Chat Ed : Giving it all up to live overseas? Looking for a holiday home? Whether you want to be near the snowy slopes and fairytale buildings of Transylvania, lying on the beach in the Costa del Sol, or admiring the architecture in Florence, A Place in the Sun is the programme for you and Bella Crane presenter of A PLACE IN THE SUN is here to chat to you now!
Bella Crane : Hi everybody! I hope you enjoyed the show. I'm looking forward to hearing your questions.
anant : hello
jetsetter : Hello! Good to see you!
fudge : Has Bella a 'place in the sun'?
yankee : Do you have a home abroad?
karen : hi there
Bella Crane : Sadly, fudge, I don't have a place in the sun at the moment, but it was very tempting looking at so many on my travels. In particular the £59,000 townhouse you saw today!
yankee : What's the best property you've seen while filming, and did the couple buy it?
Bella Crane : That's a hard question... I saw so many great properties. I think some of my favourites were those that I saw in South Africa and the house hunters we showed around Cape Town chose a particularly good one but you'll have to wait and see because that show hasn't been aired yet. I think it's in January actually that one.
Carl1979 : Were you into property sales before presenting the programme?
Bella Crane : I haven't worked in property but I have always had a great interest in it. My background is in journalism, which makes you a professional in being interested in everything. When you get the chance to look around lots of these fantastic houses in some wonderful countries you're learning about property all the time.
deborah : how did u get the job as presenter?..its looks a great job
Neely Weely : Bella! So what happened to Amanda then?
Bella Crane chuckles
Bella Crane : I worked for the BBC as a journalist when I had finished my degree course and that was in news. I used to read the breakfast bulletins for them on the radio but I had always fancied doing something a little lighter for a change and when the opportunity to work in this programme came up, I jumped at it because I used to love watching it myself. You're right deborah, it was fantastic fun to film and working with such professionals was an amazing experience. Amanda Lamb is filming another series which will be on your screens later this year or next year. It's still called A Place in the Sun but I think it will be a little different in its format.
anthea : Are these properties shown still for sale in other words when was the show filmed in the Charente that is, shown yesterday.
Michael Harrison : There was a property for sale on Tuesday 7th Oct programme in Charente (the one with the dovehouse) and there were no details available on the phoneline. How can we find out more?
phil : How long ago were the programmes being shown now filmed?
Bella Crane : Most of the shows were filmed this year. Some properties may still be for sale if you're interested the best thing to do would be to contact Freeform Productions who are based in London and they may be able to help you with the details. But I'm not surprised that you asked that question because often there was more than one house which was fantastic and when my house hunters chose the one they liked they often said to me off screen, after the interview, 'But really we quite fancied putting in an offer on the others too'.
deborah : hello i adore the programme by the way ...i am amazed at how much house u can get for so little money compared to here in the uk,
Bella Crane : That's true deborah. Some of the bargains that I managed to find amazed me as well. I'm so glad you like the show.
tom : if you could live anywhere in the world, where would u go and why?
digitalskittles : Bella, if you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
Bella Crane : That is such a tough question! I went to South Africa to film for the show and hadn't been there before. I did fall in love with the place and the scenery was just spectacular. We didn't really have enough free time, or any for that matter, while we were there so that's one place that I'd definitely like to go back to and explore fully, but, choosing somewhere to live...that's tough even for me to decide!
sunny : Do you think we should encourage people to buy holiday homes in the UK rather than abroad?
Bella Crane : I think it all depends on what you are looking for. There are a lot of people who prefer to stay at home and not to fly but if you are chasing the sun then you obviously have to go a little further. I think there are some undiscovered parts of our country as well and I must say that being abroad for so long makes you think that there is no place like home.
nick : if you had a sum of 250,000 and wanted to buy as many propertys as possible to rent them out as a business concern , where would you look to buy ???
jetsetter : Is the a particular country at the moment which would make a good rental property investment?
Bella Crane : As far as rental property investment is concerned you can't go wrong in the Canary Islands... It's all year round tourist trade there because of the constant climate. There are more and more flights now going from all British airports to all of the islands. Also I think the Spanish Costas are a safe bet. Southern Spain and the Cost del Sol does tend to be that little bit more expensive so if you had £250,000 you'd probably be looking at maybe two or three (at a pinch) flats to rent out there. Maybe, if you moved along the coast a little to the Estepona-Campo de Gibraltar you could find a little more for your money and still get the sun, and of course sunshine is going to increase you rental potential.
GC : Does anyone ever invite you back to properties after they have bought them on the show? If so have they made them into the places they dreamt of or do some of them never actually make it what they wanted?
Bella Crane : Most people that have put in offers, or indeed bought places, that I have shown them have said to me 'Come back and visit us!' It's something that I would love to do. Sadly, I haven't had the time to be able to as of yet. One man has promised me that the vegetables he grows on his new patch attached to his new house are going to arrive on my doorstep in a crate shortly. I look forward to those Spanish tomatoes. There was another man who bought in South Africa and the house he bought came with some resident monkeys...one of which, and I'm not sure if this is a compliment or not, was called Bella! He assured me he would take particular care of that one.
Michelle : My parents want to move to the Alicante area, can you recommend a way of searching for property there?
Bella Crane : I think the best place to start Michelle is on the internet. The way that we find some of the properties for the show often start that way. It's a good way to get in touch with agents in the region that you are looking to buy in, in particular English-speaking agents, which is always helpful. Sometimes you can see some properties online as well so you can get a good idea of what kind of things are available in that area for the amount that you want to spend. You can also get to know more about the different villages and towns there via the internet too. Good luck!
Ros J : Can I have your job please, willing to travel to sunny places, will provide own skimpy outfits!
rob : Any word of future destinations for the programme, esp. Turkey?
Bella Crane laughs
Bella Crane : Although I often wanted to wear my bikini in some of these places I was never quite brave enough! It is a wonderful job to be able to film in such sunny, exotic places. It was hard work and the main downside is that every beach we filmed on the whole crew were wearing their shorts and swimwear and I was in my make-up! I think some filming has been done in Turkey, Rob, I haven't been there myself though, but watch out for that coming up. You'll be seeing a little more of South Africa coming up and I believe that A Place in the Sun is the first programme to have looked at property there.
Geoff : How easy is it to settle somewhere outside of the EC, such as South Africa. Some time ago there was a great show abouT the Carribean.
Bella Crane : Settling anywhere outside of Britain has its difficulties. Obviously the further you travel the more differences you will encounter. Somewhere like South Africa you have the benefit that everybody is speaking the same language so any queries you have you can easily find help with.
Jet : How much does property increase in value once you have made a programme in that area ?
Bella Crane chuckles
Bella Crane : There is, apparently, a great trend that is set by A Place in the Sun. When we got to a previously 'undiscovered' area we are obviously flagging it up in Britain as a good place to go to. So, you do find that more British people then tend to buy there and that is apparently statistically true. All I can do is apologise to some of the people who live in some of those quiet, little villages in Spain that I went to! And well... we'll see what happens to them!
k : there seemed to be alot of Brits in Murcia, what is the job situation like there?
Robin : where was the first villa shown in todays program, ie town ?
Bella Crane : It's true yes there are a lot of Brits in Murcia and there is a huge ex-pat community there who are very active and social. I'm afraid k, that I don't know too much about the job situation there for English people, although as there are a lot of British businesses out there so I would think that it would be fairly easy to find work there. Robin, all I can say is the first villa we showed was on a very large, new development being built in between vast orange and lemon groves. I'm afraid I can't remember the name of the town though! Freeform (the production company that make A Place in the Sun) will have the exact details if you are interested. Their telephone number is: 020 7739 9234. Or you can email them at aplaceinthesun@fftv.co.uk
Chat Ed : Our half hour with Bella is almost up, so last few questions now...
DebraAllan : how do you apply to be on the show?
bored_doc : bella, how does one apply for the show? are there selection critera?
susan and john newma : how do we apply to take part in A Place in the Sun? we are hoping to move to Spain by next May.
Clive : How do you submit your name to appear on the show Bella?
Bella Crane : If you want to apply to be on the programme you have to contact Freeform TV. The main criteria are that you want to buy somewhere abroad and that perhaps you have some idea of whereabouts and what kind of budget.
WelshWizard : I have a bet on with my mate are you the face of Scottish Widows?
teapot : Are you the same person from the insurance adverts?
Bella Crane laughs
Bella Crane : I'm sorry Welsh Wizard, but that's not me! That'll be Amanda Lamb - one of my co-presenters. Have you lost your bet now?
Chat Ed : That's it! Thanks for coming and talking to us Bella!
digitalskittles : Thanks bella, Good bye
jetsetter : bye bye
DebraAllan : Thnaks :-)
deb1 : byeeeeeeeee bella xo
Bro : Thanks
joanne : bye
RobinS : Thanks Bella
Angela : Thanks byeee
Bella Crane : Thanks so much for all your questions. It was really good to chat to you all. I hope I have helped in some way. I'm glad you enjoy the programme and thanks for watching the show. See you soon! Love Bella x
Bella Crane leaves the room
