01 July 08

Property

Property

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Business and pleasure DAVID SPRAGUE
While taking time out from a business conference in Palma’s beautiful and historic Old Town, David Sprague and a colleague observed how much development was taking place. With such investment going into the city they speculated that property in Palma “was going to be a very exciting prospect”.

A 52-year-old advertising and marketing executive from Bristol with three children in their 20s, it was not the first time he had splashed out on a place in the sun - ten years ago he bought a villa in Cyprus. While the family enjoyed the traditional sunshine holidays he was now looking for a home that would double both as a sound investment and as weekend city break destination, where he and his family could get to easily from Bristol.

Inspired by his time out in Palma, he opted to buy a 140 square metre penthouse in the heart of a development in the Old Town. At €275,000 he believes “it represented reasonable value for money when we bought it in late 2005 and it has rocked in price and has been valued at nearly €600,000”.

David reports that while the buying process was pretty painless he does admit that things work at a different pace in Mallorca and they have had some clashes with the person who manages the building. “He is very hard work and I think he would much prefer to have a nice quiet Spanish family living at the top of the building rather than various groups of strangers coming in at different times of the day and night. I do try to filter people [I rent to] and if it is an all male group or I sense a person is going over for a party or stag weekend then I tell them it is not the place for them”.

He travels over to the apartment about three times a year, but he does admit that one of the drawbacks of letting is that when he or his family members want to visit, they discover they have rented it out to someone. “But you can’t have it both ways,” he acknowledges.

Although the value of it has risen he has no plans to sell and move onto property number three as the Spanish market as a whole isn’t as fruitful as it once was. If he could only find a way to be able to work from Palma he believes it would be a great way of life, as a writer friend of his “spent a few weeks out there and found it great. You could hear the hub of the city, so you didn’t feel alone, but you are detached enough for it not to be a distraction”. And of course his kids love having a city hideaway they can escape to for a weekend of clubbing in the sun.
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