Sometimes I wonder why we bought an apartment in Mojacar Playa. Of course, the simple answer is (a) More Sunshine (b) Investment +More Holidays (c) Options in Retirement.
1. Back in the day when property was extremely cheap in coastal Spain we bought an apartment in Torrevieja. We had the cash, we wanted to buy another property (in Spain) as property prices in Ireland had soared.
2. We could easily get flights to Alicante, Torrevieja was within 30 minutes drive from the airport - so it was a no-brainer we bought our first Spanish property in Torrevieja. We did no research whatsoever about Torrevieja; we visited and within a week put an offer on an apartment and a couple of months later, it was ours. We paid cash. We did everything "wrong" but were carried along on a wave of adventure and hope and even some greed.
3. We had more sunshine that we ever had, a place to visit anytime we felt like and within 2 hours of Dublin Airport. What could go wrong?. Well, nothing went wrong and we got what we paid for. Living in Ireland's county Waterford we were never used to high rise buildings. Torrevieja had them in spades. We were used to empty Irish beaches. Torrevieja had crowded beaches. 20,000 holidaymakers a day sunning themselves in the beaches of Torrevieja couldn't be wrong! Or could they? We kept the apartment for some years and its value increased at glacial speed. We wondered why. Thousands of apartments, mostly high rise, a rat-race and suddenly we had two options (i) Sell or (ii) Move within Spain.
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4. Licking our wounds we began to spread our wings looking at other Costas. CdS was the obvious attraction, but the high rises and overcrowded beaches etc suggested we were selling cheaply and buying expensively for what was the same product elsewhere. We didn't want that. Nothing like a bad experience to make us do some research.
5. We swopped a holiday home for a month i.e. an Irish person used our apartment in Torrévieja and we used theirs in Mojacar Playa. Mind you, theirs needed much work but we spent the few weeks in Mojacar Playa before it expandeded to the size it is now. We swopped apartments again the following year and having spoken to many people in Mojacar Playa and noticed that many of them owned Spanish property elsewhere before they settled in Mojacar Playa. CdS was the main place where they previously had property.
6. We bought in Mojacar Playa well before the 2008 Recession. On paper we've lost a good few bob. Are we sorry we bought in Mojacar Playa? No is the answer. Like I said earlier we have Retirement options and in a place that we love - good cross-section of people, more sunshine, drier weather, beautiful restaurants, beaches to our liking - no rat-race, no high rise, no crowds.
7. What advice would we offer to anybody thinking of buying Spanish property? (i) Do not sell your home in your home country - options include renting it when you are not there and no boats burned. (ii) Live in the general area of the property you wish to buy for several weeks in the off season. (iii) Ask questions and you will quickly learn to separate the truth from the lies. (iv) If you do nothing else employ a solicitor to act solely for you.
8. Whether you like it or not buying a property is an investment. You can lose, we did, but we could have lost much more. But, we have the option to rent out our Mojacar Playa property which we occasionally do and that helps to compensate for the drop in the price of property.
9. Would I sell our Spanish apartment? If the price is right the answer is Yes, but I would buy another and in Mojacar Playa. Perhaps that is a new adventure awaiting? - But, I think I'll sit still.
Questions Welcome and will be answered honestly and if I cannot answer I will say why.
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