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24HourForums.com > Supported Forums > Pussycat's Spain Train > Casafruitas and his quest for a home in the sun! |
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member  Angel of Mischief!
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Okay, so the powers that be, in their infinite wisdom, have allowed me to write a blog...Thank you  Being a techno dinosaur, I don't even know what a blog is, but thought it might be a good idea to do one anyway! I am going to tell you about our experiences of buying a home in Spain: Taking the long and bumpy journey from conception of the dream to the present day with those sometimes 'iffy' stops in between. I hope that the following posts help those who are thinking of taking the plunge and dispel some of those horror stories we hear about. We were reasonably lucky in our purchase, but we did a lot of homework beforehand. We knew what to look for, what to avoid and had a so-called font of excellent advice from others on how to proceed...not everything went exactly to plan as you will find out! I won't be able to make many posts just yet, as our diary is in Spain! But will make a start with some background information and how we first decided that the move to Spain was for us.....watch this space....
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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In the beginning- For many years, I had always dreamed of retiring to a place in the sun - no real idea of exactly where - just somewhere nice and sunny. Mrs Fruitas didn't really think along the same lines as me at this early stage - but boy, that soon changed. After visiting my aunt's place in Alhaurin de la Torre, just outside Malaga, Mrs Fruitas soon changed her view on the life in the sun. OK, we were in holiday mode, but just loved the people and their way of life. After a couple more visits, we were now both of the same opinion that a place in Spain would be for us - not just a holiday home - but a home that we would eventually retire to. Ok, so I am lucky in that by the ripe old age of 48, I will be retired and in receipt of a full works pension, but could we wait the 5 or so years for me to retire before we started house-hunting? Would we be able to afford the price of a house in 5 years time? If we bought a house now, could we afford another mortgage? Lots of questions that we didn't know the answers to. One thing for sure was that we were going to try our best to get the ball rolling as soon as possible.....
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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Could we afford? If this dream of ours was to happen sooner rather than later, we had to work out if we could actually afford to do it. We had no savings as such, so it would mean taking on another mortgage (ouch!). We really didn't think it would be possible, but arranged to see our bank manager for a natter. We were quite surprised with the outcome! As luck had it, the bank had just brought out a new type of mortgage called an Off-Set. Because we had been in our UK home for upwards of 20 years - there was quite a lot of equity accumulated and by going down the Off-set route it could free up some of the current value of the house - in short it DID make it possible to finance our dream - so long as we stuck to a strict budget (yes, that dreaded word BUDGET!!!). The bank we used, also had a special division that dealt with mortgages in Spain! The manager gave us all the contact details and off we trot...looked like the gods were really on our side (or were they?) So, what do we do next? We have the finance sorted to the extent that we know we can get the extra cash if needed, we have applied for a Spanish mortgage - all that is left now is to find the perfect place in the sun - is it really that easy? Oh no!!!!!!!
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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by Casafruitas (continued) Fallen at the first fence? Having received our Spanish mortgage pack from the bank, it soon became apparent that applying for a Spanish mortgage wasn't going to be quite so simple as it is in the UK. There was a multi-page application form (rather like a telephone directory in design) which required completing. The form needed to know absolutely everything about us and our finances (quite understandably really) but one thing that immediately struck us was that it also wanted details on the property we were wanting the mortgage on...oh dear, we didn't have one! A few phone calls later it was confirmed that we first needed a property for them to issue any form of offer - the gent at the other end of the phone thought I was daft when I asked about a mortgage guarantee from them. So, we really had to get a house first before this mortgage process could even start...that would mean putting a non-refundable deposit down on a house that the mortgage company could refuse a mortgage for. We could lose a couple of grand, just by the stroke of a pen from the mortgage people...Boy, was this going to be a gamble? However, there was simply no other way we could possibly do it. So, biting the bullet, off we venture further into the unknown...What sort of house are we going to be looking for? What about that budget?
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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By Casafruitas... The early planning process... OK, so we now know we have the finances (to an extent), all we need now is a house! It was a bit of a "chicken and egg" situation really...do we start looking at houses first or plan the budget? We decided to mingle both into one, seeing what sort of property we would get in different areas for a set budget. We knew that on top of the house price, we had to account for an additional 10% in order to pay taxes, solicitors fees and other little added extras. So, to be on the safe side we decided to make that 12%. But 12% of what? We really needed a ball-park figure to work on so we knew how our finances would stretch, so that is where the house searching became part of this dual process. So this is where it all starts...what sort of house and more importantly: Where? There are so many things that have to be taken into account such as doctors, hospitals, shops, schools (if you have children) and another 101 things that we just take for granted here in the UK. One thing for sure is that we knew what we didn't want. We enjoy a bit of peace and quiet so didn't want anything like a popular coastal resort like Marbella. We didn't want an appartment...don't forget we wanted this place to retire to and not just use as a holiday home. We didn't particularly want a house on a sprawling urbanisation...although you can get some very nice ones. We wanted perhaps a bit of land with it, or at least a nice garden. A swimming pool would have been nice, but certainly not essential. Something with 3 bedrooms would be great, but 2 would be just fine. Even the thought of a bit a DIY project sounded appealing in these early stages. By buying a "wreck" we could save on the initial outlay and have more to spend doing it up over a period. Anyway, thank God for the internet...at least we could start looking from the comfort of our own living room and not spend hundreds of pounds that we could ill afford on flights over to Spain.
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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by Casafruitas.... The search begins... One huge problem that we didn't have to face was the fact that Mrs Fruitas and I both have the same taste in most things...a very lucky "pro" when you are going through this process. This stage of the "game" we found to be the most fun...endless, sleepless nights trawling the internet, looking at all the different properties available and their varying prices and condition. Our children at the time were both at college and were most put out when they couldn't do their homework on the computer as Mum & Dad taken over!! Wow, we never knew just how many estate agents were out there. We must have tried them all over a lengthy period, but found that we kept coming back to the same handful. We corresponded with some of them by email, telling them our requirements (that we ourselves didn't know!). Some would reply, others would not...they were the ones who we never bothered with again! We would keep saving properties that we thought deserved a second look into a special folder on the computer...This shortlist would then be subject to a more severe test regarding how it faired against what we wanted and what it had to offer. It also helped us decide on what sort of price we we were looking at paying...before we knew it, we had cut this shortlist down to a meer few hundred!! We did have our own favourites though...one was an old farm house in need of "some" repair (according to the agent). It looked to be a good size and had a pool (not finished) and a vast amount of land. The price was well within our means. Another was another old farmhouse type. It didn't look as though it needed any major work doing on it, had a pool, a lovely seperate granny flat and numerous useful out buildings. That one was a little over our projected budget but nonetheless a good looking property. There were many others, but one in particular was a newish villa with 5 bedrooms, large swimming pool, and a large well kept garden with fruit and veg. It looked very tastefully decorated inside and looked to be located in nice quiet surroundings...it was just on our budget and the more we looked at it, the more we needed to go and see it....now there lies the first episode of madness!!!
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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A moment of madness (by Casafruitas) So, after many months of scouring the internet for our ideal place...we had finally reached the stage where we had booked a trip out to Spain and had lined up a number of properties with different estate agents. The date we were due to fly out was 29th March 2006 and couldn't wait for that date to arrive! We had about a month to wait for D-Day, but as the days ticked by, we kept thinking about one of the properties in particular..the newsih 5 bed villa...we just couldn't get it out of our minds. So much so, that after a good night on the gin, and knowing that my Aunt was already out in Spain (so accomodation wouldn't be a problem), we booked a weekend trip especially to see this place...the things you do in drink! This was on the Wednesday night of 15th March...the flight was for the following afternoon. I was OK, as it was my days off....but I had to ring Cath's boss at work the following morning and explain that I had done it as a surprise for Cath in the hope that she would allow her the time off...it's amazing how well one can crawl when in desperate need...but it worked! Off we pop to the airport and by late afternoon on 16th March we were in Malaga. It was too late to contact the agent when we arrived, but we had emailed him prior to leaving the UK...I bet he thought we were nuts, but what the heck - we needed to see this property NOW!! We had an enjoyable evening at my Aunt's place and the following morning I rang the agent who dropped the biggest bombshell that we never wanted to hear... First lesson learnt Like I said, the phone call to the agent provided our first major blow...the property we wanted to see was still on the market...BUT...the vendor, without informing the agent, had hiked the priced up by an additional 60,000 euros!!! The apparent reason for doing this, was because it wasn't selling at the lower price - now work that one out! Well, there was no way that we could afford that, so the agent, bless him, lined up a couple of similar priced houses in the same area...and off we go to meet him. The properties were further inland than we had ever ventured before...beuatiful countryside. The area we were to look in was comically named Moron de la Frontera in the heart of Sevilla. One of the first things that struck us, was that the Spanish didn't seem to have much sense of pride in the presentation of their houses for sale...you would walk into piles of pots and pans in the sink, dirty laundry strewn all over the place and nothing tidied away. Another thing was that their houses seemed just so cluttered with furniture - to such an extent that it was hard to get from one side of the room to the other without knocking into something or having to move soemthing out of the way - but hey...we were in Spain, not the centre of Yorkshire! After viewing the first couple of properties we actually drove past the villa that we had had our beady eyes on...the one that had been increased in price. As we did so, the vendor was working away in the garden, so the agent stopped and went to have a word with him. The villa did look as nice as the photos we had seen and had had a recent terrace extension. The agent returned and told us that the vendor would not budge on his price, another reason given was that the place had just received all the legal paperwork and that he could now ask what he wanted for it. So, we had to say goodbye to our first "dream"...there was no way that we would pay the extra...even if we had the money available - it was the principle!! So that really was the end of our weekend of madness. We flew back to the UK on Sunday with only a couple of weeks left to our first real expedition. Although it had been disappointing, we had learnt alot about what is required regarding legalities etc, and we also knew what we might expect to see in the coming weeks....
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24HourNut Administrator  aka Frank
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We need another update. 
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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The first hunt looms The 29th March could not arrive soon enough for us. We were back in the UK, having spent a whirlwind weekend in Spain already. We had nearly weeks out there...arriving on the Wednesday, but the first viewings weren't booked until the following Monday. The 29th March soon arrived, and off we jet to my Aunt's in Malaga. The flight is only just over 2 and half hours so we seem to get there in no time. Then the most disastrous start to our stay...it took as long for us to collect our hire car as it did to fly there...yes a 2 and a half hour wait...unbelievable! Things couldn't get worse, could they? Anyway, we eventually pick up our car (one of those tiny Picanto's, where you have to rip the front seat out and sit in the back to drive!) and head off to Alhaurin de la Torre, just outside Malaga. We had a lazy few days to pass before the fun starts on Monday. We had many scribblings with us, reminding us of what to ask, what to do, all the advice from others on various forums...but we were both so excited about our forthcoming venture that most of it was a haze! We had arranged to visit the Albunol area on the Monday, Riogordo & Iznajar areas on the Tuesday, had a free day on the Wednesday and the Loja area on the Thursday. We had set Friday aside for any second viewings. The visit to Loja on the Tursday was the one we really couldn't wait to go on...we had found a lovely 2 bed villa with a pool with stunning views of mountains. It looked really well maintained and this was by far the best property we had lined up, but we had to see plenty of others before this one...but just how did they compare?
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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D-Day arrives! Monday 3rd April 2006 Having spent a rather relaxing and gin filled weekend, we were now ready for our first house viewings. We had a long journey ahead of us, to a place we had never even heard of, let alone visited before! It was a glorious day, so we looked forward to our venture. Thankfully I had taken my satellite navigation system with us. I programmed a place called La Rabita into it and off we set at 7.30 in the morning. The sat-nav told us we had about 160km to travel. We joined the motorway in Malaga and headed east. As soon as we cleared Malaga, we couldn’t believe how quiet the motorway became and the further we travelled, the quieter it got…in fact we were often the only car in sight for miles! The motorway ended at Nerja and we then joined the old coastal road with some stunning views along the way. The road twisted and went up and down the coast, passing through Salobrena, Almunecar, Motril and many other beautiful places along the way. We had arranged to meet our first estate agent at 10am in La Rabita and just as the clock struck 10, we arrived…good old sat-nav! We met the agent on the front at La Rabita. I think this may have been a bit of a ploy on her part, as we instantly fell in love with the place! A lovely small beach lined with palm trees and several small bars on the front. We sat outside one of them to have a coffee before we set off to look at the first property. We only had one property lined up with this agent, but knew full well that she would have a couple more up her sleeve for us. The one we had booked to see was a newly built villa with a large garden. The website showed it had spectacular views of the mountains and sea and was only “5 minutes” from a town called Albunol…another place we had never heard of. So, after a couple of very nice coffees, off we go to this place called Albunol what will this place have to offer?
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24HourNut Administrator aka Frank
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Hey, thanks for the updates! Damn you're a busy woman ...
The best human beings start good new topics and vote on the better posts. |
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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On with Casafruitas's quest for his home in the sun..... The viewing begins Monday 3rd April 2006 (continued) So, off we go up to Albunol. We stopped off at the agent's office as she wanted us to look at two other properties that she thought we might like to see. One was very close to the one we had planned to view in any case, so seeing that wouldn't be a problem. Then there was another that had literally just come onto the market, so we hadn't seen it on their website. It was a lot more than our budget, but the photos of it looked very nice, so decided whilst we were there, we would look at that one as well. The one we had wanted to see (the one's minutes from Albunol &was in fact up quite a lengthy dirt road, only accessible in a 4 x 4. The 5 minutes from Albunol quote must have meant by helicopter! Anyway, we eventually reached what felt like the top of the world. The views were absolutely stunning. It was a quiet little hamlet with just a dozen or so houses. We immediately recognised the one we had seen on the website, however it wasn't clear from those photos that there was another new villa being built literally one foot away from this (I wonder why that wasn't mentioned!!). It put us off straight away, but we were here now, so let's have a look. The villa came unfurnished, had numerous rooms and although well decorated, the doors were obviously designed for midgets. Being 6'1, I would have had to constantly wear a crash helmet around the house to prevent injury while going through the 5'6 door frames! There were also a couple of low beams that would cause problems after a few gins! So, a little disappointing to say the least, but it just wasn't suitable. Very nice, but just not for us, so off we go about another 200 yards further to the second property in the hamlet. Again, this one was very nicely decorated. It was currently being lived in by a Spanish family, but the lay-out just wasn't right. It was the location that was the problem & it wasn't just as simple as nipping down to town for your shopping. It would mean a full day out to get as many provisions as you could to prevent you having to go up and down that treacherous dirt track too many times. It really was a little too remote for what we needed but we still had the other property to look at &what horrors would that have in stall for us?
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24HourNut Administrator aka Frank
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Hey PC, good luck with your shopping, sorry it has been frustrating. It's also exciting, right? Thanks for updating - great to see you, as always.
The best human beings start good new topics and vote on the better posts. |
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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24HourNut wrote: Hey PC, good luck with your shopping, sorry it has been frustrating. It's also exciting, right? Thanks for updating - great to see you, as always. Sorry, I need to make this clear. Casafruitas one of our 'Costaliving Magazine writers telling his true story. (It's not me... I got screwed by the ecomony both in the UK when I was selling up and leaving (falling prices in the UK) and in rising prices in Spain during the wait to sell in the Uk, so I am still in limbo... left without equity in the Uk, with extortionate prices still here in Spain..hence still renting here in Spain.) But I'm happy enough being mag editor / publisher. It's a heavy workload, but hey. I love it! Anyway on with Casa's story...
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Pussycat Forum-Blogger© Pioneer100© Member Angel of Mischief!
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Casafruitas' quest for his home in the sun... The "Wow" factor Monday 3rd April (continued yet again!) We slowly wend our way down from the top of the world and travel down from Albunol towards La Rabita. We pull up about half way near a place called Cortijo Bajo and see that this house is protected by a huge port-cullis type electronic gate...very impressive! We walk up the driveway to see a house far bigger than we ever wanted...but it looked nice and homely. We were met by the elderly Spanish couple who lived there. The agent told the old man that we didn't speak any Spanish, but that didn't deter him from rattling away to us! They seemed such a happy couple and invited us into their home. As soon as we walked in the front door and saw the marble hallway and stairs, we looked at each other and said, "Wow!" - it felt just like home...you know the feeling?? The house was very tidy, the rooms were a good size, the ceilings were high and I could quiet easily walk through a doorway without having to duck! It had a kitchen, dining room, living room and toilet downstairs. There were five bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs and one of the bedrooms had a balcony where you could reach out and pick the oranges from one of trees in the garden. This balcony then led onto a seperate kitchen / living room type place which had a lovely open fireplace. Below this was another huge room that was used for fiestas. The gardens were full of numerous types of fruit trees. The place was enormous! We spent a long time looking round and taking photos. We knew that this was going to be a serious contender against the one we were going to see on Thursday. So that was our first day's house hunting experience over. All that remained now was to travel another 160km back to Malaga, but the journey was so pleasant, it wasn't a huge problem and gave us time to discuss what we thought of the last property. We were both of the same mind - we loved the place! We still had plenty of houses to view in the coming days, so after a couple of gins, another early night in preparation for the following day's trip | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
