Xarblanca (Marbella - Costa del Sol)

Beautiful villa for sale in Marbella. Genuine character is expressed throughout every inch of this home situated on a lovely residential street very closed to city center. Dining room, family room, large kitchen with laundry area, living room with fireplace, 5 'privacy filled' bedrooms, 5 baths and a great recreation room. Barbecue room with wine cellar and a mature tropical garden with Palm and Magnolia trees and a cozy vegetable garden. Perfect for enjoying the benefits of living in the city and the quietness of nature.


Preciosa villa en venta en Marbella.  Su encanto especial se expresa en cada rincón de este hogar situado en una zona residencial muy cerca de la ciudad.  Con comedor, cuarto de estar,  amplia cocina con zona de lavandería, salón con chimenea,  5 dormitorios y 5 cuartos de baño, caseta para barbacoa y cuarto subterráneo para bodega.  Un  jardín tropical con palmeras e impresionantes magnolios con un pequeño huerto, hacen de esta villa una perfecta combinación entre ciudad y naturaleza.

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Azalea Beach (Marbella - Costa del Sol)

Townhouse for sale in Marbella. At only 15 min walking to Puerto Banús and 5 min to the beach, located in an area of fine homes of casual living. A dinning porch leads to a private garden and a communal tropical garden with swimming pools. In its 2 levels there are 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a lovely kitchen, restroom and charming living room with fireplace. Its ample basement with laundry area, 2 bedrooms with natural light and 2 en suite baths makes the ideal home for large families who appreciate the luxury of living.


Adosado en venta en Marbella. A sólo 15 minutos andando a Puerto Banús, y a 5 minutos a la playa, esta encantadora vivienda está situada en un complejo muy consolidado con jardín privado y jardín común con piscinas. Tiene dos plantas con 3 dormitorios y 2 baños, cocina, aseo y salón-comedor con chimenea. Dispone de un amplio sótano con dos dormitorios adicionales con luz propia, 2 cuartos de baño en suite y zona de lavandería. La casa ideal para familias numerosas que aprecian el lujo.














Las Terrazas B202 (Benahavís - Costa del Sol)

Exquisite apartment in Puerto del Almendro, Benahavís. It enjoys a huge terrace, stunning views, an exceptional amplitude and plenty of light. With a full independent apartment it is one of the cheapest properties of the area due to its relation site/ price. Monte Halcones shopping center is within short distance with restaurants and services. Ideal for those looking for a nice quiet complex at only five minutes from San Pedro and Puerto Banús.

Espectacular apartamento en Puerto del Almendro, Benahavís. Cuenta con una enorme terraza, maravillosas vistas, posee un tamaño excepcional y muchísima luz. Dispone de un apartamento completamente equipado. Es una de las mejores propiedades de la zona por su relación tamaño/precio. Muy próximo al centro Comercial de Monte Halcones, con restaurantes y servicios. Ideal para los que quieren disfrutar de la tranquilidad de la naturaleza a solo cinco minutos de San Pedro de Alcántara y Puerto Banús

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Alfonso Lacruz awarded as one of the Top 15 RE/MAX Associate agents of Spain

RE/MAX Spain celebrated its Annual Convention between the 6 and the 9 of June in Lanzarote. As usual, it was a great meeting with very interesting coaches, lots of networking with other colleagues and plenty of fun. In this meeting, I was awarded with the 100% Club Award as one of the Top 15 agents of RE/MAX Spain.It was a great honor and I have to give many thanks to my entire team, the RE/MAX Eralia team and my own one. These are complicated times I would never had been able to reach this level without them.








RE/MAX Eralia at the Place in the Sun exhibition in London

We keep on maintaining the same philosophy that is to try to be everywhere looking for potential clients. We, in collaboration with other offices of RE/MAX in Spain (Murcia, Canary Islands and Alicante) went to the Place in the Sun exhibition in London. We wanted to show to the British market our properties and how good is the opportunity to buy now in Spain. In fact, and that is something that surprised me a lot because I never thought I was going to hear it, the panel of British experts were recommending the attendees to buy in Spain if you do it in consolidated areas like Marbella and Benahavis and if you are not thinking on a short term investment.

The exhibition was a really good experience where we met a lot of customers and we were able to exchange opinions about the real estate market in Spain. It gave us an insight on how the British see the Spanish market. It also gave us an idea on what the clients are looking for. We brought quiet a number of  leads that I will have to work to convert them into sales but that is the work.







Alfonso Lacruz at the RE/MAX Living Munich's exhibition

In this complicated market, you have to be everywhere and try to open every door. In colaboration with one of the best offices of RE/MAX in Europe and part of our RE/MAX Collection Group, I have presented my properties on the Costa del Sol to German brokers, agents and public in general at an exhibition organized at the RE/MAX Living office of Munich. It may take a little bit of time for results to come but it was good to be there and explain German customers that the situation is not that bad in Spain and that it is a good opportunity to buy in Marbella/Benahavis. It was somewhat cool for what we are used to in Marbella but not that bad for Munich so we received quite a number of people interested. The marketing done by the broker of the RE/MAX Living office, Nadine Vonmetz, was excellent.

In summary, a great experience.








Open House on a great villa in el Paraiso Alto

It is a pleasure inviting all my friends and colleagues agents to the Open House I am going to celebrate on March 7th at this fantastic villa in el Paraiso Alto (Benahavis - Costa del Sol). The property has outstanding views, ample spaces, plenty of light, a mature garden with fruit trees and a pool with a view. Every visitor has been impressed by this family home and I hope you will also feel the same. To get things a little bit more pleasent, I will have some really special mexican delicatessen.

I hope I will see you around.







Analysis of the Real Estate Market of the Costa del Sol produced by RE/MAX Eralia

Would you like to know how many properties are sold every day in Marbella or Benahavis? Or in the rest of the villages of the Costa del Sol?
If the answer is yes, click on the following link for an in deep analysis of our real estate market. You will be surprised!
We wanted to shared this interesting information with all our friends and partners. We hope you like it!

 http://issuu.com/remaxeralia/docs/analisis_mercado_2011__1t-2t-3t_?mode=window&pageNumber=1



The prices keep on going down!?

The tendency is not changing. The latest data published by the Spanish Ministry of Housing show that the prices keep on going down. Although information on Benahavis is not included because the population is lower than 25.000, we can use and compare the information for Marbella and Estepona. We could feel that those were going to be the results but I was not expecting such a reduction. We have commented many times the situation internally and with other collaborating agents: we feel a lack of confidence on the buyers -- they see a lot of properties looking for the missing bargain but when they do not find it, they think they should wait some more for the prices to go down even more or even when they find what they were looking for, they think they should reconsider the situation. It is not easy for us, lots of work for the same results but the only way to survive in this market situation is to keep on working hard in the most professional way. When you achieve that, the results arrive.

What is going to happen in the future? I do not know if anyone knows it but I think we will need a little bit more time for the market to stabilize. For the private sellers, the situation is not the best one and it is really complicated but things may, or not, get even worse if the banks are obliged to sell their properties to market values or even lower than that. A lot of things may affect a really sensible market so it is quite difficult to predict even the near future.



My Professional Resume

Education

I do not come from the real estate world although I have a family background on the field. I received my Engineering degree as Naval Architect and Marine Engineer from the Polytechnic School of Madrid in 1992. Wanting to explore the world and looking for the best, I obtained two additional Master degrees in Naval Architecture and Material Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This engineering baggage gave me the opportunity to start on the Offshore Construction participating in huge projects. In just two years I was nominated as Engineering Manager of the Offshore Division of the Spanish building company Dragados. The engineering of two of the key projects for this company was conducted by me: the Snorre B Platform (a 23.000 tons semisub gas platform) and the Oresund Link (the connection between Denmark and Sweden via a tunnel, an artificial island and a bridge). 







Experience

After leaving the offshore business, I came back to Marbella, my birth town, to manage the family business. A real estate group of companies dedicated to the development of land in the area of Benahavis. The companies were quite successful in the early years of the last decade.

In 2008, I was approached by the brokers of RE/MAX Eralia, Leonardo Cromsted and Hector Tramullas, to join the company. The proven systems and the different working philosophy of the company that sells more real estate in the world attracted my attention. RE/MAX is about proceedings, marketing, customer service and formation. Since then, the partnership is working smoothly. I have been nominated as the best associate agent of RE/MAX Eralia in 2010, have been the third in the Spanish ranking (among 500 associate agents) and have been even invited as key speaker in the RE/MAX European (+10.000 associate agents) Convention. That is in just two years! A lot of things to come!





Professional Awards

  • Best RE/MAX Eralia agent in 2011
  • Member of the RE/MAX 100% Club
  • 2nd best RE/MAX Associate Agent of Andalucia -- 2011 
  • Key Speaker at the European RE/MAX Convention in Vienna 2010
  • Top 10 in the Spanish Ranking (among ± 600) -- 2012 
  • Council of Residential Specialist Designation (CRS) - 2013
  • 2nd best RE/MAX Associate Agent of Spain -- 2013
  • Panelist on the International Real Estate Market at the Real Estate Convention Inmocionate 2013.




Alfonso Lacruz at the RE/MAX Collection Group Meeting in Cannes

Some of the best RE/MAX Collection offices of Europe have constituted what we call the RE/MAX Collection Group to promote the collaboration among our RE/MAX Collection offices. The idea is having regular meetings at the offices of the members of the Group to show the other Group members the marketing strategies, the way of working and give an insight of the market on each of the different countries. The core of the Group has been formed by the offices of RE/MAX living in Munich, RE/MAX in Cannes, RE/MAX in Lugano and RE/MAX Eralia in Marbella.

The first meeting took place in Cannes where we had the posibility of learning from our friends of RE/MAX how the market is in the area, and I have to say that I was really surprised to realize that Marbella is three times cheaper than Cannes, and be aware of the type of property, location and qualities you can get in the area for a certain amount.

It was a really constructive meeting where a new date in February has been fixed for a new meeting. In this case, our colleague Nadine from RE/MAX Living in Munich is going to organize an exhibition of overseas properties to her clients. Not only properties of each of the countries but also some loacal food and wine will be offered. It is going to be a great experience.

Open House in a great villa at Puerto del Almendro


I am pleased to invite everybody to an Open House to be celebrated on October 26 between 11:00 and 17:30 at Villa Dagmara (plot 27/28), Puerto del Almendro (Ronda road), Benahavis, Marbella -- Costa del Sol.

Spaciousness is the feeling when entering this fantastic villa notable for the ample spaces and the brightness of all rooms. Specially lightly is the living and dinning room with large windows that give access to a generous plot offering fantastic sea and mountain views. The ample main bedroom incorporates an ensuite bathroom and dressing room. Four more bedrooms complete the lay out of the main house. But, not only that but also a guest apartment with two more bedrooms and a staff apartment with living room, kitchenette, two bedrooms and a bath make this house a real opportunity.

You can have a look to this outstanding property while enjoying a snack consisting of Exotic delicatessen with the company of friends and professionals of the real estate field.


The Bank of Spain has announced that they expect higher reductions in the price of the Spanish properties.

The Bank of Spain has announced that the price of the housing in Spain needs more adjustments. In an illustrative graphic, they show the tendency of the prices in this cycle compared to that of the previous real estate crisis of 1991 and 1979. If you follow that logic, there are still two years to reach the lowest level. Is that true? Probably no one knows what is going to happen but one thing is true, the actual tendency fits exactly on those previsions. That does not mean anything but people selling or thinking on selling in the near future have to consider seriously what the experts say when preparing their future real estate movements. There is also something important to be thought about by sellers: this report is on banking status and we all know that the banks, owners of a great number of properties, have a lot to say in this complicated real estate market. If the decide to go for it, they will break the market. It happened in the 1991 cycle, and it will happen again.


Still a complicated market. Closed Transactions chart for Benahavis.

The data published by the Spanish Ministry of Housing shows it. The number of operations closed per quarter has gone down heavily in Benahavis to half of that of 2010. Furthermore, the prices are still going down as was shown in the last July report also issued by the Spanish Ministry. What is going on? It is difficult to say but, according to a number of real estate agents I work with, the news does not help and we are facing a lack of confidence in our market/country. We had the Japanese earthquake and the Greek crisis at the beginning of the spring and those events ruined what has been usually the best quarter of the year. The situation, again based on our experience, has improved during the summer but it is tough to sell a property. The conclusion can be only one: if you do not need to sell, don’t even try but if you have to, go for it and fix the most competitive price in your area.


Alfonso Lacruz with RE/MAX Collection for the presentation cocktail of an amazing villa in Los Monteros

As part of our compromise when marketing our RE/MAX Collection properties, we have organized a presentation cocktail for friends, families and colaborators so we can have a nice time this evening as main porpouse and, at the same, enjoy with this spectacular property.

The property will be open for visitors between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM.

I hope I will see many of you there!



Your new home awaits.