So we went to Spain for the weekend to view some carefully chosen properties I identified hunting high and low through the depths of the internet. I arranged 10 viewings with three separate estate agents and one owner. It was a bit tricky to coordinate but I somehow it worked out OK. Eventually, we saw close to 20 houses as Spanish estate agents like to show you what they want to sell rather than what you want to see (and that’s why we saw one property twice…).  After two really full-on fun-filled days we had two very strong contenders. However…

Dream home

The first property, our dream home, really, which had everything you’d want, including almost 360 sea and mountain views, turned out to be too expensive. I know, we should’t have even looked at it, but we were hoping a deal could be made. We learnt, however, that the owner had been ‘offended’ by someone else’s offer – close to what we wanted to put forward – and that what he expected was over our budget.  We could probably arrange for the financial gap to be filled in eventually – but we’d need time for that. Unfortunately, we were apparently competing against a ‘Dutch couple’ who made an offer before we had time to say ‘hasta luego’.

Heart-break home

The other property was within our budget. It had great potential, plenty of space, big garden and a swimming pool. So we were ready to make an offer. Only to find out that the property had been actually already reserved (which I understand to mean that the offer was accepted and the advance paid). This was rather heart-breaking news as I already started visualising myself in the beautiful swimming pool doing lengths every morning (only slightly overlooking the fact that I can’t swim).  Why we were even shown the property is beyond me…

Plan B

A few other properties were passable but were in what I see as a secondary location, so we decided to… well… pass on them. At least for the time being. I’ll be monitoring the situation to see if there’s anything new coming up to the market or whether there are any changes in the prices of the secondary location properties – which would make them ever so slightly more appealing – but at the moment the hunt is off. We won’t be even able to go to Spain for the next few months. So it looks like we may have to set the wheels in motion for our plan B  – rent in Spain first and look for a property while there. This could materialise in autumn or winter but there are a few things we’d need to look into first. I’ll report soon.