After reading some of the dreadful experiences many people have been, or are going through, we realise that compared to those poor souls, we had a comparatively easy ride through the house purchasing saga.
We came over on a semi-subsidised trip for a week, in a hotel, in Benidorm and hired a car. We felt this might relieve the pressure agents can sometimes convey. It did. We met up with agents but had our own transport, which worked well.
Because of warnings by my family in England of the many rip-off agents allegedly in Spain, we did not bring sufficient funds even for a deposit. We were going to survey the possibilities only.
However, we fell in love with an offplan urb., just a ploughed field (gasp, horror!!). Remember we had no money with us!
However, after a cruise around the local area, I had a nice feeling in my tummy about the place and decided to approach the vendors about purchase. They agreed to let us finish our holiday, return to England and then transfer the deposit to their account. They gave us 10 days, or the house would go back on the market! We met the time frame OK.
We then decided to emigrate to a rented apartment a year before the expected completion date, to keep an eye on the build. We decided to only buy the shell and have the entire inside installed to our requirements and specs., even changing the shape of a couple of the rooms. I achieved this by buying graph paper, measuring the brickwork as the rooms were being built, then persuading the developers to plead with the builders to follow my designs, which would ensure our items would fit OK.
We had bikes, so could visit the development as often as we liked to check progress and conformity. It was not all plain sailing but generally, we got what we wanted, eventually.
How did we manage all this. My wife is Venezuelan, so Español is her first language. BINGO!!
When each area was completed to our specs. we would jump up and down and hug each other!!
We were even credited for the items we did not have installed.
The duplex was completed in the time frame they gave. Even the Notary visit was painless, again, because there was no language barrier.
We susequently received our Cedula de Habitabilidad and Escritura, had a snagging list attended to with reasonable speed and so now, five years later, have a home we love, in an area we also love!
Is that a happy story, or what??