01
d'Octubre
de
2015
Act.
01
d'Octubre
de
2015
Becoming the owner of a Catalan village has a price: 2 million euros. That is the cost of a 365-hectare abandoned village in the county of Bages, made up of 12 buildings, some of which are in ruins. The website of the Catalan company Aldeas Abandonadas details all of the characteristics, such as for example, that "all of the compound's buildings need renovation work to some extent, although structurally the large house, the workers' dwellings, the garage and the granaries are in good condition."
Elvira Fafián is in charge of managing this and other surprising abandoned properties in the interior of Catalonia: from a 16th-century castle in Alt Empordà with a negotiable price, via a rural complex in La Garriga valued at 1.5 million euros, to an abandoned village in El Querol, in Tarragona, for 280,000 euros. And there are more on the company's website, both in Catalonia as well as the Galician provinces and the Asturias region. However, the businesswoman explains that the most expensive properties are those located in Catalonia, as most of them are made up of groups of buildings. On the other hand, the most reasonably priced are those to be found in the north of Spain, from which many people have emigrated.
"There was a time when the cheapest properties where in Asturias and Galicia, holdings of two small houses for only 20,000 euros," says the head of this estate agents specialising in abandoned properties. "Perhaps we began with very low prices but they attracted quite a lot of interest: they were reasonable prices, which the buyers could meet in cash; and these sales were good for the owners because most of them were the result of inheritances that they were interested in getting rid of," she says.
"When we began it was difficult to sell these types of properties," says Fafián. The company had been in the investment sector since 1988, but nine years ago theyopted for the market in abandoned villages. Today, their website has some 88 properties, 18 of which are located in Catalonia. The rest are mainly spread throughout Galicia, with 36 on offer in Costa da Morte, Ortigueira, Ourense, etc. Moreover, their business also sells rural dwellings, pazos (traditional Galician constructions) as well as manor houses, wineries, estates and plots.
Private individuals and companies the main clients
"We do not go looking for these properties, as it is the client that lets us know, especially in Catalonia, where it is true that we do have a lot of villages and many clients," she says. One main type of client is a foreign person looking to get away from urban life and breathe the fresh air of the countryside every day. "Many of them want to make a change in their lives, return to country living and their origins."
At the same time, they do business with companies that have chosen a particular area to locate a factory or company headquarters. For instance, Elvira Fafián gives the example of members of a cooperative that have just acquired a village in Eslada, in Anoia, as a place to set up their company.
Paperwork and admin with local authorities
However, behind the purchasing of such as 'special' property is a mountain of red tape, as the head of the firm explains: "Managing the administration of a property takes us a long time, as sometimes properties have to be sold in parts because they cannot be sold as a single lot and that takes a lot of time," she continues.
"Moreover, we talk to local authoritiesto find out what services are available," she says. In other words, before selling, they ask the local authority which services it will provide. "Councils are interested in knowing what type of business it will be, if they are going to set up a company, whether it is someone with children, etc. They get heavily involved because they are also interested in people registering their residency and bringing wealth to the local area."
Though the company does not provide turnover figures for the business, the head of Aldeas Abandonadas confirms that there is a team of some 40 salespeople working all over Spain dealing with proposals and overseeing everything from the sale to helping the new tenants settle in. The thing is that not everyone wants the same thing: "It is quite difficult. Foreigners, our main potential clients along with Catalan business people, contact us through our website and we ask them what area they are interested in, when they want it, how much money they are prepared to pay… Perhaps the buyer knows Catalonia and is looking for something specific, to move in with his or her family, etc. It is here where the negotiations really start."
It is a business that breathes new life into a village and provides liquidity to the inheritor of that abandoned property that you have always noticed in the middle of the countryside.
Elvira Fafián is in charge of managing this and other surprising abandoned properties in the interior of Catalonia: from a 16th-century castle in Alt Empordà with a negotiable price, via a rural complex in La Garriga valued at 1.5 million euros, to an abandoned village in El Querol, in Tarragona, for 280,000 euros. And there are more on the company's website, both in Catalonia as well as the Galician provinces and the Asturias region. However, the businesswoman explains that the most expensive properties are those located in Catalonia, as most of them are made up of groups of buildings. On the other hand, the most reasonably priced are those to be found in the north of Spain, from which many people have emigrated.
"There was a time when the cheapest properties where in Asturias and Galicia, holdings of two small houses for only 20,000 euros," says the head of this estate agents specialising in abandoned properties. "Perhaps we began with very low prices but they attracted quite a lot of interest: they were reasonable prices, which the buyers could meet in cash; and these sales were good for the owners because most of them were the result of inheritances that they were interested in getting rid of," she says.
"When we began it was difficult to sell these types of properties," says Fafián. The company had been in the investment sector since 1988, but nine years ago theyopted for the market in abandoned villages. Today, their website has some 88 properties, 18 of which are located in Catalonia. The rest are mainly spread throughout Galicia, with 36 on offer in Costa da Morte, Ortigueira, Ourense, etc. Moreover, their business also sells rural dwellings, pazos (traditional Galician constructions) as well as manor houses, wineries, estates and plots.
Private individuals and companies the main clients
"We do not go looking for these properties, as it is the client that lets us know, especially in Catalonia, where it is true that we do have a lot of villages and many clients," she says. One main type of client is a foreign person looking to get away from urban life and breathe the fresh air of the countryside every day. "Many of them want to make a change in their lives, return to country living and their origins."
At the same time, they do business with companies that have chosen a particular area to locate a factory or company headquarters. For instance, Elvira Fafián gives the example of members of a cooperative that have just acquired a village in Eslada, in Anoia, as a place to set up their company.
Paperwork and admin with local authorities
However, behind the purchasing of such as 'special' property is a mountain of red tape, as the head of the firm explains: "Managing the administration of a property takes us a long time, as sometimes properties have to be sold in parts because they cannot be sold as a single lot and that takes a lot of time," she continues.
"Moreover, we talk to local authoritiesto find out what services are available," she says. In other words, before selling, they ask the local authority which services it will provide. "Councils are interested in knowing what type of business it will be, if they are going to set up a company, whether it is someone with children, etc. They get heavily involved because they are also interested in people registering their residency and bringing wealth to the local area."
Though the company does not provide turnover figures for the business, the head of Aldeas Abandonadas confirms that there is a team of some 40 salespeople working all over Spain dealing with proposals and overseeing everything from the sale to helping the new tenants settle in. The thing is that not everyone wants the same thing: "It is quite difficult. Foreigners, our main potential clients along with Catalan business people, contact us through our website and we ask them what area they are interested in, when they want it, how much money they are prepared to pay… Perhaps the buyer knows Catalonia and is looking for something specific, to move in with his or her family, etc. It is here where the negotiations really start."
It is a business that breathes new life into a village and provides liquidity to the inheritor of that abandoned property that you have always noticed in the middle of the countryside.