Steve & the DIY estate agent’s story

What, selling online, myself, directly? Are you kidding? It is no surprise considering the property market today, many would answer “yes” to these questions.  One would have to be living literally under a rock not to realise that the state of the European and world economy has negatively impacted a homeowner’s ability to sell. Homes are staying on the market considerably longer, particularly old stone homes here in Malta and Gozo.

My story started in Gozo when the enthusiastic buyer of my 3 bedroom farmhouse with pool could not honour their contract to purchase and withdrew from the agreed sale; other potential buyers seemed to suddenly disappear too.  If you ask the property agents (and I have) they will tell you that there are very few buyers out there.

Some that are out there tend to be looking for bargains, hovering above us like vultures ready to pounce on the desperate to sell, offering unrealistic prices. I heard of one property developer offering a desperate tearful seller no more than the value of the land that there beautiful house stood on. There are also of course a few genuine and honourable buyers out there.

So, how can I get the few genuine honest buyers out there through my front door?

We all know social media is playing a bigger part in our lives than ever and some would say it can move mountains, but can it sell houses on the Maltese Islands?

Information movement across social media channels is almost faster than the speed of light. When it comes to buying property, the first place people visit are local agents and property websites, but will that become old hat if the Twitter verse, Facebook chat and Blogerati (is that a word?) take over?

I know for sure that houses have been sold in the United States and UK using social media.  So, with a targeted campaign using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, online partners like Maltainsideout, the recently rolled out Google+ and my blog acting as my online brochure, I aim to give it a go.

The first thing I need is an incentive for my many thousands of prospective scouts, typically here on the Maltese Islands if a private individual were to find a buyer for a property they would be offered a 1% reward. I need a bigger incentive to enable my property to stand out, so I am offering a €10,000 reward, a figure that reflects more than 3% of the €325,000 asking price; a very generous reward I feel.

When selling anything product or service, word-of-mouth promotion is essential, particularly in a small island community like Malta and Gozo, so the large reward should set tongues wagging, I hope.  As a property agent told me “it’s all about getting the maximum number of potential buyers through your front door to view the property;  the more potential buyers that see the property the sooner you will sell it”.  Which is plain common sense.

What is my D-I-Y strategy to sales? 

Twitter – regular tweets including details about property, Gozo, Malta, Old Farmhouses and anything related. I am careful to make my tweets interesting and engaging, always including a link to my blog describing the farmhouse. I am careful not to bombard readers with a continuous stream of “buy my house” as this will simply alienate my followers. I currently have more than 350 followers on twitter and this is growing at a rate of around 10 a day. Some of my tweets are re-tweeted which helps spread the word, I have created the Twitter #Reward€10000 hash tag to accompany the relevant tweets. (If you Google hash tag a plethora of explanations will follow if you are not familiar with the term).

Facebook – advertising, those tiny little adds that appear on the right of your Facebook page. Not expensive (you decide how much you spend) and you can target who sees your add by location, sex, age, country and more.

Hand-outs – I had 100 colour postcards printed for very little more than the cost of delivery. I give these to family, friends, local bars shops and anyone that shows an interest.

Blog – The blog for the farmhouse took me a couple of hours to create.

Partnering – online buddies with synergy; ie. good  content generating good traffic and attracting the right target audience. Maltainsideout is giving me valuable inbound marketing links,  screen ‘real estate’ and your eyeballs.

My goal is to have the property sold by 30th November 2011. I have been actively marketing the property via social media for 4 weeks now, I have doubled the number of enquiries received compared to those from property agents in the same time, I am already taking appointments for viewings.

So is social media the next property buying revolution? I hope so. Oh, almost forgot: here’s the plug….
The property is a three bedroom, two bathroom fully-restored farmhouse with swimming pool on the beautiful Island of Gozo.  Click here for more info, and do say you came via Maltainsideout!

Being a small country, rental property prices are often remarkably high. As Malta has been through a property boom, which saw prices on housing going through the roof, the Maltese are keen to invest their savings in property. As a result, there are plenty of flats and houses to rent at often quite reasonable prices. But the market is very diversified, with some areas asking for prime rents. In some villages, just a few streets in either directions makes a big difference on what rental you will be paying.

There are some strong pointers to keep in mind:
In any location, seafront apartments or houses with views and pools always comes at a premium rent.

As regards to location, Sliema and St Julian’s stand out as the most expensive villages in terms of flats. Within this area, Tigne’ Point in Sliema and Portomaso in St Julians are again above the rest. A penthouse in Tigne’ Point will set you back at least 5000 euro. The same sized penthouse outside of Tigne’ Point but still in Sliema will cost you some 3000 euro. Again, if you are prepared to go to the North, say St Paul’s Bay or Mellieha, you would, for the same sized penthouse, pay around 1500 euro.

Apartments are usually rented out furnished. Most landlords would be reluctant to remove the furniture, as they simply would have no where to put it! So unless you find a flat which is just being finished, and the landlord hasn’t had time to buy any furniture yet, don’t expect any big discounts for renting unfurnished. Once the flat is set up and ready to be rented, it will actually be more of a hassle for the landlord to remove the furniture in the flat.

When you move into a flat, you usually pay two month’s deposit, on top of your first month rent. This is to cover any damages and any outstanding electricity and water bills that might be unsettled when you leave. If everything is settled, you will get this deposit back. Or you should do – see here for what can happen.

Apartments
So, let’s look at prices for a two- to three-bedroom apartment, the most usual rental size in Malta. If you rent a newly-built, modern furnished, three-bedroom apartment in Sliema or St Julian’s (no seaview), it will cost you between 700 and 900 euro. A two-bedroom apartment would set you back some 500 euro per month. With seaview, you need to add some 500 euro per month to any apartment, regardless size. If you want to rent in Tigne’ Point or Portomaso, you could easily look at the double, with two-bedroom flats starting at 1,500 euro.

Renting a outside Sliema or St Julian’s, without sea view, would be some 100 to 200 euro cheaper per month.

Villas and bungalows
While there is loads of apartments for rent all over the island, there are not so many houses for rent. Houses in good condition fetch more or less the same prices, regardless of location. Here size, garden and pool make a bigger difference. A three-bedroom house, around 180 to 200 sq meters with a small garden and pool would cost some 2000 euro per month to rent. The sky is obviously the limit, and there are some amazing palazzos for rent with the most superb standard. We’ve all heard the one about Brad Pitt renting an $11m villa in Qrendi during his stay here – but I wonder what he paid in rent though!

Need some unbiased advice on property issues?
This article is a guest post by Anne Muscat Scerri, who has long-time experience in getting her hands dirty, literally, in property projects in Malta. Anne project manages any form of refurbishment projects all across Malta, from town houses to office premises. She loves getting things done on time, and more importantly within budget! Email her on anne@keyworld.net for more information on how she can pull through your next project.

Here, architecture student Sergei Mikhailenko discusses the reasons why the only way is up, but also asks if Malta is tackling high rise the right way.

Round, square, smooth: Malta's property, every which shape but always high

The Impact of the High Rise
A solution to the problem of space was developed in the US during the C20th century – the skyscraper. However, it brought its own set of problems – cultural, economic and environmental – such as social stratification, increased traffic, inadequate street layouts, decreased quality of light, wind and vegetation, and the ‘Urban Heat Island’ effect.

In Malta, nostalgia and respect for historical buildings play important roles in the development of the country. In fact, many areas on the island are classified as Urban Conservation Areas where new development has to respect the existing urban fabric.

Many of these areas were built on an old model of city. Streets were planned for pedestrians and horses making them narrow and organic and would wind around the highest building of the area – the baroque church.

If we were to rehabilitate this kind of area using today’s technology, we would realise that the old model doesn’t fit the new. New city planning is based on fast, easy commutability and larger densities of people. If a high-rise were to be built in Valletta, it would create new problems, particularly of traffic, as larger densities of people imply larger densities of cars.

Old vs new planning is just one issue. There is also a key cultural and economic issue inherent with high-rise development; that of social stratification. High-rises are considered a measure of wealth and power; the higher you go the wealthier and powerful you are (take for instance the towers of rival merchant families in medieval San Gimignano in Tuscany, Italy). We can all too easily end up with ghetto-isation: a situation in which wealthy people live in high-rise designated areas while the lower economic quartile of the population ends up in areas that could potentially turn into slums.

Apart from the cultural, social and economic issues, there are the technical and environmental ones too. It is important to design high-rises bearing in mind the safety of inhabitants, the climate in Malta (sun, wind and rain patterns), the geological and seismic situation, and many other details which affect a given site and the erection of a building which is up to standard.

Do we need more housing at all though?
The Maltese population increased during the past years so more people have to be accommodated within a limited area. For this reason, MEPA (Malta Environment and Planning Authority) published the Structure Plan in which it promotes the increase in urban densities of already built-up areas. This will entail building higher buildings.

According to a Eurostat report, the Maltese population is an ageing one; the fertility rate is low and more people are living to an older age. But it is predicted that the population will grow by 4.5% until the year 2035, and then drop below today’s population to 405,000. The only population growth would come from migration.

The needs of the current population are different from the needs of the future population. At the moment we are a rising population, hence we need more dwellings. However, it might be the case that in the future we will need fewer dwellings due to the eventual decline in population. This will elevate the current amount of permanently vacant dwellings from a quarter to an even higher percent.

The result
Malta is a country rooted in tradition. In such a sensitive place one cannot design using the fully technological approach, instead we must compromise and keep in mind the cultural and social values which make up the identity of the country.

The following list of examples sheds some light on the current state of development of high-rise in Malta – at whom they are aimed and what their intention is. The list includes contemporary buildings erected during recent years as well as buildings under construction together with their principal objectives.

Are we taking into consideration the right issues when designing these high-rises? Do these objectives promote the integration of the old and new, of cultural and technology, of economy and environment? Will they fulfill the needs of the population as it grows and reduces? Is their purpose just to attract more (wealthy) migrants? What too of the resources (water in particular) of the country if migration population growth is their main aim? You be the judge.

We quote from the developers’ write-ups, so enjoy the jargon. It spells out clearly that these high rises are all about prestige, luxury and exclusivity.

Pendergardens
“Pendergardens is a prestigious, self-contained property development covering an area of 18,500m2 and is strategically located in St Julian’s Malta, … offering all the amenities of a metropolitan centre, yet with all the comforts and security of an exclusive community…. This property development area is car free and surrounds a large piazza creating a peaceful and tranquil setting.”

Metropolis Plaza
“This innovative and vibrant project is leading the process of the ongoing regeneration of the Gzira marina district. Metropolis Plaza is bringing together local and foreign architects, designers and engineers holding a vast expertise on the building of high rise city developments with one main objective in mind… that of constructing a landmark building that will be a benchmark in architectural design and living standards on the island.”

Fort Cambridge
“Designed to encapsulate Mediterranean tranquility, Fort Cambridge luxury property in Malta is a breakthrough in modern living combining contemporary extravagant lifestyle with history. Situated on the site of an historic fort in Malta, the seafront apartments in Malta offer residents apartments, duplexes and penthouses with spectacular sea views, a safe, serene environment and proximity to high street shops and restaurants.”

A3 Towers
“…A3 Towers, one of the most forward looking and comprehensive real estate projects ever planned on the island. A unique tower of brand new apartments with a vision of modern comfort and sophisticated living set up covering 14 floors and situated in the South of Malta near the Golf Club. This unique real estate development includes a vibrant mix of luxury homes, offices, stylish shopping and trendy cafes and leisure amenities.”

Blue Harbour
“With the Msida Yacht Marina only a few meters away, [at Blue Harbou] one can have their boat berthed for an effortless weekend trip around the Maltese islands. Blue Harbour is tucked away in a peaceful upmarket area. Ta’Xbiex offers a quiet, secluded environment with magnificent villas dressed in a variety of architectural styles, from colonial to art nouveau.”

Portomaso Business Tower
“Located in the heart of St Julian’s, the state-of-the-art Portomaso Business Tower has become one of the country’s most iconic modern landmarks. At 98 metres, it was built to offer a top-quality business environment. Opened in 2001, …it remains the leading business address in Malta.”
www.tumasdevelopments.com

Forth Mansions
“A new development inspired by the old submarine service ship HMS Forth, has been created to provide luxury homes for the few lucky enough to have residences there. Like her illustrious namesake, the Forth will provide homes in the beautiful setting, overlooking the marina and the bastions of Valletta. “
www.cassarcooper.com

Tigné Point
“Set against the stunning historical backdrop of Valletta’s 16th century bastions, Tigné Point bridges the gap between the island’s rich cultural heritage, and an altogether newer sense of luxury and sophistication. Tigné Point apartments [offer] residents dramatic views, unrivalled landscaping and a calm environment of private gardens and courtyards.“

Sergio’s architecture portfolio, click here.

Photos: courtesy of Karl Borg

Sun power: It's only just dawning on Malta

This has to be one of our most info-rich articles here at Malta Inside Out, thanks to Charles Yousif of the Institute of Sustainable Energies at the University of Malta who is also Secretary General of the Malta Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energies Association. Charles’s clear information should help answer many householders questions on the whys and wherefores of installing a solar water heater, and more. There’s a lot of options on the market, and a lot of word-of-mouth advice around. Here are some facts.

The good old geezer

Q. How much energy does an electric boiler consume?
A: It depends on the use, the temperature and the number of people in the household. In general, 4 people consume between 3 or 4 kWh every day, at least for 9 months i.e. a total of between 800 and 1,000 kWh/year, assuming no losses. So, a geezer could account for around 20% of your electricity bill.

Q. What do you mean “assuming no losses”?
A: If you leave the geezer on all the time and the only control is its thermostat, then you will have heat losses from the hot boiler to the air surrounding it. These could account for an added 20-30% extra power.

Q. Geezers are normally insulated, so how come there are losses?
A: The insulation is generally very thin and inadequate. In addition, there are areas at the bottom where the electric element is connected which are not insulated and they are a source of heat loss too.

Q. Do you mean that one would save if the geezer is switched on only when needed?
A: Definitely. Using a timer could also help to reduce the hassle of switching it on and off.

Now to Solar Water Heaters

Q. If I install a solar heater, would it save on my energy bill?
A: Yes, provided that it is installed properly and sized properly.

Q. What are the important points about installing a solar heater properly?
A: There are 4 important aspects:
1) For domestic use, when the home owner will use hot water between September and May, the ideal inclination angle of the panel should be between 45 and 55 degrees to the horizontal.
2) The panel should be facing south.
3) The hot water delivery pipes should be well insulated and the insulation well protected from UV radiation and sealed at the edges to stop rain water from seeping in.
4) Last but not least, the amount of water in the hot water storage tank should be proportionate to the area of the solar panel. For a flat-plate collector, the ratio should be 50-60 litres per square metre of collector. For an evacuated-tube system, the ratio should be 80-90 litres per square-metre of cross-sectional area of the vacuum tubes.

Q. This is complicated: Can you give an example?
A: A typical 200 litre hot water system should have 4 square metres of solar flat-plate panels or 2.5 sqaure metres of cross-sectional area of vacuum tubes

Q. So does this mean that a vacuum tube collector is better than a flat-plate collector?
As long as you keep to the above 4 rules, both systems should give you more or less the same output.

Q. But people say that vacuum tubes work better in winter because they absorb the UV radiation.
A:The UV radiation is available on sunny days be it in winter or in summer. On cloudy days, the UV radiation is very low. Therefore, this statement is untrue.

Q. But experience shows that people who have evacuated tubes fair better in winter.
A: This may be true because normally flat-plate systems are under-sized for the needs of the family and tend to suffer in winter. On the other hand, evacuated tube system could dangerously over-heat in summer. The conclusion is that Malta has over 300 sunny days a year and both systems should work properly on most days. Sometimes, the problem would also come from the user because as time passes by they either start connecting the solar system to other parts of the house or the family increases in number and they don’t realise that they need more hot water, which the solar system cannot provide alone, having been designed originally for lower demand.

Q. What do you suggest for a normal houshold – a gas heater or a solar heater?
A: Gas is a fuel and pollutes the environment. It has to be bought and its price may change in the future. Solar heating uses free energy and provides a relaible and clean source of energy.

Heat Pump Water Heaters

Q. But some households have no roofs, so how can they install a solar heater?
A: That is a problem and MEPA, so far, does not allow installation of solar heaters on the facade. There are heat pump water heaters, which could save energy too. This is simply an air-conditioning unit that heats water instead of heating air. it saves around 60% of the electricity consumed by a geezer. This should be supported by Government because a heat pump has been accepted by the European Commission as an electric component that may contribute to renewable energy

Q. What do you mean? A heat pump needs electricity to operate the compressor, so how can it generate renewable energy?
The heat pump absorbs energy from the air which is renewable energy and passes it to the water to heat it up. If the energy absorbed in the water is more than the energy used by Enemalta to generate electricity to drive the heat pump compressor, then the difference between these two values is actually a contribution to renewable energy.

Q. Are these heat pumps available in the market?
Yes. One has to aim to buy a high efficiency heat pump with a COP of 3 or above. However, the prices are still relatively high due to the small market in Malta.

Further Information
The Institute for Sustainable Energies offers a technical inspection of installed, domestic, solar water heaters. For an appointment, call Eur. Ing. Charles Yousif on 2165 0675. See the Institute’s site for details too.

Malta Resources Authority (MRA) operates government’s support schemes including subsidies for first-time installation of domestic solar water heaters as well as schemes for photovoltaic panels.

Photo: Courtesy of Peter Grima, Know Malta

Tigne' Point, Sliema: The shape of all our housing to come. High rise and boxy.

Whenever I come back from the UK, the first thing that strikes me when I walk in my front door is how spacious my home seems to most I visit in my native country. Here, I find far higher ceilings and larger, open plan rooms. It’s something that’s struck me since I first visited Malta 20 years ago. How ironic that we love our space (inside) when we’ve so little open, communal space outside.

Farmhouses or older town house properties can have stratospheric ceiling heights. I estimate the height above me now, in my study, as close on 5.5 metres. My sister-in-law’s lounge ceiling is easily two or three metres higher and in a room of barn-like proportions. Of course, older properties may have those weeny rooms, where you bow your head, and all sorts of other oddities in layout. Palazzos and town houses generally have a full complement of airy rooms. Ceiling height is an important dimension here as it equates to cooler rooms; a must in our summer heat.

Times are achanging though, and new build properties can easily vary from very small, ‘can’t swing-a-cat-around’ proportioned flats and maisonettes to vast, deluxe penthouses or duplexes many recessed discreetly on apartment rooftops. One agent marketing Tigne’ said that the development is for people who don’t like flats. Apparently, the average apartment size is some 250m2 with some penthouses 650m2. While a lot of Tigne is billed at ‘semi-detached’ – a new term for me in flats – it does look as if you can shake hands across those balconies, even if you’ve superior space inside.

Malta’s limited land mass and relentless building since the 1960s has seen the demise of space. You can still pay your money and get space as in those penthouses – but believe me, you pay for it. Malta is not a cheap housing option in comparison with what your cash can buy in even Provence and Tuscany these days.

For example: next door to me is a property on the market for Lm137,000 m (old Maltese currency) / Euro 319,000. It is a newly-renovated, end-of-alley, 3-bed house village house with small central courtyard (no garden, but church views from the roof terrace). A browse of a French estate agency website of similar places in Provence, showed I could get a 3-bed, old stone village house (near a premier village, that of writer Peter Mayle, ‘Year in Provence’ fame), with large central courtyard and garden with space for a pool, for Euro 50,000 less.

So why are we happy to pay a premium for living in Malta?
Malta has its pull and charm – we get around six people emailing us at Malta Inside Out each week saying they want to move to the Islands. Malta’s cache’ is that it’s English-speaking, has broadband, an airport within 20 mins for most of us, the sea nearby, and, for urbanites or those who like to have a lot of nightlife nearby, no property is ‘out in the sticks’. And we have all-year round mild temperatures (unlike N. Italy or Provence with their snow and Mistral winds). And, if you compare Malta as an urban area with major EU cities (we are an island-city after all), then Maltese property prices come in at good value – click here for comparison indices.

So, those who seek to live here, might not seek out a home with view in among the olives, as you can find in our Mediterranean neighbours. You are likely to come to Malta for social life more than anything. And that means it isn’t a particularly quiet retirement destination – more one for silver surfers and the active aged.

On the bright side, if you do buy here, Maltese property prices rarely, if ever, drop. The house for sale next door hasn’t dropped in price despite being on the market for near on two years now! The seller, who can afford to wait, knows that with each year passing, the space gets less and the price of a plot goes up. And, yes, it’s a house that still has those desirable ceiling heights in its favour. If it’s too small for some, there’s a country Palazzo going for Euro 8 million on the Islands!

Photo: courtesy of Pierre D. Zammit

Full of character, but still waiting to be understood.

If you’re thinking of renting a house in Malta, for a holiday or longer stay, you’ll come across the term ‘house of character’. My first reaction to this charming personification that crops up in holiday brochures and estate agents’ descriptions is ‘yes, they certainly are’! My second is ‘but whatever their faults, I love them!’ I’ve 12 years’ experience to fall back on, so I’ve got to know every quirk of my place.

But if you’re new to the concept, what is a ‘typical house of character’ in Malta and Gozo, and in what sense do they have character?

What they are
Well, the pictures you’ll see mostly show honey-coloured old stone houses perhaps with a shock of bright pink bougainvillea over the door or gracing the courtyard, but hopefully not near the pool as it drops brachts (the ‘flowers’) all the time! The limestone will be mellow and roughly hewn, not smoothed and bright white in the sun. You’ll see arches, wooden beams, spiral stairways (internal and outside), terraces, never a straight wall, pregnant (bowed, wrought iron-clad) windows and myriad niches, nooks and crannies. Charm indeed.

Where they are
Houses of character are mostly found in old village cores up the winding alleys. Even though terraced houses in theory, they are often called farmhouses because they feature large, arched rooms that were used as stables or as milling rooms. My neighbour must have one of the few mill rooms in a time warp, with the old mill stones still in place. Occasionally, you’ll find a house of character detached, out in the countryside; though the standalone ones are often partly or entirely newly built from old stone (a trend in Gozo where developers realised there weren’t enough of the right-sized holiday homes to meet demand). The term house of character is somewhat loose as it also covers older town houses with roofed balconies. I don’t tend to think of any 20th century town houses as being ‘of character’.

Living in them…
Their true character shines through when you live in them though. If you are passing through them on a week or two’s holiday, they will charm. But here, we relate the findings of some longer-term residents of character houses. Their experiences are useful to those thinking of moving to Malta and renting one.

Finding the house
Most properties (sale or rental) are listed with more than one real estate agent, so make sure you don’t see the same place twice. Be clear about what you’re looking for and if you are an expat, be prepared for some raised eyebrows. Quote: “Our agent was young Sliema (ie. town) lad and shocked we would consider a character house and the countryside! Most assume expats want to live in penthouse flats.”

Rates you can expect to pay
Rental rates vary widely, and it’s not always a case of you get what you pay for. Be prepared to negotiate on the rental. For a 3- to 4-bed place, with some guest space, outdoor BBQ area and pool/pool deck area, you can find properties ranging from €2,000/m – €6000 (and the upper rate one included a view of the old rubbish dump)! Houses of character can have weird bedroom layouts, with one room accessed only via another (so no landing or corridor). So the concept of ‘bedrooms’ to gauge size is vague. You have to go and see places to really know what’s what and whether they are worth the price.

What to look out for when viewing. Hidden extras to pay? Ease of getting maintenance done?
Some larger places do come with a handyman/caretaker,which is a boon to new arrivals in Malta. Electricity is expensive, so look for other ways of heating and cooking (and cooling in summer – ie. some people almost never use AC). There is a pool licence to pay which can mount up if your pool is large. Pools need maintainance (€40-150/month!), and in the summer if being used a lot, pump needs to run 12+hrs a day – which bumps electricity usage up. If you’ve children, be aware of pool safety. Many pools are in courtyards or open to deck areas.

Location: do check the vicinity
Beware noisy neighbours! Especially dogs on the roof. Constant barking can be mind-blowing. I’ve had a neighbour’s dog bark for 10 hours non-stop, literally. And think about parking in those alleys and village cores.

Costly houses don’t always buy you peace and comfort. The vast place for €6,000pm out in the countryside was swamped with flies (surrounded by stables), stank (because of rubbish dump), and was noisy (dogs and a generator next door), and when the wind blew (most days in Malta), it picked up dust and dumped in pool.

Hunters – I can hear their guns from a village core, so expect more noise at dawn in the bird hunting season if you live in the countryside.

Heat, damp, shade and light
Beware rising damp, or penetrating damp and humidity. It seeps in everywhere in most limestone houses, but can be difficult to contain in old ones with no damp proof course, and with wells in the house or courtyard. Damp is not good for asthmatics. See Heating a Maltese house. Air character houses as much as you can – open wide the windows (and let in dust of course) everyday, winter or summer. Some old houses have rooms with few apertures and little light. Do check some rooms have enough task lighting for comfortable reading.

Outdoor areas need shading in summer. Trees are better than relying solely on canvas. Quote: “If you have a shadeless courtyard pool, in peak daytime hours in July-August you won’t be able to use it!”

Trees also mean deep shade in winter, so any limestone paving outside will inevitably go emerald green and dangerously slippery during the winter rains.

Furnished or unfurnished?
Long-term expats usually move with furniture so just want the kitchen kitted out with oven, hob, dishwasher and perhaps washing machine. These do usually come standard in rental places. But be prepared to face the landlord’s mass of furniture, whether you want it or not. There is no storage facility in Malta (apart from the odd private (damp) garage, so landlords prefer to keep it in the house! Beware expensive breakable antiques and bad taste – sometimes the two go together. Again, negotiate to get it shifted somewhere if you want your own stuff in the house. If you need to store furniture, do be prepared to find it smelly and damp when you dig it out to use. Tip – air, air, air everything from wardrobes to kitchen cupboards, year round.

Travel & Transport from out of town places
Buses do go almost everywhere, eventually, even if on long, winding, rough routes. But expect to drive to get around easily unless you are central or in an urban area. One family moving from London had this to say about their location in the Maltese countryside: “We’ve got a cliff-top view, so it’s very quiet and beautiful, and feels very remote sometimes. Amazingly, the local shop delivers and the school bus comes here, but do check as one person we know in Bingemma said the school bus wouldn’t come her way. If you need them, check their routes before you rent.

Final word
Don’t let the list above dent your desire to live in a house of character. Just realise that they do have character, and so, like people, need getting to know and managing! And, they rarely loose their price, wherever they are located, should you love one so much you want to buy.

Photo: Gethin Thomas

An old favourite dusted off each winter, until kerosene prices shot up!

The issue of how to heat a Maltese house to ambient room temperature never quite gets resolved. I’ve tried most forms of heating. What I need is a level of warmth that means I don’t have to wear fingerless gloves, two fleeces and a hat indoors – and still feel chill. It is often warmer outside than in. Maltese houses are built to resist sunlight.

We’ve had several queries from those abroad thinking of relocating to Malta about how we heat our houses for those crucial months – Jan to March; it’s chill, chill, chill right now in my place, but from past experience, I often find February is the really bitter month indoors.  The house has had by then three months to chill down since last autumn’s last rays of warmth.

How you heat and how well you keep warm relate largely to your type of flat or house – stone, concrete, top floor, lower floor, thickness of stone, layout of rooms, number of windows and so on. Structure plays a large part in the choice and effectiveness of heating. Few people have central (oil-fired) heating as that requires planning while building or renovating. Fewer still use alternative bio-fuels or have photo-voltaic panels installed. And I haven’t heard of anyone with an Aga or fuel-fired cooking range in Malta, let alone one that can run heating as well.

Clearly, if you are renting, you have fewer choices. If you are house or flat hunting in the summer, do think about the heating issue!

The short answer to ‘how we heat’ is most of us don’t (effectively). We just wear more clothes. For the longer answer and the regular heating options, read on. No solutions promised though, even with modern technologies available!

Wood-burning stove

I installed one three winters ago in my metre-thick walled lounge. The pipe goes up the stairwell and just heats my bedroom above.

Pros: it looks nice, is a focal point, and provides comfortable warmth in one room at least.
Cons: It gobbles wood (one bag @ €8 lasts two nights for five hours of heating depending on the type of wood). Can be messy to clean. Needs to be on a couple of hours to really feel heat. Pipe drips liquid tar when it rains (chimney and piping badly installed!). Some possibility of flu clinker catching fire (not heard of chimney sweeps here, but probably a do-it-yourself job if you’ve a stone chimney breast not piping).
Verdict: I like it for atmosphere and can make room cosy if lit for long enough. Not efficient and can’t hope to heat more than one room.

Kerosene Heaters

I had a digital, very effective Japanese-make kerosene heater that gave central heating equivalent ambient warmth – until it went wrong three years ago and no one here can mend it! It would cut out if oxygen in the room was low and had a child safety lock button. About two years ago, the price of Kerosene more than doubled, making it very expensive a form of heating.

A few years back you’d hear a lot of praise for Potez heaters. Estate agents still advertise homes with a Potez kerosene heater in glowing terms:”…a homely living room with a Potez Heater,” was how one put it recently. People now are trying to see if they can find alternative fuels – lighting oil – to use in these heaters. Anyone who was child in the 1960s and 70s in the UK would remember a Potez heater in classrooms. I’ve heard that a Potez heater can heat an entire Maltese farmhouse; shame about the kerosene price. I would recommend getting expert advice on anything to do with kerosene heaters!

Pros: does give great heat – if a modern type of heater. Centrally located, it may heat the whole house.
Cons: kerosene prohibitively expensive. Heater needs care and attention and they can be a hazard for pets and kids, and fiddly to operate. Need to ventilate rooms frequently.
Verdict: If you inherit one, use it in the really cold periods as it is effective, though costly to run.

Gas

My very friendly gas man called this morning (not to be greeted as Rik Mayall did his in that infamous episode of the BBC’s comedy, ‘Bottom‘.) Malta’s gas men deliver bottles, not check meters. They call in my street twice a week, delivering yellow bottles we can’t do without – for cooking and heating. Portable gas heaters on wheels are the main source of heating for most of us. I hate them, but can’t live without them come winter.

Pros: Easy to obtain (if you have a bottle already). Delivered to door. Instant heating. Easy to light. Can move from room to room as you please.
Cons: Heaters can smell (both mine do, even with adapter and piping changed). Bottles heavy to heave around – my back’s had it this year. Metal casing ugly. Won’t last that long in peak winter. Safety concerns: eats oxygen and you need to ventilate rooms often. Produces moisture.  The price doubles each year it seems; I checked back 2 years or so and found it was €10.50 a bottle; now it’s  around €20.
Verdict: I’d really freeze without them, but don’t like them on safety grounds. So an evil necessity.

Aircons

Some of my rooms have them to cope with summer heat, so why don’t I use them in winter? Well, with electricity prices what they are, it can prove very costly. I abandoned using aircons as heating ages ago, and resorted to gas heaters. If you’ve a more modern flat, fully airconned, you are more likely to use them, swear by them for heating and not worry about the cost. Older houses rarely heat up well with them, and always cool down the minute they are switched off – warmth from a solid fuel stove can linger till next day.

Pros: Easy to use. Safe. Instant heat.
Cons: Costly to install and in older houses, rarely placed in all rooms. Expensive to run. Heat dissipates immediately they are switched off. Dry eyes and skin out.

No heating at all

Yes, this is an option. We won’t have frost on the inside of windows here, though hail storms and temperatures around 3-4°C at night are quite possible in wet periods. So a first line of defence is to put on more clothes, including thermals!  I know someone who won’t bother with any heating at all in their old house – apart from a rare open fire. Their mantra is that if people lived in the 1700s in it without heating, then they can too. I could just about live without room heating but not without an electric blanket to remove the damp, cold feel of my bed.

Roof insulation

Less a heating method and more heat loss prevention. The foam layer on top of the roof can be costly to install and may not do the business in winter. People I know say it can cut out summer heat but that it makes only a subliminal difference to room temperatures when it has to keep warmth in. (I am waiting for per metre costs so will add these soon).

Under-floor heating

This has been quite popular in recent years as it’s become less costly to import the technology. It’s best to install when you are renovating or building afresh as it’s too disruptive to dig up floors later. It runs off electricity, so in theory is expensive. A friend put in in his old farmhouse a year back so has trialled it for one full winter. Here are his views:

Pros: Quiet, efficient [low voltage so, in theory, also low cost]. No big impact on our energy bill – but we’ve only had one winter so far so hard to quantify. But we do use it judiciously – we keep two rooms on consistently [study and main bedroom] and it kicks in for about 10 – 15 mins per hour. It’s silent, cuts out humidity, offers even heat and kills dampness at source. In use with a de-humidifier, we maintain a temp around 18 degrees.
Cons: Needs planning to install. The only thing I’m not yet sure about is the relative cost.

Oil-fired Central Heating

Very few people have this installed, but it does work when it is! Can be ugly and expensive, and you need space to house an oil tank and few people in Malta have that. It’s rare to find here and thought of as a real luxury as it would only need to run around one month a year in reality. I am tracking down more details from the only friend I know with it. I remember her saying she didn’t put it on unless she had to!

Solar & Alternative Energies

Clearly, with all the sun Malta gets, solar energies have come to the fore in recent years, and a lot of people are making use of government subsidies to install solar panels primarily for water heaters. Fewer install photovoltaic systems that generate domestic electricity. You need a good deal of roof space for that I understand. I get a flyer a day through my letter box from local firms offering all manner of solar, eco-friendly, power systems. If you want some unbiased information about the practicalities in Malta of alternative energy supplies in the home, try contacting the Institute for Sustainable Energies at the University of Malta. See also the Malta Resources Authority for background info and about subsidies.

We will be updating this article as we’re sure to get comments in. Heating a Maltese house is a hot topic of conversation in winter – every winter!

Photo: Brandi Sims