WE have a small apartment in Kapparis on the east coast of Cyprus that we bought with the intention of renting to tourists. The property developer we bought it from promised us that we would get an annual return between 15% and 20% on our investment, but the only people who have rented it so far are our friends and family.
We have been trying to sell it for nearly a year and get our money back, but no-one is interested in buying. Can you suggest what we can do? It’s a two bedroom apartment about 100 yards from the sea.
Answer
I’m afraid there are many, many people in the same situation as yourselves. There is a huge over-supply of property on the market at the present time and finding a buyer for a run of the mill 2 bedroom holiday apartment may prove very difficult.
There are a number of websites where you can advertise your apartment free or for a small charge. I suggest that you ‘dress’ each of the rooms, take some photographs and put together a good promotional write-up.
Some time ago I came across a very good website called ‘Lay My Hat‘. It’s completely free (although they do accept donations) and is full of free advice, ideas and suggestions for holiday rental home owners.
I should also add that it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll achieve 15% – 20% ROI as ‘promised’ by your developer; if you manage to get 4%, you’ll be very lucky. Unfortunately, some of these people value money in the bank more than their good name and reputation and will lie through their teeth to achieve a sale.
