gem estates News

With a handful of homes remaining at Cape Verde's award-winning Vila Jardins do Oceano, just 40 villas in a prime beachfront location, the developer has acknowledged prevailing economic conditions and offered some enticing incentives for buyers.

As supply diminishes and demand does the opposite land values always rise and at a faster pace than property. Why not opt for a $45,000 USD plot of land in the Dominican Republic with a guaranteed buy-back in two years at 167% of asking price.

A pioneer for 5-star resorts in Turkey, properties at Turquoise were unsurprisingly quick to sell-out. Now complete, GEM Estates is able to pass on a crazy 30% discount on the last remaining units. Prices from £66,000 have been slashed to £49,693.

Brazil is a vast country so buyer beware you don’t end up isolated with no nearby shops and restaurants, or worse still, no subsequent end-users to sell on to or provide you with rental income. No such fears for Maracajaú 50km north of Natal.

Some property investments appear too good to be true. Affordable pricing from £85,000, 100% finance with only £1,000 deposit to pay, 10% rental guarantee, little or no tax, SIPP-able etc. At times like this attending a seminar is a sensible option.

Off-plan purchase can be a daunting experience requiring imagination. There is no substitute for stepping on-site to form first-hand opinions. That’s exactly what’s on offer at the Le Jardin de Fleur resorts in Morocco - for just £149 per head.

How many nations would like to swap shoes with Tunisia right now? With a ‘closed currency’, one unable to be traded freely on the open market, it has remained immune to economic turmoil and GDP is set to grow from 5.1% in 2007 to 6.3% in 2008.

Winning awards is becoming a bit of a habit for Le Jardin de Fleur projects in Morocco. Already with a cache of silverware, Radisson Resort & Spa Suites has just picked up a silver in Homes Overseas Awards 2008 for Best Development Morocco.

Mark Holness, a PE Teacher from Ramsgate in Kent, is a man with a mission - to retire age 45. Currently in his 36th yr, giving him 9 yrs to amass a nest-egg, Mark is pinning hopes on the property market and spreading his risk across the continents.

John Beckett, 52, has a laidback approach to property investment, in fact doesn’t classify himself as an ‘investor’ at all just someone who 'loves houses'. In a global economic meltdown what better mindset to have when deciding next address.

In wallet-cautious times only the best overseas property investments will garner any attention and in Morabeza Beach Resort we like to think we can capture it. This beachfront haven on the Cape Verdean island of Santiago has payment terms to die for.

Exchange rates haven’t been kind to Brits recently. It’s nice to hear of a currency that’s actually working in our favour –the Brazilian Real– which in suffering a 2-month 28% tumble over the dollar has made property prices more affordable.

It seems absurd to buy an overseas home that you never see but if it secures financial stability for your retirement perhaps it’s not daft to ‘buy-to-forget’. Property can be purchased as part of a SIPP with considerable tax benefits.

Now boasting five CNBC-sponsored Arabian Property Awards, Le Jardin de Fleur is now rolling-out its who’s who of hotel operators. Hot on the heels of Radisson Hotels & Resorts, Best Western Premier and Hivernage have now signed on the dotted line.

North Africa’s smallest nation, Tunisia, may be mightily overshadowed by near neighbours Morocco and Egypt in the current property press; however the country is set to make a big impact.

When the Times put Tropea at nº1 in its ‘Top 20 Beaches’ report the assumption was ‘best’ equals ‘expensive’. Whilst they were right about Tropea’s style icon status, they were less-so about price. At Tropea Beach Resort chic is cheap.

Property prices have rocketed in Brazil over recent years and if investors could turn the clock back 18 months, knowing then what they do now, they would have snapped up several prime units and be feeling pretty smug today.

Imagine you could buy into a 6-star Cape Verde resort for 6,000 euros, take ownership upon completion in 2010, have nothing to pay until 2015 and 100% confidence you could get money back if the developer went bust – introduce the Exchange Bond.

Once visited by only very few, word has got out about Uruguay and buyers are now flocking to the flourishing internationally-renowned beach resorts offering ideal locations for overseas homes.

Small but perfectly formed, Panama is continually ranked amongst the top five places in the world to retire to and, with the US dollar as legal tender, Panama got even more appealing for Brits whose pennies now stretch a whole lot further.

Midway between Hurghada and Sahl Hasheesh sits Golden 5 City - grandiose, gigantic and thanks to endless sun, certainly golden. Now, the brains behind the success story are building the adjacent Golden Park Residence, priced from just £32,436.

Whilst unashamedly five star marrying high qualities with extensive facilities and property designs inspired directly from the ancient walled city of Marrakech in Morocco, Al Johara is also the first resort in the area to cater to family living.

Radisson Hotels & Resorts, part of a leading hotel chain operating over 330 establishments across 53 countries, has selected a brace of Le Jardin de Fleur resorts within the resort of Mediterrania Saïdia for its first foray into the Moroccan market.

Sol do Atlántico Resort & Spa in northeast Brazil is in full throes of construction with completion expected for the last quarter of 2008 so there’s still capital appreciation to soak up but there’s no interminable wait for the keys.

The majority of Cape Verde property purchasers hope for consistent rental income coupled with a little personal holiday usage each year. Most sign up for sandy Sal but could these buyers be forgetting the elephant in the room–established Santiago?

As an IFA, Tony Sharp, 40, is used to giving out best advice but with one particular client the roles took a reversal. A couple in their 50s had been on a property inspection to the island of Sal in Cape Verde and fallen in love with the place.

Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Hurghada enjoys enduring popularity with divers, golfers and beach-lovers all underpinned by the fact that winter sun can be reached in less than five hours from major European cities.

GEM Estates highlighted the Venezuelan island of Isla Margarita as one-to-watch back in December 2006, attracted by its undeveloped nature, amenable climate, tax-free status, low cost of living and stability offered by a rich oil-producing nation.

Aside from the six Plan Azur coastal resorts, the Moroccan Government has various other Action Plans on the go throughout the country, Tamuda Bay being one of them.

Sepang Gold Coast is Malaysia’s showcase to the world with the Golden Palm Tree as the flagship. Property on the Dubai-esque palm unfurling 1.2km into the Straits of Malacca is in the safe management of five-star hotel brand Swiss-Belhotel.

Boa Vista, the furthest east of the Cape Verde archipelago and known as the ‘island of beaches and dunes’, is home to Palm View Resort – one of only a handful of six-star residential resorts in existence and more than worthy of its rating.

Italy’s property market is on the move and it’s all in one direction - up. A leading property search portal revealed this year that Italy is now the most searched for country by Brits taking 8.5% of all searches on the website.

With interest-free payment terms from as low as a £499 a month over just two years, investors can own a freehold property in the five-star tropical paradise of West Side Village in the Egyptian resort of Hurghada for the price of a family car.

Property isn’t the kindest of industries to the environment in terms of emissions and waste. Buy a second home abroad adding aviation to the equation and you have a real conundrum – unless of course you opt for Villa dell’ Olivara in Calabria.

EasyJet is comprehensively conquering the skies. Adding new routes on a seemingly daily basis the no-frills airline now has Hurghada on its 2008 timetable. But will you be able to sleep easy when you look down at your big scary carbon footprint?

The masterminds behind the purpose-built Moroccan resort Mediterrania Saïdia are less than surprised to discover that the marina needs extending even before they’ve finished building it. The existing 840 berths will now be expanded to over 1,000.

Whilst property markets rise, peak and plateau a tourist destination can flourish adinfinitum. An investment in The Merricks Beach Resort & Residence, Barbados, ranks amongst the most sensible as you’re investing in the business of tourism.

Hon Glen Beache Min. of Tourism for St Vincent & The Grenadines said the Caribbean nation is committed to being 'the Caribbean you are looking for'. And through the development of Buccament Bay Resort it looks like Mr Beache’s wish will come true

No, we’re not talking a 3-night break, but a second home overseas in your name, for just £1,000 sterling. This near-impossible feat is feasible on not one, but three projects across three islands namely Barbados, Dominican Republic and St Vincent.

The developers of Gardens of Fedala in Marrakech are offering a nine-year money-back guarantee and a 7% net rental guarantee for the same period. What's more, globally renowned financial protection company, The AXA Group, is backing both.

The next time your credit card bill comes through it'd be nice to see something worthwhile listed amongst the weekly shops like a beachfront plot in Brazil. For a payment of £3,825 a 500m² villa plot within Turtle Bay Beach & Golf Resort is yours.

Would you rather step out on to a cold, grey pavement that reflects the colour of the sky with oppressive accuracy or would you prefer to surround yourself with constant sunshine as soon as you leave your doorstep. Calabria could be up your street.

With nine of the 11 Le Jardin de Fleur resorts-within-a-resort at Mediterrania Saïdia already nearly or completely sold out, the penultimate project has just been unveiled to the market – Villas du Soleil.

Loft Living arose from the iron-framed buildings erected at the turn of the 20th century to accommodate sweat-shop style workhouses. It can now be identified in many cities across the world, but on the beaches of Brazil? You’d better believe it.

Robert ‘Freddy Krueger’ Englund who rose to fame as the razor-handed killer in the ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ horror series is to shoot his own spine-chilling movie entirely on location in Calabria.