We have trawled the Costa`s over the past 14 years, met every W......r , crook and Thick as S..t English lowlife , so much so that the joy of house hunting was sucked out from us, we simply gave up and thought F `em all !!!
Now, at last we have found a lovely town inland , hardly any Brits, which is WONDERFUL , we don`t want the same fat ugly uneducated moose we all see wobbling all over the coast , all scratching around for a living , trying to con others who are looking for a new home, where our eyes and ears won`t be offended , where we can be allowed to `grow` into the area we have found , integrate with the locals , learn the language and become part of the community !
We LOVE the place we have discovered , friendly , warm people,a few lovely Brits who appreciate what they have and are there because its peaceful and unspoilt with lovely surrounding countryside and lots to see and do, cycle, walking , para gliding , horse riding and beautiful lake to swim in in the heat of summer!
Trouble is , although we have found a lovely Traditional Spanish town house we have little idea of what it is worth ,we know what the `asking price` is and whats its been `reduced` from (Euros 149,000 was a silly sum to start with to be honest) its in a nice `wealthy`ie, looked after and well kept houses etc , Calle , all Traditional , not a poky `Peublo`cutie place, those are lovely little houses , ok for `holiday lets ` but no good for a permanent home but more `established` if any one knows what I mean, it has a feel of solidity and permanence , not being surrounded by a a stream of constantly changing `holiday makers` but real working honest gentle people who all speak to you and smile!
Anyway the house is approx 280 sq m , needs roofs replacing , new electrics throughout , new plumbing , new everything actually but the house is not a ruin , just tired and would be wonderful when all done , what would be helpful is what the going rate is per sq m for such a house which is in a long terrace of similar although bigger houses! The price now and possibly what is expected to be in a few months time ( we have a lot to sort out before we can offer a price)
The price was about 149000, now its 110,000 , seeing as we think the works will cost us about 45,000 would we be be correct in thinking the asking price is still a bit ambitious , although pleased to say the Vendor is Spanish and not some greedy Brit or German , the owner seems very educated, polite and reasonable , we think we should offer 80,000 as we have so much to spend on the place to make it habitable ( no kitchen or bathrooms as such at present) we don`t want to offend the owner but it seems that this is what the price will be in the near future unless its sold soon as its going to deteriate unless some one lives in it and starts doing it up .
We have seen a few houses in the same town , some are ready to move into until we look more closely at the place , then we notice all kinds of hassles and cheap workmanship , asking from a wreck at 45,000 - 215,000 ( yes we know they are mad!) to seeing places `done up` but left to sell and asking 195,000 and still needing a roof , warped doors and windows , photos of these places taken 2-3 years ago and not sold so falling apart , its sad but true so we walked away from all of these and found what we want as better and safer to do from `scratch` all that needs to be done, at least that way we KNOW its all be done properly , it will after all be our main and permanent home in about 10 years time!
If anyone out there has any advice it will be very welcome , we wondered if by getting a Spanish Mortgage we would then find what the true Valuation should be , this however is no help as we need to get a better idea of the value BEFORE we put an offer on the table, catch 22 I guess!!
Hope to hear some good advice from all those experts out there, we know you are too because we have looked at loads of the Forums and boy do some of you know your `onions `!!! Kindest Regards Vee xx