Great Investment Opportunity

I have been looking for a summer villa for almost two years and I had almost given up because the market prices were falling and I was afraid to buy. Having spoken to a lot of people about this (both in the states and in Europe were I travel a lot for work) I found that the Greek islands and in particular the Ionian islands have not had a decrease in prices. And why was this? Because prices were low to begin with and they did not balloon to the rates of other countries such as Spain. In addition, I was thinking about Turkey which is even cheaper but its not as safe as its not in the EU and a muslim country. Looking at the Ionian Islands, Kefalonia and Corfu were already developed and very expensive. However I found that the Islands of Lefkada (Lefkas) was not expensive and it had a number of advantages. Firstly, it is connected to the mainland through a brigde so that there is no need to take a ferry to go anywere on the mainland. Secondly, it has tthe international airport of Aktio 45 minutes away and thirdly and most importantly, there is a very developed market of Villa rentals.



This third factor meant that I could purchase a Villa and pay off my mortgage with the revenue from renting. I calculated that in 5 years I could have paid off all my mortgage and start earning money. From research I did, I calculated that the total revenue for a villa with a pool per year would be from 30 to 40 K after tax and expenses. This means that a villa of 100 sq. meters with a pool near the seafront which in general costs 300K will be paid for in 5 years if you put up front 100K. And from there on, you have an income of 40K to 50K a year after tax (since I calculate that these properties will increase in value as there will be less and less as years go by. In addition, you are left with a villa which in 5 years from now will cost 500K. Not bad at all.



Having checked out the lefkada market, I found this company, www.cratusestates.com which builds villas with high quality materials (they used to build luxury villas in suburbs of Athens) and they gave me the option to pay less for the villa if I bought before construction. I was skeptical at first since I did not know what they built but the contract was very specific with materials and quality of construction and they gave me an almost 20% discount. I have bought one villa from them and its in the process of being built. If you are interested to have more details about this at nicos77@gmail.com



I am very excited about the prospects and you can never go wrong with buying land and summer homes at an underdeveloped area. I predict that Greece will become the Florida of Europe and prices of land and buildings outside Athens will skyrocket as more Europeans discover it.