Recently, I have created a couple of rant posts even without wanting to do them... The only obvious reason could be this hot weather, which makes me more nervous and grumpy... 🤣 We had one day of relief when we had a couple of minutes of rain, a bit of wind, and temperature under 30 Degrees Celsius, but we are back to 30+ again... Anyway, to combat the hot weather, I spent a few afternoons by the sea, which is more pleasant... But, less profitable... lol...
Two days ago, I wanted to create a Wednesday Walk post and in search for some past walks, I stumbled upon these photos, so I decided to change the topic... Wednesday passed, and I said to myself, well, I will create a #tbt post (Throwback Thursday) as these photos are from last year... Long story short, I went to the beach yesterday and was too tired to create a post later... So here we are, third attempt, #tbf (Throwback Friday) post... Can I do it? 😂
Apartment No1 --> 85K
Today, I will take you to the Castle Hunt, which took place last July, almost exactly a year ago, when my wife and I began our search for a new home... A month or two before that, we got some news that our landlord wants to raise the rent, which we didn't want to pay anymore... It was ridiculous to pay that much money, as it was more than the monthly rate would be for a new apartment...
As it was impossible to buy in the same place where we were living, we had to go more inland to search for more affordable prices... I will not say city/town names, but all are in the Province of Alicante, Spain... Let's go!
This first apartment is very similar to the one where we lived before, with the difference that the building didn't have a community pool or interior garden... Also, it is located in a town that is 25 minutes away from the sea (by car), compared with the old one that was 2 minutes (on foot)...
Now, I have to mention the most important thing... The comparison between the old apartment and this one has to include the estimated price (for the old apartment) and the price of this one... I don't have to estimate the price of the old one as it was sold in the meantime for 300K EUR, while the value of this one was 85K EUR... Who would say that a 25-minute car drive to the sea can make such a difference?
Apartment No2 --> 90K
On the same day, we visited a few more apartments, but I didn't include them in this post... The next one was shown to us almost by chance, as we were going randomly through real estate agencies, asking for offers... We are still in the same place, 25 minutes car drive from our old place, and from the sea... The budget is still the same, 80-100K EUR.
This one had a huge space which was shared for the living and dining room... Also, the apartment was situated in the city center, which can have positive and negative sides, depending on what you expect and/or want...
The apartment wasn't that bad, and it was one of the favorites, but I was most worried about what you can see in the photo above... That's the ceiling in the kitchen, and the part of the plaster fell off... That usually happens when water penetrates through walls (in this case, the ceiling), which means that either the neighbor from above has a water leak, or it was something that happens when there are heavy rains... In either case, it's not good to see something like that without knowing the reason...
Conclusion: This one wasn't bad, except for the kitchen ceiling... It needed a bit of renovation in the kitchen, maybe the floor in one bedroom, but the rest was acceptable... The price was a bit off, and I didn't like the fact of being in the center of all the action, as it was in the city center, which can be very noisy...
Apartment No3 --> 60K
This one was a long shot... 😃 Situated on the "top of the town", older than my grandpa probably, but not an apartment building... It was rare for numerous things, but you will probably realize that when you see the photos... What you will not see is that the house had 2 entrances from 2 different streets, and on 2 different levels (the street behind was uphill)... 😃
The house itself was distributed over 3 floors + roof terrace! To be honest, I didn't see living in it as it is, but rather to have it as a personal project... A house to reform and maybe to create a modern, but still keeping the traditional look of it... The price was relatively low, but it would need a lot of investment to make it as I would like to have it...
The best thing about this house was the roof terrace... When the weather is clear, you can see the sea in the distance on one side, and enjoy mountain views on the other side... Also, there is a place for a BBQ, too!
Another big negative side was that the first house on the side was abandoned, which isn't good as they lean on each other, and it could easily pull down the other... On the other side, no neighbors are always a good thing... 😃
Apartment No4 --> 55K
We are moving more inland... Completely other part of the province, and 35-40 minutes to the sea, by car... We are in a city that is called by the locals a "ciudad dormitorio" (Bedroom city), as most people are living/sleeping there because it's cheaper than living in a big city... Every day, they would go to work to Alicante, and in the evening come back...
As the city isn't by the sea, and it's not a tourist destination, prices are much more affordable, and you can get a lot more for less money! For example, this apartment had 3 bedrooms and a huge living/dining room!
It had a very spacious kitchen and a small pantry with a water heater and natural gas installation connections... Also, it had heaters in 2-3 rooms, which can be cozy in winter... Truth to be told, winter isn't that cold here, but still, you need to warm up the apartment a bit...
The apartment had a great-looking anteroom too! This was one of my favorites, with many good things, but with one negative side... It had old windows that should be replaced in the first 1-2 years... As I was replacing windows on the old house where my grandparents lived, I know how costly it can be and how much work is involved (+ the mess that comes with it 😃).
Apartment No5 --> 57K
This was my wife's favorite! As we couldn't get a mortgage, we had to search for cheaper solutions and our first ideas went down the drain... We had to do it with a simple bank loan, which complicates things a bit, and the budget was limited... Even this apartment was a bit out of the budget, and the guy from the real estate hesitated to show us... In the end, we went to see it...
Distribution is very similar to the previous, but this apartment was completely reformed... New floor tiles, renovated bathrooms, new windows, etc. As for the white tiles and lack of furniture, it was very bright with a lot of natural light... I suppose that gives you another positive note...
|
|
|---|
It had 2 fully renovated bathrooms, which is very important if you want to avoid renovations that can cost over 10-20K per bathroom!
Yes, you saw it right... This apartment had 4 bedrooms + a big living room, which I did take a photo of, but there is a real estate guy in the photo, so I will not share it with you... 🙂
After we visited the last apartment, we went on vacation, where we used to roll back everything, brainstorm about options, and how to proceed...
When we came back to Spain, 3 weeks later, we had it all clear! We will try to negotiate the price of the last apartment and try to seal the deal! The cold shower came when we called the real estate guy who delivered us the bad news... The apartment was sold!!! 😱 We were again at the beginning, and the time was ticking... We had to leave the old apartment in the next 2 months, and we didn't have any backup options...
Luckily, it wasn't all that black and negative... The new apartment popped up on the market! It was on the market before, but it was out of our budget... The owners realized that others had been sold, and decided to lower the price and try to sell it asap... Perfect for us! Better negotiation position!
I hope you liked this ~~short~~ long tour around the real estate market in this part of Spain...
Thank you for your time.
--ph--