Castle Hunt .:. Home Search Adventure
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
Small kitchen
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!
Bedroom 1
Living room
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)...
Other part of the kitchen and a small pantry
Bedroom 2
Look into Bedroom 1, from the small inner terrace
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?
Corridor
Small bathroom
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...
Small kitchen
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...
Small pantry
Bedroom 1
Bathroom
Bedroom 2
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...
One of the strange rooms and a question mark on her face... "What to do with this one?" 😂
Old fireplace
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...
Bedroom 1
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!
Bathroom 1
Bedroom 2
Bedroom 3
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...
Bathroom 2 - small one, but useful if you have a big family
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
Kitchen
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...
anteroom
Bedroom 1
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...
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Bathroom 2 - a small one
It had 2 fully renovated bathrooms, which is very important if you want to avoid renovations that can cost over 10-20K per bathroom!
Bedroom 2
Bedroom 3
Bedroom 4
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... 🙂
pantry
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--
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A happy ending!!! It's great that you were able to buy your own home and no longer have to pay rent, but it's true that it's better to live away from the main cities where everything is more expensive. It's incredible how prices change from a tourist city to a small town! It's been a great adventure and everything turned out great!!! I'm so happy for you both!
It is amazing how big a difference location can have... It proves the point that markets (in this real estate market) make no sense sometimes... Some places are heavily overvalued, and others undervalued... It's not that it is without reason, but the 6x price difference is way too much...
Thanks for your kind words! 😍
I think those prices are very high for tourist areas, but they're not realistic; they're taking advantage of the situation. It's up to us to keep looking for alternatives, and you've found one!👍
Of all these, No. 5 would be my choice. And this No. 3, I would skip in a wide arc. Maybe I would take it as a backdrop for a movie (horror😀).
Considering that the Spanish form the price of an apartment depending on the distance from the sea coast, how much would you estimate mine, 500 km from the sea? 😀
Hehehehe... Now, when I look back, it does have potential for that... 🤣
In your case, I suppose the measurement begins from that "horse statue"... That's the "zero coordinate" 😃
Out of all houses, I like the first the more, for that price it is good... The others were kinda meh, some works to do, (a lot on that one with 2 entrances)... Honestly houses looks like super cheap there lol, with 50-60k you don't even buy a property that needs to be fully rebuilt here, apartments start from 120k at least and they are the horrible ones!
The real estate market is completely irrational... The place where we lived, the apartment, was sold for 300K... Nor the apartment is worth that money, nor the town is worth it... It was a nice town 10-15 years ago, but many things changed, and it's not anymore... It's a pure bubble...
Nice congrats on the purchase , that is actually not bad still being able to buy a house for under 100k euro .
The prices here in Holland are a lot higher cheapest house you can find here is 99k for an appartment of 20 m2 ...
crazy world we are lidving in .
The same goes for our old apartment... Like I said in another comment... It makes no sense as the apartment had some huge failures, as the building is "moving"... and except for the sea, that town has nothing special...
But, until there is demand, the prices will go up...
!INDEED
!BBH
!PIMP
It's good you looked at a bunch of them before deciding. 5 is a good amount to consider. Hope you are happy with the one you picked and got all settled in.
We looked at a few more, but I didn't save the photos... We are happy with our choice... It's not a dream home, but it is a place to live, and maybe a starting point for something better in the future...
The most important thing was to patch the hole of throwing money through the window, to pay the rent every month...
Looking at them seems like the best choice, and I am glad that you were able to get your preferred choice. It's good that he wanted to sell, and you got a better deal.
It's always good when the seller is in a hurry... 🙂
I am truly stunned by the prices of these places. Especially the one your wife loved the most for 57 which is big and looks more than reasonable without that much effort is literally a steal. yeah location is everything but having no costs on the house is also everything.
This world is weird at the moment in housing at the moment. But this is a cool tour though! Nice to see how this works in other countries. We should have a seperate community in here. House tours and prices :D
That's true... If I had money to do it 10 years ago, I would probably afford the 2nd residence by now... Renting is throwing money through the window...
It is a weird moment, and I don't see prices going down soon... Maybe if the next real estate bubble pops out, but I'm not sure that will happen in the next 3-4 years...
The "House tours and prices" community is a nice idea... Do it! 😃
Apartment 2 and 5 were very good. They looked clean and decent. However the apartment 2 already have that leak on the roof, and unless it's fixed from the root cause, then it'll be very difficult to now worry that the problem is going to escalate very quickly. I think this was some great how tour lol. Most of them had very small kitchen, even the one of 85k.
Unfortunately, Apartment 2 was kicked out from the list as we got the news from the bank that they will not give us a mortgage... That was the reason why we had to search for a cheaper solution...
Anyway, I'm happy with the one that we bought... It is a bit far away from the place where we lived, but sometimes, it's better like that... To cut those loose ends and start with the blank page!
@tipu curate
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Thanks for the overview, very interesting to consider. They say location is everything, but the price for 2mins from the beach seems too much, but it is a big difference when you can walk or cycle the beach in the morning or evening. I'm not sure which I would prefer, further away or closer to beach.
I would prefer something like the one where we were renting... 2 streets from the beach... but, for the price of the other one... 😂
I was just reading this post when I received the notification that you read mine. Thank you very much, it's a pleasure to say hello to you, and I extend my greetings to @mipiano. Jesús and I have been avoiding looking at apartments lately. We think we should wait until our budget is higher so we don't get depressed, ha ha ha, but the rent we pay is very reasonable, even though the space is very small.
Your story is inspiring. I liked that you took the time to think it over during your vacation. It's not a decision to be taken lightly, but it certainly has consequences. Who would have thought that someone would buy it so soon?
Maybe it wasn't meant to be, and I know that even though the cost was higher, you made a good purchase and now it's time to enjoy it. All those years of hard work finally paid off. Congratulations, you have a wonderful memory here.
Our last year's adventure didn't pass without ups and downs... Firstly, the bank accountant said that they will give us a mortgage and she told us the amount for which we can search for an apartment... The first 2 apartments were in that budget... After a week or so, when we found 2-3 interesting places, we got a cold shower from the bank as they told us that they WILL NOT give us a mortgage...
Because of that, we had to leave the area where we lived and find something cheaper... All in all, we are happy with our purchase... Now that we have something that's ours, we can think about changing one day, or staying where we are... At least, we have a roof over our heads...
Thanks for the greetings! I have forwarded them to mipiano... 😉
PS. It's good that your rent is reasonable, as it gives you more time to think what to do and where to go... Usually, when I would push something hard, I would hit a wall and big resistance... After that, when I take it more calmly, things come to their place by themselves... It's important to work on things and not give up on your dreams... it will come...