Meet the team: Magnus Nystedt

Thinking about moving to Mallorca? In this issue, our sales agent Magnus Nystedt shares with us his own experiences. Magnus moved from Sweden to Mallorca with his wife Maria and their two sons. He was attracted by the quality of life here and the ideal climate. Prior to Mallorca, Magnus worked as an office manager at the SEB office in the Old Town of Stockholm. Now he is a senior sales agent at Mallorcafastigheter working mainly with luxury properties in Palma and the southwest areas of Mallorca.

Q: Where, when and why did you move to Mallorca?
A: I moved with my family to Bonanova in 2013. We wanted to live in a country with warmer climate again after living in Asia earlier. We started looking for work opportunities, schools, good healthcare and climate and the best option was Mallorca, a choice we have never regretted.

Q: What do you like most about the life here?
A: The climate is fantastic, especially in autumn and spring. I get the opportunity to spend more time with my family than before and practice outdoor sports such as golf, paddle and running all year round.

Q: What were the major challenges during the move?
A: The Spanish bureaucracy, many things take more time than you expect.

Q: What is the biggest cultural difference you have experienced between your new country and life back home?
A: The social life is different here. You spend more time with friends and in a different way from Sweden, it’s less pretentious. It’s more important to see each other and hang out, than to make a perfect dinner. You often meet at restaurants or do some kind of activity with your friends, you don’t spend that much time at home. The children become trilingual because they go to an international school, which is a big plus. You buy food in a different way here too; you buy the meat at the butcher, the vegetables in the market and the bread at the bakery, not at home where you usually shop everything you need in one single store. The shopping here takes a little more time, but it is more enjoyable.

Q: What advice would you give to anyone following in your footsteps?
A: You need to have patience in your everyday life, an economic buffer and try to learn Spanish as soon as possible.

Q: Favorite restaurant on the island?
A: With my wife I like to go to Canela, on a crossroad to Jaime III. If we eat Saturday lunch with the children in town, we like to go to Bi Bap at Plaça del Mercat. Cas Xorc in Sóller is also good with fantastic food and beautiful views.

Q: Favorite beach?
A: Playa del Muro

Q: What is the best thing about living in Mallorca´s countryside?
A: Definitely the proximity to nature. You can clearly see all four season, there is always blooming. We have our own large garden with chickens and we can grow our own vegetables. If you want to bike or hike in the mountains, it is very close.

Q: The best hike around the area is…?
A: A good relatively easy walk that suits even with children, is the hike up to Castel Alaró from the restaurant Es Verger where you can park the car. I recommend to have lunch there after the walk, their lamb is delicious.

Q: Which are your two favourite villages here?
A: Esporles and Sóller

Q: The local vineyard  you like best is…?
A: Difficult to say, there are so many good vineyards on the island. One place I do recommend is to buy your meat on Angus Mallorca, they are also opening a vineyard now. It is located just five minutes from where I live so I go there everyday on the way to my children’s school. 

Meet the team: Patrik Flyving

Patrik joined our sales team in 2015, moving from the boat business to the property business. Patrik knows the island well since he has spent his summers in Mallorca since 1981. In 2006 Patrik moved to Mallorca permanently and worked as Captain & First officer/ Engineer in the super yacht charter industry. Now he enjoys being on dry land, living in central Palma. Patrik loves to sail and surf. At our office, he is the expert when it comes to new production properties within the Palma area. Patrik tells us a little more about himself and life in Mallorca:

I like Mallorca because… to me it has everything all 4 seasons: mountains, increadible beaches, biking and watersports.
I live in…Palma de Mallorca & Pollenca bay
In my freetime I…spend time with my baby and my fiancee, windsurf, mountainbike and hike… my Mallorquin friends think i put toghether Ikea furniture.
The best word in Spanish is… Hooombre!
If I could invite somebody for lunch, it would be… Bill Murray, Chevy chase Bob Dylan take your pick
When I want to do something special I…go straight out into Mallorca´s nature.
My favourite place on the island….Punta Avancada in Pollenca bay.
My latest purchase is…3 Ezzy taka sails.
Swedish and Mallorcans are…a perfect mix!
My favourite area to invest right now is….  Son Armadans. It is a very spanish area with very diverse propert types and plenty of green areas. Son Armadans has palatial buildings, small townhouses and incredible Penthouses!

Josephine presents the property we all have been waiting for: A fabulous new listing on the sunny side of the Palma Tennis

IMG_5227Our sales agent Josephine just listed this incredible, modern home for just under 1 million Euro by the Palma Sport & Tennis Club. “This property is truly one of a kind. A very special place. Its location is perfect being directly at the Tennis club and a few steps away from Santa Catalina, Palma´s prime location,” explains Josephine. The apartment has two spacious terraces, one of which has exceptional views. It is located on the eighth floor of a well-kept building with elevator, parking and storage room.

Renovated in 2006, the apartment is in tip-top condition. If desired, the new owners could easily open up the kitchen to the living room. Thanks to the terraces on either side of the property and its perfect southwest orientation, the property gets sun all day long. In total, there are 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, 2 of them en-suite.

For more pictures and information refer to our website Ref. MF1559

IMG_2948 IMG_2925 IMG_2944 IMG_2974

Top Four Fixer-Uppers on The Market in Palma

Anyone who’s ever watched an hour of renovation realities on TV, or renovated a property before, knows that miracles are possible with a little elbow grease and a checkbook. For many, fixer-uppers are the best option in Mallorca´s escalating real estate market. Here, we’ve highlighted four properties in need of some major TLC that could be true gems:

Studio with spectacular views in Cala MajorIMG_2338

Asking: 79.000 Euro Ref.: MF1531 

What we love: Aside from the price, we love the fabulous view you have from the apartment. The terrace is large enough to be able to sit outside and enjoy the sun. The beach is very close and there is a 24 hour concierge, which is always handy to have. 

What I would do about it: We would definitely renovate the bathroom, put in a new kitchen, floor and paint. Some nice plants on the terrace can give it a final touch. With this, the apartment can be an excellent step-in property or a rental property that can go for about 500 Euro/month.

Large apartment on a quiet street of Son Armadans1

Asking: 500.000 Euro Ref.: PL001

What we love: Spacious and bright rooms. Oversized living room on two levels with access to two large terraces. Lovely vintage floors and views to the gardens and the Church of Son Armadans.

What we´d do: The kitchen and the bathrooms need a complete makeover. We would keep the original flooring. We would throw some walls: between the kitchen and the living room and between the two smaller bedrooms.


Beautiful townhouse with terrace in Santa Catalina
DSC01415

Asking: 895.000 Euro Ref.: MF1378

What we love: Hip Santa Catalina location, traditional two floor townhouse, wooden beams, private patio with possibility of additional roof terrace.

What we´d do: The possibilities here are endless. We would add a garage, redo the bathrooms, move the kitchen to the patio side and add a roof terrace to gain sun all day long.

Authentic townhouse to renovate in Son Armadans
DSC00984

Asking: 370.000 Euro Ref.: MF1408

What we love: Great location close to the new Palma Sport & Tennis Club. Wooden beams, fireplace. It can be turned into two apartments or left as a single family home..

What we´d do: The house needs a full update so you need to go in with quite an open budget. Renovating but keeping the original traditional features would add big style and increase the future resale value significantly.

Vivian Grunblatt: “The Swedish client is the ideal counterforce against seasonality”

Vivian

The founder of Mallorcaresidencia, Vivian Grunblatt, was interviewed on May 8, 2016 by El Mundo, one of Spain’s largest newspapers, regarding the Swedish real estate market in Mallorca:

She greets me with a tray of freshly baked cookies and despite her name, her Nordic looks and her slightly untraceable accent, there is no doubt that this woman is a native Majorcan. She was born on the island and grew up in a city much less active than the one we see today, studied political science in the United States and later discovered that her vocation lay in the world of business and entrepreneurship. Today, her real estate agency is one of the most significant when it comes to understanding the Swedish customer. This despite of an increased competition to capture the demand of a market that is not so large – about ten million people – but ever so lucrative and secure. The interview, of course, takes place in Santa Catalina, the Little Sweden of Palma.

Q: What led you to bet on the Swedish market at a time when it had just started to develop? Were you somewhat of a visionary?

A: I started this project ten years ago, in 2005, for quite some circumstantial reasons. At first I operated from Sweden, because my husband worked as a consultant for an international company based there. Before that, I had owned a company linked to the real estate business but more related to property services, which I sold upon moving. For me, at the time, doing this work was a way of offering a product that I knew well, in combination with having a job which allowed me to return frequently to Mallorca. After all, it is the place where I was born. My parents are Hungarian and came here in 1973. As simple as that! Imagine, at that time we were only three real estate agencies who worked towards the Swedish market. Now there are thirteen, and that includes several large Swedish companies who have opened branches in Palma. Only between 2013 and 2015, I estimate that the turnover has grown by 100% which has also meant a big change in the profile of our clients.

Q: Was it difficult to sell Mallorca to the Swedish public?

A: At first, yes. Keep in mind that most of them barely knew the island, or rather had a distorted view of it: they knew it was a summer resort, maybe they had spent a weekend with the family at the beach in Alcudia, and they had heard of Magaluf (with all that implies). Basically, there was some prejudice. In fact, during the first two years my main job consisted of travelling with clients to the island. We would spend a week exploring both city and countryside, while I was trying to convince them that this destination is unbeatable. Of course, it succeeded. Then, in 2007, we moved back to Mallorca, the family grew, my husband joined the agency and everything changed for us…

Q: Did you start out here in Santa Catalina? I ask because I find the fascination that Swedes have for the area so interesting. Do you have a theory about this?

A: Yes, from the beginning we set up here, basically because we lived in the neighborhood at the time (not anymore). We hit the nail on the head choosing the location, but it was a total coincidence! We started out in a smaller office, we moved to the current in 2009… And now this one is getting a bit crowded! In fact, for a while we had a second office in San Agustin, since we also work a lot in that area, but our sales agents prefer to work here. As for the Swedish fondness for this particular area… Well, it’s hard to explain, but there is definitely some connection because the whole phenomenon goes way back. There have always been some Swedish establishments in Santa Catalina, even when there were very few Swedes living in Palma. I think our customers like the fact that it’s a lively, relatively independent neighborhood; perhaps they find the atmosphere in for example the Old Town a bit too metropolitan. However, it is undisputed that Swedish media has written extensively about the area lately, and Santa Catalina as well as Palma (note: Palma, not Mallorca) has turned into somewhat of an obsession for the Swedes.

Q: How do you capture your clients?

A: We barely have any walk-in clients, directly from the street. Our promotional work mainly transpires in Sweden, where we do a lot of publicity. We have optimized the use of the website, we assist real estate fairs in Sweden and our agents sometimes spend whole weekends there for client meetings…

But the most important thing by far, is that during these ten years we have made a name and created a good reputation, allowing us to grow and prosper.

Q: You mentioned earlier that the upswing of the Swedish market has caused a change in your clients’ profile. Could you explain this?

A: In the early years, we worked with much younger people, couples in their early forties, sometimes looking for a vacation home but mostly wanting to invest in real estate. This has changed in the last six years, perhaps due to the financial crisis. The fact is that the clients now dominating the market are people born in the fifties. They are retired or semiretired, with savings and quite a lot of money, and are eager to enjoy life. This, of course, has consequences on the type of property they demand. In 2007 people wanted to buy in Santa Ponsa, Andratx and on the east coast… They were often interested in new productions with communal areas, suitable for families with children. The new type of customer prefers an apartment that allows them to walk anywhere, not giving much importance to the number of square meters. What they do often want, however, is a good terrace to enjoy the sun on. But otherwise, they are looking for an urban environment that lets them enjoy the island life. Another very interesting aspect is that these clients prefer – if the weather allows – to spend the summer in Sweden. They buy a property in Palma to spend one week per month here between September and April. I think this is kind of the ideal client for an island that is always looking for ways to combat the seasonality.

Q: These new clients, what areas and neighborhoods are they interested in?

A: The greatest demand is definitely in the center of Palma, but areas as Cala Major, Cas Català, Illetes and Portals are also popular. Within the city, as we have already established, the absolute favorite is Santa Catalina, but lately we are also noticing a huge demand in the area of Son Espanyolet and around the new Sport and Tennis Club.

Q: Son Espanyolet?

A: Yes, the city is expanding in that direction, at least when it comes to our clients, who often find the city center a bit too urban. The Swede wants terrace and sun, which can still be found in Son Espanyolet. This year, we have started up a new department that advises developers on new works that fit the Swedish demand. We have been involved in three projects already, all of which consisted in recovering and restoring abandoned buildings in Santa Catalina and Son Espanyolet. All three projects were sold long before the construction work even began. Working with restoring is very exciting and so much fun. After all, this is where the future of the property sector on the island lies.

Q: What progress do you predict for the Swedish market in the next few years?

A: It will definitely keep growing. In the next three years, I think everything will be just fine. In fact, right now there is more demand than supply, at least regarding the demand from our clients. One has to keep in mind that the Swedish society is much about trends, and right now Mallorca is very trendy. Previously, it was Marbella or the French Riviera, but we simply offer more: better connections, higher security, and a city that is active all year round. When I was growing up it was different, but nowadays Palma is almost like a mini version of Barcelona.

Q: The danger with trends, is that they pass. What can be done to preserve the market you dedicate so much time and effort to?

A: Right now, we are the perfect destination for the Swedish clients. The challenge will be to stay as we are, which is not that easy. The other day I heard someone compare the center of Palma with Venice, which may seem exaggerated, but it is true that sometimes the flood of people here is impressive. Mallorca is so attractive because it is a place where one can rest, relax and enjoy the well-preserved landscape. Despite many mistakes of the past, so far we have managed to keep all that; I think it is worth to continue. But to suggest something a little more concrete, it would be to further increase the focus on businesses offering a traditional product in a modern, attractive packaging.

The original article can be read here:

http://www.elmundo.es/baleares/2016/05/08/572efa43268e3ebf0c8b45e6.html

Tax representative in the office

IMG_6330-

Monica Sala helps you with any questions about taxes

During the months of July and August our tax representative Monica Sala will be available to talk to you in our Santa Catalina office every Wednesday from 9.30 to 13.00 o´clock. As homeowners in foreign countries, you are required to submit an annual tax return for non-residents/residents. Monica is from Mallorca, speaks fluent English and can help you with tax declarations and other related questions. If you would like to book an appointment with Monica, please contact us.

Lawyer in Mallorca

montisabogados

Spanish, English & Swedish speaking lawyer in Mallorca

If you want advice regarding investments in Spain then you can contact Montis Abogados, a law firm that was founded in 1983 by Mallorcan lawyers from a family of prestigious lawyers.

g_6foto_img11_10_41This is where Nathalia Rigo Olausson is working, a Swedish-speaking lawyer and Honorary consul, offering legal advice in a possible purchase or investment. She can also help with questions regarding completion of purchase, such as tax returns and leases.
Mallorcaresidencia has partnered with Nathalia over the past ten years, when she helped our clients when buying their properties, so that the process is as efficient and convenient as possible.
Monti’s law firm is one of the leaders in Mallorca with over 35 years experience with the opportunity to offer advice in various areas of law. Their primary goal is to provide the highest quality service and as far as possible meet the client’s wishes.
For more information, visit www.montisabogados.com

The real estate market in Mallorca

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA
80703_3693
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
811174_30180005Mallorca has a very stable and attractive real estate market. It is one of the most popular islands in the Mediterranean when it comes to choosing a place for your second home. With its unspoiled beauty that has been maintained with the right balance between infrastructures and preserving the island’s natural charm, Mallorca has kept his top position in popularity. There are many reasons for this.Mallorca is more international than ever with a vibrant capital and a lively multinational community that offers a fantastic lifestyle to the expatriate residents.The modern infrastructure of Mallorca has been important for its success like the modern international airport with competitive prices and only two hours flying time to all the major European capital cities, numerous top class hospitals and clinics with high standards and several international schools with excellent reputations.The fantastic climate with 300 days of sunshine every year with mild winters and enjoyable summers doesn’t disappoint either. Many leisure activities such as hiking, golfing, sailing, windsurfing and cycling can be enjoyed all year round. The safety factor also makes Mallorca an attractive choice because it is one of the safest regions in Spain to live. There is a low crime rate compared to other popular areas around the Mediterranean.Mallorca’s cosmopolitan atmosphere blended with its culture and unique character makes Mallorca an irresistible destination for buyers of their first or second home.The ongoing success of Mallorca’s real estate market is mainly thanks to the fact that the island attracts not only a strong national Spanish market but also an excellent spectrum of international buyers with the British and Germans emerging as the dominant European clients and Scandinavians, French, Swiss, Irish and Russians catching up lately.Mallorca’s reputation as a quality and luxury destination has impacted the real estate market, particularly in the last ten years, with high demand for sea front locations, historic properties and traditional “finca” style. The island offers excellent medium-long term opportunities as a safe and secure investment.

For more information about the island click here

Click the following link to see our latest properties click here

Property of the week

2045_bda1bbfebf4ae84e7a80d2f415a7cb47

Elegant apartment with two terraces in Santa Catalina.

This elegant apartment is located on a quiet street of Santa Catalina, Palma. The building has recently been renovated and has unique Spanish features such as a nice entrance with wooden beams.
The apartment is located on the second floor accessible with easy stairs. It is very bright thanks to many windows. It has a constructed surface of 100 m2 plus two terraces of 10 and 15 m2. The roof terrace has very nice views of the Palma Harbour. The large living room is combined with an open kitchen and there is a separate dining area. There are two bedrooms, one bathroom and one guest toilette.
Additional information: Wooden floors and windows with climatic double glass, quality wooden doors, gas central heating and central air-conditioning, satellite TV, street parking.
Santa Catalina is a trendy district of Palma which is very close to Club Nautico. It is famous with its restaurants,street cafes and the lively market hall. It is a short walking distance to the Baluard Museum and to the city center. The Palma city beach in front of the cathedral can be reached in 10 minutes. A quick bus service takes you to the airport and the various beaches. Santa Catalina is one of the most sought-after areas with its original 3-storey fisherman cottages and the tree-lined streets.

For more information and pictures Click here

Property of the week

2468_e05ecdd28573310c41a8280e12d5426f
Incredible ground floor with sea views in Cala Major

This luxury ground floor apartment has been completely refurbished. The modern and bright apartment with a spaciousness floor plan provides a nice terrace facing south and direct access to the sea.
The living area of 145 m2 is spread over three bedrooms and three bathrooms, two en-suite bathrooms. There is a fully equipped kitchen, a bright living-dining area and a chill-out area with direct access to a shower room.
Additional information: mains electric, mains water, asphaltic access road, hot water via electric boiler and parking with electric garage door.
Cala Major is a vibrant area with restaurants and cafes open all year round. There are many people who visit the famous beach because of the good public transport. It takes about 5 minutes by car to Palma City and 15 minutes to the airport.

For more information and picture Click here

Open chat
1
More than a real estate agency
Welcome to Mallorcaresidencia! How can we help you?