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Just signed up for property investment in Buccament Bay St Vincent has anyone got a success story because i am worried about bloggs i have read on this project,can anyone give me advise please...........................

Tracey

Hi Tracey

First I should say I am (amongst other things) a Harlequin Agent. You wanted a success story; well strictly, there are none yet as the first resort doesnt complete until July 2010. But if you want encouragement, I can tell you that I have just purchased one of their properties in Barbados and I am very enthusiastic about it in terms of capital growth and rental income.

I understand, there were problems a few years ago where there were delays in planning permissions etc and thus completion, which meant investors were quite rightly frustrated that their rental income was delayed. Harlequin tell me that about 100 people, from thousands, have asked for their money back and have been refunded. There was a November article in the Guardian claiming miselling, they later printed an apology as this was inacurate.

Since those early days Harlequin are more realistic about timescales, the product has been refined and there is better correspondence with investors. BIG corporations have done their homework and chosen to invest in the resorts (Elemis Spas, Liverpool FC, Gary Player etc) and Buccament Bay opening in July, should put to bed concerns over Harlequin's abilities to produce. Personally I am sure that when Buccament Bay proves to be a success the demand and price of Harlequin products will increase.

As always, property investment isnt for everyone, off-plan and overseas investment is even more prone to difficulties, also this is quite a unique and new concept - it really is a matter of doing your own DD before investing with confidence - and then holding your nerve!

Debbie

Debbie

You should be careful what you quote as an agent. Harlequin for a fact have not refunded all deposits due to investors.

Tracey, you may also wish to read this artcile published in the Daily Express last month.

http://www.express.co.uk/features/view/154474/Recession-2010-When-hotspots-turn-cold

Please read the comment at the bottom of the article too regarding due diligence.

Regards

Jamfix

I replied as an investor, but admited being an Agent for transparency.

I think we're all in agreement that what matters is doing your own, independent DD and being aware of what the risks mean for you personally.

However, there are always people prepared to bash and critisise you for your investment, whatever it may be, I was offering my positive thoughts on my investment and the investment that Tracey has already made.

Debbie

hi Tracey,

I am an invesstor in Buccament Bay and was keen on the project however with the delays and now the so called second phase, which we were never told about has made me nervous, as  to when the second phase will open, they say late 2010 or even 2011 but I think it could be 2012 when the new airport opens .

I thnk the main problem is the lack of information coming out of Harlequin themselfs, so we are in limbo not knowing when we could expect the finance to be in place and then receive some of our deposits back.

Do you have any news to pass on,? 

 I feel when it does come on line it will be a great resort

I suggest you go back to Harlequin and ask all the quesitons you want answers for. There are some regular updates also posted on their website.

Go to the SP homepage and type in 'harlequin' as a search term. There are 17 pages of posts about Harlequin. They are very checkered indeed. They also had a discussion removed from another well-known forum by threatening the forum owners with some of the most expensive lawyers in the business. No discussion, no debate, just threats. While I applaud Phil's courage in refusing to bow to threats I hope it doesn't come back at him.

Ask yourself, if you had read those posts before, would you have invested? I know I keep banging on about this, but if investors did basic due diligence, doing a FORUM SEARCH and a GOOGLE SEARCH using the manes of anyone they are thinking of investing in as search terms, they could SAVE THEMSELVES THOUSANDS with a few minute's work.

Oh well, hard lessons learnt, I suppose. 

Richard

Whilst I applaud your enthusiasm for outing rogue agents and companies,  and agree with you entirely about people doing their own DD, I would caution that alot of negative press about companies on these forums are from people with no experience of buying property, no knowledge of the increased problems of buying property abroad and in some cases these posters dont even have actual experience of the company involved. This then turns into heresay.

I am guilty of bating and posting greviances against several companies that I have lost money with (Chris Long, Gekko, R2i) but based on my factual experiences. I realise others have had bad experiences of Harlequin but I am an investor in one of their developments.  We are experienced investors (with good and bad experiences), I have spoken to the staff, my partner has met with them, we receive regular updates, we have asked pertanent questions and I am  impressed with the company and VERY positive about the future of my investment. I think your comment "these are not nice people" is a little strong and perhaps even liabellous; we need the forums to be factual, or unfortunately forum owners will have to bow to pressure to remove these threads and DD will be all the much poorer.

Debbie