Water in Vila Verde

Well, as it is Christmas day I thought what better moment to annouce the news that we finaly have water on Vila Verde!

Electra assures us that you will now be able to sign up with them. As a test the site administration company went to set up a contract for the automatic watering system for the gardens and IT WORKS!!

So finally both water and power is available on site!

We do apologise for the small delay in getting this information out to you but the Sales Director was called away on urgent family business.

Have a great Christmas!

Tecnicil Imobiliaria

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all!

Final Payments with Moneycorp

Good evening everyone.

We have been asked by some clients who we work with when it comes to money transfers and making the final payment.

Over the last few months we have been workng with Moneycorp in the UK as they have clearly given a professional and superior service to our customers.

If you are now making arrangements for your final payments for the apartment then ll you need to do to open an account and get a special rate is follow the link here. Th good thing is that Moneycorp already have our account details and will guide you through the whole process AND save you money.

Here is their link.



If you have any further questions please contact us.

The chicken and the egg!

Well, in the quest for utilities on Vila Verde we have come up against a typical chicken and egg scenario.

As you know we were informed by Electra that the electricity was resolved. We launched some fireworks but, thankfully, had the foresight to announce "Almost There"!

Anyway, we went to the Electra office with a client's paperwork (Well, we sent Carlos to Electra's office) and were told we could not sign up for anything!

Hmm, back to square one?

It seems that Electra do not want to sign utility contracts just for power, they want to do the two together so we can't have power until we have water!

But that leads us to good news. The water installation was signed off long before the electrical one and Electra have informed us that they expect for the water to be connected this week (Week commencing December 7th).

If this is the case then we can send our expedition back to the offices next week and see if we can sign up the apartment in question.

We'll keep you posted!

Almost there!

Although Sunday, I think it important to let you all know that we have had the news we've all been waiting for: ELECTRA have signed the paperwork so now the electricity issue has been resolved!

Here is the communication we have received from our main Engineer

Autos assinados pela Electra quer dizer que, a partir daquela data (da assinatura) esta reconhece que a rede está em condições de uso para o serviço, tomou posse da mesma, passando a ser da sua exclusiva responsabilidade o fornecimento de electricidade a cada uma das unidades concluídas.

So what this mean, in English is:

The order has been signed by Electra which means that, from that date (The signing date) they (Electra) recognise that the network is fit for use, they take possession of it thus exclusive responsibility for the supply of electricity to each of the finished units passes to them.

So it really does appear that the "light" at the end of the tunnel can be switched on!

Updated photos on the Vila Verde Webalbum

Once again we have updated the photos. We have tried to make the most comprehensive photo report possible. If you want photos of other parts of the resort just let us know and we'll send our team (Well, Carlos anyway) out with his camera.

Have a great day!

http://picasaweb.google.com/VilaVerdeSantaMaria/November2009?feat=directlink

Vila Verde is becoming "Verde"

The first plants have been put into the grounds around Canna. In total there is something like two million Euros worth of plants that have been ordered for Vila Verde.

Now we will see our fantastic resort not only taking shape but gaining colour!

These first plants have gone into Canna (C04) and I am sure you will agree that they really give the resort an attractive finish. We will plant Canna and then move on to Sedum (C07) and so on, more or less in the order of the communities that have finished up to now.

We are sure you are as excited and proud as we are to see this and we would like to thank everyone on site for a great job.

We will post all of the photos on the Picasa Web Album that we have.

Furniture Update

We have been placing furniture in finished apartments, not necessarily always in apartments that have gone to deeds, and in many cases we have not proceeded to install the furniture as some owners have indicated they wish to have the snagging inspections finalised first.

However, just to keep you all updated. I have some figures on furniture in the first three communities.

In SEDUM (C07) Community we have now placed 28 packages. The installation of air conditioning in these units should be next.

In Aloe (C05) we have 9 packages (Bear in mind that there are only 28 apartments in Aloe)

In Canna (C04) we have 24 deliveries made.

If you have bought furniture and you are on one of these communities and would like to know if the furniture is in, please drop us a line on info@tecnicil.com

We will be placing more furniture as the days go by.

Have a great evening.

Electra and Tecnicil

Over the past few months you are surely aware that we have had our ups and downs when it comes to the power and water. Mainly downs, if we are to be honest.

The attitude we had was that it was best not to burden you with the constant and sometimes quite strange battles we had to try and get our resort connected to the national utility company.

However given the positive feedback we have had even with the sharing of not so positive informaiton I thought we would tell you where we are at the moment. Or at least, where We believe we are.

Electra did a follow up and final inspection on the resort. Here is in the communication we had:

Recepção Provisória ELECTRICIDADE pela Electra:
Em 21 Out.09 fez-se a vistoria final de Electricidade com a Electra.

No dia 23, o Engº Miranda (responsável Electra no Sal) enviou informação para a Electra (S. Vicente), sobre a vistoria, não havendo nada de relevante que obste à assinatura do Auto (informação colhida na vistoria).Os autos foram assinados pelos Empreiteiros, Fiscalização e Dono da Obra e enviados para Electra (S. Vicente).

This says that on the 23rd Engineer Miranda, the man responsible for electricity on Sal Island sent information to his HQ on the island of Sau Vicente that shows there is no relevant obstacle to the signing of the order [for connection]. The orders were signed by the contractors, the onsite management company and the owner of the works (That's us, at Tecnicil Imobiliaria) and sent to Electra in Sau Vicente.

Once Electra have signed this "Auto" then the electricity can be signed up.

The water situation is one step behind this. The communication we have internally is this:

Foi solicitado à Electra, há cerca de 2 semanas, vistoria da rede de águas (solicitado para dia 13 Out.).

O técnico responsável sobre quem recai a acção é o Engº Neves (Electra) que já recebeu orientações do Planeamento da Electra para proceder á vistoria.

Contudo, até ao presente ainda não conseguiu marcar data

Nearly two weeks ago I requested of Electra that they sign off on the water network (requested for October 13th).

The technician in charge of this, Engineer Neves (Electra) has already received instructions from Electra's Planning Department to carry out the inspection.

However, up to know he has not managed to give us a date.

So you can see that in theory we are right on the cusp of having electricity and a hair's breadth from the water. I say "In theory" because there could still be some delay on Electra's side. However there should be no other obstacles to having power and water.

As soon as we have more communication we will put it here for you all.

Dates for your diary

We have finally had some dates back from the different construction divisions on Sal Island. These are dates to which we have added a margin of safety so it is very likely that the units are finished earlier. However, we have accepted that we need to improve our communication and in the spirit of this have decided to post all of our dates. We will update them as we go along and will answer any many questions as possible.

Please bear in mind that there is no one "reason" for the delays. The Cape Verde Islands present a logistic challenge to us and indeed any other company and we are working as hard as we can.

Apartments

Phase One

C07 - SEDUM - COMPLETED
C04 - CANNA - COMPLETED
C05 - ALOE - COMPLETED
C11- COPROSMA -COMPLETED
C03 - ATRIPLEX - COMPLETED / Snagging Ongoing
C09 - PEPPER - COMPLETED / Snagging Ongoing
C08 – FICUS - February 28th
C06 - CALLISTEMON - January 30th
C10 - TASSEL - December 30th

Phase Two
C01- LANTANA - April 30th
C02 - CACTUS -May 30th
C12 - RAPHIS - May 30th
C13 - MELALEUCA - June 30th


Villas

A78/A89 - January 30th
A29/A40 - February 30th
A41/A51 - March 30th
A68/A77 - April 30th
A52/A67 - May 30th
A1/A28 - May 30th


Townhouses

B3-33 /37 – YUCCA - February 28th
B3-29 /32 - YUCCA - March 30th
B3-21 /28 -YUCCA - March 30th
B3-12 /20 - YUCCA - April 30th
B3-7 /11 - WASHINGTONIA - April 30th
B3-1 /6 - WASHINGTONIA -April 30th
B2-30 /34 - WASHINGTONIA -April 30th
B2-24 /29 - WASHINGTONIA - May 30th

As the building and completing goes on we will have more workers focused on a gradually reducing number of units so we do hope that these dates will not be accurate. But we do guarantee that they will kept updated if we do see any changes.

Once again, all comments welcome and if you have any questions about your particular unit or situation please write to us on info@tecnicil.com

Have a great weekend!

Furniture Installation

Some of you may know that a few months ago the furniture arrived on Sal. However, it was in the port for quite a while.

A couple of weeks ago we cleared the containers from the port and began the delivery and installation process. Not all of the furniture has been unpacked in the apartments, we are mainly just delivering and will be unpacking a little later. The important thing is that it is ALL there.

I have put some of them here, but you will all probably agree that this year's Pulitzer is probably not going to be awarded in Cape Verde.

Further Clarifications

Good afternoon.

As you know we are trying to unify communication via this Blog because it seems that it really does work quite fast and certainly proves more reliable than the email.

After receiving many clients emails and seeing the confusion and concerns that are clearly propagating we wish to make the following points very clear:


1. Clients that are NOT in the Tecnicil Rental Scheme ARE free to rent their apartments out themselves, both directly and also indirectly, via local agents. However, touristic services in their units, housekeeping, maintenance and such like can only be carried out by Tecnicil Hotels and Resorts (TH&R) which is the onsite management company designated by Tecnicil Real Estate to be the Sole Administrator of all the resort.

We will endeavour to provide the pricing for all services provided by TH&R as soon as we can and we are committed to ensuring that these prices are competitive within the market.

Also be aware that the resort management company will be audited externally by Price Waterhouse Coopers and that the accounts will be transparent an available to you, the owners, as ths resort will be yours.

2. Clients who have ALREADY completed and signed title deeds and ARE PART of the rental scheme, will receive the rental return from the date of the signing of the deeds - as long as they have fulfilled all requirements that ARE within their control: Deeds signed, final payment made, furniture payments up to date, rental contract signed.

3. The clients who have bought furniture via MRI or other companies will NOT be able to enter the rental scheme nor receive a guaranteed rental income. However, TH&R will be happy to enter into talks with these clients with a view to negotiate a contract for renting out these units. This is done to aid those clients who may have been left without the support they had originally expected from other parties.

If you have any doubts or concerns please do not hesitate to contact us at info@tecnicil.com



Have a good evening.

Furniture and MRI

We would be grateful if any clients who have purchased furniture via MRI would get in contact with us via info@tecnicil.com as soon as possible.

Thanks in advance!

Snagging for Pepper is now OPEN!

Today we are delighted to announce that we have notified all clients for Pepper Community (C09) that they can now snag their properties.

To this end we would ask that you make the relevant arrangements to do so. We would recommed the use of a third party snagging company as they often enjoy more flexibility being based on Sal as well as, if you have a snagger who speaks Portuguese, we can accommodate them more easily.

Another milestone reached!

Clarification of rental restrictions

Many of you have seen in the general rules and regulations, namely in clause 12 under "General Use and Management"that there is restriction on clients’ wishing to rent their properties. We would like to explain the reason for this restriction and clarify its application.

The most important thing that we want to look after is your investment in Vila Verde. For those of you who have not seen it, the resort is taking shape and is beginning to look very smart indeed. We know that, despite the annoying delays we have experienced to date, it will not disappoint anyone when it is completed.

However all the properties need to be maintained if they are to grow in value. Plus it is vital that we present the highest quality image in a sustainable way.

This is of utmost importance when you consider that the resort is practically 100% foreign owned and nearly all clients will not be in full time residence. Consequently we need to appoint a management company whose job it will be to run the resort after it is completed and to maintain all properties and facilities to the high standards that we all aspire to.

In line with the current practice for the management of tourist resorts, the commercial rental of properties is the responsibility of the onsite management company. This allows us to obtain the best possible terms and offer our clients a guaranteed income package that is stable in the long term.

But this does not mean that clients may not rent their properties privately in their country of residence whether through their own friends and contacts or the internet. To restrict the freedom of clients to rent their properties themselves would be unfair and was never Tecnicil’s intention. What it does mean is that clients may not rent their properties through an “entity” that is to say, a commercial company.

We do apologise for any misunderstandings and encourage you to write to us at info@tecnicil.com with any further questions.

Please be aware that we are working to clarify any worries and concerns you may have and that it is our intention to deliver a first class resort and maximise your confidence and investment in Tecnicil.

Atriplex Snagging and Deed notifications

We are extremely pleased to announce that today we have sent out notifications for title deeds for the community of ATRIPLEX.

This marks yet another milestone in the progression of the Vila Verde Santa Maria project.

While true that we have suffered delays, we are sure that you will be as happy as we are to see ATRIPLEX finished now. This now leaves us

Some clients have asked when we notified them for snagging. According to our records we sent out a mass email to clients on August 28th.

Just to avoid confusion. If you have not organised the snagging of your ATRIPLEX unit already, then we advise you arrange this immediately.

Here is a copy of the notification that was sent in August. If you click on it it should be legible.

Updated Photos on the Web Album

Good evening everyone.

Tonight we have uploaded some new photos. There is a sort of random selection here.

We hope you enjoy them!

http://picasaweb.google.com/VilaVerdeSantaMaria/October2009?feat=directlink

Letter from BES to Tecnicil

Good evening again. Those of you who wondered if the Blog was still alive have underestimated our ability to push the August summer hols into the beginning of September. But here we are!

And we will kick off the new term with a letter from BES. BES have heard that some agent or other have been out there again trying to suggest that we will not finish the resort. As a result, Portugal's second largest bank have presented us with a letter.

It is here. If you click on it you can read it.

New Photos from September - Looking good!

Good evening all of you! We have posted new photos of Vila Verde Resort on our Web Album.

http://picasaweb.google.com/VilaVerdeSantaMaria/September2009?feat=directlink

Enjoy!

Habitation Licences for Atriplex and Coprosma

We are pleased to announce that the Camara Municpal has issued the habitation licences for Atriplex and Coprosma! This means that the building is deemed fit for habitation.

Some clients have asked us how this can be the case when there may be some snags. Please remember that snags are usually smaller imperfections or items left unfinished but they should not impede habitation.

The water and electricity supply on Sal, and in Cape Verde, is not linked to the issuance of this licence. This is because there are many houses and homes in the country that are built and never have water or power! Seems amazing to those used to European construction but in Cape Verde many many people do not have running water or electricity in their homes.

For our Resort, we have had all of the electrical and water installation correctly put in and tested. The only bit that remains now is for the utility company, Electra, to literally press the button and turn the valve.

Updated Photos - With labels!!

Good morning to you all! We have added a new album on our Web album in Picasa and here is the link to it.

http://picasaweb.google.com/VilaVerdeSantaMaria/August2009?feat=directlink

Given the mixups with labels from the last time we have added labels in the photos themselves. If you have any questions please drop us a comment!

Rental Return and when it begins

As we have received a new wave of questions about the rental return we thought it might be eaiser if we make a few comments here about it.

1. When does the rental return begin for me?

The scheme will begin once you have fulfilled the main criteria stipulated in the rental return contract, specifically clause 8.

CLAUSE EIGHT
(Ruling period of time)

1. The assignment of the Residential Units to the Rental Pool Operation is agreed to for an initial period of 2 years counting from the date in which the Rental Pool Operation commences on the Resort.

2. The date of commencement of the rental pool operation is the date following which all the conditions are satisfied for the Residential Unit to enter the Rental Pool Operation.

3. The cumulative conditions to be adhered to by both the OWNER and the MANAGER to enable a Residential Unit to enter the Rental Pool are as follows:


a) The Residential Unit shall be constructed and inspected by the OWNER or his representative, in accordance with the provisions of the Promissory Contract of Purchase and Sale;

b) The purchase price of the Residential Unit shall be paid in full, including the furniture and equipment and the corresponding public deed of purchase and sale duly signed;

c) The present contract has been signed by both parties;

d) The receipt of the Property Purchase Tax (IUP) paid by the OWNER has been lodged with the MANAGER;

e) Copy contracts for the supply of services to the Residential Unit, namely electricity, water, sewerage and telecommunications have been lodged with the MANAGER and the Residential Unit is connected to such services;

f) The Residential Unit is fully furnished and equipped;

g) The Residential Unit has been insured against fire and a copy of the policy has been lodged with the MANAGER.

2. So will I receive my rental return 6 months after going to title deeds?

More or less. Let's say it takes you a couple of weeks to get the utilities connected and the fire insurance sorted out, you've paid the rest of the furniture and it is all installed. If this is the case then you'll get the first return payment 6 months and 2 weeks after going to title deeds.

3. When do I sign the contract?

The contract will be signed after you've signed the title deeds. Most probably we will sign on the very day that you sign the deeds, but deeds first as you have to be the legal owner to actually put the property into the pool.

4. What about the furniture payments? Do I have to pay even though my unit is late?

We do have to ensure that the furniture is ordered and will arrive on time. Clearly our timing with the property has been off but the payment terms for the furniture were 50% in advance and 50% at completion. This is not linked in anyway to timings on the property build. If you are not up to date with your payments then we can not guarantee that you can enter the rental scheme. So if you have only paid the first reservation fee and are holding out on the next bit for dates on property etc. then we would recommend you bring your payments up to date as soon as possible.

If you have any questions please get in contact with us.

New photos of the resort on Picasa Web Album

Good afternoon everybody!

We have posted some new photos on the Picasa Web Album that we have. just to remind you of how to get there you can click here or you can copy and paste the following link into your browser: http://picasaweb.google.pt/VilaVerdeSantaMaria/July2009?feat=directlink

We will be labelling them over the next few hours. Please bear with us.

Snagging for Coprosma

We are pleased to announce that we have opened snagging now on all of Coprosma.

As some of you may know, we have had some units on Coprosma, and also Atriplex, snagged, but the whole blocks could not be opened for snagging while there were some items pending.

Atriplex is being snagged and should be opened totally for snagging next week. We will update you all both here and via email so that you can get ready.

Please be aware that we do recommend the use of third party snagging companies. The advantage of these companies is that as they are on site any shift in dates does not then leave you high and dry. As you can all tell, we are having difficulty in pinpointing dates but are progressing with no problems.

COPROSMA, ATRIPLEX and PEPPER Dates

Good afternoon! Given that we were going to open the snagging on the above communities officially in the last few days, we have to announce that, although some snagging has been done successfully on some units in Coprosma and in Atriplex, we have actually been told that we will revise dates for snagging.

The new dates will be released next week. Tecnicil does regret any inconvience this may cause you. We are working hard to reduce the delays and now count on the full support of the authorities on clearing materials through the ports. We are confident that when you do come to inspect you will be very impressed, not only with the quality of finish, but also with the small number of snags you find.

Please do contact us if you have any questions.

Busy days on Sal Island

We have been terribly busy with title deeds on Sal Island and so have to say that we've been a bit slow on the blog. Huge apologies.

News from us at the moment centres, as it would, on the title deed process. We did have the expected teething problems with the electronic system but now everything seems to be working.

As you may remember we have habitaiton licences for 196 units and so far more than 160 clients have tranferred funds to complete. So all is good there! If you have not transferred the funds yet then you urgently need to write to Nuno and let him know your plans.

The infrastucture questions keep coming up. Please rest assured that we are finishing the resort off around your units. Clearly this can not be done until the blocks themselves are finished. However, visitors to CANNA, SEDUM and ALOE should be able to appreciate the work going on on the outside now.

Raphis or Melaleuca: Melaleuca

Some of you have spotted that we got the Raphis (C12) confused with Melaleuca (C13) in some of our responses regarding which will be the last community to be finished. That was my mistake, with so many names and codes I did get confused (Plus the revised dates I was looking at had only unit codes and no names - a poor excuse but the only one I can grab hold of).

My apologies for any confusion. For the record, the current planning we have puts Melaleuca as the last community to be finished off. The dates we have from the construction company point to November for this community.

Raphis is, as I had already stated, for the end of the summer. Now many may argue that the summer never ends in Cape Verde! We're not going to comment on that one, are we!

Thanks to everyone who has gone to title deeds in the last few days. We wish you well and hope to see you again soon on Sal.

More photos

From May 2009

We have posted some photos to Picasa now and to try and overcome the caption problems I have, hopefully, made a link to the album and you should be able to view them all there.

http://picasaweb.google.com/VilaVerdeSantaMaria/May2009#

Please let us know if there is a problem and we will fix it immediately.

From May 2009

Remember that the communities that are now finished off with regards to all building works on the blocks are CANNA, SEDUM, ALOE and COPROSMA.

The next communities to be finished are ATRIPLEX and PEPPER. We will keep you all updated as much as we can.

Please be aware that we are working hard to deliver a great product. We are the first to recognise that we have overrun but we are happy to dialogue with anyone who wishes to speak to us. Please bear in mind that there are is a small team in customer service in Tecnicil and we are doing our best to get round to you all.

Hopefully you can see that the surrounding areas are advancing very well and can be assured that we will be finishing these facilities for you to enjoy as soon as possible.

An overview of the Mortgage Process with Cape Verdean Banks

On application to a Cape Verde Bank all clients must submit a comprehensive list of supporting documents to accompany the mortgage application, it is important to fill in as much information on the applications, the applications can be confusing but any questions that are not understood can be left blank and the supporting documents will provide the banks with the information for these sections. It is important that clients provide all the information required and the information is current and up to date, any missing information will delay your process.

At present the banks are taking between 6 – 12 weeks to approve mortgages (in some cases mortgages have been approved in 4 weeks but this is not the norm), up until the New Year there was a delay as the banks themselves were waiting on internal decisions as to what they would approve and the volumes, this has now been rectified but the knock on effect is creating a delay.

In the past the banks were promising higher levels of LTV percentages which meant clients could add furniture costs etc to the mortgage this information was given to us by the banks themselves. Since the global credit crunch of last year the banks have themselves changed their criteria and are now only loaning a MAXIMUM amount of 50% LTV. We at Tecnicil have only followed the instructions given to us and have not miss-informed any clients previously, as many of you realise even UK financial institutions have withdrawn previous services that were once common place due to the crisis that has occurred from loaning without prior insight into personal financial circumstances.

Banco Espirito Santo (BES)

BES has given flat valuations to ALL properties on Cape Verde these valuations are as follow;

Studio apartment (T0) valued at 64,900€ clients will be allow a maximum loan of 32,450€ (subject to clients ability to pay this amount back)

One bedroom apartment (T1) valued at 97,800€ clients will be allow a maximum loan of 48,900€ (subject to clients ability to pay this amount back)

Two bedroom apartment (T2) valued at 129,900€ clients will be allow a maximum loan of 64,950€ (subject to clients ability to pay this amount back)

Three bedroom apartment (T3) valued at 172,900€ clients will be allow a maximum loan of 86,450€ (subject to clients ability to pay this amount back)

Two bed Townhouses valued at 192,500€ clients will be allow a maximum loan of 96,250€ (subject to clients ability to pay this amount back)

Three bed Villas valued at 311,600€ clients will be allow a maximum loan of 155,800€ (subject to clients ability to pay this amount back)

Four bed Villas valued at 368,000€ clients will be allow a maximum loan of 184,000€ (subject to clients ability to pay this amount back)

Please realise that banks now are very reluctant to over estimate properties in this current climate and please be aware that most loans are not connected to your UK property.

BES interest rates are 6 month Euribor plus 3% spread, the spread is less if the loan amount requested is lower than 50%.

The maximum term that BES will allow is 25 years this is dependant upon your age and not exceeding the age of 65 (in very extreme cases BES will assess clients close to this age limit and reassess on an individual basis).

Once your loans have been approved BES may ask for some up-dated information to add to their file, which will include certified passports and latest certified P60’s, they will also require your Cape Verdean FISCAL number(s) which will be applied for by your solicitor. You will also be instructed to open a bank account with BES for your mortgage to be debited from, this is one of the last stages to the process, the bank account can be opened at any of their BES branches either in the UK or in Cape Verde whichever is convenient for the client to go to.

Banco Comerical Do Atlântico (BCA)

The valuations that have been given by BCA are coming in almost the same as BES, there main differences is the maximum term with BCA is 10 years with a possibility of raising to 15 years when there are other collaterals besides the property, term is dependant upon your age and not exceeding the age of 65 (in very extreme cases BCA will assess clients close to this age limit and reassess on an individual basis).

BCA’s interest rates are 6 month Euribor plus spread of between 4.5% to 6.5% dependant upon clients credit risk.

Banco Caboverdiano de Negócios (BCN)

This has been the most disappointing of all the banks, when initial negotiations started BCN promised us maximum LTV of 85%, maximum terms of up to 75 years old and most importantly that the processing would run smoothly, but unfortunately this has not been the case, in fairness to BCN they HAVE approved some mortgages for Tecnicil but the stumbling point has been that they have stopped communicating with us, which has left a large majority of clients in limbo, these clients are awaiting for the terms and conditions of the approval. Until we have further information from BCN we can only assume that they will be with drawing any previous pre-approval given.

Power Of Attorney

If applying for a Power of Attorney it is important to make sure that the power include the signing of the mortgage, otherwise your solicitor will ask you to get a second P.O.A. just for this and which will cost you more money, this instruction should come from your solicitors as it is important for them to know if you are purchasing your property with a mortgage.

New Photos!

These are prelimnary photos that you can view while we get the proper quality shots passed over.

To see which photo is of what just pass your mouse over it, and it should tell you

Today we have had some new photos taken of some of the different communities. We have put some here and will add others our Picasa web album.

Title deeds ahoy!

After the final round of snagging we are pleased to say that all remedial works have been done. There are a coupe of issues with some wall lights that require an "en masse" fix and will be done after deeds, but the different apartments in Sedum, Canna and Aloe are now ready for deeds.

Most of you will have received notification for deeds already but just to help you all out the final dates for you to sign the deeds if you are these first communities is JUNE 15th!

This means that we would ask that funds are on the island and ready for transfer to us on or before that date. If you feel that you can not meet this date, or you know that you will miss it FOR WHATEVER REASON, then please contact Iain or Nuno via info@tecnicil.com and let us know so that we can plan accordingly.

For any other questions or concerns you may have do not hesitate to contact us.

Vila Verde Phase I and Phase II will complete!

It seems some very unscrupulous agents have been holding meetings all over the UK and Ireland - and even subjecting clients to sustained phone campaigns - to tell them that Tecnicil will not be able to complete on the Vila Verde Resort Santa Maria development.

Clearly these tactics are founded in the need they have to sell their own product in Portugal and Bulgaria. This tactic is totally deplorable as, in these uncertain times, it is totally unfair on all parties involved to muddy the waters in this way. They speak of a "moral" responsibility to their clients.

Let us reassure all clients that Tecnicil is totally solid and, although suffering from some delays, Vila Verde Santa Maria WILL complete. Of this there is no danger. I have attached some recent photos for you to see how great the site is looking.

Indeed, let us remember that the first three communities, CANNA, SEDUM and ALOE have already received the habitation licences from the town hall and some clients have already signed title deeds!

The next three communities are going strongly. As each community is completed it frees up the team on site to concentrate on the next blocks. The financial muscle needed to complete is in place and so now there is nothing between you and your new property in the Cape Verde Islands but a few weeks for Phase I and a few months in Phase II.

If you are concerned about information you have been given then you can contact Tecnicil via itozer@tecnicil.com or on info@tecnicil.com

First title deeds done!

The good news today is that the first properties have now gone to title deed!

This is the true beginning of Vila Verde Resort Santa Maria and the alliance that our clients will form with us and with Tecnicil Hotels and Resorts, the resort management company!

So we would like to extend our congratulations to the clients who have now signed and are the first owners on Vila Verde to have their keys! Well done to all!

Habitation Licences for CANNA, ALOE & SEDUM

I am sure there is a facility to add a drum roll to this blog, but sadly it eludes me. However, please consider the drum roll delivered!

We are proud to say that we have received the habitation licenses for the first three communities on Vila Verde Resort Santa Maria. I have included a copy of one here, although it is a dry Portuguese document that in no way captures the excitement that we feel to see this project come together.

What happens now? Many of you will ask. It's quite simple. If you have a property on Canna, Sedum or Aloe then we now start preparations for title deed. From your point of view that involves ensuring that you have organised a second snagging inspection, if you haven't already done that, and that you have your finances in order.

We would also recommend the use of a money broker to obtain the best exchange rate. We have set up a facility with Moneycorp who say they will ensure that clients get the most competitive rate. Just click here and you can fill in the form and be linked directly to them.

We have notified all clients that have snagged their property that any necessary remedial work has been done. One client did note on a report that it was very windy! I am afraid that is just outside our scope!!

The best way forward is to contact your legal representatives and they will set a date for the title deeds. If they have a power of attorney then this process is totally painless and can be done literally in a day with only a few days notice.

We already have some preliminary dates set for next week so we look forward to seeing you or your representative soon and will be delighted to hand over the keys to your new Vila Verde Resort Santa Maria property!

So, how are we doing then?

Mark Twain once had to write: "Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated" or even "This report of my death was an exaggeration" depending on who we believe had the original quoted properly.

Whichever is true it must have been quite a shock for Mark Twain to have heard that he had been reported dead! Here at Tecnicil we were equally surprised to hear last weekend that we were going into liquidation, or was it that we had gone into liquidation...?

Whichever of the rumours you have heard, we can assure you that Tecnicil is financially sound and Vila Verde Santa Maria will be finished.

The people who are saying that Tecnicil have difficulties do not understand the building industry, even though they claim to.

Any big building project is completed via cash draw downs from the bank. These draw downs are released in stages by the bank. Vila Verde Phase I has now had all of the draw down money released and completion is now inevitable. Banco Espirito Santo (BES) is totally behind the project and we have their full commitment to finish the entire resort.

In these unsettled times it is easy to feel panicked. Our customers have invested a great deal of money and time and the project Vila Verde Santa Maria is finally coming to a close. We make no secret that we have suffered delays and set backs where we had ardently hoped we wouldn't. The sea port on Sal Island is tiny and disorganised and so shipments can languish for days before being released to us. Ships seem to simply get lost, or not appear for weeks and when they do they show up without the cargo we were expecting.

Please don't think we are holding up excuses. This couldn't be further from the truth. We feel that we are in business with our clients, so you need to be party to our problems, privvy to our worries.

With the disappearance of the larger real estate agents in the overseas property industry, we at Tecnicil have had to pick up the task of client communication. No small feat when you think that MRI alone had had dozens of customer service people to deal with the workload. Sadly these are no longer interfacing for us so we have to do it.

I'm sure some of you would say we are doing a poor job of it, but I can assure you that we are battling away for you. This blog has been launched to try and provide you with a forum to address us, and us with a way of communicating with you. Any questions asked here will be answered on a weekly basis.

However, just to recap and make it clear: Tecnicil is perfectly fine, the resort is on course to be completed. Like all great and wonderful projects (Wembley Stadium?!) we have fallen behind but these delays are small nuisances. They are not symptoms of some hidden problem.

The first three communities are going great guns and the feedback from the different clients and snagging companies is very positive indeed. Obviously we have come across imperfections and items that need to be corrected, but this is normal on any big development.

So after a long journey that we began together many months ago, the end is finally in sight. And we, at Tecnicil, are totally confident that you will be pleased and impressed with your investment in your resort.

Banks and mortgages in Cape Verde

MANY clients have asked us why there have been so many delays with their mortgage applications. Others have requested a recommendation for the best banks in Cape Verde and yet others have asked us if we think they will ever be able to get a mortgage...

As we have all been made painfully aware in the last 6 months or so, the banks in the whole world have been going through absolute chaos. Share values of the biggest banks in the world have been decimated in disastrous days of share trading. Trust amongst the international banking community is at an all time low.

Clearly this has dealt a blow to the banks in Cape Verde. Although none of the local banks have been involved in what the Spanish minister of Economy, Solbes, described as "Financial Engineering", they are all, in one way or another, linked to the international financial world and so have had to act with more and more caution.

But what of the other banks that operate in Cape Verde? Well, given the historical ties with Portugal, most of the banks in Cape Verde have a link of one kind or another with Portuguese banks. In some cases they are owned directly by them.

BCN, for example, (Banco Cabo Verdiano de Negocios) is owned By Banif (Banco Nacional de Funchal). BCA and Banco Interatlantico are both owned by Caixa Geral de Depositos, one of Portugal's largest financial institutions. And there is BES (Banco Espirito Santo).



The main bank that work with Tecnicil on the Vila Verde project is BES. BES is a Portuguese bank, one of Portugal largest banks.

Now, if we can rewind to last year, the banks operating in Cape Verde, with BCN leading the way, were quite open and aggressive about the conditions they would be offering.

ALL said they WOULD do non-resident mortgages with BCN talking of rates of up to 80% loan to value. BES was clear in that they did not want to go higher than 50%

HOWEVER, BES was the first to come forward and suggest that they might include the furniture package in the mortgage. BCN rapidly followed suit and soon it seemed everyone would be able to bundle the property with the furniture with BCN and BCA speaking of at least 70% loan to value.

Typical spreads were between Euribor +1.5 (BCA) and 3% (BES). For those of you new to the overseas mortgage, the "spread" is the amount of percentage points added to Euribor (The European version of Libor). This will then give you the interest rate that you ultimately pay.

For example, of you have Euribor + 3% and Euribor is 4% then you would have a mortgage at 7% Get it?

Then the banks all went to Radio Silence! Or perhaps "Silent Running" is more apt?

BES was the first bank to committ to new conditions.

50% LTV NO furniture allowed! Spread was Euribor +3% (According to status, obviously).

The other banks then followed this lead. Even the ambitious conditions that BCN had been offering seemed to evaporate in the light of BES' new conditions. Yet, to be fair, BES had not really moved their position. All they made clear was they were no longer going to contemplate any risk for furniture.

Does this mean NO other banks are lending? No, we have had approvals for clients through BCN, BCA and Interatlantico. The main difference is that BES has clearly decided to push the pace and is now approving much faster. BCN continues at a snail's pace and BCA are a bit like Google, or at least, WE can not perceive the logic in the way they work!

At Tecnicil we have been happy to take on any client mortgage application and run it past the banks. There seems to be a belief that "our" banks are BCN and BES, when the reality is that we place applications with most of them. Which are the best? That depends on your status, but it is clear that BES will approve faster than the others at the moment. However, their valuations have come down in the last few months so that 50% Loan to value can sometimes work out even lower.

So, if you want MORE information on this or would like us to manage your application then please write to Rosemary de Cruz on mailto:mortgage@tecnicil.com

Bom fin de semana!

Vila Verde Resort Santa Maria - Our first Blog

We thought it was time to pass from the newsletter format to the blog format. In this way we feel that the communication with our clients can be slightly more informal. This is not to say that we want to degrade the quality of this communication. Quite the opposite! We aim to use these pages to keep you informed and as up to date as possible on what is happening to your investment and dream home on the resort of Vila Verde Santa Maria.


On our side, we commit to providing up to date information, comments and opinions and all we ask from you is that you give us your feedback, your questions and, above all, your interest!