Let's face it, wherever you are, dream properties can sometimes turn out to be a nightmare, and whether you are gay or straight, property on Crete, Greece, can turn out to be the same.
I think it does no harm to be flexible in your approach, but when buying property abroad you will find that you have to change your ideals to suit the type of property much of which is built to suit local conditions and styles.
So what type of property are we looking for? Well again we can break this down into sub headings as follows....
- A block of land
- A ruin for the DIY enthusiast
- A finished house
- A new build finished house
I know the last two look the same but I will explain the difference as we go along. We are really talking order of difficulty here, starting with the hardest and working through to the easiest.
Blocks of land are quite readily available on Crete. You will see signs by the side of the road advertising them, the various agents have them for sale, or if you have visited an area several times (and I hope you have done so as part of your research), then you can ask around among the people you have got to know. In fact you wouldn't be the first person to stand on a chair in a local kafenio and ask the assembled company if anyone knows of land for sale.
Pieces of land can be bought as an investment (but note my comments about your resale market in Part 1), or to build on. If you are just going to sit on the land and do nothing then fine, but if you intend to build then you will need to make sure that you will be able to build i.e. get the necessary permission and licences. There are rules about how much land you must have before you can build, and how many square metres you can build, these are designed to keep housing density down and preserve the character of the area. But naturally you must check these details before you buy as you might find that you can actually only build a very small house, or even worse not build at all!
You must make it clear that you intend to build when speaking with your lawyer so that he can investigate with the local town hall whether development is possible and what form this must take. Gaining the necessary permissions and licences can take time, and you will almost certainly need to have a local site agent to deal with the paperwork, hire and fire workers, liaise with your architect (many of whom will act as your site agent as well!), and ensure that taxes and 'IKA' payments are made. If you are any distance from 'services' you will also have to pay the costs for getting the services to your property and it is not unusual to have to wait weeks or even months to get, for instance, electricity, connected.
In the case of electricity the power company will often provide what is called 'builder's electricity' which is charged at a different, higher, rate. Your final (or any) connection will not be made until you produce the paperwork to prove that all the 'IKA' (social security) payments have been made for all the workers involved!
Building costs can vary according to the type of construction you intend to use and the overall 'quality and standard' of finish. E.g. Ceramic tiles on the floors or marble! Expect to pay around €1500 per square metre to build!
Ruined buildings are a common form of purchase and appeal to those who want a genuinely old traditional property and prepared to put in some work themselves as well as employing others to restore it. It helps here if you already know a builder that can view the property with you as sometimes these ruins are best left as they are, ruins, because there is nothing left to save and you may as well knock it down and start again.
Some features are considered very desirable in old properties so if there are one or more arches still existing, or there is the remains of an old olive or wine press, or an old fireplace you will have to pay more. Even the existence of an established vine or two can increase the price.
There are some advantages to purchasing a ruin, as you will have plenty of opportunity to stamp your own personality on it (provided again that you can get permission to enlarge the building, although if it is within a village boundary you can do almost what you like), but you will not have to worry about getting electricity and water to the property as it will probably be there already. The presence of water and electricity meters is a good sign here!
If you intend to renovate the property yourself please be aware that we don't have B and Q, or Wickes in Greece.....This means that you cannot do a one stop shop for everything you need so you need to be really organised and not forget anything when you visit your nearest large town to go shopping for materials. For timber you must go to one place, for cement another, for tiles another and so on! You will also find that at times it is difficult to get things delivered, make sure that you have an adequate map to guide delivery drivers and that you also know a suitable meeting point such as the nearest kiosk or church so that the driver can follow you from there. Some places will actually insist that meet the driver at the depot so he can follow you all the way!
Finished houses are available in most areas. These are usually older properties, many of which are habitable immediately and are family properties belonging to Greeks, that they no longer need. They will of course be Greek designed and as such are often completely different in concept from what you would expect in your own country. This type of property is very often the best to buy as they usually come complete with all the necessary permissions and paperwork and often only requires a bit of updating and refurbishment to produce either a home or a place to rent out. If you are thinking about future resale values as an investment then note that this type of property is often saleable to Greek buyers!
New Build finished houses are usually those built by developers or local builders 'on spec' with no specific buyers in mind. They do have advantages in that they will require very little extra work on your part beyond perhaps a bit of extra landscaping in the garden and if you buy them at the right stage you will be able to choose your own tiles, floors, and kitchen/bathroom fittings but do bear in mind that if you choose 'luxury' fittings then you may well have to pay more! You can also buy this type of property 'off plan'.
Of course choosing this course will mean that you will probably be buying in a development and will have close neighbours and that all of the houses will be virtually the same design, it is a good idea to tie the developer down to what he is planning to do with the rest of the vacant land if you are one of the first buyers in a development. Locally to me the first buyers in a development had a seaview, this was blocked out a few months later when the developer built another row of houses in front of them!
Again here you must consider the future of the property as most of these are designed by foreigners for foreigners which does limit your resale market.
Location, location, location.......You can buy land, build or buy a house anywhere you like, it is up to you! BUT if you intend to live in it, then you need to be aware of what the local services are like!
I have had several people staying with me, looking at property, and find their dream in a small resort on the south coast overlooking the Libyan Sea, a delightful spot during the summer, with one or two shops and a local taverna. What they do not understand is that during the winter these resorts are 'closed'! OK there may be one or two people resident all year round, but the shops are not open and neither is the taverna, and more often than not all you will have for company are a few goats and the goatherd, fine for those independent and self-sufficient folk, but you can find conversation a little limited! And do you really want to drive for two hours to the nearest large town to go shopping, particularly when it is pouring with rain or snowing in February?
We do get rain on Crete, and lots of it during the winter, so do pick your property carefully, that empty river bed beside you could well be a raging torrent during the winter!
And the more remote a property the less likely you are to be able to sell it at a later date. On the other hand Cretan villages can be very crowded places and within minutes of your moving in everyone will know your business!
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