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I read an advertisment on Al Ahram about Delta Sharm. Is it a good place to invest some money in purchasing a unit there and then rent it? I am looking for replies from the people located in sharm.
Thank you in advance, have a nice day
Posts: 55 | From: Cairo | Registered: Sep 2006
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Delta sharm was one of the first villages to be completed in sharm. So for a time it was the only place really to buy - which means that really its had its day in money increase as prices have already risen by around 100%. I bought there a 2 bed flat for 36k sterling and sold for 65k. We sold because the place went really downhill in my opinion. We were robbed twice and everyone we knew who lived there had suffered from theft - it was rumoured that security were involved but i cant comment on that without proof!! Security became very, very nosey and felt oppresive rather than making you feel safe. It is said that they were checking up to find people living together without papers and asking for money not to report them as there are a lot of people living this way in Delta. Having said that it is a beautiful development in its own right but has so much competition now i would not buy there at this time. There are literally hundreds of developments on offer for sale in sharm now - off plan and completed for much less money 2 beds from around 30k so if i were you i would take a trip there and have a good look around to get the most value for your money.
Posts: 31 | Registered: Jun 2007
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Thank you for your info, where else do you suggest to check out for real estate ? Do you have certain names or villages for 30k for 2 beds......
Posts: 55 | From: Cairo | Registered: Sep 2006
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You can find 2 bed properties which are pre owned and good rental prospects for long term let for 30k in hadaba and hay el nor - would reccommend hadaba as has water parks and loads of shops or if you buy off plan you will make profit out of buying earlier buy wont get rent till its finished (obviously!) there is sunny lakes near neama bay and loads of others - check out www.ssqrealestate.com they have pre owned and off plan for sale and seem quite professional - never used them so cant say but you will get lots of info there. Good luck!
Posts: 31 | Registered: Jun 2007
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Just to say you can get between 2700 and 4000 le a month rent from local people who are long term - the rent depends upon location and furniture - if you furnish with 'european' style it will attract europeans and you will get good rent - the biggest gripe i hear is 'found perfect appartment but can i live with the furniture...........'!
Posts: 31 | Registered: Jun 2007
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Yes, Delta Sharm is becoming more and more problematic. People normally go once and then swear to never return, for numerous reasons. 1.The prices of electricity and water are charged with heavy commission added, so if normally an el and water bill may be max 50-100LE per month for a family of three in Delta you can gear up 600LE in one month...
2. While DSL is becoming a standard in Sharm, in Delta dial-up Internet is still an expensive rarity. I recently went in to inquire about the rental prices for the new section just added at the back along the Council Street (I was just curious). Well, they call it “Royal Delta” and the prices for apartments in tightly built houses start from 8000LE/month :-O which is essentially a price for a whole villa in Sharm already, and when I asked well do you at least have Internet in these, then yes they do, it is DIAL-UP :-O and costs 10LE per hour extra plus you need pay a 500LE “Internet deposit”. Left me kind of speachless.
3. The treatment of visitors is outrageous. When you check in no one ever checks or counts anything so you go in with the belief they are “easy” about the knives and forks aso. When you check out, however, all knives and forks etc are systematically counted and if you did not have the right number in the beginning it is still you who need to pay for the missing ones (and you pay the price that could buy you a set, for one). A female friend just stayed there for 2 days with daughter and their holiday was totally spoiled because the chek-out guy “found” that the water kettle did not work and they were charged 90LE off their deposit, for this rusty object that my friend said looked as if it had stopped working long before they arrived. Also she said that the guy kind of headed immediately to the kettle, as if “knowing where to look”.
Ourselves we had similar cases when they tried to charge us 140LE for a toaster that did not work when we moved in but i noticed only the other day when I needed to use it and called the engineering to come fix it. They did, too, but when I later went to pay the montly bill it appeared they expected me pay for the repair! Similarly, a shower handle that was broken when we moved in but at first we were too nice to make a problem of it, was charged to us. (Never be “nice” in Delta!) It took me 2 weeks of meetings with the GM and the head of guest relations to get this money back (we had already moved out to another property). I also talked to some tour leaders sharing an apartment there who said their fridge broke and was charged to them! I am now planning to collect as many cases as can of all people who’ve been wrongly accused of “destroying” a household utensil and charged enormous sums for those worn pieces that I suspect are intentiously placed into apartments, because well, it is essentially camouflaged robbery that they are doing there. 3. Security made regular trouble and in most impolite ways. They always appeared in pairs – 2 guys – and demanded document and proof of staying in the apartment, in very impolite way of talking. We had lived in the same house for something like 4 months by the time but apparently they had not noticed. I never showed them anything, of course, and always sent them to the marketing to learn who their dear paying guests are or solve whatever other problems they had. 4. Pool boys always demanded to see “the paper” i.e. the pool pass that is essentially just a coloured piece of paper. Since I lived just by the pool and have the habit of dropping in for just a few laps in between work, i never took anything with me because first of all it means you need to walk all around the pool to hand the pass to the guy, and when you come out after 2 minutes you need to walk there again to get your pass, but maybe by that time he has disappeared somewhere. For m-o-n-t-h-e-s I tried to explain to them that i am the same girl who has already been swimming there yesterday and last week and last month, and I live in this house as they see I do, and I even have apt. keys with me (what surer proof for being a resident do you need?) but all in vain. Someone had told them to “ask for the paper” so they were asking for the paper. Once the woman who was our neighbour was sunbathing and her husband coming to lunch stopped to talk to her and take keys. The boy immediately approached and asked for “pool pass” from the man! Pool pass for talking to someone sitting by the pool?? Hilarious.
Anyway, whenever now in meetings with Sharm residents you mention “Delta Sharm” you get a lot of laughs and a nearly uniform comment is: “Yes we were there too but it was horrible and we will never return”.
Posts: 1051 | From: Menoufeya | Registered: Feb 2005
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I have stayed at Delta a few times now and personally had very few problems. On one visit we were only were given 1 pool card when we checked in, everyday there was hassle but we got one from a friend. Last visit I swam every morning before breakfast, was never questioned. We had a couple of things needed sorted and they were fixed straight away and were not charged on leaving. Security I know can be problematic, They could do with employing more pool waiters and cut security, theres so many of them! They never came to the room this time. Other visits just the night I arrived. I've heard good and bad reports but in the main I have no problems and will be back. Maybe its different living there all the time.
Posts: 4476 | From: Scotland | Registered: Mar 2006
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Exactly. At first you are happy to stay there and if are on holiday are in great mood and it is easy to "forgive" but after a while it becomes simply too many forgives for the price you pay.
My favourite "off-plan" if I wished to invest in Sharm, is the village in Sharks Bay, I guess. It is the nearest place this side of the airport I think where you have seaview and are basically on the beach, and the bay is so small they cannot build much more around there so it will never be more people than that one small villege and the few other guests, a bit more life for the evening is even welcome there. For regular living a "free" apartment Hadaba of course, there is so much to choose from and you never have to "tolerate" the changing managements of a compound and whatever rules or fees they try to establish for you. Plus all service and shopping is near as well as beaches and walkways with great view. Otherways I think Sharm is good only if money comes easy to you, and you really mean to use it for living or for holiday, but for investment with gain I would consider something more clever, places that are like Sharm was 10 years from now - Ras Sudr or Ain Sohkna or anything along the coastal line were Hurghada is, that is nearer to and easier accessible from Cairo and either prices are more accessible or properties for the same price are more generous (what buys you a studio or 1-bedroom in Sharm can still buy a whole chalet there).
Hay el Nour just across the road from Delta Sharm is equal to Hadaba in that it is also free properties there, it is for now a bit bare and scorching there but again it is so near to the old sharm and all shopping and beaches around here. And Rowaysat is an interesting place, a bit far off (far = 2 km or what?) so a car would be convenient, but otherwise a very interesting community where you have on the one hand the most interesting creative villas and romantic views to the sea and mountains, and on the other hand the beduin community with their camels and goats on the streets, but it produces a very authentic feeling of Egypt and one can always hid in the clean and cool backyard of own villa then if getting tired of goats and rubbish on the streets . I am afaraid I had quite awful service from this ssq-something, it is a new small shop I thought I'd give a try for what selection they have, but they sent a young guy who was simply unprepared and tried to push me something I was not interested at all - I had already pre-chosen via web and he could not get keys and then tried to push something average instead and also the answers he gave were so "slippery" that in the end I got the feeling what I had seen on their website (and it is still there...) was not an apartment but a ghost that never even existed.
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When we lived there one day they cut the electric as the bill had not been paid - due to forgetfullness as they never send a bill you have to go and ask to pay - my husband was in Dahab so i asked them to put back the electric till he came home as i could not be in darkness with 2 children to cook them their dinner - they refused - and i did not have the money on me to pay the bill which was huge. so i told them i was going to the restaurent and would order food and send the bill to the office - they went crazy and said you cannot do that - i said watch me........ I did that and waited for my husband to come back - when he went to pay the bill they refused to connect unless he paid the food bill as well!! When they come to your house for any fault they charge you for thier time which is unheard of in the rest of sharm - so i believe. And as for the pool guys - after 4 years of living there i just refused to talk to them when the same one questioned my right to be at the pool after he had been looking at my pass for 2 years...............
Posts: 31 | Registered: Jun 2007
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I have lived in Delta for 5 years. We bought here but have not experienced the problems outlined here. Our Uk and Egyptian family visit 6 times a year as tourists and love their time. We have never had an inventory or deposit problem.
I am delighted the pool boys are checking who uses our beautiful pools and facilities. It is the best address in Sharm with rent and ownership 25 % more than the rest of Sharm, why should our expensive annual maintanence fees pay for free loaders trying to abuse the resort ?
Posts: 2 | Registered: Jun 2007
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Hmm.. everyone who rents in Delta takes part in paying the maintenance fees so the obsession about "free loaders" is perhaps a bit exagerrated if it develops into harrassing a large number of paying guests. British citizens may experience above average treatment in Delta as well as the rest of Sharm because the locals assume (perhaps not totally mistakenly) that the wealth of Brits in relation to other nations equals the rate of GBP to other currencies .
Delta is without competition, true, because as much as know all other compounds cater for long-term renters primarily, and are newer and thus not as luscious, indeed I am amazed that no one is trying to copy Delta Sharm's winning formula so far, to the extent that they feel quite safe and free to mistreat their guests.
Posts: 1051 | From: Menoufeya | Registered: Feb 2005
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Thank you for your feed back, Actually I have to go there and have a look myself, "nevermind" it seemed you had a bad time in there. "Sharmer2' thank youfor your advices. Delta sharm reminds me for what is going on in "Al Rehab" these days. thank you all, I did not expect all these info
Posts: 55 | From: Cairo | Registered: Sep 2006
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It was not so much bad time but I certainly do not want to support with my money a business that has so terrible customer attitudes. It's an ethical thing .
Posts: 1051 | From: Menoufeya | Registered: Feb 2005
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and the prices for apartments in tightly built houses start from 8000LE/month :-O which is essentially a price for a whole villa in Sharm already, and when I asked well do you at least have Internet in these, then yes they do, it is DIAL-UP :-O and costs 10LE per hour extra plus you need pay a 500LE “Internet deposit”. Left me kind of speachless.![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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