"Trading Places" is a 1983 American comedy film directed by John Landis.
The film stars Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd as a snobbish investor and a wily street con artist whose positions are reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.
The movie explores themes of class and social status through its humorous plot and character dynamics.
"Trading Places" - Montejaque for Manilva is not about changing careers but about changing houses.
Film poster courtesy of Wikipedia
The Plan
"Are you crazy?" people said. "You've got two lovely old houses in one of the most charming villages of the Serrania de Ronda".
That's true and we love both houses.
Rita has had hers for some 20 years - indeed we lived there for three years after we had met.
Mine I bought as a renovation project in 2020, just before Covid-19 hit us.
View over Montejaque [Karl Smallman]
However, our domicilio in Fuente de la Higuera in the valley below Ronda, is bloody freezing in winter. Ronda and Montejaque, much higher, are also very cold.
So, we thought, "why not sell the two houses in Montejaque and buy somewhere on the coast where it is much warmer and we can escape the cold winters in the mountains?"
It was Rita's suggestion originally, a couple of years ago, then she suddenly went off the idea.
Now, once again, she thinks it would be a smart thing to do. I had never really given up on the idea, to be honest.
Winter weather in the Serrania de Ronda [KS]
We could decamp to the coast for the winter (November to February). The climate is much more agreeable. In December 2002 I swam in the Mediterranean - it was warmer than our pool in Ronda.
Then, for the rest of the year, we could rent it to tourists. A profitable "no-brainer", surely?
The problem might be getting somewhere half-decent for our 300k budget. It needs to have at least two bedrooms, a terrace, views and a shared pool. Frontline would be ideal, but I doubt there's anywhere available for that kind of money.
Cheaper options might be to look in other places, eg Costa Tropical or Costa de la Luz. The latter might be feasible at two hours away, but the Costa Tropical is too great a distance for us to be able to manage it as a rental ourselves. To pay somebody else to do it would be daft.
El Palmar, Costa de la Luz, Cadiz [PW]
Casa Real, Montejaque [Photo: Paul Whitelock] Casa Rita, view from roof terrace [Photo: Karl Smallman]
Links of interest:
Away Days on the Costa del Sol - Help me, Ronda
CASA REAL, MONTEJAQUE - Large modernised traditional village house in beautiful pueblo blanco - PRICE REDUCTION 125.000€ - Help me, Ronda
CASA RITA, MONTEJAQUE - An immaculate fully renovated 3-bed, 3-bath property - 200,000€. - Help me, Ronda
Jack Frost in Andalucía - Secret Serrania de Ronda
View from a frontline house in Casares Playa [Julia Flynn]
© Pablo de Ronda (Paul Whitelock)
Photos:
Julia Flynn, Karl Smallman, Paul Whitelock, Wikipedia
Acknowledgements:
Eye on Spain, Paul Whitelock, Secret Serrania, Sierra Estates, Wikipedia, www.help-me-ronda.com
Tags:
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