Regency Beach Pictures Update

[neil]

Thanks Lyndsay, this helps to confirm the value of the location. I still feel we need to try and get some movement on the area given over to communal area for 57 m2 units. Also the junior suites were replacements for the original 1 bed units. When they were 1 bed the partition walls were in with the price. By changing the name they have imposed a hefty surcharge! In total someone buying a 1 bed conversion 57 m2 unit will pay approx. £4500 for area not directly part of their unit plus the £1500 for the walls making £6100 unnecessarily or almost 20%!
It would be nice to know if the developers (Andy) recognise this and would be prepared to do something. The economic climate has changed drastically in the past 2 months and back home the credit crunch and property down turn will affect many potential investors. I can see many people pulling out if there is any reason to do so where as previously people may have been a bit more pro risk.
I'm sure like me, many of you are now been bombarded with e-mails and calls from developers/ agents trying to shift units in various developments before money "dries up". Many good offers are now being made, especially for multiple purchases.
Neil

Originally Posted by lyndsay552

Hi Linda,

I wavered a bit but when you look at what else is available for the price that I paid, I'm more than happy.

I really liked the design of the junior suite conversion, with all the curved walls.

HI Neil, Yes i'm not long back. I didn't visit the site of Regency Beach this time but I did visit it in January and it is truely amazing. I asked Andy about the delay with the contracts and he told me that he was hoping to fly to the UK soon to finalise the contracts and he hoped to have them sent out by the end of May.

One thing I will say is that I visited a different beach front development and it made me realise how amazing beach front can be and it made me stick with Regency Beach.

I hope this helps

Lyndsay

[paule]

I wrote about that already, but just in case: having communal area in apartment price is "normal". Having 15% of it is also "normal". Just understand that it's not me or you buying an apartment, it's all us buying an entire building! It will be the same picture in any other development, just details would differ. Having it otherwise would be an exception, nothing else. I personally wouldn't worry about *that* aspect too much, there're other more important aspects, IMHO. But YMMV.

As for kitchen on the balcony - you're welcome, just please be considerate of other people who live by! And as for bedroom - that's rather sane idea, just hang curtains there, voila.


Anyway, if there're unhappy Junior Suite owners, we'd sufficiently seriously consider exchanging a studio we took because nothing better was left. "Sufficiently seriously" would mean not before we visit site and look at the authoritative plans, of course.

many of you are now been bombarded with e-mails and calls from developers/ agents

Umm, I am not - it's always nice to have insider info, though ;-).

[neil]

Hi Paul
Thanks for comments. I'm not familiar with "communal area" losses as they were not mentioned by the agent or PHW in their glossy sales bit, wonder why! As for the percentage, why is it not around7% for all units as with the studios or do you think this is ok?
I reckon you'll be in luck if you keep checking the availability lists for units because I'm fairly confident some units will definitely not be taken up and will be returned.
Thanks, Neil

.

Originally Posted by paule

I wrote about that already, but just in case: having communal area in apartment price is "normal". Having 15% of it is also "normal". Just understand that it's not me or you buying an apartment, it's all us buying an entire building! It will be the same picture in any other development, just details would differ. Having it otherwise would be an exception, nothing else. I personally wouldn't worry about *that* aspect too much, there're other more important aspects, IMHO. But YMMV.

As for kitchen on the balcony - you're welcome, just please be considerate of other people who live by! And as for bedroom - that's rather sane idea, just hang curtains there, voila.


Anyway, if there're unhappy Junior Suite owners, we'd sufficiently seriously consider exchanging a studio we took because nothing better was left. "Sufficiently seriously" would mean not before we visit site and look at the authoritative plans, of course.



Umm, I am not - it's always nice to have insider info, though ;-).

[paule]

Well, I'm just telling from my experience of dealing with properties abroad in Bulgaria and Turkey (I mean "vacational" type of property of course). There it's also common practice to include communal areas into price of apartments, and no, it's not the first thing which come up during information exchange and initial negotiation on specific property, usually it come up only when seeing detailed building plans on spot (vs schematic marketing plans seen earlier).

All in all, I've grown to take it for granted, and the reason for that is not that they want to hide information, it's just that they look at it from their perspective - they build entire building complexes, not just inside of apartments. If you'd buy a separate house, you wouldn't be surprised that you pay for all corridors, entrances and undergrounds? Well, the same is in "apartmented" complexes, except that the cost of such areas is shared among the owners, and they are of common use generally.

Yes, they could provide explicit info in advance on the actual living area of an apartment; it's just the matter of fact that in many places, the developers of "vacational" property just don't do that.

Finally, about amount included: it would be common sense that communal areas are shared equally among the owners proportinal to actual living area, i.e. the percentage to be the same. So, if this is not the case, there must be some reason for that. Just as an abstract example, some apartment might have longer and more "dedicated" corridor near to them. That could be a reason for including bigger communal area to that apartment. While communal, you could make some use of it, for example, put footware stand or even locker, or just enjoy more calm surroundings comparing to common passway. Or it can be as "simple" as developer considering some apartment designs to offer better value for their area amount than the other, and they consider it to be fair to "compensate" it with bigger communal area.

The last point (while still being abstract example), is always important: it was told by other people many times on this forum, now let me reiterate it: you buy not just square meters, but a specific apartment, with specific area, but also design, location within complex, with complex location in surroundings, etc. So, knowing exact area is of course important, but there're other factors too.

Well, sorry for the long reply - I tried to be comprehensive in uttering out my experience and what conclusions I made out of it. Again, it's general thoughts, applying not just to Regency Beach, but expectably applicable to other property too. Your mileage may vary.

Finally - I consider this forum to be great source of info and sharing know and experience with other owners, but decisions would rather be made on specific and authoritative information coming from the developer.

[Lsab]

Don't apologise for the long reply Paule. It made very interesting reading. Thank you.

I do think it unfair that there is such a large discrepancy percentage wise, especially between a studio and the so called 'junior suite', which is really just a large studio now. I feel the same percentage should apply to all - even 2 bedroom apartments. Everyone will have equal use of the pools, gardens shops etc and a bit of extra corridor - if indeed that is the case - is not worth the amount we're paying.

Having said all that, I still like Regency Beach and will carry on with the purchase. In the end it's for investment, not for our own use, and it's design and location are excellent. Still rather disappointed that it's not what we set out to buy.

[coco]

Originally Posted by Lsab

Don't apologise for the long reply Paule. It made very interesting reading. Thank you.

I do think it unfair that there is such a large discrepancy percentage wise, especially between a studio and the so called 'junior suite', which is really just a large studio now. I feel the same percentage should apply to all - even 2 bedroom apartments. Everyone will have equal use of the pools, gardens shops etc and a bit of extra corridor - if indeed that is the case - is not worth the amount we're paying.

Having said all that, I still like Regency Beach and will carry on with the purchase. In the end it's for investment, not for our own use, and it's design and location are excellent. Still rather disappointed that it's not what we set out to buy.

Hi we are purchasing in regency beach too, and have looked for an update on the developement from my agent but have not gotten a reply yet. Can you please tell me why you are disapointed? I am so confused now with it all we set out to buy and were told our junior suite would be 57m2 i didnt realise there was a smaller one i thought that was the smallest and then you had your 1 bed/2 bed etc. i really dont know what we have bought now as i thought we were buying the cheapest unit available. Please if you have the time can you please give me a quick update on what the hell is going on, i dont know about anyone else but i'm not very impressed with PHWW so far as we have gotten very little detail from them in fact the only emails i ever received was to know did we want to add a wall and a bolted safe, we were told the official launch was february its now June and still no contracts, anyone else a bit Peed off?? has put doubt in my mind and am considering pulling out.

[Lsab]

Originally the junior suite was a small 1 bedroom apartment - it's now a larger studio for which we'll have to pay extra to convert to a 1 bed, as you know. There are also studios which are much cheaper than the junior but I don't know if there are any left.

Like you, I never get replies to my emails but having phoned (from Bahrain) a few weeks ago about a different matter, Bernadett in the office was really helpful. I think they're swamped with work at the moment which I know is no excuse to ignore emails altogether.

Unlike some, we borrowed for our first installment, so the premise that at least our money is gaining interest while we wait for contracts, doesn't apply to us. If we'd have known it was going to take this long we would have waited to take out the loan.

Having said that, it seems that investing in property overseas, especially off plan, isn't always straightforward so I'm trying not to let it get to me.

(Have a look at #165 on this thread too - who is your agent by the way?)

[neil]

Hi Paule
Thanks for your note few days ago. I agree with you one is not only buying sq m but location etc.., hence we are all paying premium here rather then buying at other developments away from beach which are much cheaper. If a unit is being sold per sq m then naturally one prices and thinks accordingly in terms of costs. If units were a set price without ref. to size then attitude would be different, as in UK. In UK one doesn't have separate communal area included in pricing structure so maybe difference of method.
In terms of how much communal area is included, this does not equate well. I'm assuming you've seen macro layout and will know that studios, juniour's and 2 beds sit side by side. Thus "use" of communal area is no different. More likely that developer feels those buying larger units will be more likely to pay larger more disproportionate amount for communal.This adds to my belief that PHW are using the RyanAir formula, a very profitable one!
I've actually chosen Regency after trawling through many other developments and basing my decision on mainly location but also reputation, marketing info and general "feel" for project. Thus it is more disappointing when what one is expecting changes so much.
I agree this is a great forum ofr gaining info, although I would temper that with something I think most know and that is we still have to do plenty of independant research. It would be nice if the developers, PHW, did come on and explain things so that we have it from "the horse's mouth". Although reading some of the posts, they probably feel people are already doing this for them.
Neil

Coco

Don't know if you sorted unit sizes, studios are 46 sqm and the larger studios are 57 sqm.

Originally Posted by paule

Well, I'm just telling from my experience of dealing with properties abroad in Bulgaria and Turkey (I mean "vacational" type of property of course). There it's also common practice to include communal areas into price of apartments, and no, it's not the first thing which come up during information exchange and initial negotiation on specific property, usually it come up only when seeing detailed building plans on spot (vs schematic marketing plans seen earlier).

All in all, I've grown to take it for granted, and the reason for that is not that they want to hide information, it's just that they look at it from their perspective - they build entire building complexes, not just inside of apartments. If you'd buy a separate house, you wouldn't be surprised that you pay for all corridors, entrances and undergrounds? Well, the same is in "apartmented" complexes, except that the cost of such areas is shared among the owners, and they are of common use generally.

Yes, they could provide explicit info in advance on the actual living area of an apartment; it's just the matter of fact that in many places, the developers of "vacational" property just don't do that.

Finally, about amount included: it would be common sense that communal areas are shared equally among the owners proportinal to actual living area, i.e. the percentage to be the same. So, if this is not the case, there must be some reason for that. Just as an abstract example, some apartment might have longer and more "dedicated" corridor near to them. That could be a reason for including bigger communal area to that apartment. While communal, you could make some use of it, for example, put footware stand or even locker, or just enjoy more calm surroundings comparing to common passway. Or it can be as "simple" as developer considering some apartment designs to offer better value for their area amount than the other, and they consider it to be fair to "compensate" it with bigger communal area.

The last point (while still being abstract example), is always important: it was told by other people many times on this forum, now let me reiterate it: you buy not just square meters, but a specific apartment, with specific area, but also design, location within complex, with complex location in surroundings, etc. So, knowing exact area is of course important, but there're other factors too.

Well, sorry for the long reply - I tried to be comprehensive in uttering out my experience and what conclusions I made out of it. Again, it's general thoughts, applying not just to Regency Beach, but expectably applicable to other property too. Your mileage may vary.

Finally - I consider this forum to be great source of info and sharing know and experience with other owners, but decisions would rather be made on specific and authoritative information coming from the developer.

[Lsab]

My sentiments exactly Neil.

[paule]

Yes, I saw overall building plans and know that studios are just side by side with juniors and 2-bedrooms, so exactly why I said that was abstract example, along the line of "Assuming that developer and development is good, how it may happen there're some quirks?". Unfortunately, construction is too complex an area and process, so it's hard to be completely satisfied with every detail. Again, thinking about it on global scale ("my dream apartment") might be a good protection against disappointment ;-).

As people share their concerns, I'd like to share mine biggest too: we knew we buy off plan, but we also had no idea that it would *so* off plan. So, last date we were quoted was end of May, right? Well, it's 1st of June now ;-\. And well, I'd like to say again that without the forum such situation would be unbearable. But at least getting some info from other buyers, who talk with or even visit the developer helps to track the matter. But by all means, I can agree that developer's communication could be much improved.