost between 700€ and 1.200€ per square metre depending on your personal level of involvement (ordering materials, fetching, carrying, mixing cement and buying in the beers!).

Now how do I stop myself blowing all our renovation budget on more houses?

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