Cave House Inland

For Cuba, a real-estate revolution

When Cuba legalizes the buying and selling of real estate by the end of the year — as the government promised again this week — many people expect a cascade of changes: higher prices, mass relocation, property taxes and a flood of money from Cubans abroad, including in the United States.

By DAMIEN CAVE

The New York Times

HAVANA —

José is an eager almost-entrepreneur with big plans for Cuban real estate. Right now he works illegally on trades, linking families that want to swap homes and pay a little extra for an upgrade.

But when Cuba legalizes buying and selling by the end of the year — as the government promised again this week — José and many others expect a cascade of changes: higher prices, mass relocation, property taxes and a flood of money from Cubans in the United States and throughout the world.

"There's going to be huge demand," said José, 36, who declined to give his last name. "It's been prohibited for so long."

Private property is the nucleus of capitalism, so the plan to legitimize it in Cuba, a country of slogans such as "socialism or death," strikes many Cubans as jaw-dropping. Indeed, most people expect onerous regulations and, already, the plan outlined by the state media would suppress the market by limiting Cubans to one home or apartment and requiring full-time residency.

Yet even with state control, experts say, property sales could transform Cuba more than any of the economic changes announced by President Raúl Castro's government, some of which were outlined in the National Assembly on Monday.

Compared with the changes already passed — more self-employment and cellphone ownership — or proposed — car sales and looser emigration rules — "nothing is as big as this," said Philip Peters, an analyst with the Lexington Institute, a think tank in Arlington, Va.

Back to the old days

The opportunities for profits and loans would be far larger than what Cuba's small businesses offer, experts say, potentially creating the disparities of wealth that have accompanied property ownership in places such as Eastern Europe and China.

Havana in particular may be in for a move back in time, to when it was a city more segregated by class.

"There will be a huge rearrangement," said Mario Coyula, Havana's director of urbanism and architecture in the '70s and '80s. "Gentrification will happen.

Virginia real estate » Blog Archive » Cheap Houses For Sale ...

Cheap houses for sale in Spain are sometimes difficult to find, especially in the high-demand coastal areas. For UK buyers looking for affordable houses in Spain, one piece of advice is to move inland. Away from the seacoasts, property prices are more realistic, giving buyers of holiday houses in Spain the opportunity to do something creative and off the beaten path when looking for bargain houses in Spain. A unique and interesting type of Spanish property you might find inland is the ecological cave house. Built by a well know Spanish property developer, in the province of Granada, cave houses are unique houses to buy in Spain that pay special attention to environmental and ecological concerns. A cave home is an affordable home in Spain that generally has 2 parts. One section is conventional and consists of typical rooms in the front of the house. The rear section of the house is carved into the side of a hill and the rooms in this part of the house are quiet and cool. Generally the “cave rooms” are bedrooms and the ambiance they provide allows occupants to sleep soundly and peacefully. The rooms in the front of these affordable Spanish houses comprise common areas and living space. Blending seamlessly with their surroundings, cave homes have a long list of benefits, many of which are environmentally sound and ecologically effective. Cave homes often are built from existing derelict or abandoned properties and utilize as much as possible the existing materials on the site, such as roof beams and roof tiles. Even the new products used in cave home construction are made from recycled materials, making cave homes highly affordable houses for sale in Spain. Where possible, the wood used in cave homes comes from pine trees, which are a fast-growing and easily renewable resource. In keeping with their environmental commitment, cave homes often use geothermal energy for heating and cooling. This allows them to function “off the grid,” and thus have much lower utility costs. Typical modes for powering cheap Spanish houses like cave homes include solar photovoltaic panels, diesel or biofuel generators, wind turbines or some combination of these. Cave homes can be highly customized or built to stock plans. The cost is competitive. For example, a two-bedroom cave home costs between 110,000 to 150,000 Euros. A three- bedroom adds another 30,000 Euros to the price.

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