I too have been reading posts about Harlequin with interest, but from a different perspective. I am fortunate to have avoided been an investor in a Harlequin development. I say this because other posts on this and other sites have said:
1. Buccament Bay and Merricks were sold on the basis of unachievable completion dates - I'm not sure when the original completion date for Buccament Bay was, but from internet research I believe Merricks completion has moved from December 2007, to December 2009, to December 2010 and is now December 2012. So if I had invested expecting completion in December 2009 Harlequin would have had my 30% deposit for an additional 3 years with not a bean of compensation. In the meantime, my investment may well have gone down in value due to the credit crunch.
2. I see from other postings that investors who are due their deposits back on Buccament Bay because the completion date in their contract has not been met are being refused a refund. Harlequin are saying it's not their problem, even though it has associations with the companies holding the deposits.
3. Other postings have said that investors were not told that Merricks did not have full planning permission when they invested, this may be the case with other developments such as Marquis Estate. Many investors may not have invested if they had been given the full facts and been made aware that the completion dates could materially alter.
4. Harlequin's website looks very glossy, but most images are artist's impressions and Harlequin fail to make this clear. In addition, Harlequin says it has contracts with various high profile companies, but these contracts are probably very preliminary and not very meaningful because Harlequin have yet to finish any developments.
5. Other postings say that Harlequin do not own the land for all their developments; if true this is very worrying.
6. A big concern is that, having paid over the odds for properties in Harlequin's developments, when finished investors will struggle to get finance. Harlequin rely on their properties going up in value, but it does not mention anything about what happens if their properties go down in value, which may well happen in the current economic climate. For example, if an investor paid £300,000 for a property and it is now only worth £200,000 then they will only get a loan of 70% of £200,000, not 70% of £300,000 which will mean that they will have to come up with cash to finance the difference.
7. Other postings say that Harlequin have been offering big discounts on some properties, which would be very worrying for me if I had invested because I would not be able to sell my property at a profit.
8. It appears from the other postings that Harlequin will do pretty much anything to get a sale, but are unwilling to respond to these investors' concerns, preferring to allege defamation instead to get the forum hosts to remove postings (regardless of whether they are defamatory).
One thing I do agree with you is that investors should do their homework, but with Harlequin in all cases none of their development has been fully finished as far as I am aware, and many have not been started in any significant manner, so it is very diffcult to do so. So personally I would steer clear until such time as Harlequin have actually finished and shown to be successfully operating developments and investors are shown to be able to resell their investments at a profit. There is a big difference between building a project office and show home and Harlequin actually showing it can fully finish a development and operate it successfully and producing a profit for investors.
It will be interesting to find out how successful your investment will be when you come to try and arrange 70% finance and sell it for a profit, which is what Harlequin are still advertising that you will be able to do.