ARCHIVED - Auction hide and seek for Camposol property

Camposol property entered in State online auction but would potential buyers be able to find it?

A villa on Camposol’s Sector A was entered into the State online auction by the Murcia Judicial Authority on October 18, when the bidding deadline was set on November 7 at 6pm, potentially offering a chance for someone to snap up a bargain, although the property would definitely fall into the “Project” or “doer-upper” category.

Properties on the Camposol development appear in the State auction from time to time, including the sell-off of the constructor's assets in 2017 when over 100 properties were cleared by the bankruptcy administrator - some for less than 6,000 euros - and also in 2018 when the Sensol Hotel was sold to the highest bid of over 3.8 million euros.

But the first obstacle for potential speculators for the latest property was to actually finding the place,! The location given in the auction listing was Puerto de Mazarrón, which is obviously wrong, in the full description the address was given as Calle Córdoba and again this is wrong. However, the description includes the catastral (land registry) reference, showing that property is situated on Calle Huelva.

Yet this was also wrong, but a lead to the real whereabouts was hidden in the small print: the clue is "RU-32".

RU-32 is a polígono or manzana on Camposol Sector A and while Calle Córdoba does not feature in the RU-32 poligono, Calle Huelva does. Eventually, a search of local streets found the illusive villa on Calle Málaga. While from an external viewing it is very evident that the property has at some time been extensively embellished, including a kidney shaped swimming pool with terracing and balustrading, it is also quite evident that those days were many years ago.

Neighbours report that the owners departed around eight years ago and since then the villa has been left to fall into a sorry state of disrepair and become attractive to squatters, so the hope was that the auction would produce a new owner that would lavish some care and attention on the villa and prevent it from being an eyesore. Unfortunately, with its whereabouts being somewhat unclear there was some concern that potential bidders would not be able to find it.

As the bidding days went by no bids were made but in fact as the auction entered its final hour it became apparent that at least 2 potential bidders had solved the riddle of the property’s location as a flurry of bidding started. The bidding was so intense that the deadline had to be extended by 40 minutes and when it ceased a winner was clear with a highest bid of over 88,000 euros.

No doubt the winning bidder will have plans for the property and the neighbours will hope that work will start soon, although transferring ownership can take 6 months plus commissions, transfer tax and other costs will need to be paid, but maybe in the not too distant future the villa, swimming pool and garden will be restored to its former glory.

For more local news, events and other information go to the home page of Camposol Today.