buying property in goa

GoanCanuck

Considering the fact that you are interested in staying in an area where there are late night bars, you can safely rule out Panjim. No booze after 11pm in Panjim and there is a heavy police presence at night time. So if you are roaming around Panjim late at night be prepared to answer lots of uncomfortable questions as well as have your passport and licence examined.

I will still strongly advise you against Calangute for the following reasons:-

1) From middle of December to middle of January Calangute gets flooded with tens of thousands of Indian tourists as well package tourists from Russia and Britain. What this means is that all the prices get jacked up and it becomes impossible at times to get a table in a decent restaurant. There are also some very unsavoury characters who make Calangute their home base during this time period.

2) Compared to Colva and Benaulim, Calangute has more water and electricity shortages especially from March to May.

3) The prices of apartments in Calangute have been increased to ridiculous levels. Why pay more for nothing? You can get a better apartment in Anjuna for a lesser price plus the expat community in Anjuna/Vagator.

cwcwdavid

Mmmm OK thanks. So what you are saying is that Calangute is my only choice if the requirement for late nite drinking-eating year round is a fixed basic need? [I know I've lived too long in cities esp Bangkok which must be one of the most convenient places on earth. Unfortunately the air disagrees with my lungs there.]

On the xmas thing completely no problem for me as I much to prefer to avoid places where xmas is celebrated and a month in BKK at xmas new year can certainly becopme a fixture on my year agenda. Was there already for this year.

And the prices I have seen are just cheap anyway. so cheap + 20% or cheap - 20% is still cheap. Anyway unless I see more quality I suspect a house is more likely purchase. The main thinking about an apartment was that it would be safer to leave empty for periods. Giving Indian attitude to working (don't when the boss isn't looking) ... I wonder how much differrence it makes paying for security guards anyway at apartments/resorts.

Still undecided if I really want to stay. Right now discovering that travel GOI-BKK which is 4+ hrs total fly-time is *all of* a. expensive , b. inconvenient timings (leave or depart middle of nite), c. takes forever (the quickest I've found is via BLR at 9hrs+ going but 4am arrival. Return trip arrives back 9pm in BLR so requires an overnite on the way back). Well still investigating that but Penang would be much simpler from this pov. Less easy to travel to London maybe.

On Colva and Benaulim, are you there now? Or have you been out of season?
I'm assuming they are as dead as Baga and Candolim but willing to be corrected and then maybe I'll go down to take a look.

On arrival at Baga I was told by a canadian PIO who owns a guest house that Anjuna is dangerous at the moment [off season] and tourists are frequently attacked-mugged. (Good first day things to hear :-)). Anyone know if there is any truth in this?

GoanCanuck

Yes, Colva and Benaulim will be deserted at this time of the year.

Fear mongering. Tourists have been mugged in the past at almost all the beaches in Goa at all times of the year but these incidents have been few and far between. In fact Calangute and Candolim have experienced the highest number of thefts but this is probably due to the higher number of tourists in these places.


Having 24hrs security makes a difference. The average thief will stay away. Buying a detached house comes with its own set of problems. These houses require more maintenance and they are difficult to resell and if you have electrical and water problems you are stuck on your own. A detached house left unoccupied is an invitation for thieves.

shere

Thanks for your advice.

Wow were the constructions that shoddy ? Did you manage to plug the leaks ?

Is there something similar to the house surveys we get done in the UK available in Goa ?

GoanCanuck

None that I know of. Your best bet is to stick to a reputed civil construction company. There are plenty of fly by night operators in this line of work in Goa and you have to do your research before making an investment. Construction quality in Goa does tend to be shoddy and you have to be careful.
If you want the names and addresses of the best contractors in Goa then send me a PM.

crvlvr

I just want to reiterate Goancanuck's comment. I spent some time at calungute this past NYE and things were so bad, I'll never go back to Goa during NYE egain.

Even though Indian constriuction can be shoddy, do consider the extreme amount of rainfall that they receive. very few structures can stand up to that much rain.

oldhippie

Yes but it cost me a lot of $$ and I had a contractor from Bombay do the job.
I took a friend over from HK who is an AP and he sais the construction materials & workmanship were not as good.

__________________
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Goafizz

Try the following
The Goan Estate Agency in Calangute

www.goanhomes.com

I got a good response from them