Research pays off for UK firm’s villa development in Crete

The decision to undertake detailed market research to establish the nature and needs of the prime target market for property in Crete has paid off for a UK developer which reports that a third of the villas it has built on a rural site in western Crete have been sold or reserved.

“Each of the purchasers matches the profile of the buyers for whom the properties were designed and built,” reports Said Marie, principal of Berkshire-based Caversham-Barnes which has developed the Litsarda Villas scheme in western Crete.

Comfortable lifestyles

“Research showed that a significant part of the target market for property in Crete comprises discerning British people approaching retirement who require a holiday home in the sun which, in due course, will become their permanent home,” says Said.

Villa Galini

“We then researched the facilities expected by Britons seeking comfortable lifestyles in Crete. They told us they wanted a private heated pool with a huge sun terrace, air-conditioning – but also central heating for use during Crete’s brief winter period – gardens and a garage.

“Those were our design criteria and, because potential buyers can see that we have taken the trouble to build what they actually want, we are selling the properties despite the recession.”

The Litsarda Villas development comprises nine individually designed homes in an elevated location enjoying panoramic views of Crete’s White Mountains and Souda Bay in the Mediterranean.

Hot summer months

Located 40 minutes by road from Chania International Airport (75 minutes from Heraklion Airport), the development is close to the heart of the village of Litsarda and two kilometres from the shops, bank, post office and healthcare facilities in the small town of Vamos.

Explained Said Marie, “Detailed market research formed the basis of our design criteria and, because we took the trouble to build what potential buyers actually want, we are selling our properties despite the recession,” says Said Marie (pictured), principal of Berkshire-based Caversham-Barnes which has developed the Litsarda Villas scheme in western Crete.

The villas have floor areas ranging from 127 square metres to 170 square metres, including a self-contained lower ground floor in each property.

Use of the lower ground floor as a living area has been legalised which means that purchasers can opt to use the space for up to three extra bedrooms with a second bathroom, in addition to the two or three bedrooms on which the design of the villa is based.

“It makes a lot of sense to locate bedrooms on the lower ground floor because that is the coolest part of the villa during Crete’s hot summer months,” says Said.

Each villa occupies an individual plot of up to half an acre planted with 30 olive and fruit trees. Owners who harvest the olives on their plots can produce their own olive oil by having them pressed and bottled by the local co-operative in Vamos.

Prices of the properties still available at Litsarda Villas start at €269,900 for a two-bedroom villa with a floor area of 127 square metres, including a self-contained lower ground floor with the potential to create three additional bedrooms. The properties are supplied fully furnished and equipped, so prices include everything from beds to bottle-openers.

For more details call Caversham-Barnes on 0118 9483202 or visit the company’s new-look website launched this month at www.caversham-barnes.com. It incorporates an electronic version of a new 16-page brochure which can be viewed at http://caversham-barnes.com/pdf/Caversham-Barnes-Brochure.pdf

© Stewart Andersen and Stewart Andersen’s Property Blog, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Stewart Andersen and Stewart Andersen’s Property Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Staying in a Greek paradise

The view from our back window

We were sitting with friends having dinner at a restaurant in Loggos on the small Greek island of Paxos. Our table was about four feet from the water’s edge, we’d just been to a fabulous concert which was part of the annual Paxos Music Festival and it was at that moment that I realised why so many Brits are still wanting to move abroad. I’ve written about overseas property and travel for many years but never before have I felt so reluctant to return to the UK.

My wife and have both travelled quite a bit over the years but this time we were spending 10 days on Paxos. The house we stayed in was perched on the jetty. The property faces out to sea at the back and in towards the harbour at the front. It was a bit like being on a ship on the one day when we had a thunderstorm. Lightning cracked and banged around the small town, thunder rumbled and crashed and the rain was torrential and we loved it.

I’ve never seen the sky become so dark at about 10am and yet, an hour later, the whole lot had moved out to sea, the sky had become that wonderful blue of a faded denim shirt, the streets dried quickly and the town came back to life. Seats were placed outside the bars once more, boats started heading out to sea and everything returned to normal.

Crusty bread

At the end of the jetty where it joined the land stood the bakery. At about 8.10am, two men would struggle along the harbour carrying an enormous basket of freshly baked bread. Another man would balance large trays of pastries on each shoulder as he hurried into the shop.

The view from our front window

Leave it more than three quarters of an hour and the chances were that there wouldn’t be much bread left but what a pleasure it was to stroll along, join the queue a few minutes after its arrival, inhale the aroma of freshly baked, crusty bread and then to hurry home clutching a really hot country loaf.

My Greek is almost non-existent but I struggled through a few words wherever we went and as long as I was prepared to make a fool of myself, there’d be mutual laughter and smiles all round.

What made me realise why so many Britons want to leave the UK and start again abroad was the sense of community you find in places around the Mediterranean. It’s something we seem to have forgotten in this country. After a few days, the lady who cleaned the streets in Loggos began to smile at us when we said, “Kalimera – good morning.” “Yassou, hello,” she’d call back as she went on her way.

Breakfast arriving at the bakery

If we passed Ana, who worked in the bar where we went each evening after dinner for a late night Metaxa, in the street in the morning she’d grin and ask if we wanted a drink that early in the day.

A local aperitif

Three days running we took the ferry with friends to Anti Paxos, the small island to the south of Paxos. As we went ashore at Vrika beach, the first tree shaded taverna we came to was run by Sotiris. You could argue that as the owner of a restaurant, it was good business to recognise regular customers, but on the other hand, he didn’t have to spoil us with a free carafe of wine, ice cream and a local aperitif because we’d have gone there anyway.

In other words, we’d begun to be recognised as individuals after such a short time. Where we live in south-west London, I’ve passed shops and restaurants hundreds of times over the years and it would amaze me if anybody greeted me (or even remembered me) in the same way.

It was being made to feel quietly welcome on Paxos that I enjoyed so much and I have to admit that I felt like a badly behaved child being forced to go back to school.

Sotiris, Anti Paxos taverna owner

Getting there

If you are interested in finding out more about Paxos, the best way is to go there and see for yourself. I’d suggest contacting Chris Griffiths of www.travelalacarte.co.uk whose offices are located on the port at Loggos. Of course, you’ll have to pass the restaurant where we had dinner and you may drop in to the bar run by Ana and have a Metaxa. You may even find yourself regretting the fact that you booked a return ticket.

© Stewart Andersen and Stewart Andersen’s Property Blog, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Stewart Andersen and Stewart Andersen’s Property Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.