Sonhos do Mar

[peko]

Hi there,

Has anyone invested or come across the Sonhos do Mar development in Pium, Natal (Brazil)? And in what stage is the development as it should be finished by the end of November, but the website of the developer only shows 2 houses half finished and some road to be built. Can anyone help?

Thanks

 

[JMBroad]

Hi Peko and welcome to the forums.

I came across the development while doing market research for a European real estate agency. At the time I was responsible for doing market research and analysis with regards to real estate investments in several different countries, one of which was Brazil.

Traditionally developers took as much as six months to provide all the legal paperwork on their developments. In this case, the developer brought all licenses and paperwork to the first meeting with me. At that time I lived and worked in Spain but came to Brazil regularly to check developments and speak to the locals.

After about three months checking the legalities and reputation of the developer together with the law firm we worked with it was approved for sale by our company as a safe investment. This was back in late October 2008. In December 2009 due to the credit crisis sales of investment property had slowed considerably and the company I was working for had to reduce headcount and as a result I chose to leave the company. Shortly afterwards the owner of the development company building Sonhos do Mar invited me to move to Brazil and handle international sales which I did - I moved to Natal in January 2009.

I don't do advertising on these forums as I'm a moderator however there are numerous people who read these forums who know me personally (from before and after I started working for the developer) so I'll leave it to them to give their opinions on the development - several have stood on the plot and seen the development and some have invested.

Regarding construction - as you mentioned there are regular updates on the website. The house you can see which is built was done mainly as a test of how long construction will take - it took two months to build. As such construction on the remaining houses started late last month (delivery of the development is at the end of November) - the new photos will be updated on the website by the end of the week but anyone can request copies to be sent directly to them through our website. (We changed website administrators about two months ago and they aren't quite keeping up with adding the photos to the website as fast as we'd like - I have a meeting with them tomorrow morning to discuss exactly that).

95% of the development has been sold. Two months ago as we had very few units left to sell we sent out an email to all investors offering to do resales for them if they wanted - only a handful did want to resell and some of them have already sold through us.

Hopefully some of the people on the forums who know the development can clear up any other questions you have however if not, please feel free to contact me directly.

 

[JMBroad]

Peko - if you check the website now you'll see the updated photos - I have photos taken today which shows the speed at which the construction of the villas is progressing however due to the arrangement with the website administrators they only update construction photos every 15 days (I know that is already very good but I'm still working on that to make it faster as I prefer the ability to update photos every day when I get back from the site) however if you'd like to receive the latest photos I can send them by email.

Keep in mind that the development is two sides - one side (where the road is currently being built) is only plots - on that side houses will be built by the people who bought after the development is delivered. The other side is the part where the houses are being built by us and will be delivered by the end of the year.

Feel free to ask any other questions you want and I'll try and clarify any questions you have.

 

[peko]

Thanks a lot for the detailed information and update. Looks like you are familiar with this project.
Thanks again

 

[abscident]

Hi there!

Can any of you show me the official website of this project? I have found it on many websites, but none of them has such detailed information like recent images.

Best!

 

[peko]

Hi there,

The official website is : grupnatalbrasil dot com. You can see updated photos there.
As far as I know that is the developers site.

Good luck

 

[JMBroad]

Hi there,

The official website is : grupnatalbrasil dot com. You can see updated photos there.
As far as I know that is the developers site.

Good luck

Yes it is our site Peko - Sorry if I was at all unclear - I work for the developer coordinating overseas sales - if I can help with any other information you need feel free to ask.

As mentioned before we are currently updating construction photos every two weeks.

 

[JMBroad]

Here are some more recent photos - still about a week old but as you can see, the houses are well under way with construction. I'll upload some new ones in a few days to see the progress.

The photo of the road (last photo) is the side of the development without houses - only plots. This is the oldest photo and I took it from right at the end of the development at the end of last month so by now they have closed the road (they were working from both sides to meet in the middle) and the light posts are up. Obviously the sewage, fresh water and drainage has already been done prior to doing the road.

Hope that clarified any questions otherwise feel free.

 

[JMBroad]

A couple more, also a few days old but good to see the difference between days of work. I'll get new ones latest on Monday.

 

[abscident]

Hi there,

The official website is : grupnatalbrasil dot com. You can see updated photos there.
As far as I know that is the developers site.

Good luck

Thanks! It was very helpful.

Any idea how many houses are still available, and if the price is the same as on the website? How much would it be in EURO?

Thank you.

 

[JMBroad]

Of the 65 plots there are 5 currently available (all are resales) average plot size is around 450 m2 and the price is R$ 82.000,00.

Of the 48 houses there are currently 9 still available (one resale) 100 m2, 3 bedrooms, price is R$ 188.500,00

As mentioned we are dedicated to helping our investors resell their units when they decide to exit their investment - some resales have already taken place and as you can see we advertise resales alongside the units we still have to sell.

 

[peko]

Thanks JM for the update and the photos. Look forward to see some new ones.
Thanks again.

Have a good day

 

[abscident]

Thanks for the info JMBroad

 

[Anthony]

If anyone wants some current photos, just let me know. I have just returned from Natal and was on site with the developer. There is still some work to do to complete the houses, but some investors have requested to take a later delivery. The plots side is completed withroad and services. They have also started on the communal area.

 

[abscident]

If anyone wants some current photos, just let me know. I have just returned from Natal and was on site with the developer. There is still some work to do to complete the houses, but some investors have requested to take a later delivery. The plots side is completed withroad and services. They have also started on the communal area.

Can you please post some of the pictures here?

 

[JMBroad]

As requested abscident

Cheers

John

As you can see from the photos this month as well as the houses coming along nicely there was a lot of drainage added near the leisure areas, electricity was installed and connected on the site, lighting and drainage prepared for the leisure areas and connected to the sewage system on site which leads to the water treatment plant down by the river, the road is practically finished, parking areas for both leisure areas are being finished now and the water tanks are being put in place.

 

[Anthony]

JMBroad's photos show the completed (almost) plots section. I'll post some on the villas under construction now, but they will be a bit out of date as construction is moving fast.

 

[Anthony]

Sohos do Mar October

These are some photos from when I was on site. They are progressing well, but there is still a lot to get done. The developer intends to deliver those houses that are sold by the end of November (might be tight) and some investors have requested delivery a couple of months later.

Even if there is a delay of a month or so, it will be well worth waiting for as in my opinion, it is a good value development with excellent facilities in a good location.

 

[JMBroad]

Looks so much better when the photos are taken during the day and there are plenty of workers around - when I take them last thing in the afternoon all the workers are getting ready to leave.

 

[Coqueiro]

Be lucky for January 2010, you dont want them to do a rush and bodge job, you will only have to pay later while the mistakes are corrected.