johnboy1

Thanks a lot guys for your replies. it's been realy helpfull. I guess I just need to find the location that will suit.

Is there any places that I should avoid ? I have seen some posts reffering to Gypsies and the like lol I could do without that kind of hassle

handy sue

Hi.
Some people will tell you to avoid Torrevieja, and the surrounding area. Yes it has it's disadvantages (noisy, british and high crime) but thousands are happy there. The social life is second to none, but bear in mind if you buy there it will be very difficult to sell your property as there are so many for sale, hence the low prices.
You need to go out to Spain and have a good look round.
We came out for a week, and before we came we had organised 10 appointments with estate agents in different areas, 4 hours each. This gave us a good idea of the different areas. We are very happy with where we bought and we have since traded up to a bigger place in the same area.
Most people recommend renting before buying, remember that when you have bought reselling is very difficult, our apartment has now been for sale for 2 years, even though we make sure it is the cheapest of the apartments in the area.
Happy hunting

HBG

I think the OPs questions have been answered, but I don’t remember if anyone has made this point: This is not the time to buy a Spanish property, all the informed opinion points to further falls in the Spanish property market, and next year especially seems to be the showdown time.

I would wait two years at least before considering buying in Spain. If you can’t wait that long, renting is a sensible option.

johnboy1

Hi HBG,

I agree with you completley. I had said the same thing myself in post #27.

I kind of added one or two questions on as the replies have came in.

There is so much to take on board and this is a great site for getting a rough idea on the best way forward.

From now till the middle of 2012 I will be trying to gain as much info as possible before actually setting out on visiting potential properties.

I will be in Spain in spring 2011 for a holliday and no doubt use that for having a good look around too....but 2012 is my target for making a rental/purchase.

thanks for your help. It's appreciated.

HBG

About a minute ago, by pure coincidence, I came across this:

“We have had an apartment in Torrevieja town for around eight years and in July this year we bought another on a daft offer! A one bedroomed ground floor apartment at Mirador de Mediterraneo, San Miguel de Salinas. The property was up with an agent for 57,000 euros and we put an offer in for 35,000 euros. We thought that we would be laughed out of the agents office, however we were surprised when the vendor accepted the offer. Lesson to be learned - always start off with a low offer because if you are keen on a property you can always increase the offer as & when it suites you!!”

That’s the way things are at the moment, and it could get worse. Or better.

johnboy1

I agree, I think the banks will want to get these properties of thier books and scenarios like the above will be common place. It just shows tough there are some good bargains out there.

Next year is going to be a tough one for spain imo with whats happened in Ireland and all the speculation surrounding the Euro and PIGS in general.

If it does turn out like that then I would imagine further falls in property prices.