Purchasing Property

Do you have a query about moving to Andalucia and buying property in Andalucia. Find out by posting questions and reading about other peoples experiences.
User avatar
Wicksey
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 5879
Joined: Mon Sep 20, 2004 1:21 pm
Location: Axarquia coast

Re: Purchasing Property

Postby Wicksey » Sat Jan 21, 2017 10:56 am

But Peter, doesn't this sort of thing happen all the time in the UK too? I have read countless stories of neighbour disputes over a hedge, or car parking issues, where they have come to blows about it and ended up in court. There are obnoxious people everywhere, which is why I prefer not to have neighbours too close! For me, living in the campo means having a bit of space around us and not having someone too close to annoy us!

Lisa I was surprised a the variety of areas you were looking in, too, as I thought you wanted to be in Almeria. I may be biased but I also think the ones in Malaga province are best!

User avatar
peteroldracer
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 7774
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 5:56 pm
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia

Re: Purchasing Property

Postby peteroldracer » Sat Jan 21, 2017 11:13 am

From what we have seen of Murcia during holidays there and our house-hunt it certainly seems to lack the hills and greenery of Andalucia but it is not all desert. There are different things to explore, like Cartagena and Murcia itself and the flatness is a big plus if we are to do more walking or even cycling. We are looking for different things now, and the resort living in Los Alcázares would no doubt horrify some of those on this thread but in our seventies we like the prospect of a Mercadona within 100 metres (or even home delivery!) a wide choice of restaurants and bars starting 50 or 60 metres away and the beaches on the Mar Menor 300 metres from our front door, plus "town" things like post to your door, and even a bridge club twice a week within walking distance.
Almería is a different kettle of fish and I for one am glad when the acres of plastic greenhouses are behind me when travelling up or down the coastal motorway, in the same way that I dislike the 'ticky-tacky boxes' of the Torrevieja Little Britain a bit further up the coast.
The neighbour thing as Wicksey says can happen anywhere, but in a small pocket of population it becomes a major factor and there seems little prospect of getting any antisocial behaviour order in Spain.
I used to cough to disguise a [email protected] I f@rt to disguise a cough.

User avatar
Loopy Lisa
Andalucia.com Amigo
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2017 6:31 pm
Location: London

Re: Purchasing Property

Postby Loopy Lisa » Sat Jan 21, 2017 6:23 pm

Wicksey wrote:

Lisa I was surprised a the variety of areas you were looking in, too, as I thought you wanted to be in Almeria. I may be biased but I also think the ones in Malaga province are best!
The reason we settled on almeria was that we don't need to be anywhere in particular. We won't be working, we have no full time friends in Spain and for our money - we could get something outstanding in Almeria which is way outside our budget in Malaga area.

There are a couple of reasons why Villa Gareth isn't for us. We went for the second time and during the winter there had been a landslide that took half the patio (I think that is probably sorted now but....), it also doesn't lend it self on layout to having privacy when friends come to stay, it would need an element of remodelling as well to get a bath installed, and the driveway is treacherous!!!! There is also a long cinder track (about 5 mins drive) from the main road. It is a long way from casarabonela - maybe 10 minute drive, and when we stayed there I wouldn't go out in the evening cos of the journey back!

Why we stuck with it - I think we felt we had to ..... But we are not going to be pushed about or allow ourselves to be fed alone by the agent. I shall be asking questions from the word go this time.

elusive
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 3275
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 11:49 am
Location: East of Malaga

Re: Purchasing Property

Postby elusive » Sat Jan 21, 2017 9:38 pm

Imo its all about location. You can have a nice big mansion but if its not in the right location then no matter how nice the house you wont be happy for long. Imo theres a reason why some places are fare cheaper than others.dont just go for the area with the cheapest prices. Cant remember if you said you have travelled around alot but i would advise to see as many areas as possible and chose your fav based on that

Pamela1
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 2542
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2014 3:30 am
Location: Co Durham/ Granada Province

Re: Purchasing Property

Postby Pamela1 » Sat Jan 21, 2017 10:51 pm

Yes, i'd agree with Elusive...the nice home won't feel so nice if you are unhappy in an area you come to hate..

User avatar
Loopy Lisa
Andalucia.com Amigo
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2017 6:31 pm
Location: London

Re: Purchasing Property

Postby Loopy Lisa » Sun Jan 22, 2017 12:04 am

elusive wrote:Imo its all about location. You can have a nice big mansion but if its not in the right location then no matter how nice the house you wont be happy for long. Imo theres a reason why some places are fare cheaper than others.dont just go for the area with the cheapest prices. Cant remember if you said you have travelled around alot but i would advise to see as many areas as possible and chose your fav based on that
I agree. We have been to Almeria and have travelled (as much as you can on a 2 week holiday!) But most of it has been in the Malaga area and we have looked at the positives of not getting the house. We have started to whittle down the list of properties and reviewed our list of "essential" items and we have a bigger choice to choose from. And we will be haggling and so maybe something that seems out of our budget could be something we could get now.
We have also decided that we aren't going to be so quick to sign a reservation contract. A close friend knows of somebody who said - not signing it, take my word I'm interested I will instruct my lawyer today to start work and the seller agreed - the sale went smoothly and she bought a holiday home in 2015.
W

Ursula
Andalucia.com Amigo
Posts: 148
Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2005 7:13 pm
Location: Alameda

Re: Purchasing Property

Postby Ursula » Mon Jan 23, 2017 3:37 pm

Good luck Lisa. At the end of the day everyone has to do what they think is best. Living in the "wilderness" for 10-15 years sounds like a good plan, however, the people I know who planned to do just that didn´t plan to get ill either and got into difficulties, that is all I will say. Good luck with your move, hope you will be very happy.

Best regards
Ursula

User avatar
peteroldracer
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 7774
Joined: Wed Oct 13, 2004 5:56 pm
Location: Los Alcázares, Murcia

Re: Purchasing Property

Postby peteroldracer » Fri Jan 27, 2017 7:20 pm

In case you still seek isolation....https://www.facebook.com/groups/1175376 ... 4069042595
I used to cough to disguise a [email protected] I f@rt to disguise a cough.

User avatar
Terry Tibbs
Resident
Posts: 309
Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2013 7:14 am
Location: Arroyo de la Miel

Re: Purchasing Property

Postby Terry Tibbs » Tue Jan 31, 2017 8:40 pm

Hi Lisa,

I think you have already obtained the benefit of many of this esteemed forum's members' opinions, so I won't repeat much of what has already been written, except to say that I agree with the points that have been made by others. However I would just like to suggest that you seriously consider renting a place in the first instance and don't rush into buying a property at the outset. I know that renting can be considered as throwing money down the drain, especially if the rent is high and this is done over a long period. But it has the great advantage of giving you a lot of flexibility. You wouldn't need to necessarily rent a large house to start with - if I were in our shoes I would put my furniture in storage (if necessary) and find a flat or a small house in an area of interest and spend some time getting to know the area. Then you would be in a much better position to decide whether you really want to live in that part of Spain, or whether you would prefer to look elsewhere.

But as others have said, only you and your partner can make the decision at the end of the day and I wish you both all the very best of luck and happiness as go you forward with your exciting journey.

User avatar
linajeff
Tourist
Posts: 22
Joined: Tue Jan 31, 2017 12:27 pm
Location: United States
Contact:

Re: Purchasing Property

Postby linajeff » Wed Feb 01, 2017 9:53 am

Wicksey wrote:If you are really in the middle of nowhere then I would question where the water is from. Certainly around here what I would call mains (treated drinking) water only reaches out a little way into the campo surrounding a village/town unless it's different there. With no other houses within sight I would be surprised if it was 'mains'. Our own water is bought from our neighbour's agricultural supply. We don't really like that arrangement but have little choice other than to have a bore hole sunk which even then is no guarantee of being successful.

In the campo plots of land cannot be divided up. We have simply moved our boundaries so that instead of a long thin oblong plot we now have a wider, rhombus shaped one .... if that makes any sense! The neighbouring landowner happened to have owned our plot originally and he had decided to hang onto some of it which he shouldn't have (as his water tank is on the top of what was our hill). So we have let him keep the top part of the land and he has given us some of his neighbouring plot, but it's more a change of boundaries than him dividing up the plot. The escritura showed the proper land plan but old Paco had other ideas!

The land has been surveyed and topographical maps drawn up and signed and agreed by him and our assessoria is in the process of getting the plans changed on the main register although it can take years to go through. In your situation I would be very worried about access as you are completely landlocked and would not accept just a verbal agreement of the rights of access.
This was very useful to read, because my husband and i are in a some what similar situation!
:wave:

maureenscot
Resident
Posts: 666
Joined: Mon Jan 25, 2016 5:37 pm

Re: Purchasing Property

Postby maureenscot » Wed Feb 01, 2017 1:32 pm

Oh dear linajeff, are you managing to resolve this?

User avatar
Loopy Lisa
Andalucia.com Amigo
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue Jan 10, 2017 6:31 pm
Location: London

Re: Purchasing Property

Postby Loopy Lisa » Thu Mar 02, 2017 12:18 pm

So the saga of the lost purchase and difficult vendors continues!!!
We had an email today from our lawyer passing on an email from the estate agent suggesting we split our deposit €1500 to each party. We have said no, and said we cannot really think about it as we are out of the country.
We have said between ourselves that I would rather give the money to a donkey rescue than have a single bloody (but in stronger language!!!) cent going to the vendor. Watch this space ......


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 20 guests