House Hunting in France: A Diamond in the Rough Near the Basque Coast

House Hunting in France: A Diamond in the Rough Near the Basque Coast

by Real Estate News

This nine-bedroom, Neo-Basque-style villa sits on a grassy 1.85-acre lot in Winter Park, a quiet residential district outside of downtown Biarritz, the resort town on France’s Basque coast, near the border with Spain.

Built in 1920, the 6,458-square-foot house was last renovated in the late 1990s, and has been unoccupied for five years. “You have to do some renovation work,” said Philippe Thomine-Desmazures, associate director of Barnes International Realty, Côte Basque, which has the listing.

A gravel driveway leads to the covered front portico. The entry hall has a checkerboard tile floor and a powder room. Double wood doors open to a parlor with high ceilings, a terra-cotta tile floor and a broad fireplace. French doors with transoms lead to the garden.

Beyond a trio of arches is a library with a fireplace, a double living room with a bay window, and a banquet-style dining room with extensive moldings, each with parquet floors and doors opening to a terrace or garden.

The kitchen has a white-and-blue patterned ceramic tile floor, with a La Cornue range against one wall and a glass breakfront with wood trim against another. Through a parlor archway, a stone staircase with a decorative metal balustrade leads to a Juliet balcony overlooking the ground floor.

The primary bedroom suite, at the center of the second floor, has pink wallpaper, floor-to-ceiling drapes and transomed double doors opening to a terrace. To one side is a bathroom with a barrel-shaped coffered ceiling over a claw foot tub. To the other side, a tub with a wood surround from a second bathroom off the bedroom juts into a study with armoires, bookshelves and windows overlooking the property.

Flanking the primary suite are two more bedrooms with wood-plank floors, decorative moldings and double balcony doors. Each has a full bath with a claw foot tub.

The third floor has five bedrooms. The largest has a seating area beneath exposed wood beams and a skylit bathroom. Two more bedrooms have exposed beams above dormer windows. A smaller nursery and maid’s rooms share a bathroom and separate commode.

The basement has a gas boiler room, a wine cellar and storage rooms.

The overgrown garden has plenty of room for a swimming pool, Mr. Thomine-Desmazures said, and an annex building has space for two to three cars and caretaker’s quarters.

The house is a few minutes’ walk to local bakeries, while restaurants and boutiques in the center of Biarritz are about a mile away. Once a small fishing village, Biarritz, with just over 25,000 residents on the Bay of Biscay, became a favored British winter residence and a darling of royals (“the queen of resorts and the resort of kings”) after Napoleon III and his Spanish empress, Eugénie, visited in 1854. It has long been considered the surfing capital of France.

Biarritz Pays Basque Airport, with flights to eight European countries, is a three-minute drive from the house. San Sebastián, the closest city in Spain, is a 30-minute drive.

Before the pandemic, most sales in Biarritz were for second homes used during high season, from April to October, when the population often quadrupled. “Biarritz and the area have been very sought after for secondary residences since Imperial times,” said Bénédicte Marchal, director of Biarritz Sotheby’s International Realty. “A lot of people from the aristocracy like to be in Biarritz.”

But since 2020, as in resort towns worldwide, the market has skewed younger. “We have seen many, many people between 35 and 45 move here to work remotely, or to go to work two to three days a week in Paris, Madrid or London and come back,” said Mr. Thomine-Desmazures, the listing agent. “We saw many, many people who moved their family here. It was a booming market with Covid.”

Those newcomers found a cramped seller’s market with surging prices. In the past few years, only small buildings with 10 to 15 apartments have been built in Biarritz, and approvals are hard to come by. “It is difficult to knock down and build something new,” Mr. Thomine-Desmazures said.

The pandemic added another layer of complexity, as inventory dwindled further. “We have some property that we work off market, confidentially, and some people prefer that,” Ms. Marchal said. “People are afraid to sell because they don’t know if they can buy something else. They don’t want to get stuck.”

The tight conditions in Biarritz have led to an average 15 percent rise in home prices over the past year, with luxury homes up 30 percent “if the property is well renovated and if it’s on the first line to the sea,” Ms. Marchal said.

Mr. Thomine-Desmazures said the average sale price in his office last year was 1.45 million euros ($1.64 million), with 50 houses going between 1 million and 1.5 million euros ($1.13 million and $1.7 million), and 10 selling for over 3 million euros ($3.4 million).

Stanislas de Roumefort, a partner in Côte Ouest Immobilier, an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate, said local prices have doubled since 2016, including a 40 percent spike in the past two years. “The market in the area was the most dynamic area in real estate in the country last year, and it is not because of the Covid,” Mr. de Roumefort said. “The only reason — and it is only this reason — is the bank. You can go to the bank, get money and buy.”

At his company, he said, an investor client bought four properties at 2 million euros apiece ($2.26 million), with just 15 percent down, and sold the lot for about 16 million euros ($18.1 million), he said. Ms. Marchal also noted an influx of investors aiming to create full-service luxury rentals, with butlers and cooks.

Villas with sea views sell for between 3 million and 10 million euros ($3.4 million and $11.3 million, Mr. de Roumefort said.

High-ceilinged apartments carved out of divided palaces and villas from the early 20th century sell for more than homes with balconies in buildings from the 1960s or 1970s. “The older buildings go for more,” Ms. Marchal said.

Even with the uptick near the Basque coast, prices remain less expensive than on France’s Côte d’Azur, where properties can fetch up to $40 million, Ms. Marchal said. “It’s more authentic, confidential and discreet than the Côte d’Azur,” she said. “The coastline is still more untouched, wild.”

About 80 percent of buyers in Biarritz and the Basque Coast are French, coming mostly from Paris, Bordeaux and Toulouse. Buyers also arrive from Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the United States, agents said.

Many French buyers are expatriates, while others come from Germany, Italy and Russia. “Mr. Putin has two houses in Biarritz,” Mr. de Roumefort said, referring to Russian president Vladimir Putin. “His former wife has a house and his daughter has a house.”

An hour east, in the rolling hills of southwest France’s Occitanie region, prices are comparatively attractive and British buyers predominate, said Jack Harris, a partner in the International Residential Department at Knight Frank, based in London. American buyers also look for large chateau-style properties or authentic manor houses.

There are no restrictions on foreign buyers in France. Closing costs, paid by the buyer, run about 7.5 percent of the price, Ms. Marchal said. Most sales are handled by notaries working on behalf of the government, for both the seller and the buyer.

As of Jan. 1, French mortgages cannot exceed 25 years and the debt ratio cannot exceed 35 percent.

Because of the reluctance of major French banks to lend to U.S. citizens, most American buyers should consider a cash purchase, Mr. Harris said.

French; euro (1 euro = $1.13)

The annual property tax on this house is 5,000 euros ($5,663).

Philippe Thomine-Desmazures, Barnes International Realty Côte Basque, 011-33-6-62-68-81-91; barnes-cotebasque.com

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House Hunting in Guatemala: Among Volcanoes in Antigua for 9,000

House Hunting in Guatemala: Among Volcanoes in Antigua for $299,000

by Real Estate News

This two-bed room townhouse sits in a gated community on the outskirts of Antigua, the colonial town and UNESCO Heritage Website surrounded by volcanoes in the highlands of central Guatemala, about 25 miles west of Guatemala City.

“It’s near to Antigua, but not in the hustle and bustle of the commercial places,” said Glenn Wilson, an agent with Century 21 Antigua Great Households, which has the listing. The 39-home improvement is laid out as “a large sq., and in the middle of the sq. there’s a park with benches, gardens.” From many areas on the grounds, he explained, residents can eye the dormant Agua volcano.

Designed circa 2010, the 1,991-sq.-foot cinder-block household is accessed as a result of its one-auto garage. Mr. Wilson reported that often in gated communities in Antigua, the garage is not applied for autos, which are parked just outside the house as a substitute. These repurposed garages produce excess house for storage, or for a relatives or sitting down place or, in some others conditions, a bed room. “I’ve observed all types of takes advantage of for it,” he explained.

“Because it is a corner property, there is a good deal of windows,” Mr. Wilson stated, “so you have pleasant, purely natural mild coming in.” The excellent room’s handmade hearth, with a significant wraparound wood mantel, is “more than enough” to heat the residence in the winter season, he reported, and air-conditioning is needless offered the region’s moderate weather. The residence conforms to present day earthquake-security constructing codes.

A bed room close to the entrance has an en suite rest room. From the residing space, ornately tiled steps ascend to the main bed room, which is lofted. With a walk-in closet, an en suite tub and entry to a modest private terrace, the bed room is a sanctuary irrespective of getting partly open to the ground-ground room underneath.

The city of Antigua, with about 50,000 citizens, is renowned for its colonial architecture and spiritual monuments, most notably the 17th-century Santa Catalina Arch, as perfectly for the volcanoes on its horizon. Dining establishments and browsing are within just walking distance from this home, though Antigua’s Central Park is a 30-minute stroll or a 10-minute push. Guatemala City and La Aurora International Airport are 25 miles east, although the push can take about an hour.

Guatemala does not have a centralized multiple listing company, earning it tough to keep track of selling price traits, brokers mentioned. Mr. Wilson reported that demand for homes in Antigua — a tourist and retirement destination for Guatemalans and foreigners alike — picked up very last 12 months, fueled largely by buyers capable to get the job done remotely.

“‘How’s the internet?’ That would seem to be the major concern. ‘Is it potent ample for me to do the job?’ And it is,” Mr. Wilson stated. As a end result, he has located the authentic estate sector in early 2022 to be “more active” than it is been in years, estimating that rates are 10 to 15 p.c bigger than they have been prior to the pandemic.

Not each individual area broker is looking at the same trends. Rolando León, the general supervisor of Nova Antigua Actual Estate, characterised Antigua as a buyers’ marketplace, with weakened demand from customers and plentiful offer owing to marketplace uncertainty.

“Nobody is striving to make life span decisions like investing $500,000 if they really do not know what is heading to come about with the economic climate and the pandemic,” Mr. León stated. With much less potential buyers currently on the hunt, sellers have come to be “more flexible” on selling prices, he claimed, though general sales activity has held steady.

Pedro Ramírez Fait, the president of Guatemala’s Chamber of Real Estate Brokers, stated the country’s housing industry carried out really perfectly in 2021, and specially in the final six months. Immediately after a momentary slowdown in revenue simply because of pandemic-associated constraints and lockdowns, the current market picked up with the exact vigor as before the pandemic, he claimed. (Guatemala’s federal government is currently demanding proof of vaccination and a new unfavorable Covid-19 check for entry into the nation.)

Guatemala’s economic recovery due to the fact the pandemic, like its projected 5.1 per cent GDP growth in 2021 and the balance of the Guatemalan quetzal with regard to the greenback, provides “confidence and hope” to traders, Mr. Ramírez Fait explained.

Although Guatemala has long struggled with violent criminal offense, notably in Guatemala City, and political corruption — including allegations of bribery facing its present-day president — Mr. Ramírez Fait mentioned the perception of Guatemala as unsafe is perpetuated by the media. “It’s various from the actuality,” he claimed. “People arrive to Guatemala and they have no protection issues,” he stated, incorporating that the nation has labored for many years to boost its basic safety.

Prices in Antigua are larger in the city middle and reduced on the periphery. Mr. Wilson claimed a centrally situated 3-bed room residence could possibly expense $300,000 to $600,000, based on excellent and area. Most customers want to spend a lot less than $500,000.

At the large conclude of the sector is an unique gated group in the metropolis centre, Jacarandas de Antigua, in which 4,800-square-foot plenty sell for an average of $550,000 and home rates average $1 million. A next section, with a lot to be priced at a lot less than $260,000, is underway, Mr. León said.

Mr. Wilson and Mr. León claimed purchasers who are priced out of the heart are progressively wanting to its southern suburbs. “Most of the large espresso plantations are positioned there, and ultimately these are sold for new real estate developments,” Mr. León mentioned. “The cost of land is expanding so fast that espresso growers are likely to market for superior cash in order to obtain extra land out of the metropolitan areas.”

The the greater part of buyers in Antigua are second-property purchasers or retirees from other pieces of the place, Mr. Wilson mentioned.

Global prospective buyers ordinarily arrive from the United States (many have a immediate tie to Guatemala), followed by Europe (significantly Spain) and Canada.

“We’re observing a bit of a miniboom ideal now from people today that went to the U.S. when they had been youthful, have been productive, and now they’re arranging their retirement,” Mr. Wilson mentioned.

Mr. León stated about 60 p.c of purchasers in Antigua are Guatemalan and the rest are overseas. The mix was “different a couple yrs ago, when foreigners were being getting most of the homes,” he additional. “One of the most important reasons for this is that regional banking companies supply a lot less constraints to Guatemalans, as opposed to foreigners, who commonly stop up having to pay money.”

Foreigners are not limited from purchasing real estate in Guatemala, Mr. Ramírez Fait stated, nevertheless they cannot very own residence following to bodies of h2o, these as seas or lakes.

Mr. Wilson stated that for the reason that the sector is unregulated, and agents are not licensed, it’s significant for purchasers to employ the service of an moral agent with at least 5 years’ knowledge. He advised vetting agents with a few concerns: “How long have you been in enterprise? How lots of residences have you sold? What’s your working experience?”

Purchasers frequently hire an legal professional, whose costs are generally between $1,000 and $2,000, Mr. León claimed. The invest in tax, paid out by the purchaser, is involving 3 and 12 p.c of the property’s registration benefit, relying on irrespective of whether the property is new or secondhand.

Spanish Guatemalan quetzal (1 quetzal = $.13)

In 2021, the annual home tax on this home was approximately $200, and it will raise for a new proprietor, Mr. Wilson claimed. The every month rental cost of all-around $150 (1,200 Guatemalan quetzales) contains safety, landscaping, lighting and servicing of frequent parts.

Glenn Wilson, Century 21 Antigua Fantastic Households, 1-888-445-2170 antiguafinehomes.com

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House Hunting in Greece: Seaside Splendor on Tinos Isle for .8 Million

House Hunting in Greece: Seaside Splendor on Tinos Isle for $1.8 Million

by Real Estate News

This five-bedroom property sits on a hillside in Ktikados, a village near the southern coast of the Greek island of Tinos, in the Aegean Sea. Built in 2006 of local stone, the property has a main house with two bedrooms, plus two small guesthouses separated by a garden with olive and fruit trees, on just under half an acre.

Tinos, about 75 square miles in size, is bigger but much quieter than neighboring Mykonos, the popular tourist destination known for its party atmosphere, said George Kasimis, the head of Aegean sales at Greece Sotheby’s International Realty, which has the listing.

“Tinos is one of my favorite islands,” he said. “The whole island has a sophistication that’s developed over the years around culture and religion.”

Most homes on the island are owned by Greeks, and the architecture tends to reflect its long tradition of stone craftsmanship, he said.

This home’s main entrance opens into a spacious foyer with double-height ceilings. An archway to the right frames the dining area, which has a lounging nook at one end. The living room is a few steps down to the left. The walls, all exposed stone, are lined with arched windows. The floors are ceramic tile.

A large contemporary kitchen with sleek gray cabinetry is off the dining room. An adjoining prep kitchen has a pantry and a bedroom for staff above.

A wide wooden staircase in the foyer leads to an open mezzanine, currently set up as an office. The two upper-level bedrooms each have an en suite bath, a large private balcony and sea views to the south.

A small corridor next to the kitchen leads to a stone grotto covering a portion of the outdoor swimming pool. An opening in the grotto allows access to the rest of the pool, which is surrounded by stone arcades that provide shade from the sun. The pool area has a shower, a built-in barbecue and a traditional stone oven.

Behind the main house is a smaller two-story building with a sitting room, kitchenette, bedroom and bath on the ground floor, and a second bedroom and bath above. The garden area is behind this house, and at the far end is a barbecue/dining area and the second guesthouse, this one with a single bedroom and bath.

The property has a one-car garage and three outdoor parking spaces.

The village of Ktikados has two authentic Greek taverns and some small markets, Mr. Kasimis said. Other necessities can be found in the town of Tinos, about a 15-minute drive. Mykonos Airport, the closest international airport, is accessible via a ferry ride from Tinos that takes 20 to 30 minutes.

Tinos island, with fewer than 10,000 residents, is a pilgrimage site for the religious faithful visiting the Holy Church of Panagia Evangelistria, a 19th-century Greek Orthodox Church built in honor of the Virgin Mary. It was one of the first large structures built by the government after Greece declared its independence from the Ottoman Empire.

“People crawl from the port to the church, if they are very religious, and there they light a candle as high as their height,” Mr. Kasimis said. “It’s a very important site for Tinos.”

After 10 years of deep recession and staggering debt, Greece is now rapidly recovering, with both the economy and real estate market showing signs of renewed strength.

“All the macroeconomic figures are getting better and better,” said Antonis Markopoulos, co-founder and chief executive of Prosperty, a real estate start-up that uses a digital platform designed to make transactions faster and more transparent. “And after not spending during the pandemic lockdown, people are seeking to put their money into a safe investment like real estate.”

Mr. Kasimis said 2021 was the best year yet for Greece Sotheby’s, which has been operating since 2016. “We made four or five times more sales in 2020 than 2019, and this year is even better,” he said. “People are buying like there’s no tomorrow.”

The pandemic lockdown created positive momentum in the market, as people began looking to real estate as a safer investment than currencies or commodities, agents said. Mr. Markopoulos said that apartments in the center of Athens, Greece’s capital and financial center, are in particularly high demand among local buyers, as well as from international investors.

“There is massive demand for short-term rentals, so the yield investors can get is extremely high,” he said.

Depending on the neighborhood, apartment prices in the city center range from 1,500 to 3,500 euros a square meter ($158 to $368 a square foot), he said.

The suburbs to the south of the capital are also drawing considerable interest from international buyers, in part because of a massive resort development planned for the site of the former Ellinikon International Airport, he said.

The strengthening demand for housing is reflected in rising prices. As of the third quarter of this year, apartment prices countrywide were up 7.9 percent over last year, according to data from the Bank of Greece. In Athens, prices were up 9.8 percent.

Wealthy Greeks who have lately prospered from the shipping industry are helping to move the high end of the market, said Yannis Ploumis, the general manager of Ploumis Sotiropoulos Real Estate, an affiliate of Christie’s International. Sales have been strong on the islands of Mykonos and Porto Heli, where his agency sold a $27 million estate last month, among the highest prices ever recorded there.

On Tinos, which also has a large Catholic community, “the strong religious aspect has prevented the island from becoming a party island,” Mr. Kasimis said. While sellers are mainly Greek, buyers these days are largely foreign, and the island is becoming “a quiet suburb of Mykonos,” he said.

The U.S. Department of State has issued a travel advisory warning against travel to Greece because of a recent surge in Covid levels. Travelers to Greece must show proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test upon arrival. Proof of vaccination is also required for entry to most businesses and public services.

Greece has long been popular with foreign buyers, most of whom come from within the European Union, agents said.

But Mr. Ploumis said his agency is also working with buyers from the Middle East, Turkey, Britain and the United States.

There are no restrictions on foreign buyers in Greece, aside from certain border areas where government approval is required, Mr. Ploumis said.

Residency permits are available to buyers from outside the European Union through the government’s Golden Visa program, which requires an investment of at least 250,000 euros ($283,000) in a property. The permit may be renewed every five years for as long as the buyers own the property. Permits are also available to foreigners who make a minimum 400,000 euro ($452,000) financial investment in Greece.

So far this year, the government has issued more than 9,300 residence permits, up from 8,575 last year, with most of those going to investors from China, Turkey and Russia, according to Enterprise Greece, the country’s official trade promotion agency.

Buyers should always hire a lawyer to perform proper due diligence, Mr. Ploumis said.

Greek; euro (1 euro = $1.13)

Buyers pay a transfer tax of 3 percent of the purchase price. Legal fees are around 1 percent, and notary fees are about 0.25 percent, Mr. Ploumis said.

The agent’s commission is split between buyer and seller, with each typically paying 2 percent of the sale price, he said.

The annual property taxes on this home are less than $1,000, Mr. Kasimis said.

George Kasimis, Greece Sotheby’s International Realty, 011-30-6973-555-350; sothebysrealty.gr

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