Alicanteos

Starting a new life in Spain can be yours if you carefully plan everything buying a house on the Costa Blanca is something that will demand all your attention.
Be prepared or prepare to fail, those words should be in your mind during the entire buying process, there is a guideline that is necessary to follow during that period :

Always ask for legal advice
Never rush thing out
Have a clear goal in mind, because it can condition a lot of thing. Do you want a house just for holiday that will be for rent during the rest of the year, do you want to live on the coast or inland, do you want to be near a golf course, do you want to be in the expat community or in the real Spain, do you plan to resale the house in the future. Once you have a clear goal in mind you can proceed to look for a room, the best advice is to go there for 6 months , then you will have a clear ideas of the place you want to live. Below is a list of place, you may want to consider in the province of Alicante on the Costa Blanca :

La marina, Elche/Elx, Alicante ciudad (San Juan, El Campello), Calpe , Denia , Javea/Xabea, Torrevieja, Altea, Benissa, Alcoy, Orihuela, Ondara, Benidorm , Villajosoya

Once you know, where you want to live, learn about the buying process and the people involved.

ALICANTE ANOCHECIENDO

Originally uploaded by esthal.

Avda. Salamanca

A cool picture of Alicante during the night.

Just 47kms from Alicante with its international airport, & 35kms from San Javier international airport in Murcia, Torrevieja is ideal for weekend breaks and 2nd homes, with many cheap daily flights to European destinations, particularly England, Germany Belgium, Holland and Scandinavia. The E15 and AP7 Motorways run along the coast, linking Spain and France in the north, and the Costa Del Sol and Portugal to the South.

On the South Costa Blanca, which stretches from Alicante to Cartagena it is an excellent location for fabulous beaches, all with EU awards, fantastic weather (the best climate in Europe according to the World Health Organisation), great golf courses and friendly people.

Full of history, from the Roman pier at La Mata to wonderful churches, Torrevieja is surrounded by the famous salt lagoons of Torrevieja and La Mata, designated as National Nature Parks ( over 250 different bird species have been sighted here ).

Once the home port of the largest fleet of sailing boats in the Mediterranean, now the Real Club Nautico of Torrevieja & Puerto Deportivo marina hold more than 1500 high quality mooring places. Smaller marinas are dotted along the coastline (many within easy reach of the town).

Torrevieja has some interesting Fiestas throughout the year. with visitors from all over Spain and the world!
Spain has seen immense growth and changes in the last 5-6 years, nowhere more than the Costa Blanca, which is now experiencing a change in the housing Market with much more stability and more awareness from the prospective buyer. Spain has also experienced a lot of “bad press” horror stories where people have lost money and property, but in spite of this Spain is still a very popular Country for people to relocate and start a new life or have a Holiday Home or investments, unlike perhaps the Eastern Block Countries where its very much an unknown.

Villas2fincas/Suenos Villas is a Family run Property Sales Business Based in the heart of Torrevieja. The business has been operating for several years, in which time much experience and knowledge has been gained in Property Sales, marketing and customer service.
As a company we specialise, not only in new and town homes but also in Country Houses.

We can offer a complete service, from finding the right property, taking care of the legal aspect and all the after sales service, which is so necessary. Our experience in this market has taken us towards specialising in Country Properties, where the demand has been over the last year. Here client’s money will go further, the pace of life is more relaxing and our clients are satisfied in the knowledge that the legalities and procedures are correct.
In all our more personal service will provide prospective clients with reassurance, “hand holding” and honest advise for whatever the reason for moving to Spain.

Let us know what you are looking for and we will find it.

In the first instance contact Helene Fowler via e.mail at andrewhousehc@btconnect.com

Julegater.

Originally uploaded by Tess_.

This is a cool picture of Torrevieja during the night.

Alcoy has 58,358 inhabitants and is distant of 54 km from Alicante, the town stand on the rivers Serpis, Riquer, Uxola, Molina and Benisaido.
Various points with impressive views serve as union between the different neighborhoods.
This town has Islamic origin but trace of a roman past are also present , Alcoy was reconquered by Jaime I, who repopulate the town with Catalan knights. A legend count that during the battle between the Moros (Spanish word for Moor; name given by Spanish to Muslim Filipinos) and Christians , St George did an appearance on the 23rd April 1276, sword in the air and deciding the Christian’s victory. Since then, each 23rd April , Alcoy celebrates its saint patron, St George during the celebration of Moros and Christians between the 22nd and 24th April.

The neighbors of Alcoy don’t live exclusively for the glorious past, Alcoy is an Eminently active place in the textile industry, in fact, ALcoy pioneered the market back in 1873, it was one of the first social revolution in Spain. Nowadays, Alcoy has paper factories, metal factories, according to 2002 stats , Alcoy counted a little bit more than 3900 companies. If you are interested to start a business in Alcoy, you may want to look at the CAMARA OFICIAL DE COMERCIO E INDUSTRIA DE ALCOY (C/ Sant Francesc, 10 - 03801 ALCOY). Alcoy is clearly an industrial area.

The Camil Visedo Molto museum of Archeology has valuable pieces of archeology found on that place many in the hills of Alcoy, some famous pieces include La dama del telar (symbol of the antiquity of the textil business in Alcoy). Near the museum of Archeology you can find another museum dedicated to the fiestas (el Museo de la fiesta o Festa en Valenciano ), there you can appreciated in a collection of clothes, photo shoots and objects related to the celebration of ‘Los moros y Cristanios’.
The Saint George’s church is built where he appeared in vision centuries ago, at first a temple in the XIII century , replaced by another in 1651 and later renovated in 1913 in neobynzantine style. From Alcoy the possibly for excursions are many the mountains and hills surrounding Alcoy are just waiting for you, the natural park of Carrascal de la Font Roja (Carrascal de La Font Roja is a mountain range topped with an true Levantine Mediterranean forest.) The Font Roja sanctuary is also a place to see only 10 km away from Alcoy. There you can enjoy a panoramic view of the whole area.
Another interesting natural park is La sierra de Mariola, one of the largest in the area of Valencia, in that sierra is the roots of the rivers Serpis and Vinalopo.
8 km away from Alcoy is Cocentaina the town that keep its medieval savour, very near that town is the castle of Penella recently renovated. In conclusion, Alcoy is an area for nature lover, peaceful and quiet in most any seasons.

Walking in the streets of Alicante you will hear people talking in Romanian, German, English, French on some rare occasion you will hear Spanish. Alicante has 318,000 inhabitants (31,000 foreigners mainly from United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Eastern Europe). You can live there without speaking any Spanish as most people in shops, restaurants; banks speak some English. In fact, learning English seem to be the priority of many Spaniard there as it offer more employment opportunity.
The staff of a bank may talk up to 4 languages. Tourism and services are the main economic activities.

The pedestrian will enjoy a walk passing around this entire seafront area, via the Paseo de Gómiz, Paseo de Conde de Vallelano and Paseo del Almirante Julio Guillén Tato. Parallel to these streets are other areas of interest, including the famous Explanada de España. This is a promenade lined with leafy palm trees, nearly half a kilometre in length, and paved with an enormous tri-coloured marble mosaic formed of 6,600,000 pieces. Everyone pass there citizens and tourists this is a vital place of the city . The Explanada is overlooked by historic houses, such as for example, the Casa Carbonell next to the Puerta del Mar. Nearby there is also the castle of Santa Barbara and the Postiguet’s beach. You will never get bored of this area of the city
Occasionally you will see big ferries going to north Africa.

Due to its size Alicante has all facilities of a modern city 4 large commercial centers
with cinemas and load of shops where you can buy virtually everything from Versace clothes to porcelain cups.

In the north of the city are San Juan and El Campello, this where property buyers are
interested to settle , the area is quieter than the center of Alicante except may be during the summer season. San Juan has a 7 Km blue flag white sandy beach during the winter in January the temperature is often around 18 to 22 degree having a walk on this beach free of tourist is a real pleasure. San Juan and El Campello are well served by tramway and bus. Take 10 minutes of bus from San Juan to be in the center of Alicante. Ticket price is less than 1 euro (0,85 euro - 2003 price) Additionally, there are enough shops that you will not need to go in Alicante often. In june, you have a big fiesta in the Hogueras de San Juan celebrating the arrival of summer with open-air dances, which culminated with the lighting of bonfires and were joined with the fiestas of St. John.

The real estate market is very dynamic in both San Juan and El campello with more new development taking place in San Juan than in El Campello, El campello tend to be very expensive and price rise are excepted in the future. A resale villa with 3 bedrooms starts at 300,000 euro. Nonetheless, if you have the fund to live in one of those high quality places go for it.

Altea a town of 15,910 inhabitants (as of 2004) located in the north of the province of Alicante. This town has a reputation of being one of the most charming. The presence of many antique dealers indicates a different style of tourism in Altea compared to other coastal town. If you want to buy an antique helmet Altea is the place.
The town has a medieval aspect to it, you usually find this aspect in the more inland towns but Altea has it too. Altea has a park called Cactuslandia, where you can find 1,500 species of cactus.

If you use internet to find a property in Altea, there a market of new development. Altea Natura offers f 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments in blocks of 4 storeys. All apartments come fully furnished, prices are between 170,000 euro and 350,000 euro for an apartment.
Residencial Oasis Beach offers duplex and appartement of high standing for 240,000 euro. Check their website for more info : http://www.residencialoasisbeach.com/

Benidorm is the capital of the Costa Blanca situated 41 km from Alicante. Benidorm became one of the most popular holiday resort in Europe during the 60’ with the boom of mass tourism. Benidorm enjoy visitors all the time during winter and summer. Benidorm get tourists from all over the world officially only 52,000 people live in Benidorm, but the town report more than 4 millions visitors per year. The micro-climate gives this town more than 3,000 hours of sun per year. The main tourist activity in Benidorm is spending time at the beach winter and summer, the Benidorm beaches are almost always sunny. The two main beaches of Benidorm are Levante beach(2,084-metre long Playa de Levante beach) and Poniente Beach (3,200-metre long Playa de Poniente beach stretches from the port as far as a point known Cabezo del Tosal, next to Cala Finestrat cove) .

Benidorm has its own theme park the well know TERRA MÍTICA on surface of 1 million square meters you will have the opportunities to enjoy attractions about the main civilizations of the Mediterranean: the mysterious Egypt, mythical Greece, the Roman Empire, the fun of Iberia, and the secrets of the Islands. TERRA MÍTICA has its own rail station and is easy to access with the Alicante-Denia F.G.V. line.

The word Benidorm has its root in the arab words Benid HarHim because this territory used to be owned by the arab family Dharmin. In the streets of Benidorm you can see some reminiscence of the arab root. Have a loot at the Calle de Alameda, El Passeig de la Carretera.
2 miles away from the coast, there is an small island, there is a boat to go on this island every hour for visit.

Tourism is the main business more than 35,000 beds in the hotels, 210,000 flat for holiday let, campings capacity for 5,000 people. Benidorm is the third hotels place in Europe after Paris and London. Benidorm has also a large selection of pubs, discotheques, bars, shopping malls and restaurants. Benidorm has a museum of Agriculture, dedicated to the work in farm and countryside.

Benissa a small town of 10,000 inhabitants (as of 2004), located 12 Km from Calpe and 71 Km from Alicante , situated at 274 m from the sea level, denominated el mirador de la Marina (the view of the Marina).

Temple of quietness has beautiful antique streets and a micro-climates that keep this city hot , Benissa has 4 km of coast and cobbled alleys, walls hundreds of years old, Moorish trellis-work, heraldic shields and ancient manorial homes. Benissa stands between 400 and 800 meters in an mountainous amphitheater, where there are Las sierras de Olta , Bèrnia, Lloma Llarga, la Solana and el Castellar. Under the 300 Meter, a large number of precipices are forming an abrupt landscape, , where almonds tree and olive trees bloom supported in stone walls which they have been made with extreme care by the local farmers.

During the winter, Calpe enjoy enjoy a good climate having a walk in the streets or on the beach you will hear the people talking in French, English or German , people in the shops and restaurants often speak English and French. Calpe is very appreciated among the expats. Calpe is known for its rock called the peñon the Ifach often compared to the Peñon of Gibraltar. Calpe keep a strict old Spanish architecture style with not that many modern building compared to Benidorm. In fact, Calpe is more relaxing place to be than Benidorm . Real estate in Calpe tend to be expensive with apartment price starting at 120,000 euro for a 2 bedrooms, a newly developed duplex villa with 3 bedrooms will cost you around 250,000 Euro, a similar will cost you around 150,000 euro in Torrevieja.

Choosing Calpe over a cheaper place is really a matter of taste. Calpe has a lot of charm and it worth visiting, the number of new development is still important so for sure you will find something. Calpe is the ideal place to buy a second residence for holiday or investment.