House new or old

Depends on what you prefer

Traditional Spanish Style or modern Style Square Block

Most properties were built before the crash of 2008, very little was built in the years directly after that, so it’s only fairly recently  (5-7 years roughly) that the housing market has been booming again. There’s new properties going up everywhere at the moment 

A fair number of the new properties are owned by Scandinavians , Belgians etc

I always advise to pick the right location first, then think about property. 

Do you want to be near the beach, in a town, or on a community. Amongst Spanish people, or in an expat area.

No point in choosing the house of your dreams if you have to struggle through traffic to get to it, or parking is a nightmare. Or even worse you have no bars and restaurants within walking distance.

Take you time driving round the area to choose the location that works for you.

Lynn

Thanks so much 

We are due out this Wednesday to do 

exactly that 

We do have a few ideas like not too far from beach within 30min drive and it is a must to be near bars and restaurants 

I was just a little concerned that the older ones do look very tired and dated against the new ones

Also not sure if building practice has changed like better insulation etc 

Cheers nick

Hello Nick 

Just a little advice .

As a construction business owner, not recommend to buy any new build . Every owner is struggling fixing up , water damage, under quality materials , cracks, and all kind of “fun “ stuff.
They just building up houses fast as possible grab the money and disappear.
New Build owners calling me every single week , they have water damage , leaking roof , ect .

Older houses still builded with real material  , and with conscience, witch is very rare this days . 

Good luck 

All the best 

Matt 

Hi Matt

Thanks very much for the advice 

I’m in the building industry over here and I agree houses are thrown up nowadays 

I suppose something a little older and tired 

Is it expensive to get it modernised like kitchen bathroom’s ect

cheers nick

For balance ... our house is an "old" one, pre-1990s.

It is well-built bungalow, with double-skinned walls, on a good sized plot, central in our village and near to services .... all good.

The downsides ? .... when we bought it, the electricity supply was 3.45kw. It needed a re-wire to get the supply increased. 

The floor construction was tiles, over slabs, over dirt (no concrete sub-floor). The internal plumbing was galvanized steel, laid in the dirt beneath the slabs - and it was rusted out. 

The foul drains were non-existent ... just a pit, with a run-off to a well nourished tree. Presumably this was fine when the house was used by the previous owners as a holiday home, but it all went downhill (or, to be precise, none of it went downhill) once we started living in it full time. 

The kitchen was old and tired.

The gas appliances looked unsafe, and there was no heating.

..... the point here is that old houses often need time and money spent on them.

Hi kelvin 

Thanks very much for the advice 

Pre 1990 is not that old is it really for so many problems 

I don’t want to have all them problems my days of building are nearly over 

I don’t mind getting someone to do a kitchen or bathroom but that’s it

cheers 

Agree with you that in some areas the houses look dated, but in other areas they look good. My villa is 18 years old and not one if the houses nearby look dated. I’m five minutes by car inland from Guardamar and even though the town/beach area is busy in the summer, we don’t have the traffic jams that they have in Torrevieja and Orihuela Costa. 

However most of the new builds are white and with the amount of red rain we have over here, they very often look awful streaked with mud or just look dirty very quickly. 

So times though it’s the fault if the council not keeping the areas tidy  -road repairs, gardening etc that then reflects on the way you “see” the property. 

Enjoy your house hun 

Lynn

I agree Kelvin . Sorry to hear your situation. 

BUT . If you know little bit about construction, you know that , houses from 1990 will eats up money.

Witch you have to calculate with your budget. 

Not everyone have to know about construction, but worth the money to bring architect who can tell you , if it’s worth it or no . ( it cost couple of hundreds of euros )  

I can show you 10 houses in Cabo roigh ( built after 2000) under 150k, 2 floor,3 bath , beautiful yard ,terrace , solarium, community pool , golf 3 minutes away , bars  is up half a block , English supermarket as well . And he still have 100k  make it as he’s taste . 

Long story short, I’m Agree and disagree with you . 

All the best Kelvin 

Regards 

Matt 

1-3 years old houses .