From Investor to Installer, I hated buying furniture in Cyprus so much, I started my own company!
Online, July 22, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Not all aspects of owning a property in Cyprus are straight forward as Mark Sykes, an experienced UK Property Investor found out.
"Cyprus is a fantastic island, historic, picturesque and with attractions ranging from Golf to Scuba Diving, not to mention the year round sun. It's no wonder Cyprus is so popular with UK residents for both investment and holidays."
Sadly when it came to furnishing his properties Mark was staggered at the differences between the UK and Cyprus Furniture markets. He sums this up using three words; Style, Culture and Price. The choice of furniture available on the island was very poor. "Most of the furniture was old fashioned pine stuff which wouldn't have looked right in a modern apartment". That was before the shock of the price. Due to lack of competition, prices for home furnishings are much higher in the UK so it came as quite a surprise that the 8,000 Euros he'd budgeted for the job was about 5,000 Euros short.
On top of this there were language barriers and cultural differences. To some Cypriot suppliers the word tomorrow has a different meaning to the average Brit. This is frustrating to say the least, especially when you are on a tight time scale.
As an investor one of Mark's primary concerns was that his properties were attractive to holiday makers so he could maximise his letting potential. Conversations with the islands main letting agent confirmed that the properties would be difficult to let if not furnished correctly.
After conversations with other UK investors it seemed the two options were:
1) Increase his budget and accept the Mediterranean way of getting things done can be frustrating.
2) Bring his own furniture from the UK, deal with customs and excise, arrange the shipping, take delivery at the port, await customs clearance and hire a van to transport the furniture to his new Villa before putting it in.
Neither option appealed so he flipped a coin and ended up shipping his own furniture from the UK.
After four months and a few grey hairs Mark managed to furnish his properties in Cyprus. Just as he was starting to relax after returning from Cyprus he received a call from one the Developer wanting to know where he got his furnishings from and if he could help furnish some of his own properties. This lead to Mark founding Cyprus Luxury Furniture Packs. The company have now furnished hundreds of Apartments and Villas in Cyprus and know many of the developments on the island. As well as supplying furniture the company can also advise on the best furnishings to maximise rental income.
Mark comments "you can hear the relief in people's voices when they know they can deal with a UK based company to furnish their property in Cyprus, I only wish I had someone to take the strain out of the job for me!"