Advice on where to buy in Spain

missile

Francophile wrote: »

Thanks MissKJ, that's sounds more re-assuring. We are about to book flights, hotel etc to go over in April to have a look around the area of Javea/Moraira as recommended on here. Anyone know of any reliable EA's?

There are estate agents on virtually every street corner in Javea. Most are reputable, ..... well as reputable as any in the UK. I would suggest you avoid any run by Brits. You may wish to contact one of the larger international agents like Re Max. http://www.remax.com/ You can check out properties on line before you go, see http://www.costablanca-news.com/

A friend of mine owns a hotel in Denia, which you may find a convenient base from which to survey properties in the area. It is a converted nunnery in the older part of town near the castle, see http://hostalloreto.com/index_eng.html Douglas speaks excellent spanish and I am sure he would be pleased to give you advice and assistance.

You will find many Brits living in Javea, Altea and Denia or if you wish to live further inland Finnestrat is very popular and more than 50% of the inhabitants are English.

Have you decided on what you want? Do you want to be in a busy town/ rural village/ or remote finca in the hills? Do you want to be by the sea / inland? Do you want to live in a prodominatly english / spanish community? How many beds / pool? An appartment/ town house / villa and most importantly, what is your budget?

Francophile

missile wrote: »

There are estate agents on virtually every street corner in Javea. Most are reputable, ..... well as reputable as any in the UK. I would suggest you avoid any run by Brits. You may wish to contact one of the larger international agents like Re Max. http://www.remax.com/ You can check out properties on line before you go, see http://www.costablanca-news.com/

A friend of mine owns a hotel in Denia, which you may find a convenient base from which to survey properties in the area. It is a converted nunnery in the older part of town near the castle, see http://hostalloreto.com/index_eng.html Douglas speaks excellent spanish and I am sure he would be pleased to give you advice and assistance.

You will find many Brits living in Javea, Altea and Denia or if you wish to live further inland Finnestrat is very popular and more than 50% of the inhabitants are English.

Have you decided on what you want? Do you want to be in a busy town/ rural village/ or remote finca in the hills? Do you want to be by the sea / inland? Do you want to live in a prodominatly english / spanish community? How many beds / pool? An appartment/ town house / villa and most importantly, what is your budget?

Hi Missile,
Thanks for all the info. :T I will look at your suggested websites.
We want somewhere that is reasonably warm in Winter (my DH and I both suffer from aches and pains in the cold weather and we're only early 50's at the mo so no doubt it will get worse and not better). We would like to be within walking distance of amenities e.g. restaurants, bars, shops, medical facilities etc. Not on the coast but not too far away either e.g 15 min drive. Preferably a mixed community of Spanish and English speakers. We don't want to end up feeling totally isolated but nor do we want a little England. A minimum of 2 bedrooms (and preferably not an apartment but a town house would be fine) with at least a terrace outside and access to a pool, oh and the budget is pretty small 200,000 euro max. So I think we're fairly clear on what we want. It's just a matter of finding it now and feeling secure enough with the people we're dealing with to go ahead and purchase.

Seven day Weekend I agree with you it is better to be aware of the pitfalls and at least won't be tempted to make any rash decisions.

Thanks everyone who has given advice.

missile

It is all about choices. There are many things to consider. One of our priorities was easy access to a good airport. It is a little cooler and wetter north of Alicante airport. The upside being that it is greener than south of Alicante. Another was access to good health care. Another is good road and rail links, please be advised the traffic can be horrendous in and arround Javea / Altea during summer.

We chose south of Alicante where it is a little warmer. The temperature last night was 7 degrees and today it is 20 degrees, brilliant sunshine and not a cloud in the sky.

For 200,000 € you ought to be able to afford a pretty nice 2 bedroom town house even in Denia / Altea and Javea which are expensive. Currently available in Denia: Chalet 130m2 with 3 bedrooms, 2 bath and garage @ €283,000, in Moraira Chalet 75m2 with 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and private garden @ €157,500. If you want to stretch the budget in Altea, Chalet with panoramic view of the bay @ €2,575,000. Yes that is 2.5+ million - who said property is cheap in Spain? These are all on this web site http://www.msgi.es/web/index.asp

Please be advised this estate agent "inmobiliaria groupo" is a subsidiariary of CAM Bank. You can't get more reliable than that? You will need a spanish bank and they can provide all the profesional services you may require - like legal / mortgage / insurance. I find CAM to be very good. http://www.cam.es/cam/in/index.htm

Francophile

Well the flights are booked now and the bonus is we got them for 1 cent each, each way from Dublin to Valencia. With the taxes it came to 85 Euro for the 2 of us. How's that for MSEing?

hartcjhart

good luck with the trip Francophile,come back and let us know how you get on.

as an aside and to do with the 'demolition drama'Its not just us Brits

this from 'costaalmeria.com

Anyone who believed the Junta were targetting those less well off who couldn't afford a legal battle or British so didn't really understand what was happening - think again!

Antonia Banderas, Spanish, rich and famous has unsuccessfully fought a demolition order on his Marbella house. He now has just 8 weeks to demolish an extension for which the planning permission turned out to have been illegally granted.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,,2246697,00.html

Francophile

hartcjhart wrote: »

good luck with the trip Francophile,come back and let us know how you get on.

as an aside and to do with the 'demolition drama'Its not just us Brits

this from 'costaalmeria.com

Anyone who believed the Junta were targetting those less well off who couldn't afford a legal battle or British so didn't really understand what was happening - think again!

Antonia Banderas, Spanish, rich and famous has unsuccessfully fought a demolition order on his Marbella house. He now has just 8 weeks to demolish an extension for which the planning permission turned out to have been illegally granted.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/spain/article/0,,2246697,00.html

Will be sure and post when we get back. We're hoping the £ will have improved against the Euro by then. It's pretty dismal at the moment.:eek:

fox2125

Hi Missile. My sister and brother-in-law live in Illora, which is 30 minutes from Granada. They run a small property company in Spain which doesn't rely on the hard sell which most do on the coast. Go to Granadarenovations.com and see what's about at the moment. I been a few times now and to say the quality of life is amazing, would be an understatement. You'll probably be looking to spend anything from 70,000 to 200,000 Euros. It might be worth renting first to get to fall in love with an area before buying. Understanding the Spanish life is essential as it differs greatly from ours in social etiquette and time keeping. There was a Channel 5 programme which featured the type of properties they specialise in. Good luck.

missile

Hi Fox,
Never been to Illora. The Alhambra in Granada is a must see for anyone in the area. Renting first is an exellent suggestion.

seven-day-weekend

I personally was 'underwhelmed' by the Alhambra, although as a World heritage Site it is certainly worth a visit and loads of people love it.

The Mezquita in Cordoba (and indeed the whole of Cordoba centre, another World Heritage Site), is awe-inspiring and a must-do imho.

missile

Each to their own, there is lots to see and one is spoilt for choice. I was simply amazed to see the site and imagine what it must have been like, a civilisation so far advanced when we brits were living in wooden huts. Spend a night here http://www.h-alhambrapalace.es/Web/Hall.htm for a glimpse of oppulance.