Well said Queenie and Stew, there are a few of us in the same position with the same doubts and frustrations. Anthony, if I may say so, you seem a little niaive and I from your post I find it extremely difficult to believe that you have invested in so many properties. This forum is all about people voicing their different opinions and experiences - and as investors, we are free to make our own choices based on the information. At the moment (in my opinion) IPI have not supplied the full due diligence, they and their solicitors (who they wish us to instruct at an extortionate cost and who appear to be totally unaware of Egyptian law - scary!) are unaware that their english contract is not worth the paper it is written on in an Egyptian Court, they have delayed and then delayed some more, not been upfront about the signatories for the escrow account - making us believe our money is to be held by a totally independent body. I could go on, and on, and on.......... my patience and trust is failing fast! However, Anthony, if you are willing and happy to believe every single word said without checking, then go for it and I hope that it all works out for you.
Karen.

long may this forum continue to run, with its free opinions both negative and of course the positive ones! Many people raise their concerns about certain developments that others are less unaware of either because it is their first time purchase abroad or because they have doubts. People must be allowed to express themselves freely - sometimes we don't agree and sometimes tempers/rants run quite high on occassions!

Long may TP reign!

Daft question I know but is anybody signing the contracts/transferring funds?

I noted the comment about the financial status of IPI in the DD report, nothing really tells us whether the company are in good financial health. We only have the word of their paid auditors. Regarding a standard contract, I know from another potential investor that they have sent them an amended contract but not everyone else. Would have made sense for them to collate peoples comments but I suppose the less people complain, the less work.

I am going to send them a letter tomorrow requesting more time. Failing that, I may pull out, which is a big disappointment.

Dear All,

Firstly, I do not work for Anthony Seddon & Co nor am I under any retainer or commission as has been suggested. I have not even used their services! I am not going to get into this needless banter arguing points which clearly cannot be agreed on for reasons I have previously stated. I resent comments stating that I may in anyway be naive. Having dealt with IPI since early in their Zafarana development, having purchased there I have no problem in investing in their developments. This is not naivety, it is many years of experience in this field. I hope that those negative people go on to be as successful in this field as I have been fortunate enough to be.

Tony

Tony and welcome - but - thats what a forum is for - opinions so how can you come on a forum and tell people to keep them to themselves??

As I stated I am not asking people to keep to themselves, merely to consider the impact on other people’s investments when they make negative comments, particularly when there is no fact behind their assertions.

Can you expand on the 17 you have bought??

I currently have properties in: Egypt, UK, Australia, Malaysia, Croatia, TRNC, Brazil, Las Vegas (USA), Monterey (USA) and Morocco.

How many and where in Egypt as this is very different from other countries.

This is my second property in Egypt, the first being in Zafarana.

Who has done your due diligence for you?

I have not instructed Due Diligence, I have read the DD from Anthony Seddon & Co. As they are legally liable to their clients and are a UK based law firm, all of their information must be verified etc by themselves. I find it amusing how some people think that lawyers can just go out and blatantly lie…

You say it is very thorough so what qualifications in Egyptian law do you have to make that statement???

The DD document covers, the title of the land, the company structure of IPI, the planning permission, the financial position of the company and the escrow account. The report is thorough compared with other reports of this nature, which I have seen. Furthermore, this is my whole point, why would I need qualifications in Egyptian law when Anthony Seddon & Co have conducted the DD and have Egyptian lawyers working for them?? As a side point too, a couple of people have commented on AS not knowing Egyptian law because of the contracts, why don’t you try ringing them and asking them for a contract? I did this and they haven’t even sent any contracts to any of their clients yet so what are you basing this on?


Where have you bought / reserved in Marsa if you dont mind me asking?

I have bought IAS02A

I believe some have had problems with Seddons not only on this but other developments.

I have not used their services before although I have spoken to Anthony Seddon on the phone before. I don’t remember seeing anyone posting problems on the forums during Zafarana with them but its difficult for me to comment on this.

I will ask you straight out are you an Agent or a genuine investor?? If an investor where on Marsa have you bought??

I am an investor!!! Just because I have an opinion and write full responses does not make me an agent, this forum has enough of those.

Also forgive me for my negativity but you have only just found this forum but have purchased 17 and this is the biggest overseas forum and you have bought on Zafarana as well - why have you only just joined and made a rather large post.

I think I made my point clear about the way I feel forums should be used. I am a member of eyeonworldwide where I have discussed on many occassions both this and the Zafarana Development, and a couple of others. I do not use forums as a way to gather information and therefore have not relied heavily on them in the past. I would much rather get my answers from my agent, the developer or my lawyer. I monitor this website occassionaly and have not been a member as I disagree with the amount or arguments and agents who are listed on this site playing one development off against another. I felt after comments I read recently about the MABR that I had to state my opinion on these matters, hence my joining of the forum. I didn’t realize at the time of course that I would then have to justify why I don’t use the forum nor for that matter why many experienced property investors don’t use any forums at all as they are largely used by people with limited experience who take answers from completely anonymous people as gospel.

Again if you are genuine I apologise if my post comes across to you as a negative one.

No apology necessary.

Tony Day

Hi Tony

I appreciate your points of view; I am a new member to this site.

One of my concerns for the MABR project has been that the only comparative project to base an opinion on about IPIs diligence is Zafarana. I came to be interested in MABR out of an interest in Zafarana but finding I was too late to invest in that. That project is still not completed and looking at current estimates find it difficult believing it will be ready by the second half of 2009 let alone the first. Had it followed projections, perhaps with a month or two delays, I would feel more comfortable about the MABR project.

Have you complete faith that Zafarana will be ready for you in the time currently specified?

Adding to the above, I was told when I signed for MABR a few months ago that the build would begin, a bit later than originally specified, in June. I now find I have to complete contractual arrangments and it is still not begun, the earliest I am told is end of August/early September; so I need to sign on faith that the latest information given by IPI is correct, when it was not before, will it change again (as Zafarana) - not confidence building.

I believe about 60% of MABR Part 1 is 'sold' so wonder if that may affect build - are monies collected sufficient to progress the build according to an existing plan or not and will sales influence future dates and committments to purchasers - the impression I had been given by brokers when I first registered and paid deposit was that MABR part 1 was almost sold out.

Although IPI may be highly trustworthy, and I have no reason to think otherwise, the lack of solid information and certain safeguards is disconcerting; had the build started, had it almost sold out, was the escrow account guaranteed by a major independent institution, were all contracts that same (if as some say they are not), was due diligence able to provide greater advice on IPI financial circumstances (especially with Zafarana under way and possibly taking a heavy committment from IPI), were there other successfully completed IPI projects to base success on - theses things would assist us all to move forward, they seem to drive the current discussion here; not that people are dissenting, as I am sure that like me they wish to see a successful MABR (and like Zafarana it would be a credit to IPI as they are large exciting projects in a most beautiful part of the world) but there are genuine concerns due to issues such as those above especially for people like me who are starting on the purchase road.

Tony you say you have not had your own due diligence done. You earlier said you were not using seddons yet you quote "I have read the DD from Anthony Seddon & Co. As they are legally liable to their clients and are a UK based law firm, all of their information must be verified etc by themselves. I find it amusing how some people think that lawyers can just go out and blatantly lie". If you are not instructing Seddons, have you seen the disclaimer on the front of the due diligence????? you havent got a leg to stand with any information contained within that document and should be checking out its contents yourself. It also adds that clients of Anthony Seddons will be forwarded further information at a later date (will you get this???)

"The DD document covers, the title of the land" - so can you read arabic, is this what it really says??? - and here I am not making out its a fake document but surely is something people want checked.

"As a side point too, a couple of people have commented on AS not knowing Egyptian law because of the contracts, why don’t you try ringing them and asking them for a contract? I did this and they haven’t even sent any contracts to any of their clients yet so what are you basing this on?" We were told by IPI that their UK solicitor drafted all the contracts. What we found disturbing was that IPI insisted the contract did not need to be in arabic since all issues would be fought in a Dutch Court of Law - The Contract said it would be fought in an Egyptian Court of Law!!! Ok yes they have now changed this but only at our request.

With regard to Seddons and the problems we have heard people are having you say "I have not used their services before although I have spoken to Anthony Seddon on the phone before. I don’t remember seeing anyone posting problems on the forums during Zafarana with them but its difficult for me to comment on this" - I have been told by IPI that 95% of purchasers on Zafarana never bothered using Seddons or taking any legal advice at all.

Tony this is not on attack on you but this is a forum we have been using to ask questions and view of thoughts with each other. At no point, I believe has anyone come on here and said its a crap resort, IPI are going to go bankrupt or fail to deliver or anything of the sort, people have just raised issues and discussed them, which I feel we have every right to do. I find it weird to be honest that you dont wish us to do that. I have found everything other people have raised helpful and have been glad for them reminding me to look in to things I had not thought of.

Keep the forum going everyone, it makes for interested reading and is helpful to all legit purchasers. OK we dont have to listen to everything everyone says but let us as individuals be the judge of what we want to take in and what we do not want to take in.

Good luck

Lou

In good faith and believing this to be a potentially superb project Egypt Real recently listed this on our website.

However, we have been advised in the past 24 hours that the proposed constructors are not the owners of the land and that the land owner has recently died leaving the land to his two young daughters who are minors.

If this is the case how can any constructor have a legal right to build on land which is not his and where the legal owners are young children?

This is what Due Diligence is all about. If the correct documents are in place then potential buyers can move forward without these sort of worries.

If no evidence is forthcoming which disproves what we have been told then we will need to remove MABR from our website until this issue is resolved.

__________________
PROPERTY SHOP INC. International Property Brokers
EGYPT REAL - Your One Stop Shop for Hurghada Property

So who has issued the Due Diligence on this project and what do they have to say about these very serious issues?

__________________
Best, Regards, Neil Hollingsworth Tel:01793 602490/07717826505
Email - neil@rivermeadglobalproperty.co.uk Find us on the FreeIndex directory http://freeindex.co.uk/profile(river...rty)_98122.htm and read our reviews.

Hiya Neil, we have pulled out as you are aware, but I will email you a copy of the due diligence. Its drawn up by Seddons but has big disclaimer on the front for people that have not instructed them.

Email on its way now.

Cheers.

Lou