What would you do differently?

If all you've got is peanuts then all you can afford is a monkey house, my friend's villa located in La Fustera just a short stroll from a lovely little bay that suffers from none of the described tourist excesses, because they don't go there. His villa is circa €650,000 in value but there are cheaper properties in the area, however what there isn't is any of the 'facilities' that the worst of the visitors thrive on.

When looking for property anywhere in the world you should park up  the car and use your legs. I discovered what is ostensibly a timeshare complex built on the back of a small development of privately owned duplex properties, they pay circa €2,000 p/a to the timeshare company that covers painting, gardening, insurance, security and the use of a gym, indoor heated pool, sauna, steam room, outdoor heated pool, ourdoor unheated pool and tennis courts that are rented by the hour to visitors and residents. It is slap bang on the beach and hasn't suffered from any of the problems described on this thread, and we've visited it in all the seasons.  

Well said Mickyfinn. Everyone to their own we wouldn't all want the same thing and it's not always about money.  Roberto is obviously happy in his Costa and I wouldn't move from my 'god forsaken deserted tumble weed pueblo in the middle of nowhere.'  

Absolutely! And the beer-bellied, tatooed socks & sandals brigade are happy in their version of Spain too. Good luck to them all 

P.S. no offence meant to anyone who likes wearing socks with sandals - it's your choice.

"Making mistakes is part of the learning process."

How true Mickeyfinn. Learning from those mistakes and striving for solutions requires a willingness to retain an open mind and a willingness to listen to a variety of viewpoints and life's experiences, both positive and negative, before forming any conclusions.

Retaining the belief that solutions can be found appears all too often to be the stumbling block.

How often do you hear....oh that's just Spain, accept it and move on, or things will never change...

The difficulty comes when there is very little "moving on" , when the mistakes are perpetuated and a downward and sadly negative spiral begins, when trust and respect in civilised and harmonised values that have taken some cultures years to achieve breaks down, which solves little in the longer term.

Finding solutions and learning from lifes experiences requires an ability to unshackle from the tendency to remain in denial with fixed opinions, to put aside any disbelief that solutions cannot be found, does it not?

Quite a tall order at the best of times but even more so when different cultures and lifes experiences come together!

Yes, fascinating thread! Doesn't matter whether we agree or not with other people's opinions, it's still interesting to know them.

"Everyone has regrets in life...Anyone who does not accept that is living in denial." Totally agree!

"When looking for property anywhere in the world you should park up  the car and use your legs." SO true! How many times, when I was looking for a town centre location within walking distance of all amenities, did estate agents say, "we'll go in my car"! 

My distaste of the phrase "Real Spain" has sparked a few comments! Next up: "Buyer's Market" & "Seller's Market". I deplore these terms and think they are both meaningless. A "market" is a place where buyers and sellers come together and agree terms & prices etc. Currently in Spain there is effectively NO property "market", because buyers and sellers can't agree on prices. Discuss.

(Nothing much to do with what you would have done differently, but so what!)

You can blame our colonial cousins across the pond (whoops) for all these daft sayings. 

A market is also a place where trust in the product and its future use and legality is an aspect that should never be overlooked.

Not all pueblos are miles from anywhere nor full of tumbleweed!  Yes, to folks that want to be right by the sea, 25 mins sounds an awfully long way.  But in the UK I lived in north Dorset and was an hour from the sea.  I do go to the beach a couple of times a month all year round, more in the summer, but it's not the main draw for me in Spain.  The pueblo has two ferreterías, 20 bars, two banks, an insurance broker, two Chinese bazaars, a big Post Office, a language school, a weekly street market, and the gas bottles are brought to the door twice a week.  Hardly tumbleweed!  And for me when I was planning where to live, the benefits of the pueblo lifestyle came top of the list.  Especially the absence of committee problems of urbanisation life, the absence of isolation and wifi problems of living up a long track campo-style, and the presence of a close community of Spanish families with whom to associate, go on trips with, and practise Spanish with.  It's certainly not for everyone!  I don't know many British people here but those I have met are usually appalled at the idea of living in a village, as they prefer their big villa out in the campo.  Mind you they sometimes have to stay in the village hotels when their tracks subside ...

I love Benalmadena Pueblo, some of the village houses have magnificent sea views, however many have zero outside space, a roof terrace would be fine, to hell with sitting on the front door step.

OK, I can see my comment about tumbleweed has caused some consternation.  I accept that not all inland pueblos are the same. I can see why somewhere like Orgiva (Alpujarras) might appeal to some, for example. I can't honestly say I'm familiar with Colmenar, but I did visit a colleague who lives in Rio Gordo once, and I came away feeling very sorry for them, presuming (possibly incorrectly) that was the best they could afford. I didn't see another soul there by the way. They used to commute from there to Gibraltar FFS, so don't tell me they chose there for it's Spanishness or some such rubbish!

Likewise, living on the coast is not necessarily all about the beach and bars. I have been to the beach precisely once this year (before the tourist season fully kicked in) and I went to Benalmadena (Costa) once earlier this summer just for a laugh (too see how the other 'arf live, laugh at the socks & sandals brigade etc.) - other than that, I haven't been near a "John Smith's Full English Fish 'n Chips type place for years.

Roberto,

I understand your tumbleweed comment as there are many small villages in Spain which are like this for eleven months of the year. In August however, everyone who is from these villages but now lives in the city or on the coast goes back to spend their summer holidays there and suddenly these tiny tumbleweed type villages spring to life. There are other villages of course which on the surface seem very quiet but there's still plenty going on all year round.

My God, it's even worse than I thought then. 11 months of tumbleweed, and one month of headsplitting noise and parties at which you're not really welcome!!

True, some seemingly sleepy villages have a hidden side. One chap I know who has a bar here, lives inland and has had an affair with virtually every married man in his village!

I purchased a holiday home on the island of Menorca in 2011, after holidaying on the island for many years, we new pretty much what we were getting into with costs & taxes etc, the estate agent was excellent & sorted everything for us. We will be spending more time over there in the years to come, but will never live there full time, the lucky thing for us is we have a friend who looks after the property for us, which makes it much easier & less worrying for us, the only downside would be that when we purchased the exchange rate was 1.14, but as we are not planning to sell it makes no real difference. We are glad we bought in Menorca, not as an investment but as a life style choice, 

Ciaranp43:

Lifestyle choices... many unknown places all around Spain. Possibly not at the very front of the beach but... much more interesting for a real Spain experience.

True Maria and the place you recently visited sounded beautiful...

Re things you would do differently, perhaps it's worth posters taking a look at recent communications on the thread "Are property prices really on the up in Spain" .

http://www.eyeonspain.com/forums/posts-long-21263.aspx

I for one wish that the continuing insecurities as identified in the above thread would be more effectively addressed by "good professionals", and can't understand why they are not looking for effective solutions to prevent problems being perpetuated via a rigorous and more fullproof system, instead of reacting to problems after the event.