Important Information about properties in this area
Overview
Concerning certain decisive factors in purchasing property abroad such as privacy and tranquillity, we can tell you that most of the properties we have for sale here were originally built by the Spanish to use as their second homes and intended as country retreats for weekends and holidays with their families. This is still in fact a common aspect of the lifestyle of the Valencian people. There are a few more permanent residents these days, but the Spanish are only just beginning to get used to the idea of commuting into the towns or city to work, therefore it is not unlikely to find that you have few neighbours during the week, but more at the weekends.
About the Properties
Most of the properties here are completely detached and the average area of the plot of land that most of them are built on is over 1000M2. So they are generally very well spaced and you should find that, unlike many of the new complexes in many places further south in Spain, you and your neighbours are not living “on top of each other” so to speak. Almost all of the properties here have pools of various shapes and dimensions and having been designed as family homes they normally have at least (but usually more than) three bedrooms. Properties located closer to the city of Valencia usually have considerably smaller plots, the houses are built much closer together and new properties are often semi-detached or even terraced.
Areas
It is very important to understand that the Spanish word "Urbanización" does not relate to the English word urbanisation. The "urbanizaciónes" are not towns; they are residential sites that are very much in the countryside. What the Spanish describe as an Urbanización, is a rural residential site that has been developed further in terms of civilised services and amenities than the other main categories of residential sites - these being described as “Rustico”, “Partida" and “Colonia” respectively in terms of their degree of development. For example, the "Urbanización" will usually have proper tarmac surfaced roads, sometimes street lights, usually a good sewerage system, a regular waste collection service and a personal mail delivery service. There will usually be 100 or more properties in the Urbanización and usually an "Asociacion de Vecinos". This is a collective neighbourhood organisation with an appointed chairman which has been organised by the community in the Urbanización for the purpose of generally maintaining and/or improving the site and also petitioning the local town hall for additional or improved services.
Distances
On the other hand, in spite of the rural location of these properties, you may learn from our website that all of the properties on our Valencia database are located close to at least one of the towns in the region east of Valencia City (shown on the map page). Most of our properties are also within 20/30 minutes from the airport and 30 /40 minutes of Valencia and there are several local towns within 5 to 10 minutes of all the properties. The lovely beaches between Valencia and Cullera are only 30/40 minutes away too! We ourselves actually live very near Monserrat and we can reach Cullera in about 30/35 minutes, the airport in 20 minutes and Valencia in 30 minutes.
What do you get for your money?
It is important to realise that last year properties in this area went up by 8% in 2002, 12% in 2003 and 2004 and 18% in 2005. This year, 2006, although we are told Valencia, near the port area, is going up by up to 36%, but the area in the country where our office is, is likely to be around a 20% increase. This means that anyone looking at properties at the beginning of 2003 year could have got a reasonably nice property for around 100,000 €. In 2004 this became 112,000 €. In 2005 it became 130,000 € and now this is likely to be 160,000 €. We are talking here about a 2/3 bedroom villa of 120 square metres, with about 1,500 square metres of land, with garage, fruit trees and swimming pool.
Anyone wanting to pay considerably less than this will be likely to get a smaller house with less land and will probably need to do considerable refurbishments and/or alterations to the house, although building work and materials are still relatively cheap here. Alternatively they can opt to buy a good quality flat in one of the villages. In many cases these houses will not have mains electricity, which is actually not a problem. Solar Panels can be installed which give more electricity than if the house were supplied direct from the electricity company! Some have a well or water delivered by a tanker, again, this is not a big problem here.
We naturally don’t want clients to be disappointed, but this is a fact now with property prices in Spain as a whole. It is still good value in this area when you compare it to the traditional English buying areas south of here, especially on the coast.
An important fact to consider now is that a new Golf Course accompanied by new residential developments is planned to be built close to Monserrat and when it has been completed in a few years time, then prices are likely to escalate even more. Also, the Americas Cup in 2007 will we believe raise prices over the 20% mark in 2006. It is therefore wise to take advantage of this opportunity to buy something now as an investment in this up and coming area, as long as you don’t expect too much for the price!
We have had bad experiences of Estate Agents in Spain with their English counterparts, some of whom we have found out have added up to 30% to the property price just because they had a prospective buyer from the UK! We were also tired of hearing about all the problems that buyers from the UK had experienced with the company they had purchased from, so we decided to set up our own company to “run things properly”. With us, the price is the same as for a Spanish buyer.
We look after you
Please remember that one of the most important things that Peek at Spain SL offers in this area is our "after purchase" package which is designed to help you through the crucial settling in period after you buy. This contains a lot of well researched information and helpful hints that you should find very practical and useful. Much of this information has come from our own personal experiences and this service is entirely exclusive to our company. It is now 68 pages packed with useful information.
We also spend a half day taking you round a familiarization tour of the area, so you know how to get into Valencia, the Beaches and the main shopping areas.
Other companies may take your money then cast you aside and move on to their next client, we stay around and help you! We also live in this area, and we hope we will be seeing our customers frequently as friends!
Coming to Visit
When you decide to visit, we do advise you to be in a position to put a deposit down there and then and also to follow up it with a fairly quick purchase. We have had experience of some of our clients losing the property they wanted because they were not able to proceed quickly enough. See our separate document about money matters.
Christopher Proctor +34-68-748-6909 chris@peek-at-spain.com Fax: +34-96-299-9076
UK phone number: 0844-837-8945
UK phone number: 0871-990-3-550
Spain Office: +34-96-299-8133
mailto:enquiries@peek-at-spain.com
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© Peek at Spain S.L.
07/06/2006