Happy New Year from your newest 2 users. xox

Well that's handy that you have somewhere to stay until the big day looms.  Makes a big difference in that you can make sure everything is done to your satisfaction before you part with the rest of your money.

Also you can take some of your stuff over each time you go making full use of the airlines baggage allowance.

It's amazing how much you will still be taking over each time you go, I still have loaded cases after 4 years.  In between visits I see things which I think I'll need in Spain and start packing a case for my next visit.  Each time I tell my husband that this will be last time that I will need to take a case but he shakes his head knowingly.

I don't know if you have a Poundland nearby but they do small round touchlights (pack of two) which are battery operated.  I have these all over the house as I think they are safer than candles and you can carry them around with you if necessary.

When you have a power outage it's quite frightening how dark it is, after my first and only one at night I went out and bought small torches and candles.  Now though I can reach out and find the touchlight on the coffee table so it's much easier.

Whenever I'm over the power seems to go out during the day but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Hopefully the others who have bought in the area will be able to help you further.  If your air-conditioning has been pre installed it should be quite easy to get a quote as the wires will already be in the wall. 

Best advice seems to be from others who have posted on forums is to get your grills fitted first and then arrange for the furniture etc to be installed.  Most firms in Spain allow you to pay a small deposit and then you can either go in to arrange delivery and pay balance or pay balance to delivery driver in cash.  Even Carrefour do this!  Very handy if you see something you want but are not carrying your cards or enough cash with you.

I found these forums after I moved  into my house but I was lucky in that I had neighbours who were able to help and advise me, not all of the advice was good and I had to follow my instincts.  Your parents have been there done that so you have a head start.

Semi, they should just be careful that the aircon units are adequate for size of rooms though. We have pre installed wiring but we needed to have another unit put in (independant of pre installed one in the lounge area) as the original was not adequate enough output (just on the heating side, aircon side was fine) with our villa having so much open area on the ground floor. I don't think normally it would be a problem. Aircon firms tend to go for 12,000 BTU for lounges & 9,000 BTU for bedrooms. Our neighbours with the same property as us had a specialist aircon firm in who said they needed a 18,000 BTU unit downstairs with it being such a large open space with stairs too. Makes such a difference too. We needed a further 12,000 BTU putting in to give us a comfortable temperature.  

I know what you mean about finding bits & bobs in these Poundland shops, Semi. Don't they have great bargains ? Our back bed here is never empty, I'm forever putting things to take over next on it. Over in Spain I love a rummage around certain shops in Guardamar, just down the road to us. There's a massive new shop run by Chinese people at the bottom of the road which Lidl's & Mercadona is on (like Dompte's which also is a few shops from that one). I love one called Juper but Georgia's just told me it's up for rent as they've been very poorly. Shame as it's brilliant & we've bought loads of goods from it. 

When I first started to look at property in Torrevieja I saw a couple I liked, one on Dream Hills and the other on Inspiration.  They both had open staircases leading from the ground floor to the first floor.

The house I finally went for has got a stairwell which is very cold in winter but the previous owner had installed a door from the lounge when she had the house remodelled.  This cuts down some of the draughts coming down the stairwell.

It's only after you experience living in the houses through the various seasons that you realise why the markets are full of lightweight blankets in the winter.  I don't always put on my heater/aircon as I find it too warm.  Depending how cold it is outside I can normally get away with a small oscilating heater plus a blanket over my legs.  My sister bought me a shoulder size poncho for christmas especially for Spain.  It was brilliant, all I need now is a fancy cap on my head and I'll look like Whistler's grandmother.

Who cares as long as I'm warm

We met up with someone who has had a place on Inspiration since they were built, they were moaning about the stairwells and draughts so looks like I made the right choice.

Semi, look what I bought you.

Not quite what I was thinking of but thanks all the same

A couple of years ago I went out in January and the wind chill factor made it minus 2 even though the sun was shinning.

A neighbour and I went to the market in Torrevieja and found a stall selling hats and scarves.  Managed to join the scrum around the stall and find one that fitted plus a couple of scarves, haven't needed to wear them again but you never know.  Also found a stall selling ex,long tshirts so stocked up on them for my winter collection. 

I've got quite a collection of clothes out there for all the different seasons.

Hi

Don't know about being lucky, didn't realise that people had difficulty getting access via the builders. We made appointments as did our agent and never had any trouble gaining access for measuring up etc. I had also drawn up the floor plans and locations of the pre ducted air vents along with the square metre size of the overall apartment so didn't have any trouble. So if you have trouble getting acces then yes I would agree that it would be wise to wait before ordering. I guess different circumstances for different developments . So if that is the case then, yes I guess I was lucky (or bossy???LOL).