Saidia site report

[The Soup Dragon]

Pictures are a little better on eyeonworldwide, but greens still don’t look great. Hopefully it’s just a case of grass needing more time to set properly and we’ll see a much better looking course when it opens in 3 or 4 weeks time.

Investy. I walked over the land the course is built on. It’s flat. The course will have some slight inclines here and there, but that’ll be all. It’s the water features that will make it interesting.

[Investy]

Soup, flat is ok with me. Is'nt St Andrews pretty flat? Certainly seen some flatties in my time.

Planting and water features have the potential to make a flat course very asthetically appealing. Bit like new home gardens which can look pretty bleak without trees and shrubs.

[howellmr]

Soup Dragon, I've been looking at eyesonworldwide but the pictures I have seen are from jan 2007 latest. Are there more recent pictures? Is so under which development are they listed?

[Investy]

Howell - ignore the dates, they're all messed up. The most recent piccies are at the top of the list. Well worth a look.

[camel with three humps]

Just alex: I agree with you. Sadly the Agents are the ones who draws the rosy pictures. When some one like me post the down side of things to balance the argument (there is no perfect investment like there is no perfect man/woman) The response I get is why am I so negative and have a personal agenda etc, etc.

The agents misuse their position. I do not blame them as it is their job to sell. Investors, seasonsend or not need to step back and think about the whole thing through and its not always possible to get the right advise or who to turn too.

[Mr Ri]

Can we really blame the agents for trying to sell their product?
You have to expect an agent to play on the upside and ignore the downside, and look to treat information supplied by agents with this perspective.

Personally I think see the information supplied by agents on this forum as a useful perspective (in the full knowledge its the positive stuff only).

Then take a reality check from the investing posters (particularly those that have kissed an investment frog rather than a prince).

Many investors on this forum will have benefitted from the hype generated from these agents positive messages. Its the hype that creates the demand that helps us realize our returns.

So for this, thanks agents, keep it up.

[The Soup Dragon]

Investy. St Andrews has several courses. There are some holes on the famous Old Course that are flat - though perhaps undulating with hidden bunkers would be a more apt description. Placement of your drive is key (you really don't want to be in those bunkers.) There's certainly some holes where there is a fair bit of elevation, like the famous Road Hole (17.) From memory the white tee is elevated with perhaps 100 to 150 yards before the fairway. Professionals cut out a dog leg and drive over a factory on this hole - I'm sure you'll know the one.

I'm just hoping that water help 'break up' the Championship course at Saidia. Courses where you feel you are just going up and down don't cut it and that course is hemmed in on all sides (fits into rectangular plot.) The course needs to be challenging. That means water traps, good bunkers, heavy rought, hard to read greens etc.

[Investy]

From my perspective us investors are realists, and pretty pessimistic as we have a lot at stake in a far off place, so only natural to get a bit negative.

I agree the agents give a rosy picture, but this does balance our own negativity and I welcome it to be honest!

One thing we must all be mindful of is that no matter what property you buy there are often snaggs and dissapointments. Near me some very expensive executive town homes were built by a high profile, high end builder. The local papers had many stories documenting all sorts of snaggs, from leaking skylights, cracks to mould.

[camel with three humps]

"One thing we must all be mindful of is that no matter what property you buy there are often snaggs and dissapointments. Near me some very expensive executive town homes were built by a high profile, high end builder. The local papers had many stories documenting all sorts of snaggs, from leaking skylights, cracks to mould."

I, expect these things to happen whether you are buying a flat in a block or an individual property, but within reasons. A Spanish company who were building in Saidia had built a block of flats in Marbella, where the ceiling were so badly plastered that it had waves in it. Despite all the efforts by the owners the developers never fixed it.

I expect the developers to at least aesthetically finish the property to a high standard first and than any other issues are finished efficiently and promptly without the buyers becoming a long distance works manager. These kind of builders will have repeat business.

[Investy]

With regard to LJDF, many of us are in touch with one another and from what I can tell we seem quite a hard nosed bunch, not easily fobbed - off. I suspect this could be a useful bargaining chip when it comes to snagging and the subsequent handover of completion monies.

This is one of the reasons I went for a large project as opposed to a one - off smallish development is Ashilla or similar where you are pretty much on your own at the mercy of a devloper with no redress to an overall project facilitator like Adoha.