The best thing you can do Dave is to get on a plane and have a look, September is a very nice month to do that and the flights will be cheaper than July/August
Stay around Orihuela Costa as it is quite central for having a look around Costa Blanca South and Mercia You can fly into Alicante or Murcia [ San Javier] , which ever is cheaper
For car hire many of us use carjet .com but there are other portals
if you have time it may be worth a trip over to Almeria between Aguilas and Mojacar, quieter and prices in general a bit cheaper
Now is a good time as there are some good deals, the norm is for 'asking prices' for new ready now to be down 25/30%, and re sales eg Duplex in Mercia previous asking price 185.000 € now 140.000 €
Also there are distressed sales about but these can go quite quickly
However, no use buying something just because it is cheap...it has to be what you want
Today when buying you can see what you are getting but it is best to make sure that most of the units are already sold, nothing worse than being in a block or development where only say 25 % are sold and the community is not running properly
And as you will know from your internet research , you only buy fully legal with all the permits , connected to services with Licence of First Occupation
If new ready now it should have solar for hot water...some do not but it is a current building requirement
Now you may wish to buy a finca or country property, nothing wrong with this as long as you make sure the documentation is 100% OK and take no risks
Good looking and I hope you find exactly what you want ...but you will have to go to Spain to find it, possibly a few times!
This message was last edited by rowlandsbb on 10/07/2009.