Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:38am
Hi.
We’ve been livining in Spain for the past seventeen years. I would recommend to steer clear of these kind of companies. They will usually promote off plan or new build properties. You should decide on which area of The Costa Blanca that suits you. My advice would be to buy a property, especially an apartment that was built a few years ago & the community etc are up & running. You can then check out the history of the apartments including whether they are a legal build. We’ve seen apartments completed & then stood empty for a few years whilst the builder applies for the licence from the Town Hall.
We used a company when we first viewed in Spain. We were specific regarding which area we were interested in, Villa Joyosa. So, on arriving at the airport the driver told us that he was taking us to stay in a hotel many miles past Santa Pola to view properties in that area. We refused to go & asked him to arrange a flight for us back to the UK. He contacted the company & suddenly they were able to arrange for us to stay closer to Villa Joyosa. We viewed an off plan site in Villa Joyosa & put a deposit down. We were lucky as the company, TM, did build on time & it was a legal build. We then independently went on to buy other properties.
My advice would be to decide on a location & go & rent there just to get a real feel for the place. It’s expensive to buy in Spain, you have the cost of taxes, non resident taxes if you’re not going to become a resident. There are various taxes when you buy & sell, SUMA, (council tax), community charges, water, electric, Plus Valia, ( Town Hall Tax), etc etc. It all adds up!
I have a Spanish friend who is an estate agent, she deals with Villa Joyosa & surrounding areas. She speaks good English. Let me know if you’d like her details.
Good luck with your search.
Sue