Posts from — November 2007

Malta remains an excellent place to invest in property and the country may be the success story of 2008, says a property specialist.

Property investment site MaltaBuyProperty.co.uk has welcomed recent press reports highlighting an EC review of Malta - that sees strong economic growth continuing through 2008 and 2009, a reduction in unemployment, an improvement in public finances, and a continuing growth in domestic demand.

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It’s the ultimate des-res for those wanting to get away from it all.

A cool $40 million will buy you your own island paradise, far away from prying eyes.

It’s a purchase popular with the Hollywood A-list - Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicolas Cage and Brad Pitt all own one - and there are plenty of opportunties for New Zealand’s most wealthy to follow suit.

Pakatoa Island, 24ha of isolation 3km off the southeast tip of Waiheke, could be yours for $40 million.

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Good news for buyers in Panama. The government has extended a 20-year exemption on property taxes for new homes. Under the law, even if you buy an existing home built in recent years, the exemption is transferable.

The law expired in August and there didn’t seem to be any movement to renew it. But the government apparently had a change of heart and extended the law to homes built before Dec. 31, 2009

In France the purchase of a French property is a regulated legal process. The laws relevant to the purchase of a French property, depend to some extent, on the type of property you buy. For example, a vineyard or farm is subject to different procedures and costs. Should the French property have more than 1 hectare the procedure is basically the same as detailed below, except that there might be intervention by the Société d’Amenagément Foncier et d’Establissement Rural (SAFER) which has an automatic right of pre-emption in order to preserve land which it feels should either continue or remain in agricultural use. SAFER rarely exercises this right, but the notaire (roughly the equivalent of a solicitor/lawyer) is under an obligation to notify the SAFER to give it the opportunity to object to the sale. Should SAFER object to the sale any agreement is null and void and you can recover the deposit paid on ‘exchange’. On the assumption that you are buying a French property with 1 hectare (2.47 acres) of land or less then the procedure is as set out below.

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The Buying Process

1.  Research the area.
There are lots of companies selling French Property.  Firstly, we recommend that you do a bit of research on the area where you are considering buying.  If you are going to spend hundreds of thousands of euros on a property, why not spend a couple of euros researching the topic

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