DEC 2012/JAN 2013 |www.opp-connect.com owners.


Not only will this catch the eye of sporting people, but it will give you a fi rm relationship with local business owners – an advantage not to be underestimated.


TWINKS Facilities for TWINKS should appeal, again, to the idea of luxury. Think about restaurants in the resort or local town. Which of these should be pointed out to your customers? Try to focus on facilities designed especially for adults, underlining the peace and quiet this will provide.


Spas and similar facilities will also appeal to this group – and look smart in any visual advertising. Additional features such as the availability of private catering and housekeeping will further underline the serenity (read: lack of effort) that comes with such a property.


If your property is in an area with museums, galleries or interesting landmarks, integrate this into your advertising to build a fuller picture of sophistication.


Family Groups


Keeping the children amused will be of great importance to this group, so try to convey a sense of activity while appealing to the adults’ calmer sides. Crèches or activity groups for children will give parents some well-needed rest (mention some more grown-up orientated facilities alongside these). Nearby beaches or stretches of countryside can be cited as perfect areas for wholesome “family time”, as can restaurants that cater specifi cally to families. Try to focus a little on more reasonably priced facilities for this group – the addition of two or three hungry mouths and busy minds to cater for will be a worry price-wise for family groups.


Finance


Finance, for many buyers, is an essential part of a real estate package. While lifestyle products aren’t being sold specifi cally for investment, buyers will fi nd any return desirable, even if it’s just an afterthought. Of course, the obvious source


of fi nance – in mortgage – is not as simple to obtain as it used to be. If you’re lucky enough to be offering a product where mortgage fi nance is still freely available and at reasonable rates it makes sense to shout about it and, if possible, to present the buyer with a package comprising pre- approved mortgage fi nance for suitable applicants. Such packages should always be optional. In other words, the buyer should understand that they will be able to take any fi nance of their choice or no fi nance at all. If the mortgage position where you operate is more tricky, there are


Life of luxury | Lifestyle products are all about changing a buyer’s life for the better – fi nd out what they want


still some fi nance solutions that can be made available if you apply a bit of lateral thinking. For example, the developer might – reluctantly – be prepared to accept deferred payment as part of the price and earn some interest on the amount outstanding or there are a number of third party investors prepared to provide mortgage fi nance on residential properties provided that they can obtain a fi rst legal charge over the property and offer no more than about 50% loan-to-value. Such fi nance tends to be a little more expensive than regular mortgage fi nance but it can still help close a sale.


Another way of reducing the immediate cost of ownership is to


“Keeping the children amused will be of great importance to family groups”


buy only a part of the property. This is an entirely rational way of owning a holiday home. After all, the buyer will only be there for a part of the year and only owning a part of the property means they don’t have to worry about letting it for the rest of the time. It is also far better, socially, for the community to have properties that are occupied year-round and not just for a few weeks in high season. It has taken time for the idea of shared ownership to take off but there are now signs that it is better understood and more acceptable – provided that the acquisition cost is not unduly infl ated and the ongoing costs of operating the arrangement are modest and under the owner’s control.


Shared revenue ownership This is not shared or fractional ownership and it does not help fi nding the initial purchase price, but it does give some comfort that there will be revenue available to pay the cost of any mortgage.


Many purchasers of lifestyle property


will want to rent it out when they’re not using it. One way of fi nancing this is through shared revenue ownership – usually, the developer will take care of management and maintenance, while sharing the rental income. This can last for the duration of ownership, or come as a limited-time package (say, fi ve years’ management and maintenance before the buyer takes over completely). Buyers are, today, averse to risk and so these arrangements can help close sales. However, to be effective, the rental guarantees need to be credible. One of the key requirements for credibility is that the entity giving the guarantee should have the capacity to pay if things do not go according to plan.


Fractional


Fractional ownership will appeal to middle-income buyers wanting a slice of luxury without completely breaking the bank. Generally, unrelated buyers share the ownership of the property, agreeing on when they will use it. To make this appeal, stress the fact that you do all the work organising the various parties. Make it as low-effort as possible for your client, soothing any fears they may have of ‘sharing’ with strangers.


Other forms of joint ownership The word fractional is still off-putting to some people – redolent of the worst features of timeshare. While this may be unfair, if your research tells you that it’s a factor in your marketplace you may want to market such shared ownership on a different basis – though, legally, it is still likely to be classifi ed as a fractional ownership and regulated accordingly.


Flipping Lawyers


As a sub-editor I’m duty-bound to be a kill joy, so I vetoed the stronger language suggested by my colleagues – but the sentiment’s still there. The legal aspects of any real estate project are tricky and time-consuming… but oh-so


important. Forming a partnership with a local lawyer is a very good idea, both for the clients’ convenience and your own understanding of the local property laws. However, no matter how deep your understanding becomes, please refrain from giving legal advice yourself! One slip-up and you’re liable for all sorts of unpleasant things. I’m going to take my own advice on this one – for further details I’ll pass you along to John Howell, who spent many years specialising in international property law:


There are two main reasons why you will need to take into account the concerns of lawyers. The fi rst is that, increasingly, there are legal restrictions on how you can sell your property and what paperwork needs to be provided to the buyers. This is particularly so if you’re selling property with an associated rental program or as a fractional ownership. If you fail to get the paperwork right then the contracts are likely to be null and void, the buyer is likely to be entitled to his money back and all of your hard work will have been to no avail. The second is that most buyers will have heard the horror stories about what can go wrong when buying property abroad and may well know people who have experienced problems. They are, therefore, increasingly cautious when buying and they are now much more likely to use a lawyer than they were in the past. It is therefore prudent – and it will save you a lot of time – if you make sure that your contracts are clear and fair and that you supply the buyers with all of the information that they or their lawyers are likely to ask for. For example, proof of title and proof that the project has a building license.


The more special facilities you have packaged into the offering for the leisure buyer – for example, the use of leisure facilities, golfi ng rights, rental schemes etc – the more you will need to make sure that your paperwork adequately grants these rights to the buyer.


FEATURE


PACKAGING | 53


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76