gyork0206

hi, we are doing a viewing trip with home espana soon, was wondering if anyone has had any contact with them and if so positive/negative feedback would be appreciated, thanks

wilsman77

sounds interesting but never heard of them i am afraid. Keep us posted though and GL.

gyork0206

thanks

mikelincs

Please, please do not take any property offered to you, they, like many of the agents still around, try to get rid of their 'difficult to sell' places to viewing trip people. Insist on looking through their properties and ask to go to the ones that appeal to you. If you do decide to buy, make sure you use your own solicitor, the one they will recommend will be giving them a kick back and also working for them. They will use hard sell techniques, if you can try to find out if the property is on any other agents books, you may even find it cheaper.

gyork0206

we have already given them a short list of what we want to view, if they decide to deviate from that list we will know

bxpuser24710519

Never heard of them either and NO agent I used EVER stuck to my remit. I was going to be shown the same properties by several agents and they did not think I would mind even though I had already looked and they were NOT suitable as per my list of basic requirements. I found this place without agents.

gyork0206

thanks for input everyone

gyork0206

well we are back from our house hunting trip up to costa Blanca area and it was very useful, home espana were good but there were a couple of things that just weren't right for us: they said the property we really liked had only been on the market a couple of weeks, when in fact it has been on since November, they said we were within walking distance to amenities and the beach, well if you call over an hour walking distance then fine. all in all it was an experience, it has solidified our thoughts that the costa Blanca is really not for us, so we have decided to stay where we are in the costa del sol (calahonda/riviera del sol area) and try to find another long term let, not sure if i would recommend home espana again to anyone, it is true that they will only show you what they want to show you, and not what you ask for, which was very frustrating, we wanted space, they show us houses that are literally on top of one another, aww well it was an experience, but not one we will be repeating

Horlics

Given what you said, why are you not sure you would recommend Home Espana.

They lied to you and failed to follow straightforward instructions!

On a different subject, I'd be interested know why you didn't like Costa Blanca. What did you find, pros and cons, likes and dislikes? And how does your current location compare?

gyork0206

the more I think about it the angrier we get that they didn't follow simple instructions with regards to our likes and dislikes, there was one house where you literally within a handshake of 6 different neighbours, fine it had the roof terrace that we asked for but lord it was like living in a holiday camp

the reasons we didn't like the costa Blanca were :

transport, the bus service is non existent, ok if on urbanisation but rubbish otherwise

amenities close to beaches, no toilets etc on the beaches you'd have to go into a bar to go the toilet and with grandchildren that's hopeless

urbanisations, they were just far too close together, it seems like it's more important to build loads of homes, and forget about the quality and size of property

where the houses were it took an age to get to the beaches and shops, the favourite house we looked at was (10min drive, NOT) it was over an hours walk

where we are now (calahonda, costa del sol)

we love being able to be on the boardwalk to la cala within 10 mins walk of the apartment

beaches are lovely and clean, huge and all have toilets either on them or close to the beach bars

buses, you can get a bus from here to marbella then on to puerto Banus or the other way go to fuengirola and you then have access to the train to Malaga and all the places in between

urbanisations, they are varied in size and style and the majority of them are close to the coast

hope that gives you some idea of why we've chosen to stay where we are

Horlics

Yes, thanks. It's interesting to hear what people look for in a place and what you thought are the differences between the two.

wilsman77

Hi Gyork, hope you dont mind me asking but whereabouts did you end up visiting on the Costa Blanca?

wilsman77

I remember the first place I went to view in Rulleu. The agent told me it was 20mins from Alicante & Benidorm in fact it was a good 45 minutes from anywhere on a deathtrap of a road that at night would be impossible to use....... no offence to any Relleu'ns, as the town was amazing with fantastic scenery.

gyork0206

we visited la zenia, playa flamenca, cabo roig, that was the areas that we asked to look round

marcbernard

There is a great deal more to the Costa Blanca than the places you mention!!