dibyrne

We're in Javea at the moment looking at options for houses. The agents are insisting the market is on the rise and villas in Javea and surrounding villages, such as Jesus Pobre, are achieving close to asking price. How bigger pinch of salt should I be taking?

I'd rather rent for the time being, but there are few long term rentals which, according to agents, is because houses are selling so no one is forced to rent them out.

Moses2013

The market is always on the rise:-). I don't know the market very well there, but any place with British buyers is always on the rise. Just had a quick look and it seems that the village you are talking about is heavily overpriced. There are plenty of places in Spain that are marketed well, so it seems that Jesus Pobre is one of those places. If you are focused on one area, there's always a chance you pay too much and agents know that. I agree that the absolute bottom was a while ago, but it will always be possible to buy a nice villa with pool a few mins from the sea for under €150K.

dibyrne

How do you determine what is overpriced? We're casting a fairly wide net, but still want to be no more than 20 mins from Javea for school. If the prices being asked are achieved then presumably this is the market rate. Or is it the case that the asking prices are way beyond what they are actually achieving? In the UK sold prices are published, but I doubt this is the case here. I suppose we just need to put in offers we think are reasonable and see what happens. Thing is we are quite taken with the area so maybe it's a case of having to stump-up if we want to be here, but no one wants to pay over the top.

Rosemary

If the owners are Spanish you are less likely to have an offer accepted because they are inclined to hang on for the price that they have decided it is worth. Asking prices seem to be what the place is expected to sell at rather than being priced higher and open to offers. So as you have said it may be a case of stumping up but still worth having a try for a reduction.

Rosemary

Moses2013

All I could see is that there are huge price differences in that village, so something isn't right and it looked overpriced from what I could see compared to other parts of Spain. Spain is still in recession, there's not much employment in the area, you're far from bigger cities, not directly on the coast, so there's no reason for the agent to tell you that. OK, there's a golf course, but you'll find them all over Spain.






I don't know your budget, but agents are always trying to tell foreigners
that now's the time to buy. You can often see the history of a property online by checking when it was first published etc.

Horlics

I think what Moses means is that it seems higher priced than other areas of Spain. It is indeed higher priced than just over the hill in Denia for example.

Without a doubt there are overpriced properties but that is true of most places. A relative of mine just bought a house in a nice city in the UK for 25k under the 275k asking price.

I live in Javea. I could have bought a similar property in Calpe for 40% less, but I don't like Calpe.

My advice is forget you're a Brit for a moment and be cheeky, try it on with some low offers and don't believe a word an agent tells you when he's trying to guide you to making a higher initial bid. Although Javea is a desirable place and some properties are not on the market for long, there is a lot of stock and some remain unsold for months and years. Somebody might bite.

That said, if you are 100% sure that you love a particular property in a particular location, then you may end-up having to get close to their asking price.

Longlegpete

I would think the main reason you can't find much for long term rental is because of the holiday market, you can earn somewhere near the same amount from the summer (may to sep) period as you can from a year's long term rent so i would guess people don't bother.
As far as the market/prices are concerned you need to look at lots of properties then you will know what is over priced and what isn't and you will get an idea of the market.
We are not far from Javea in Moraira and the market her is certainly moving, there are plenty of sales and lot's of new building work being undertaken but prices although certainly not going down are not flying up ether.
We are looking to buy another property in the area so are constantly looking and you can get pretty good at spotting grossly overpriced property, given time you will do the same so you can take what the agents say with a pinch of salt

dibyrne

We are looking at a couple of villas tomorrow in Moraira, but not so sure. We were told it's a bit of a ghost town in the winter. Are they right?

Longlegpete

We spend around 4 months of the year here and most of that is in the winter, there's certainly less people about but it's far from a ghost town, some of restaurants close for winter, at a guess around 30% of them but the rest are open as normal, of course the shop's are open all year round.

We prefer it quieter so it doesn't matter to us, having said that we don't often go to Javea but that is also much quieter in winter, it's the nature of the beast

Horlics

Everywhere on the coast is quieter in the winter. Javea, for example, is said to rise from a winter population of around 30,000 to 120,000 in July and August.

But people call the urbs on the surrounding hills Javea, and they're scattered villas and it always feels quiet up there. The towns are different.

Javea certainly has more people around in winter than Moraira. Javea has lots of local people whereas Moraira has far fewer natives, for want of a better word. The natives are here all year round.

But how that impacts your life is questionable. If seeing the sports centre and the colleges busy gives you a feel you want then fine, but you may simply be an observer who moves in expat circles, and there's enough of those in Moraira in the winter to not get lonely.

Regardless, sufficient amenities like shops and restaurants exist in all seasons.

I'm in Javea and wouldn't live in Moraira because I do feel it's too quiet. I also wanted a hint of being in Spain and in my view Javea (although teeming with Brits and other expats) delivers that massively more than Moraira does.

That said, Moraira is a stunning little place. It's very pretty and everybody I take there loves it.

It's a case of marry it or s**g it. The beautiful blonde bimbo is fun for a bit, but a bit vacant and living with it long term could be a bit dull. The dumpy brunette might not have the initial attraction but it's very lively once you get to know it, and you'll keep wanting more.

dibyrne

Thanks for the feedback. Interestingly, after viewing a number of properties and talking to agents, there seems to be a fair bit more wriggle room in the asking price when they think you are about to walk away. Also some dodgy tactics - ghost houses and properties really cheap just to pull you through the door, which suddenly have sold or are off the market just that moment. One even refused to show me one we were interested in unless he could show is others he though would suit us "better". It's like they had sales training from Arthur Daily!

Horlics

When you see a place in an agency try to find out where it is. If you're able to, drive there and have a look to see if the owner has his number on a sign. If so, do it direct.

I would walk straight out of an agent who refused to show me a place I wanted to see. Most properties are listed with multiple agents so it should be easy to see the one you want to.

Whereabouts are you looking?

Longlegpete

That would explain why i like it so much, always been partial to a blonde 😁

dibyrne

My son will be going to XIC, so anywhere within a 20 min radius.

Horlics

Great, that includes Javea then and not just all those dreadful remote urbs up on the hills ;-)

It's cold up there you know.

And when you're looking around, think about what little wassIsName (your son) is going to want to do when not in school.

He's going to want to hang around with his mates, not on a quiet urb. Which means you're going to be a taxi driver daily whizzing between civilization and the urb.

So much to think about.