Hi from Alicante Spain

BarryBlue

Hi Tony. You are in a part of the world that we love. We plan to buy there when my wife retires and spend as much time as we can there. That may well end up being a permanent move. We have spent a lot of time in the area, around Almoradi, Algorfa and Rojales, and we have looked at properties at Fincas de la Vega at Formentera. We love Guardamar too for its wonderful beach. For some reason we also love Elche and feel very at home there.


We are fortunate in that we have several friends in the area who have given us some idea of the pitfalls of buying and living there but it doesn't put us off. We plan to keep our UK home as part of a property portfolio here. The UK doesn't hold much appeal for us these days and, frankly, I would move tomorrow if it were possible!

tonymar

BarryBlue wrote: »

Hi Tony. You are in a part of the world that we love. We plan to buy there when my wife retires and spend as much time as we can there. That may well end up being a permanent move. We have spent a lot of time in the area, around Almoradi, Algorfa and Rojales, and we have looked at properties at Fincas de la Vega at Formentera. We love Guardamar too for its wonderful beach. For some reason we also love Elche and feel very at home there.


We are fortunate in that we have several friends in the area who have given us some idea of the pitfalls of buying and living there but it doesn't put us off. We plan to keep our UK home as part of a property portfolio here. The UK doesn't hold much appeal for us these days and, frankly, I would move tomorrow if it were possible!

Hi Barry

Yes Guardamar is very nice , as you say a great beach and nice prom to walk along , I also like Elche city it is so well connected to the coast , airport etc , and there are some nice Fincas on the outskirts .

Hope you find a nice house in Spain !

Cheers Tony

tonymar

When buying a Finca it is important to know that things we take for granted in the Uk are not always standard here

For example

mains water , mains electric , mains sewerage, mains gas , telephone line , tarmac road , central heating etc.

Cheers Tony

seven-day-weekend

I always used to tell people 'don't buy anything you can't see'. In other words, if there is no electricity, don't assume you can have it connected.If there is no pool, don't assume you can have one. If there is no extension, don't assume you can build one. If there is no building at all (i.e. you are buying off-plan), don't assume it will ever get built. And don't assume that what you do buy is legal. I always used to say you are safer with an older property in an established area (certainly this is true in Andalucia), than a new or non -existent property on a new development.

Ours was legal, but not correctly registered, it took us eight months and 8k euros to get it correctly registered when we sold it. Our buyer ended up with the most legal house in the village

tonymar

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

I always used to tell people 'don't buy anything you can't see'. In other words, if there is no electricity, don't assume you can have it connected.If there is no pool, don't assume you can have one. If there is no extension, don't assume you can build one. If there is no building at all (i.e. you are buying off-plan), don't assume it will ever get built. And don't assume that what you do buy is legal. I always used to say you are safer with an older property in an established area (certainly this is true in Andalucia), than a new or non -existent property on a new development.

Ours was legal, but not correctly registered, it took us eight months and 8k euros to get it correctly registered when we sold it. Our buyer ended up with the most legal house in the village

Good advice ,yes dont assume anything , things that seem straight forward can be complicated

Paper work as you know can be a nightmare here !

tonymar

lollipop456 wrote: »

Hi tony, nice to meet you here!

Hola Lollipop:)

tonymar

lollipop456 wrote: »

Hi tony, nice to meet you here!

Are you in Spain or the Uk Lolipop ?

deeds

We're selling our apartment in Punta Prima at the minute - what an ordeal that is!
Selling over there is a nightmare.

ognum

deeds wrote: »

We're selling our apartment in Punta Prima at the minute - what an ordeal that is!
Selling over there is a nightmare.

Could you give a few more details as to why it is a nightmare.

We have Tony telling everyone to buy as prices are low so would be interested to hear what it really is like to sell!

deeds

Well....
where to start, in a nutshell, we're selling to Russians as they're the only ones with any money right now.
But we've been fobbed off, given completion date after completion date which failed, the buyers agent has given us a large amount to secure the property, (in dribs & drabs a couple of thousand here, few thousand there so on and so forth) if they don't complete the sale, we keep the money & walk away, the last definite completion date we had ie 'book the flights - its happening', came & went we went out there anyway as the flights were non-refundable (on bank hol, half term so £600 :mad:) we met with the agent & she gave us more money & said end of the month - definite.. blah blah,, so I guess we'll see in the next couple of weeks...
then theres the other bits etc & a portion of money that is withheld that you dont get back for up to 3 years... Thats without starting on closing the bank account & transferring the money back to the UK.
Maybe its easier not selling to Russians, but as they're the only ones with any money, the Russian government are clearly hellbent on any money NOT leaving the country, its all a bit of an ordeal, this has been going on for a year now.
We're >this< close to pulling out & keeping their deposit, how long is it feasible to go on for!! All of this is on a bought outright unmortgaged property, I dread to think of the bigger nightmare if it was mortgaged.

Rich11, it could be back on the market if you're interested