I’m watching A Place In The Sun

[DetailRedacted]

On C4 right now.

I have this on most days cos I love seeing all the apartments. One thing is bugging me though. The apartments that have swimming pools whether private or shared with several other properties NEVER EVER have a single soul using them. It’s always a picture perfect view of a pristine pool, nobody laid on a sun lounger, no noisy kids splashing about, nothing!
I’m assuming that the camera crew must chase everyone using the pool area out of the way so they can get the perfect picture postcard shot.

I do realise there are bigger problems going on the world 🙈 but it’s just a little peeve!

😁😁

The joys of WFH!

And being retired!

They're always going to move there permanently - how?! It's not that easy now we're out of the EU <bitter>.

We're going to take the dog - how? Are you driving to Malta from the Midlands each time you go there?

They never fall out when discussing the properties - how?!

I bet that the couples do end up arguing and it’s all air brushed away in the editing.

today’s offering:
Floral frock ✅
holding hands ✅
never been to the area ✅
tiny budget ✅

I don’t think I have ever seen one where the couple buys one of the properties shown . Not one. Admittedly only a handful but surely they’d have been one!

All these property programmes annoy me as I constantly puzzled as to how such complete morons have large sums of money to spend on second homes.

"Dave works in a paperclip factory putting paperclips into small boxes by hand and Trish paints seashells and sells them on ebay. They have a budget of £850,000 and would like a property by the sea and to be walking distance to local bars and restaurants."

A lot of the couples they feature have made lots of money on the house they have in the UK or inherited money ( is my uneducated guess )
Or huge pay outs for other things ( pensions or something like that )
The people who lived in our current house made 150,000 plus 20 years ago and bought a place abroad. I suppose places were cheaper then though , but I bet it’s still doable now if you come into money via parents or something along those lines.

No way… they certainly dont come across as rolling in money!!

Usually inheritances. Many of them have made nods to deceased parents.

Depends which one you watch. On escape to the country I often get the impression that they have made money on a property. If someone bought a place in the 80s , it can easily have made double our value if not more. I know people who have inherited a lot of money and they are below 60. Not particularly rich parents , but parents bought a long time ago and invested well.
Some are on second marriages and may have combined the equity in houses too.
It’s all only a guess, but going by people I know of irl , it’s easy to imagine normal people having the cash to buy something abroad .

Oh yes escape to the country is a very different beast

Escape to the Country is truly bonkers. People with these huge budgets who are seemingly unable to use estate agents and find a house for themselves shouldn't be allowed to buy property.

I did like the sleb one with Chesney Hawke recently though - I didn't shout too much at the TV, even though they (surprise surprise) didn't buy any of the ones shown.

They harbour a desire to be on tele

This is what utterly puzzles me, they never mention the criteria now for staying, how long you can stay, whether you can actually buy property in the country ( I actually thought you couldnt unless it was a higher price property in Spain, perhaps thats not the case?), they never mention service charges. I think theres also rules about how long you can drive on a UK licence etc if you're there for a long time.

It's the only sane explanation for wanting to make a complete tit of yourself on national telly!

I know - far too many unanswered questions. DH tells me I'm overthinking it, but honestly - they surely can't think we're all so gullible as to believe they're going to live in Malta with their dog without a visa or the vast amount of legal stuff needed to relocate permanently with no job.

Some of the ones filmed more recently did seem to mention the Brexit impact. I always think they should declare how they voted. Or it's obvious one partner is not British. Mind you, I might be getting mixed up with New Life in the Sun. They definitely refer to time limits now and it's always touch and go about whether someone will get their visa.

To be fair… it’s a thirty minute day time episode… they’re hardly likely to go In to that level of detail. The producers just want to fit in as many pretty properties as possible

It would only take about a 20 second sentence I think. I always thought you couldnt buy in Spain now unless the property price was over 350k, but some of these flats are much much cheaper than that.

What would only take 20 seconds?

Bought this house in 1986 and still here. It is now worth about nine times what we originally paid for it, and mortgage long since paid off.

(eg: from £40k to £360k type thing)

Or just an acres of scrub land.

There are quite a few ways still if you are buying over a certain level in certain countries and with an odd few cases it’s easier if you aren’t working and have strong pensions. Much more difficult all round if you need to work at all ( even if it’s remote working) and not at pension age -