Buying Property In Spain – Living The Spanish Lifestyle In Your Own Spain Property
Waking up to another warm day, sipping coffee outside on the sunlit terrace overlooking the sea, and musing on the prospect of spending the day playing 18 holes on a championship golf course - these are some of the pleasant realities of the Spanish lifestyle. Add to this fine wine, great food and a vibrant culture and you understand why living in Spain is so appealing. Holidays in Spain are wonderful, but if you've decided the Spanish lifestyle is for you permanently, you'll want to look into acquiring your own Spain property. Here are some tips of buying your home in Spain.
When investing in Spain property, the first thing you have to do is to define your needs. You'll have to decide which part of the country you want to live in. This will probably be based on your past experiences and you may well have a particular location in mind. You just need to be sure about matters such as transport and accessibility. Living somewhere is different from being on holiday so you need to be sure you can get around conveniently. You'll have to choose between the charm and quiet of the countryside and the glamour of the cities.
Then there's the matter of size. You can buy Spanish property ranging from a tiny apartment to a grand villa. This will depend on your needs and number of people living there and, of course, your budget. An important point to remember is that of security. An unattended villa is very tempting to a burglar. And don't forget that homes require maintenance and this can be tricky in a place where you can't speak the local language.
Another factor you'll have to consider is infrastructure you need to have in your area. This includes such places as hospitals, schools, shopping, and various leisure activities. For example, if you're an avid golfer, you'll want to be sure you're not far from a favourite golf course. If you have children, you need to consider the matter of their education.
Another thing you have to think about is the community you want to live in and your neighbours. Perhaps you're happy on your own in the middle of the countryside but most people would want the company of fellow expatriates.
Having defined your needs, you'll know the location, size and type of home you're looking for, you can start looking for properties. You can do a lot of research online and international property shows are also often good places to find out about new developments. Or you can consult an estate agent.
An estate agent can advise you on suitable choices of properties if you give him some guidelines. He can also advise on local facilities. However, estate agents tend to focus on a small geographical area and he may try to sell you a property in his own region rather than recommend a more suitable dwelling in another area.
An estate agent can advise you on suitable choices of properties if you give him some guidelines. He can also advise on local facilities. However, estate agents tend to focus on a small geographical area and he may try to sell you a property in his own region rather than recommend a more suitable dwelling in another area.
If you're looking to discover the real Spain, check out Costa Almería. This area of eastern Andalucía has been spared the rampant development that transformed the more famous Costas down the coast into concrete tourist Mecca. High rises are not permitted in Almeria and if you just drive for ten minutes, you'll find yourself in unspoilt countryside of orange and lemon groves, and olive plantations and rugged mountains.
Investing in a resort project in this part of Spain will give you all you need in a Spanish property. You'll have solid security, a thriving community of likeminded expats and the purchase is a one stop operation. So if golfing in Spain is more than just a hobby to you, or you’ve just fallen in love with this sublime land, look into getting your own Spain property and enjoy the beauty of the Spanish lifestyle and golf holidays Spain all year round.
Michiel Van Kets writes articles for The Almanzora Group Ltd, specialists in golf holidays Spain and Spain properties. For Spainish properties and golf holidays, Almanzora is a region that has something for everyone, a rich culture, unhurried rhythm of daily life and celebrations. Enjoy quality of life, a genuine Spanish lifestyle with a true warmth of spirit. For quality holidays in Spain, visit the website.
July 31, 2010
4:29 pm
Real Spain? – Oh Really?
Everywhere these days, according to some pundit or other it seems, is “the real Spain”. I even read on a blog that Benidorm! – which is about as far away from anything resembling “real Spain” as it’s possible to be, whilst still being on the Iberian peninsula, now carries this well hackneyed phrase.
There seems to be a surfeit of articles relating the joys and pleasures of this ‘mythical’ land of nectar and honey on various blog and article promoting web sites these days.
The definition of ‘real Spain’ depends on your point of view, I guess. If you think that cheap booze, Irish theme pubs, all day English breakfasts and scantily clad people, either cooking on the beach whilst recovering from last night’s “falling down drunk” hangover, represents your image of what Spain is all about, then that’s your slant on things and you are entitled to it, however wrong it may be.
Take Almeria, (and as many would say -PLEASE!)
Costa de Almeria is known by the locals as the Costa Plastico! This is due to the vast tracts of land along the coast given over to ‘forced’ growing of various crops under shabby looking polythene ‘greenhouses’.
Kilometre after kilometre of the coastline is given over to these enormous poly tunnels, many of which are derelict, or contain no discernible life form, (even the odd tomato plant is absent!).
They require no permission to erect and have no obvious controls applied to their size or their siting.
The desert is interminable. Mile after mile dry dusty scree, (which of course, apart from the reliabilty of ‘the daily sun’, is ideal for shooting bleak westerns, and why Sergio Leone chose this barren semi-wilderness to make Clint Eastwood’s career.
The desert has the ‘de rigeur’ Spanish golf course, which despite the shortage of water in the region, has lush greens and fairways, lavishly watered by this scarce resource.
It used to have just the occasional outcrop of rock, to break the monotony, but now it is famous for it’s vast tracts of illegally built housing projects, which include Cabo de Gata, where the biggest illegal hotel in Spain was allowed to be built on the beach, and only stopped in it’s tracks by the continued vigilance of GreenPeace.
It bears no comparison to the real Spain of Granada, Sevilla, Cordoba and even Malaga! The modernity of Almeria city has swamped much of any antiquity that ever existed there.
Costa de Almeria should be considered alongside Dubai as the perfect desert holiday – stay, but for as little time as possible! If you prefer the “truly Real Spain”, and the richer more traditional flavour of Iberia, you should head further west along the E15 via the much better Costa Tropical, and after strolling around the centre of Malaga, head up the A45 toward Sevilla and the real essence of Andalusia.
Stay awhile in the very real Spanish town of Antequera why don’t you?
Try a “great city break in this great Spanish city”, with the added flexibility of self-catering, a great city vacation.
If you like fine renaissance architecture, or just superb old buildings in beautiful surroundings, good food, great wine, nice people and the enjoyment of an ideal city break destination, this is where you might just have struck lucky!
A city break in ‘RealSpain’ in Antequera will open your eyes to what “Real Spain” is really all about!
With it’s fabulous and manifold churches, ancient monuments and architecture, the historic city of Antequera, in the province of Malaga, Andalucia (el Andalus), in southern Spain, is truly a hidden gem.
It lies at the crossroads of major highways and train links between Granada – Malaga – Seville – Cordoba and Huelva. It is also on the main AVE high speed train link from Malaga to Madrid, and indeed, this makes the centre of Madrid, a mere 2 hours travelling time away.
Antequera an ideal city break destination with it’s proximity to some of Spain’s most prominent historical cites, along with it’s own abundance of romantic links in to Spain’s fascinating past.
Take for example it’s many ancient and splendid churches, cathedrals and convents. These, along with the Dolmenes, (or pre-historic caves), the ‘El Torcal Montagnes’ (dramatic mountains with astounding antediluvian rock formations as well as incredible vistas of the Costa Del Sol over 40 kilometres distant), make the city a place to visit time and time again.
Antequera, as well as being one of the best kept towns in Andalucia, is also one of Spain’s best kept secrets!
As Washington Irving was once said to have remarked – “A visit to this historical Andalucían town is a journey almost 5,000 years back through time, beginning with the Bronze Age and the original native Iberians”.
With it’s ancient burial mounds, Roman baths, Moorish Fortress, Gothic churches, Renaissance fountains and baroque bell towers, Antequera is indubitably a truly fascinating and remarkable city.
Driving from Malaga, and the nearest international airport along the A45 autovia, your first glimpses of Antequera and ‘The Indian rock’ evoke feelings that cannot be explained. Maybe the fact that Antequera is not just another typical white Spanish medieval town begins to permeate the senses.
The towering spires of the many ancient churches and the walls and towers of the great Moorish Alcazaba dominate the town, whilst sprawling across the valleys below are rich farmlands and olive groves watered by the Guadalhorce River.
Antequera is a step back in time, and yet it’s blend of modernity is there to be seen.
For thousands of years this has been one of Andalucía’s most productive areas, and a leading provider of olives, asparagus and cereal crops. In summer, its fields are abundant with yellow sunflowers
The town and ferile valley are overlooked by an enormous peak called La Peña de los Enamorados, or “The Lovers’ Leap”.
The name derives from the well known local legend about a doomed love affair between a young Christian lad from Antequera and a beautiful Moorish lass from Archidona nearby.
Legend has it that “they were pursued to the top of the cliff by Moorish soldiers, where, rather than forsake their love, for each other, they chose to fling themselves to their deaths into the chasm hundreds of metres below”.
On a lighter note, the feature is known by many of the expat locals as the ‘Indian Rock’, because of it’s resemblance to the face in profile of a North American native.
Well worth a visit for a day, week or even longer if you are a golfer. Antequera hosts one of the best Golf courses in the region, along with it’s own 4 star hotel.
If you prefer something more flexible and a lot less costly, try Casa Cuatro at realspainbreaksdotcom
There are very few self catering properties advertised that are ACTUALLY in the city. Most are in the outlying villages and ‘new towns’ (Villanuevas), which means, as well as a car being a must, much of the character of “the real Spain” is absent, not to mention the choice of sights, sounds, shopping and entertainment.
So, if your interests go beyond holiday breaks in the sun, and the lure of a better life draws you, inland Spain offers a great choice of lifestyles, particularly if you are looking beyond holidays at retirement perhaps?
About the Author:
The author and his wife decided on early retirement in 1997 when New Labour’s idea of ‘state power’ came to pass. With bans on tobacco use in public places, fox hunting, handguns and, a government apparently owning shares in CCTV, they, like many others at the time, felt that this was state control going too far.
Add to this, the myriad of legislation designed to make the life of small business people hell, plus the creation of legions of over-paid ‘non-jobs’, to monitor the excess of new laws and soak up all the extra stealth tax income.
More Bio can be found at spainforyoudotnet
August 4, 2010
10:43 am
Yes I agree with the previous poster. The ‘real’ Spain doesn’t exist. Where I am, about 50k south of Granada, is probably as ‘real’ to a Madrileno as it is to me, a Yorkshireman! We too have a local village, Itrabo, which is like stepping back 50 years +. Mules living in the cuadra in the downstairs of the houses, outside washing area fed by a mountain stream, a motley collection of ruins, done up places, and traditional houses. It depends what you want – Full English in The Red Lion, or Tostada con Tomate y Cafe con Leche. Sometimes there’s room for both.