Welcome to Coto Real Duquesa Golf

A very warm welcome to the Coto Real Duquesa Golf Owners Forum.

This private Forum has been set up to facilitate communication to and between all Owners and the Management Board and is restricted to Owners, Tenants, and approved Community Partners.

Please click on the Register tab (at top of page), register with your chosen username, password, and email address, and I will reply shortly.

In the meantime, if you are a prospective purchaser or tenant checking us out can I give you the following information which hopefully will be useful in short listing Coto Real Duquesa Golf ?

The development, by Ros y Falcon, is an exclusive mid to upper market Urbanisation with 24 hr Concierge. It sits on a 200,000 sq m site, very spacious, indeed unique within the Manilva area. Finished in 2006 we are relatively new.

Ros y Falcon is one of Spain’s largest developers, quoted on the Madrid Stock Market, but not immune from the current economic conditions where most developers have taken a downturn.

Currently they have a number of developments in the greater area including Coto Real.

As with any new(ish) development we have a number of outstanding remedial construction issues with the developer.

The Community commissioned a Report through CERMOSA, a professional independent firm of surveyors and building engineers, who formally identified all these issues which are now being worked through in a systematic manner.

The same architect also designed the Kempinski Hotel at Estepona, where you can certainly see the same striking design cues. Original plans envisaged a similar third party 5 star luxury hotel and aparthotel to the front of the site but with the current economic situation these are on hold for the considerable future.

The developer had the foresight to actually complete the Urbanisation rather than leaving it half finished when the economic downturn started, something all Owners are grateful for.

There are 426 apartments in grand total, divided into twelve individual bloques (Edificios), and each are named after a Greek island. Some are better than others when it comes to those all important views, so make sure you pick the right one after inspection.

Coto Real sits high overlooking the general area, and depending on the Edificio, you will have fabulous views of the gardens and pools, the large green belt, Duquesa Golf course and the Med - plus the morning sun on your terraces which is fantastic way to start the day.

Three Edificios with 136 apartments are off-line and not yet available for sale. These are owned by ALISEDA, the property arm of Banco Popular.

Of the remaining 289 apartments, 131 are sold to private owners, 31 are held by Ros Y Falcon, and the remaining held by ALISEDA pending sales, so the sales ratio is 45%.

This compares very favorably against other Urbanisations where the sales ratio can be as low as 10%.

Floor sizes range from 85 sq m to 110 sq m plus terraces 25 sq m to 40 sq m depending on the apartment type you buy. These are 2 bed/2 bath to 3 bed/3 bath with a number of ground floors and penthouses.

The ground floor apartments open directly to the garden and pool area through their own private garden staircase, and the penthouses are pretty spectacular. Needless to say they command premium prices in particular.

All apartments are luxuriously finished to a very high standard with marble flooring (bathrooms have marble walling as well) granite worktops, top quality appliances (cooker & oven, dishwasher, fridge freezer, washing machine) and full automatic air conditioning/heating to the lounge and bedrooms.

Bedrooms have built in wardrobes and everything is nicely detailed, co-ordinated and finished, as you would expect for the price. Master bedrooms have an en-suite bathroom with spa bath.

Each apartment comes with an underground car park space and storeroom.

Prices were €300,000 to €600,000 just a few years ago but times have certainly changed and there are now some real genuine bargains to be had.

Our Community finances are structurally very solid (which is pretty unusual in today’s market) and this should never be overlooked when making your final decision.

Many seasoned observers now think this is the most important factor of all (and even more important than the purchase price) as many Urbanisations are blighted through lack of money for routine maintenance.

To this end the Community has been far sighted and has set up additional separate Deposit Accounts, squirreling away money for future repairs & replacements, capital improvements and cash for a rainy day.

Community Fees range from €336 to €786 per quarter, very much in line with other developments in the area, though Coto Real is arguably of a higher standard.

Community Fees are paid quarterly in advance (pro rata if you complete part way through a quarter) by DDM together with a one off Initial Fee of €500.

There has been no Community Fee increase since 2006 due to the firm management of the Community's outgoings.

This however demonstrates the ownership pride and foresight of the Community in its determination to keeping up standards at Coto Real, and bodes well for the future.

Owners (to a person) are determined to protect their apartment in todays uncertain market.

Faults and complaints are routed via The Red Book which is kept at Concierge and checked daily.

Our Administrators are Grupo AEA, based locally at the Port, and who have managed Coto Real from inception in 2006.

Our Community itself is predominately 80% British/Irish but we have Owners from all around Europe and further afield. There is a great Community spirit and many firm friendships have been struck up over the past few years.

Although we have no statistics, we would guess that our average Owner age is 55 – 60. Not quite in the first flush of youth, but neither on zimmers (yet).

Coto Real is a peaceful safe Urbanisation ideal for couples and families. If you are a party animal who likes all night raves at your apartment, Coto Real probably isn’t for you. Actually, it isn’t for you at all.

The Community has its own set of Internal Rules & Regulations, The Blue Book drawn from best practice around other Urbanisations throughout Europe and the States.

This includes our Concierge Protocol entering and exiting the Urbanisation together with our Evacuation Procedure in the event of World War 3. Maybe we’re at that stage of life where we think about such things. A copy is available on request.

From 2012 our AGM’s are held 2nd Monday May. This was a decision by the Board to encourage as much attendance as possible, indeed our AGM has become the social occasion of the Community year with unusually large attendances.

We organise two nights around the AGM for all Owners to meet up socially for a drink and/or a meal out. This also helps to break the ice for new Owners who have just purchased and to meet their neighbours.

Although several apartments have been bought as investment vehicles, the rest have been bought by real actual people who although the majority do not actually live yet on Coto Real - they visit 1 to 12 times a year - many are planning to retire to Coto Real within the next 5 years. Yes, it’s that good !

Each Edificio has its own individual President who then sits on the overall Management Board. Our Community Statutes dictate that it’s the Board who take decisions on policies and procedures, and the role of the President is to carry these out along with other duties. This ensures a proper democratic structure, decisions going from bottom up rather than coming top down.

Although the majority of the Board are not full time residents, they have devised an email system ensuring that all Community business is still discussed and voted on, normally on a weekly basis.

The Board are very pro-active in taking initiatives furthering Community Objectives, working to the following Mission Statement :

“promoting Coto Real Duquesa Golf as a premiere luxury Urbanisation to Owners and Tenants through first class maintenance, strategic planning, financial management, Owner representation and communication in an open, transparent and accountable manner”

To date the Board has voted on 65 formal business items, all designed to enhance Coto Real and complying with our Mission Statement.

All Board decisions and policies are contained in a Policies Manual, The Purple Book updated regularly.

The Board has a further four sub committees (called Key Objective Groups) each chaired by a separate Owner which concentrates on specific responsibilities and goals set by the Board :

AEA Key Objectives Group : charged with maximising performance from our administrators

Cemosa Key Objectives Group : charged with completing all outstanding issues with the developer

Community Key Objectives Group : charged with those areas where Owners have responsibility

Town Hall Key Objectives Group : charged with those areas that the Town Hall has responsibility for, eg. extra bins, re-cycling bins etc.

In addition the Board have set up Advisory Panels where Owners with specific expertise advise the Board on key matters on an ad hoc basis.

Finance Panel : looking after the key areas of a. Budget, b. Accounts and c. Delinquent Debtors. Each of these key areas is the sole responsibility of a different Owner.

Reserve Funds Panel : charged with managing our future Reserve Funds and maximising value.

Further Panels are in the process of being created ; Staff & Personnel and Contracts & Tenders are next in line as work in progress.

There is one further role of the Advisory Panels ; not every Owner wishes or can afford the amount of time required to be a Board Member or Chair of a Key Objectives Group. Advisory Panels allow those Owners who nonetheless still wish to contribute something to the overall Community by donating their particular expertise and probably an hour of their time per month.

All Owners are fully encouraged by the Board to participate in Community business. Possibly again uniquely is that over 10% of all Owners are actually involved contributing to Community affairs.

Our Urbanisation President is Spanish and is a fantastic asset representing the Community to the administrator, developer and suppliers. It also helps that he’s the Environment Councillor at Manilva Town Hall and knows how to walk those corridors of power.

Our Owners Forum currently has 90 members. You could be the 91st ! The Forum exists to ensure as much communication as possible between Owners, the Board and the President. The Forum is editorially independent from the Board and debate is very much encouraged.

All Meetings and Minutes are published to the Forum so that Owners are kept fully briefed on the current state of affairs. The Forum also has a poll facility which we want to make more use of – the Board consider it essential that they represent the hearbeat of the Community.

The Board go to extraordinary lengths to make sure Owners are involved and briefed as much as possible. Just as one example ; each year, prior to the AGM, they publish an AGM Info Pack which not only lists Proposals to be voted on, but the reasons why.

The Forum is also a valuable source of information to those new Owners who have a million and one questions after their purchase.

Problems ?

Yes, we have a few of those – the remedial construction issues mentioned previously, and certainly that Penoncillo Road will be welcomed when it’s fully finished (at long last after four frustrating years). If only we could say the same about the unfinished building structures on the road itself held by another developer.

The immediate entrance area to the development is pretty poor, reflects badly on us, and must (and will be) improved during 2012.

In common with all Urbanisations, we have a Delinquent Debtor problem but this is managed firmly and to date has been reasonably successful. Again, common with other Urbanisations, it seems to centre on a small number of Owners who seem to deliberately flout the system yet mysteriously still manage to make full use of all our facilities. The Board is focused on this, and them.

Opportunities ?

Thankfully we have much more of these – subject to finances and future Board and AGM approval, we would like to build a plaza style family area next to our existing Padel Court, together with additional facilities for kids ; swings, slides, sand pit etc that are family centred.

We would also like to expand our planting, trees & flowers programme making Coto Real even more attractive.

We are upgrading our garden irrigation systems, and are investigating the use of solar power panels for garden lighting and pool heating. Coto Real has it's own water wells and we are investigating how best to use these to minimise our water costs.

The Community and Board are very ambitious for Coto Real, and are determined to make us the premiere Urbanisation for anyone purchasing in the area. We know we have lots of competition from neighboring developments and we must keep our game up – we still have a lot to do - but at our different price points we have an awful lot to offer you.

All said and done, the big question is would we buy here if we had to do it all over again ? That’s a tough ask, especially at present when there’s so many other great properties to be had, but on balance, given the same circumstances, most Owners don’t regret it for a minute.

Indeed some went on to buy subsequent apartments - as a recommendation it doesn’t come much higher than that.

Coto Real is ideally situated, calm and quiet yet within a matter of minutes you can be in Sabinallis or the Port which is the social heart of the area. For many people Puerto Duquesa is one of the nicest on the whole Costa and one of the main reasons they buy in the area.

It really is a very nice Urbanisation and we’re sure you too won’t regret it if you decide to purchase here - you will be very much welcomed into our vibrant Community.

We don’t have any connections with any estate agency and this overview is an attempt to give a genuine picture of Coto Real Duquesa Golf (which has not been airbrushed !) before making your final decision.

If you have any further questions or wish to make further enquiries please don’t hesitate to contact me at wflem007@aol.com

Additional General Information

If you are purchasing an apartment for the first time in Spain, you should be aware of some of the costs involved regardless of what Urbanisation you finally decide on.

First of all, add between 12 – 15% onto the actual agreed purchase price. This covers IVA (VAT), solicitor fees, Notary fees and all the other fees and charges that the Spanish are spectacularly ingenious in applying to your purchase. Your solicitor should be able to give you further advice.

Once you have bought your apartment, you need to additionally budget for those important Community Fees, approx €500 per year for IBI (Council Tax), €100 for water, €360 for electricity and €300 for insurance. These can all be paid by DDM, and the setting up of your utility accounts and Spanish bank account is usually included within your solicitors fees.

Perhaps the most infamous of all Spanish taxes is the “Rental Tax”. Basically the Spanish government assumes that if you don’t live here you obviously bought your apartment to commercially rent out. It doesn’t matter a jot if you don’t, they assume you do and tax you on a notional rental income.

For Coto Real budget approx €150 per year, though you’ll have this circa figure to pay no matter where you buy. Some Owners retain their solicitors or gestor to perform the annual return and payment, budget approx €100 for professional fees.

Some people are able to fill out and submit their own returns. Others will totally ignore these little inconveniencies but please remember that all these liabilities, together with late payment fines and interest, attach to the property and not the person so there will be a day of reckoning.

We have an onsite Keyholder facility (at cost) to look after your apartment if you do decide to purchase here. This facility incorporates a weekly security check, plant watering and toilet flushing with optional extras such as cleaning, laundry and airport collection. Some Owners avail of this, and some don’t, but it’s available if you so wish. Prices start at €30 per month and upwards depending on your exact requirements.

Finally, there are two web sites you might find of interest as a source of additional information for your research : www.eyeonspain.com and www.manilvalife.com

Good luck and best wishes in your apartment hunting – keep us in mind !

Kind Regards

Will Fleming
Forum Administrator[center]