Buying a Home in Morocco

Morocco in North Africa is a popular part of the world for tourists, home buying and new development hunters as Morocco welcomes overseas property & home buyers. With next to no nt, leading the way to revitalising Morocco. Stable country coupled with booming home buying andrestrictions on foreigners home buying, property development areas are being erected to fuel the demand of second home owners and invest opportunity.

Popular, Morocco government is keen to drive through change throughout the entire country and home buying and property development is attracting foreign direct investme property market Morocco can offer a range of opportunities for all budgets and tastes. With Morocco being a warm climate and a country close to the equator it offers many months of sun with much less expensive property in comparison than other similar countries in the region.

With Morocco having a history of home buying & property ownership without deeds it is always best to check title deeds with older property. Older townhouses and land in Morocco tends to present a small problem when it comes to transferring title ownership as it takes much longer to secure deeds for a home & property without deeds. A new built home tends to provide a straight forward home buying ownership opportunity as new deeds and home ownership legal issues can arranged by your lawyer.

Buying Process

- Viewing trips to Morocco looking at potential property and homes.

- Deal direct with home owners with older property as this tends to be the normal practice. Also a good idea to consult with a good English

- English speaking estate agent that will provide suitable property and homes for you to look at.

- View property developers new built apartments and homes.

- Decide on a final price when home buying, which is another custom in Morocco.

- Agree a final price for the property or home.

- Gain the agreement of the home owner or owners to sell the property and accept the terms. - Appoint a lawyer to conduct a survey, legal checks, title deeds check and home ownership of the property.

- Preliminary contract is drawn up when both parties agree the change of home ownership that will detail all terms and conditions.

- Pay a deposit at the initial agreement stage which tends to be higher than other countries.

- Lawyer will also check to see if there is any outstanding debts on the property, as the new owner would inherit all debts when home buying in Morocco.

- In general a bank account in Morocco is required for the payment of property.

- When your professional lawyer and you are happy with the property and all documentation then the final agreement to transfer is initiated by paying the final outstanding balance owed on the purchase of the home.

- Your lawyer will then officially enter the property home buying sale with the government officials. Time period from agreeing a home buying or property purchase to registering the property under your ownership can take as little as a week or months depending on if there are any issues that arise through paperwork or planning.

Fees and taxes are charged around the rate of 6.5% for buildings and land at 1% of the total sales price.

Communicating

Morocco in towns & cities have all the modern means of communication such as broadband and dial up internet, fax, telegram, telephones and mobile telephone signals. Rural areas and the desert at times a mobile telephone signal is weak or no service available and you are very advisable to plan all living and travel in mind of health & safety. Post in and out of Morocco can be slow at time, although sending international or express postage or packages should be the same service as other countries offer. Travel

Airport

Several airports in Morocco, although not all service international flights and can be difficult seeing Morocco by plane with specifically chartering a pane yourself privately.

Roads

Major highways from city to city and towns and other minor roads throughout morocco are mostly usable. Driving around some parts of the country requires four wheeled drive vehicle as the road can range from a rough uneven surface, dirt, rocky and sand. Hiring a car is no problem and driving round major towns & cities which are well sign posted. Toll road payments are present in Morocco and are payable in advance if you wish to use a toll road.

Taxis

Petit Taxi Cheap and most affordable around morocco cities and major towns. Petit taxis are only permitted to ferry passengers in one specific town or city and are not allowed outside the city limits. Grand Taxi Usable for all over Morocco and can take you most places you wish to go. More expensive and comfortable and generally are all Mercedes cars. Good idea in tourist cities to ask for a set price before starting your journey.

Buses

Transportation by bus in Morocco is fairly cheap and in major towns and cities for is set cheap for people to use the bus and afford the fare at the same time. Getting around Morocco is possible by bus and all tourist and a lot of non tourist routes are serviced every day.

Trains

Reliable trains and almost always come on time are the best mode of transport to get around at an affordable price. As like other countries there is first and second class and standard differ according to the choice of carriage you choice to travel. Moroccan national railway company (ONCF office national des chemins de fer) is taking really good care of its customers: train stations throughout Morocco are well-equipped and clean and the personnel are very friendly.

ONCF Call center: 090 20 30 40 Website: http://www.oncf.ma At present the 3 main routes services are: " Tangier-Kenitra-Rabat-Casablanca " Casablanca-Marrakech " Oujda-Fes-Meknes-Kenitra There is also a train line which connects Casablanca to the Mohammed V international airport. Plans are in place to expand the rail network to service more towns and cities throughout Morocco.

Sea

Tangier from Spain, Casablanca and other ports on the coastline of Morocco can be accessed by the sea.

Medical Assistance

Always advisable to have comprehensive medical coverage before leaving home. Morocco has good hospitals, private clinics and doctor available 24 hours a day, although in some parts of the country it is difficult to access medical care. Remote areas and the desert could mean hours before medical assistance arrives and a means of summing help such as a mobile phone is ways advisable.

Ray Blanchett RC Property Worldwide

To Market, to Market - Buying and Living in Morocco

Faring better under global recession conditions, Morocco is now one of the most stable economies in northern Africa. A youthful and progressive king, Mohammed VI has enthusiastically embraced economic development and has changed laws to make property investment easier for foreigners, providing an array of tax incentives such as low CGT, no inheritance tax and no property tax for the first five years.

His ambitious tourist project Vision 2010 aims to attract 10 million visitors a year to the country where English, French and Spanish are widely spoken, and is responsible for an extensive programme of resort development, such as the flagship Mediterranea Saidia on the north coast.

In the last ten years, house prices have more than doubled in Morocco, particularly in the popular cities of Tangiers, Marrakech, Fez, Rabat and Casablanca. Buyers have the option of an older property, such as the traditional Moroccan townhouse, or 'riad' that can be found in the medinas of the old cities, or a European colonial-style home (high ceilings, cool spaces, shutters, landscaped gardens) normally found in special development zones on the outskirts of cities, or a property within one of the big Mediterranean-style resort developments with amenities such as swimming pools, shops and restaurants.

A property in need of work can cost from £50,000 upwards, while a refurbished riad can set you back anything from £150,000 to over a million pounds. But Shaw's company can guide prospective buyers through the whole process. "Elite Morocco Properties have a team dedicated to sourcing the best riad opportunities and we can help you with everything from legal advice to renovation to management, rental and even the sale of your finished riad."

Wherever and whatever you buy, says Michael Kent of Moroccan Sands, the property company marketing the Blue Pearl Golf Resort in Saidia, make sure you take good advice. "It is fairly straightforward to buy property in Morocco and there are good tax benefits," says Kent, "but make sure you use a good independent local lawyer with knowledge of the Moroccan system. You should also ensure that all the payments you make for the property go into Morocco. This makes repatriation of the profit much easier."

Moroccan tourism's flagship Plan Azur project offers luxurious resort living in the government-backed Saidia development, which has covenants in place to cover any failure by developers. There is also a 15-year no-build guarantee on the surrounds so that the value of properties cannot be diluted by copycat developments. With shops, restaurants, sport and leisure facilities, marinas, golf courses, landscaped gardens and of course miles and miles of beaches, Saidia is at the centre of the King's Vision 2010 programme, and he often visits to monitor its progress. A variety of house styles are available, from apartments to penthouses and villas, starting at around £100,000.

When it comes to budgeting, on a £100,000 property for example, you would need to allow for around six to seven per cent to cover stamp duty, lawyer and notary fees, land registry and agent fees. So with links by air improving all the time, a glorious year-round climate and an exotic and colourful culture, Morocco seems perfect for Brits looking for some guaranteed winter sun.

What To Look Out For When You Re Buying Travel Books

Surely everyone loves a good travel book but sometimes they can be disappointing, more often, say, than a recipe or handcraft book. There are ways to avoid missing the bus.

Before forking out dollars for a travel book, ask yourself the following: am I in love with the idea of this book or the book itself? Take for example a book entitled “Gorgeous Morocco”. Are you in love with the idea of glorious Morocco or the book you are holding in your hand? To establish this you need to ask: what is the purpose of buying this book?

If you are planning a trip to Morocco and it’s nuts-and-bolts information you are seeking, then it is no good buying the incoherent ramblings of a traveling school teacher in the 1950's. It’s also no good being attracted by the photographs, because photos do lie and hardly constitute hard information. If you are simply keen on reading and learning about Morocco in general, then a book written from any angle will do, unless it is something completely off-beam, like a book written in the 1920's by a missionary, called “How I Converted Four Heathens In Morocco”.

If it’s useful travel information you are after, ask yourself: is this book up to date and properly researched? If you are holding a book called “Mainland Greece”, for instance, do a quick test. Think of a town in mainland Greece you know, such as Thrace, and see how quickly it takes to locate the section on Thrace and how useful the information is concerning accommodation, transport, restaurants, attractions, etc.

Easy-to-navigate handbooks with great indexes are just the ticket. They should be compact, so you can fit them in your hand luggage and cheap enough that if you lose them you don’t mind. The rule of thumb is that a few illustrative photographs are good – they show serious intent on the part of author and publisher to inform you – but too many photographs diminish the quality and quantity of the usable information. There should be concise historical nuggets and handy insider travel tips. There should also be complementary online resources listed for up-to-the-minute information.

If it’s not practical information you are after, but you want to feed your travel dreams and inform yourselves about countries through the ages then ask: who wrote this book? There has been a “colonization” of countries through travel writing. I mean that certain writers in English writing have become inextricably linked with writings about certain countries. They are quite simply the last word on the subject.

Lawrence Durrell and Henry Miller colonized Greece. Lawrence of Arabia colonized Arabia, Robert Lacey colonized Saudi Arabia. William Dalrymple colonized Byzantium and Delhi. The Durrells colonized Corfu. Bill Bryson colonized Australia and rural America. Lisa St. Aubin de Ter