Over the next week or so we worked on constructing an e-mail detailing our amazing offer, including our wish list and maximum price, and sent this to all the agents we could find that covered the Ontinyent area. Even if we couldn’t have our dream house we certainly wanted to be in our dream location. ‘Do you think we’ll get any responses?’ said Deb. ‘We’re bound to,’ I replied, ‘there are properties out there that have been on the market for 3 and 4 years. Ok, I agree there must a reason they haven’t sold but who wants a detached villa in inland Spain? Not many, most people want the coast, so there has to be some nice ones out there. Look at the little white house on the hill, perfect for us but it still hasn’t sold for almost 2 years.’ Deb had to agree, I just hoped my optimism proved correct.
We started getting responses in the coming days. Orange Blossom Homes had nothing for us, neither did Pearsons Property, Carbonell, Alicante Dream Homes or Penades. We also received a further couple of negative responses, but. we were determined not to feel despondent and would wait until we had heard from all agents.
We then scored our first hit, Juan from Spain Villas e-mailed us with a property for consideration. I excitedly waited for Deb to get back from work. ‘We got a result.’ I said calmly and quietly as she walked through the door. ‘You’re joking?’ She replied excitedly. ‘No,’ I said, ‘Spain Villas have sent us details of a nice looking property on the outskirts of Ontinyent, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, loads of land, single storey but with no pool and the owners are happy to accept our deal.’ Show me.’ She said. We looked over the details and it really was a nice looking property. While we were looking at this one, an e-mail came through from a chap called Donald from My Costa Blanca Home saying he had a range of properties in the Ontinyent area and a couple of his clients would be interested in our deal. He would send details over soon. ‘ I can’t believe this,’ said Deb, ‘it looks like we may have a choice.’ Over the coming days our choices grew as we also had positive responses and house details sent to us by For Sale by Sally and Park Row Properties. One of my ideas had actually paid off. Now let’s see if any are what we really want.
The first thing we had to do was get the little white house on the hill out of our minds. Nothing was ever going to come close so we could not use this as a benchmark. ‘What about Juans’ one?’ I said, as this one had become known. ‘ Nice location,’ Deb replied, ‘size of the property and layout seem ok, from the photo’s it doesn’t appear to be over looked and it comes with a good amount of land. The only issue is it doesn’t have a pool.’ ‘Is that so much of a problem?’ I asked. ‘It will be in the Summer.’ She said. ‘I think we’ll need a pool to dip in.’ ‘Beggars can’t be choosers,’ I said, ‘we have to give it some consideration and we can look to install a pool in the future.’ ‘OK,’ Deb said, ‘it’s up for consideration.’
Donald was next from My Costa Blanca Home. ‘He has sent a couple of properties,’ I said, ‘but to be honest they are unsuitable. We’ve seen them during our earlier searches and completely discounted them for either location, layout, appearance or a host of other reasons. We may be a little desperate but I’m not prepared to compromise that much. I’ve e-mailed him for further properties but he hasn’t got back to us yet.’ ‘Sounds like he’s sending us all the crap that has been languishing on his books for years hoping we’ll take one. Said Deb. ‘I think you’re right, we shouldn’t compromise too much.’
‘For Sale by Sally?’ Deb asked. ‘One property.’ I replied. ‘Part 2 storey, part single storey detached house, lot of land but it’s a very narrow plot so it’s at least a par 5, no overlooking neighbours, layout is ok but it doesn’t take advantage of its position within the plot, it has an above ground pool and the immediate area round the house needs a lot of work.’ ‘Well anything like that will be reflected in the offer.’ Deb responded. ‘No it won’t.’ I said. ‘ The agent has e-mailed us saying there will be no negotiation on price because of our lengthy offer and they want a non refundable 20% of the asking price before we have even viewed it.’ ‘Well that’s not happening.’ She replied. ‘That property needs work, has been on the market for over 2 years and it is a buyers market, the seller is not dictating terms. Bin it.’ So, Juans’ one in and Sallys’ one out up to now. She should re-name her agency Unsold by Sally.
On to Park Row Properties, funny one this. Their office is in Selby, Yorkshire, just South of York, and they are primarily an Estate Agency for UK properties. They do though have an extensive portfolio of properties in Spain and their Spanish property representative e-mailed us and then phoned us. Her name was Sharon and she was really understanding of our plight and assured us she could help. Sharon was based in the UK but she had an operative on the ground in Spain, his name was Sam. We had already discussed our requirements with Sharon and she had sent details of a lovely single storey property in a large plot, really quiet location at the end of a cul-de-sac, or whatever they call them in Spain, really nice views and a 10x5m pool in great condition. ‘What do you think?’ Said Deb. ‘I really like this,’ I replied, ‘it has everything that we requested and ticks every box on our wish list. It looks in good order and the internal layout is perfect and immaculate. The outside space is huge, just can’t work out where the boundary is, and the neighbours are a good distance away and have what look like decent quality homes.’ Deb did her usual Google Street view walk from the main road, along the single track road up to the house. ‘It’s a really nice area.’ She said. ‘It’s got to be worth a viewing.’
Having had our mortgage and outstanding ‘rent to buy’ offer refused, we had decided to cheer ourselves up with a weeks’ villa rental in June. We had chosen Javea again just in case we dropped lucky with a few properties to view and as it was a great location from which to explore the surrounding area while still having access to the beaches. We were down to one holiday this year and the money was growing in our savings pot. Poverty does pay off. We therefore arranged another day trip to Ontinyent during our time in Javea to view Juans’ one and Sams’ one. One thing was troubling us though and it was a conversation we had over and over again. Subject, the lack of pool at Juans’ one. ‘We need a pool or something to dip in during the Summer,’ Deb kept saying, ‘as it will be so hot.’ ‘We can stay under shade when we’re there in the Summer,’ I would say, ‘until we can afford to have a pool installed. What is it, about 10,000€?’ ‘Don’t be daft,’ she’d reply, ‘there’s no point in going if you sit in the shade all day.’ ‘Well I need to sit in the shade a lot because of my sensitive skin.’ I would respond. ‘Well my skin isn’t and I want to sunbathe.’ Deb would argue. And so it went on. I have to point out at this stage that the medication I take for my high blood pressure has the side effect of making my skin sensitive to sunlight, to the point that I have a year round tan, even after wearing factor 50 sun lotion. Deb is just jealous.
Ultimately, it was decided that Juans’ one was actually not the one because of the lack of pool and also because we couldn’t guarantee when we would be able to afford one. So after all the e-mails sent, offers and refusals received, properties considered and discussions (heated and otherwise) had, it came down to only a single property, the one sourced through Park Row Properties in the UK. Juan took the cancellation very well and Sharon and Sam were over the moon at our viewing trip in June.
Fast forward a couple of months and we were coming into land at Valencia. It really felt by this time that we were coming home. We wafted through passport control, picked up our lovingly placed hold bag from the conveyor and stepped straight up to the window of the hire car company. Valencia airport is truly a dream compared to Alicante. 20 minutes later and we were driving out of the airport, destination Javea and Cap de la Nau again. We drove into town and once we had dodged all the Range Rovers, BMW’s and Jag’s, as well as all the smug looking Expats when they saw our hire car stickers, we eventually ended up at our secluded villa, which it actually was this time. As I’ve mentioned previously, even if I could afford it I wouldn’t purchase a property in Javea as we both find it too English and pretentious. Lovely for a holiday though as the views from the properties in the Cap de la Nau area are stunning and it is a lovely area.
Three days of chilling out at the villa and it was time for our trip to Ontinyent and our one property viewing with Sam. We were meeting Sam at the property but we were very early and decided to park up in town and have a quick walk round to soak up the sunshine and the vibe. Unbelievably we bumped into Julian and Marijse from Los Hildickos, who still had the little white house on the hill on their books, Deb kept checking. It was great to see them again as they really are super people and we chatted for a while. Yes, we were just on hols in Javea and wanted to visit the town for the day, we told them, and while here have a look at a few other properties. ‘Good luck and enjoy the rest of your holidays.’ They said and we parted company.
On to the meeting with Sam and the photo’s we were sent were true to the property. It was immaculately kept, both inside and out with well maintained gardens and pool. Great views, with a mountainous backdrop and so peaceful. We asked Sam where the boundary was and he pointed into the middle of the olive grove and said, ‘About here.’ ‘What Do You mean, about?’ I asked. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘This property and that one over there, ‘ pointing to a house about 400metres away, ‘belong to the same family and they want to sell this one off with some of the land.’ ‘How will we know what comes with the property?’ I asked. He said ‘You can agree that when you erect the fence.’ So we had to erect the fence around the property, about 5-600m in total, at our expense and to make it worse it was a shared drive with the other owners. ‘That shouldn’t be a problem.’ Said Sam. I didn’t like the way shouldn’t and about were being discussed so casually. ‘Well,’ I said, ‘that fence is going to be expensive and will be included in any negotiation.’ ‘Oh no,’ said Sam, ‘they won’t negotiate because of the length of terms in your deal.’ I looked at Deb, a little stunned to say the least. We thanked Sam for his time, got in the car and drove into town for a coffee and a discussion about our viewing. Fortunately I only ordered an espresso as the the discussion was very short. ‘Well that’s not happening, how desperate do they think we are? They can stick their house.’ She actually put it a little more graphically but I’m using artistic licence to tone it down a little.
The drive back to Javea was filled with emotion. Well, actually only one emotion, anger. Angry that they thought we were so gullible and desperate and also anger that we had wasted so much time and effort during our holiday for nil result. If we had known their was no potential for negotiation we wouldn’t have bothered.
By the time we returned to our rented villa anger had turned to disappointment. ‘What now?’ Deb said, sounding dejected and looking particularly low. ‘I don’t know yet hun but this isn’t over.’ I replied. ‘Leave it with me.’ She must have faith in me as she didn’t break down into hysterical laughter or throw anything at me. That was a good sign.
On our return to the UK I threw myself into our financials, looked at our savings, year on year increase in business, assessed confirmed projects with new clients and upcoming projects with existing clients. I then assessed our recently pared down outgoings and commitments against our projected income and came to a decision. ‘Deb,’ I said, ‘does Julian still have the little white house on the hill?’ ‘Yes he does,’ she said, ‘and I wish he would just sell it so we can put it behind us.’ ‘Well,’ I said cautiously and ducking down behind the sofa as I spoke, ‘I think I’ve worked out how we can achieve it.’ She looked at me like I’d just grown a second head. ‘You are joking aren’t you?’ She said quietly, which is worse than shouting, ‘I’m not going through all this again.’ ‘Bear with me and hear me out.’ I said. ‘We’ve been concentrating so much on mortgage qualification and rent to buy in 3 years that we hadn’t realised how much we have saved by our cost cutting lifestyle. Along with that my business has seen a healthy year on year growth for the past 3 years and it has left us in a really good position. With the confirmed work I have on I think we will be able to afford to purchase our dream home in Spain for cash by early next year, including all fees, and still leave ourselves with a decent amount in the bank, depending what we can negotiate it down to.’ Deb looked at me, absolutely stunned. ‘Are you sure?’ She asked. ‘Barring serious accident or will of God, then yes.’ She leapt up to get her laptop. ‘I’ll make sure It’s still there.’ She said excitedly. ‘If it is what do we do?’
Fortunately it was but, to be honest, I hadn’t expected it to have sold. It was so niche and that pool really must have put people off, but we could see through it. ‘I think we need to reaffirm our interest to Julian and go to see it again, say in about October, and then see if we can make an offer that will take it off the market with a confirmed sale date around March 2019.’
‘I can’t believe I’m putting myself through this again.’ Deb said, with a little smile on her face.
Moving to Spain? Help! 