Julie’s Journey of Purchasing Properties in Spain

“I bought a property in Spain – and now I’m buying the one next door!”

After many years of dreaming about buying a home abroad and building up two pension pots, Julie Cash now finds herself in the position of buying her second property in Spain within a year!

In December she bought a two-bedroom townhouse in the popular village of Competa in Andalucia, for €115,000 (£100k). She’d never been to the area before but after searching areas for a mix of affordability and authenticity, she discarded Almeria for the Axarquía area in the province of Malaga.

Says Julie, 66, a newly retired systems manager for a software company: “I decided I couldn’t afford Mallorca, didn’t want a “little Britain” on the Costas, so I looked inland of Malaga and quite literally put a pen on a map and came across Competa.” An hour from Malaga airport and half an hour from the coast – and the resorts of Torre del Mar, Torrox Costa and Caleta de Velez, Competa is the quintessential Andalusian mountain town or ‘pueblo blanco’ with steep streets of whitewashed houses with balconies brimming with flower pots. You can find two-bedroom fixer-uppers for under €50,000.

It has a good number of expats but the drive up into the hills puts off enough people for it to remain relaxed and a little off the tourist track, says Julie, from Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire. “I felt it would have enough that I need in terms of shops and amenities rather than being too isolated.” Julie wanted a holiday home to share with family and friends. The townhouse she bought has two lovely terraces but needed a lot of TLC. However with the help of a local builder she’s given it a great facelift, replacing windows and doors and painting the woodwork a pretty aquamarine.

It was when she was visiting for the fifth time in August that one of her neighbours asked her if she was interested in buying the house next door, owned by her mother who had passed away last year. “I took my builder to look at it and decided that €30,000 was a good price to buy it,” says Julie of the three-room property that has been used as storage for many years.

“With some renovation I could use it as an over-flow for my guests, but also it would provide the parking space outside my house that I lacked.” It will also mean that she won’t get nightmare neighbours or renovations that might spoil her own property (she had to get an extension on her home legalised when buying it). On the other hand, she could even extend upwards on it herself – subject to permissions. “I could join it to my house or I could let it out separately – it offers exciting options.”

Julie puts her good fortune with the purchase down to lots of research which she did at A Place in the Sun Live which she attended last year. “I took on board lots of useful advice and at the time didn’t realise the importance of using a foreign currency broker,” she says. “It was explained very clearly so I signed up with A Place in the Sun Currency and now use them to make savings whenever I send money, to Spain.”  

She’s cashing in, true to her name!