Happy New Year from your newest 2 users. xox

Hi all,

My partner John & I are are soon to be completing on Dream Hills 2 and are getting very excited.  We have been reading the threads and cannot believe we didn't look sooner, we have found out more information from this site in the last 3 days than we ever could have hoped.  Thank you.

We look forward to getting to know you all and will apologise in advance for the bombardment of questions that is sure to come your way over the next few weeks.

We wish you a prosperous new year and look forward to bringing in the next one on Dream hills 2 with our neighbours.

Take Care

Elaine & John

Elaine & John

I am fairly new to this site, but Hi, Welcome

Welcome to the club of happy people in Spain! I wish it will be increasing more and more in the future. We will try to keep helping out.

Maria waiting for the Three Wise Kings

Thank you all for the warm welcome 

We're looking forward to getting to know you all.

Any hints tips and general advice you can offer is greatly appreciated!

Thanks again.

Elaine & John

Hi Elaine and John

Hope you enjoy the forum, I have, good fun as well as lots of good info along the way. I think there are a few members on here that have bought in Dream Hills. I think Hudsey has but think she has been in Spain recently. I think a good tip would be to invest in what I call the "magic beds" they are storage beds and you can get lots of things out of the way like clothes, bedding etc. Brilliant!!

Thanks Candyfloss,

These are the tips I like, means that I can go shopping for extra clothes, shoes & general stuff as we will have loads more storage space.  I like it.

Loving your Bettyboop! 

Elaine.

Hi Elaine,

You're welcome. Any others I can think of I'll let you know. Step away from the shoe shops over there or you will need to move house  . Just another thought, I know a few people who had furniture packages and weren't too happy with them. We looked around and boughtstuff from different places as I do enjoy putting things together myself. It's not as hard as people think. I  very pleased  with ours and it's surprising what you can do yourself. Great fun too.

Welcome Elaine and Jack. I'm a newbie myself and will be relocating to Punta Prima on the 15th having lived in Turkey for nearly 2 years. Leaving here on Friday, long week-end in Dublin and then off we go!

Wishing you many happy years in your new home.

Hi Elaine & John

Just come back ourselves from 23 nights outside Guardamar. As Gina said Hudsey has bought on Dream Hills & my OH & I met her & her OH a few days ago for the first time. We've met lots of EOS members, including Gina & her OH.  This forum's chocka with great info.

Prospero Año Nuevo

Here's my few thoughts.

Have you been told that new properties do not come complete with lighting, when you walk in you will have wires hanging from the ceiling.

Ardy's further down from Carrefour in Torrevieja have a good lighting section and you can buy a mother and baby standard lamp for under 20e.

They also sell small oscilating fan heaters which you will need if you're out there in the winter.  The houses are very cold in the winter and these will tide you over until you can sort out something more permanent like aircon/heating.

In Mar Azul they have a second hand shop called New2you.

Most furniture shops in Spain will deliver the next day if the items you choose are in stock.

I bought a resale property but I had to furnish it, I chose a fridge freezer, washing machine, settee, chair, beds and they were delivered the following afternoon.  Later I ordered another settee paid 20e deposit I returned to Spain 6 weeks later paid remaining amount and it was delivered the next day.  How's that for service.

I also bought a dishwasher from Carrefour they have specific days when they deliver to your area, it was installed but the only grievence I have with them is that the instructions are in every lanquage except English.

Things have improved since I bought over 4 years ago and with Ikea close by there's more selection.  Just make sure you hire a big enough car to get it all in

Thanks Guys,

We've got a furniture pack and it states lighting (if i remember rightly, don't have it to had but will check) along with beds, tables, couch etc.  Do you reckon they will be fitted or will we need to do that ourselves! Well not literally!!  I have to assume then that there defo won't be bulbs!!  Oh the naivety!

This is probably a silly question, but when we are eventually over to complete, what are the chances of 2 weeks being enough to get everything done?  We were hoping to get locks changed, aircon, extractor, white goods and probably loads of other stuff that we don't even know about yet!

Also we have been reading up on snagging and assume that we will need to be over at least a week prior to signing to get the snagging sorted.  I need to get organised.  Keep me out of the Jokes section!! 

Hi Elaine,

Being anal as I am,   A few tips that got us through.

Ok you've got your furniture pack so that's the big stuff sorted. We went over before we completed and shopped around til we dropped choosing sofas and of course the "magic beds". Chose and ordered the air con, lighting and security grilles in advance ready for completion. Our estate agent was an absolute gem and needed a medal. Got orselves a key holder who is just ace. All was in by the time we got there and we did the rest in a week. One, yes One, I kid you not, trip to Ikea which pleased the old man no end.  . Bought dining table, chairs and bedside tables for him to put together bless! Took bedding and bits and bobs and have just added as we go along. Lifts weren't working so got down to a size zero so cheaper than weight watchers too, what can I say? Good fun though, lucky we left the kids behind. Don't try to do too much at once or you will waste valuable drinking time  . Had to order white goods but as it was Easter they couldn't deliver until after we went home, so keyholders organised taking delivery of those too. We managed to get a plug in cool box for the beer so that was ok. Worn out just thinking about it. Have fun

In furniture packs with lighting they'll fit these also put up the curtain rails, hang the curtains, not break bathroom wall tiles when fitting bathroom fitments (if you're lucky) too. I guess they'll put bulbs in or they won't know if they work !

If you want your locks changed we recommend David Krouse, a master locksmith from Benijofar, who did ours. Believe it or not we have seven doors !! We have a storm door to the front door, a kitchen door (to utility that was once a room with no roof but now has a roof) an outer door plus its grill door, also a solarium door plus its grill door. David changed all the locks to a one key fits all which is great. We chose his more expensive ones & he has a 24 hr service for emergencies too.

http://www.daveskeysandlocks.com/

http://www.davidkrousegolf.com/  (He also sells golf items.)

For aircon, if you've not thought of who to contact you could speak with

 Aiden Connections, Guardamar area
a.jcostello@yahoo.co.uk

My advice would be to go over at least a couple of days before so that you can get a snagging list done.

Do you have a firm date yet for completion?

I'd make arrangements to rent somewhere so at least you've got a place to stay if things don't go to plan.  That way you can sort things out during the day and return to somewhere warm and with home comforts at night.

A friend kindly lent me her house to stay in whilst my sister and I sorted out the house ready for hubbies arrival at the weekend.  For two days we cleaned and shopped, bought things in haste and changed them later.  Still regret not buying magic beds, on my list of things to change when I decide on what size to buy!  Maybe that's why there are so many second hand shops around.

For white goods I got mine from a furniture store in Torrevieja, it's called Codems and if you look at a map of Torrevieja you have the park of nations on the right hand side of the 322 (this is the exit you use to get to Haberneras or Carrefour) at the first roundabout you turn right, at next you take the third exit and Codems is on the right hand side.  You should see the sign as you approach the roundabout.

They are very good and if you order in the morning and there's space on the van they will deliver the same day.  Everything is installed by the delivery guys (except the frigde/freezer which has to settle for 24 hours before plugging in)

This is  a standard service from all shops in Spain, I later ordered an under sink cupboard for my second floor bathroom.  My stairs are very narrow and have a return on them, the man struggled up them but he managed it.  I did offer to help but he refused.

Whatever is on your furniture pack list if it needs to be assembled or connected to electricity it will be done by the delivery men.  As More. said some packs include bathroom fittings as well as lighting which do include bulbs.  You'll find the ceiling lights will be one's which fit flush to the ceiling so first thing to add to your list of things to buy is a ladder to enable you to change bulbs at a later date.

I bought mine from Bricohouse which is in Punta Prima just down the road from the new Mercadona in Los Altos.

Have fun making a list of what you need to buy, just make sure you book a large enough car to get it home from the shops.  Haven't seen it lately but you could always spot the new homers with their loaded trolleys in Carrefour.  Perhaps the're now in Ikea

Here's a SMILE, Jock & Elaine, cos you're gonna need to keep one plastered on your face!!

It's an exciting time for you, but bound to be fustrating!! Been there, done that!!!

Just take diazepam & drink copious amounts of alcohol, you'll be fine.  

April 2005. We'd booked ourselves into a nearby hotel for four nights to ease us into moving in, which was as well as the agent hadn't given our builder our bank details (which we'd lodged with them two months earlier) so we had no electricity till the morning after we actually left the hotel & that was by fluke.  (New urbs are VERY DARK TOO. Candles & early nights are meant to be romantic. I'll never think of candles, dark & romance in the same light again. "Light", oh what a pun !! ) We woke up to a noise on our first morning of being in & saw a guy reading meters. He was bemused as, when he opened our box, it was empty !! We got through a lot of sign language but he returned a few hours later complete with a meter & all was ok once he'd been inside our villa & sorted out the fuse box as something was missing & nothing would work.  Having no electricity caused us hassles as just before dusk there's no chance of seeing what you're doing (it was April). We had to put off the aircon firm who needed electricity. My OH couldn't charge his drill to do jobs. He had to ask our non resident neighbour, who just happened to be there when we were, to charge his mobile. I had to ask someone to make us drinks as we had to wait around sitting on front steps so much, waiting in for people who didn't turn up as planned. To crown it all our furniture van didn't turn up from the UK as expected as the ferry was late setting off apparently & they'd run out of time in which to drive so the furniture had to be brought next day. We brought quite a lot over to Spain & paid £420 for 5m3 volume on van. Agent didn't send anyone to meet us for snagging either & we later were told he had been rushed into hospital & the only other person who could've come was Spanish speaking so needed at the hospital for translating. As our agent, Millennium Worldwide, had been pretty irresponsible in their professionalism since the start I doubt if anyone had ever planned to come to snag with us. Certainly they never had the thought to ring us.

Oh yes, the fun of completion.

As said .. Just take diazepam & drink copious amounts of alcohol, you'll be fine.  

Thanks guys for all the great advice.  My head is still spinning with the lists of lists of lists!! 

I think I will get started on the copious amounts of alcohol from today.  Our computer packed in and we're currently using a work laptop, not the best when your normally a web maniac!! And all correspondence is done online.......for everything!!   It's taking me all my time to use the touch pad.  I feel a bit lost.

Anyway candles will defo be packed in my case when we finally get over.  We don't have a firm date yet, but if you've read any of our last posts, we are not worrying about this at the moment due to the exchange rate!  My parents have a house in Hondon de las Nieves so we will be staying there until we sign and get the keys etc.  I don't mind driving, as long as I've got the trusty sat nav, that said I kinda know the road to ours already the amount of times we went back for a peek.

Morerosado thanks for all the links, that's my job this weekend, lists and emails and lists of emails! Karensun I read about your garage dilemma, I hope all is well on that front and thanks for the smiley, he's cute. x  Candyfloss, you say you shopped before completion, was this a matter of days before or was it a few weeks.  As we have not got a firm date we were considering nipping out for a weekend to pr-order grills, aircon, extractors etc. 

I know I probably keep banging on about this, but I really do appreciate these forums as the last time we went into the carrefour we saw an excellent kitchen package for a good price.  Now if it hadn't been for all of you we would have gone and bought this being none the wiser of the poor after service! 

Can't wait to get stuck into Ikea shopping, i've not been there for a while over here and need a good retail therapy session.   If fact any king of shopping does me!  Specially if its for copious amounts of alcohol. lol

I am sure we will have a few trying hours (optimism ) but also great fun doing it all.  Got loads of mixed emotions at the moment, the most predominant being nerves.  All the what, who, why, when & where's!  The joys.

Can I ask how we go about getting ourselves a keyholder? Is there anyone you can recommend in our area?

Thanks again for the help & thats a drink I owe you all at the BBQ.  

Hi Elaine,

I'll try and keep it short. Deposit paid in Jan 06. The site girl said it would be ready by April, which kept us amused for about 5 seconds after we had climbed up the scaffolding to take in the views fom our roof LOL. went over in May (not finished, we were very surprised at this, after all she said that it would be LO very L. Sorry I will be serious now. Ordered beds, sofas, lighting, grilles and air con in the May to be put in after completion, as I said deliveries kindly taken in by our agent (the sweetie) and key holders. Were on the verge of completing in Dec but didn't happen thaks to the Halifax fuss faffing about so had to rent, not a problem. Completed Jan 07 then by April when we went over stuff that we had ordered was in place and we went hell for leather for a week doing Ikea and bits and bobs. Surprising what you can do. Wore us out but now it's all done bliss..............................

It's great fun Elaine so don't stress about it, it takes time and I still have quite a few bits and bobs to get. Enjoy

Hi again Elaine & Jock

I think you will find you cannot order aircon, grilles etc before you complete. At least we couldn't. Just check. Sounds like Gina was very lucky. You obviously need to be able to get inside for these & builders often won't allow you seeing as it actually isn't yours until all the balance is handed over. Aircon firms that know your buildings could quote you but grilles need to be measured accurately (HA, that's a laugh in our case, we had to tell them to forget it & we used another firm).

Regarding a keyholder there are EOS members who've already bought in DH2 such as Jules1 & Hudsey. They are both non residents so could advise you. I know them both, having met both in Spain.