We have finally decided the time has come to stop being on holiday and find a place to live. After deciding not to go ahead with the property here in San Juan for a variety of reasons, we have enjoyed a leisurely lifestyle. Renting takes away a lot of the work around a property of routine maintenance and upkeep other than keeping the house clean and the garden tidy, but we can't go on like this forever and now the search is on.
So, having lived in Spain for over a year what have we learnt about where we want to live?
Well, not by the sea.
It's very nice to visit, and of course is lovely for anyone visiting us but in reality we don't go to the beach, we don't swim in the sea and for 2 months of the year in summer it's chaos with tourists and for 2 months of the year during winter - it's closed. Whilst it's definitely warmer here which is good for my arthritis, I find that the air is very damp from the sea, especially in winter which is not so good.
Back to the tick list from 2 years ago to see which items on it are still relevant. Of the items on there the top one is still important and that's GOLF. We are members at a very nice club with a fabulous course. We have a lot of friends at the golf course and so it's a pin in the map where the golf course is and a circle around it that's gives us an hour or under to drive to golf.
This opens up a whole area of inland Almería. So, it's off for a drive to do some research on the areas, to find out which towns and villages we would like to be near, to find out what property prices are like a little further inland and to see if we can find somewhere we want to live.
Living in Spain is very different to thinking about living in Spain and we are so pleased to have spent a year here to find out how we live, what we do, where we go, who we socialise with etc, it makes finding the right property so much easier than trying to do it while still living in Sheffield and coming out on holidays.
One thing is for definite, it's a really good idea to rent for 6 -12 months before buying, just to be sure you ahave really chosen the right place.
Ok, now to checking out house prices - I wonder where to find the Spanish equivalent of Rightmove?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Good luck finding a place suitable for you both & Brinkley & Brandy. I know you are NOT wanting to be on a community, that's something we've learnt. Apparently though our new communal 1.9m sat dish sited 8ft up on the communications hut within the pool area doesn't look as bad as expected according to our neighbours. We look at the edge of it I understand not the full front. I can see a photo opportunity coming on soon.
I wholehearted agree about the community aspect. We actually thought that they would be friendly places!!! In realtiy not many people socialise with others on the community. We thought it would be safer as here would always be someone going past out house, but the reality of that is that people don't want to get involved. I wish we had rented somewhere before buying. However, after a few visits I think that both of us realised that we didn't want to make Spain our permanent home. I think that the applicable words are "It's beem a learning curve"!!!
We thought the same about communities when we first started looking to move to Spain but our year here has taught us so much and now we definitely do not want anywhere that has any communal areas or community involvement. A house in a field in the middle of no-where will do us just fine, thanks.
Post a Comment