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Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

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141–150 of 190 posts

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#141
post #7
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not unique to Spain though... And neither surprising, tbh. Who in their right mind would even want to live without stable electricity, good waste management and all the other things you take for granted in even small villages ( There is literally nothing there besides some houses. That's enough to take a break on some holiday... But very few people would be willing to suffer through that long term

My siblings were interested in buying an old place in the Spanish countryside as a BTL holiday home, but heard some worrying things about the Spanish legal attitude to inheritance that put them off second hand places. (I won’t repeat what they said; they are neither lawyers nor speakers of Spanish so I give their fears no more than 50% credence).

This can be a problem for some people, but based on the comments I've read in the years I've been reading this site most people are in favor of paying huge taxes. Let's say you pay 75% taxes, what is the problem? When you die, the state will get the place and sell it someone else that wants to pay for it; again, and again, and again. You kids will have to work and pay to get it, for the state is just $$$ profitssss. Good business.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#142
post #4

”The company recently got a boost after Gwyneth Paltrow flagged one of its villages on her website as a good Christmas present.” I thought this was a joke, but clicking on the link reveals that a $172k village in Spain was indeed listed in “gift ideas” alongside such more traditional items as a $7700 Hermès surfboard. As fitting a portrait of our present era’s wealth distribution as any. Future generations may look b…

Good grief; this has been the case for as long as there have been people. Rich people and extravagant gifts aren’t some kind of new invention. Not everything has to be a commentary on class struggle or some kind of Marxist validation. And the world isn’t burning; it is more prosperous and has higher standards of living as well as the lowest absolute poverty than any other time in history. Life expectancy has never be…

You surely must be aware that life expectancy is dropping in your country, that starving in the streets still does happen, that the wealth gap is very real, and that the planet is on a path to being uninhabitable. And yet you propose that because poor Americans are fat, that the world must be OK?

I'n not disagreeing that history repeats itself. It does. And there is good in this world. But you might want to take a wider look around a bit before declaring how great everything is.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heck, just look at the thread on the cancellation of Apple's wireless charger. Part of me wished I could post a gif of the daunting and terrifying task of putting a phone in a docking station.

You say that in jest, but that is actually how this process works. Remember when touchID came out and many people mockingly thanked Apple for not having to enter 4-6 digits? Now how many people get pissed off when their wet thumb doesn’t read right and they have to enter their pin? People get used to new luxuries.

I’m wondering if I’m not the only person who’s not locking his smart-phone. At the same time I’m also making sure to never leave it out of sight and I have no Internet banking. I also have my WiFi network at home open, have had it for more than 10 years now.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good grief; this has been the case for as long as there have been people. Rich people and extravagant gifts aren’t some kind of new invention. Not everything has to be a commentary on class struggle or some kind of Marxist validation. And the world isn’t burning; it is more prosperous and has higher standards of living as well as the lowest absolute poverty than any other time in history. Life expectancy has never be…

The WHO still considers hunger the greatest public health threat (more than AIDs, malaria, etc.). Starvation is far from a solved problem. Just because things are slowly improving doesn’t mean we can’t critique the status quo.

I disagree. You argument is because something exists, that has always existed, it should be criticized. Yet this has been consistently declining. So we are making improvements on it year over year.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#146

The big question is land ownership. Does the buyer get to own the land? Or is it more like a 100-year lease from the state? $100k for large swathes of land anywhere in Europe sounds like a steal to me.

"Ownership" is meaningless. Each region of Europe have their own laws regarding what you can and cannot do with the land you "own" and what duties and rights you get by owning it. For example, you might buy one of these houses but the building codes mandate that you renovate and preserve the exterior. Heck, in some countries you are not allowed to even live in structures outside the habitable region.

> Heck, in some countries you are not allowed to even live in structures outside the habitable region.

Isn’t that the law in most developed countries? I live in an Eastern European country that is not quite well developed and we’ve had this type of law for as long as I can remember.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#147
post #110
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know what the most energy efficient people moving device is? The counterweight elevator. It's true. Cramming a village worth of people into a highrise, surrounding it with walking distance amenities is by far the most efficient, environment friendly way of supplying said populace. Yes, you need trucks to stock said stores but then again, no matter where they live you'd still need those trucks and this way a) e…

Bollocks. It takes amazing amounts of oil to get the cheap stuff to the cities. The only reason these are more 'efficient' is because of arbitrary pricing - if we placed a higher value on oil-consumption, in terms of cost to the Earth, the cheap plastic junk wouldn't be being subsidised by our childrens future. I know its not a popular opinion, but the things that take so much oil to make and transport and deliver to…

Where is your neighbor getting their butter?

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#148
post #4

”The company recently got a boost after Gwyneth Paltrow flagged one of its villages on her website as a good Christmas present.” I thought this was a joke, but clicking on the link reveals that a $172k village in Spain was indeed listed in “gift ideas” alongside such more traditional items as a $7700 Hermès surfboard. As fitting a portrait of our present era’s wealth distribution as any. Future generations may look b…

This is the premise of the TV show Schitt’s Creek. A wealthy family bought a small village called “Schitt’s Creek” as a joke in 1991 and it ends up being their sole remaining asset after losing everything and they have to move there.

It's a pretty darn funny show to boot! Glad you mentioned this.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#149
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know what the most energy efficient people moving device is? The counterweight elevator. It's true. Cramming a village worth of people into a highrise, surrounding it with walking distance amenities is by far the most efficient, environment friendly way of supplying said populace. Yes, you need trucks to stock said stores but then again, no matter where they live you'd still need those trucks and this way a) e…

Cities provide services much more efficiently than rutal areas, but people in cities tend to consume much more. I've only seen one analysis of the issue, but the effect of that increased consumption was surprisingly big.

If your definition of city is anywhere not rural, (ie the suburbs) then I could see consumtpiom being higher since there is more stuff to buy. But living in a big city I consume much less resources because of basic facts like every item inside my small apartment has to be physically carried in by me and I have no car. I go to Costco sometimes and people with cars easily get 10 - 20x the weight of goods.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was dumbfounded just the other day when i learned that tokyo is 38 million... So basically that one city has the population of caifornia. If i were a wantrapeeneur id be seeing what app services tokyo specifically from and economic and cultural perspective as if you can monitize just fraction of tokyo businesses......

So basically that one city has the population of ca[l]ifornia. The population of Canada!

Almost double Australia!
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