why did we decide on Quesada?

Instead of the usual real estate newsletter blog, we thought for this one we would ask someone to write it, who purchased a house from Barcelo just over two years ago, so here goes:

Hello, I’m Phil, my wife & I moved from Aberdeen UK to Spain in January 2015.

We rented a house for three months whilst we looked for hopefully the perfect villa, nearly made it, but always a little compromise.

So, why did we decide on Quesada? We initially looked at the Moraira area, finding “in our mind” that the houses were not “value for money”, & too many hills, & I mean hills! We had previously visited Quesada, returned here & started looking for a property.

Let’s cut the story short, I dealt with many estate agents but found most lacking. Barcelo actually listened to my requirements

So, enough of that, why did my wife & I leave the UK & settle on Spain?

Coming up to pension age, & having what I hope is a decent pension, albeit less than my salary, we wanted to keep a decent, if not better lifestyle.

So, besides living now in sunshine most of the year, having a permanent tan, & feel healthier in this salt lake area, not having the “Aberdeen” damp weather aches & pains anymore, what are the savings?

·Council rates in Aberdeen, three bed house, two bath, were £2450.00p. / year. Now, five bed, three bath, pool, 1000 sq. mtr. plot, £443.00p. / year.

·Drink, Glass of wine £1.50 - £1.80p. Pint £1.30p. Cigarettes £4.69p. (£10.42p. in UK Asda). Wine to drink at home, around £3.50p. / bottle.

·Eating out, 3 course meal with drink from £7.82p. each, obviously you can up that in some restaurants, the most we have paid with good wine was around £78.00p. for two. Don’t do that very often though, Hi!

·Electricity, about the same as that in Aberdeen, but we are now running a pool & larger property.

·We like to go out, bars & restaurants, people watch etc. Invariably a few nights a week. We can go out, in sunshine sitting outside, have two glasses of wine each, & this comes to around £6.95p. In Aberdeen, sitting inside a bar with our coats on, would be around £22.00p.

·Food, much cheaper & you can actually taste the vegetables, not having been frozen & mostly transported as in the UK.

·Healthcare, from experience we have found it better & quicker having treatment here than UK.

·Conclusion, Quesada has it all.

The “not so goods”:

·Used cars are around 25 – 30% dearer here. I brought my car from the UK & had it registered Spanish.

·Water here is metered, Having the pool & many fruit trees, we do spend more on water, but not dramatically so.

Well, I’ve gone on a bit here, would we move back to the UK, no chance, we are happy. Think about that, “happy”, how many folk can say that?

Are we scared what will happen with Brexit, no, Spain, especially on the Costas need the British for the economy, Spain would be decimated if we wanted / moved back to UK.

So, that’s it from me, if you are thinking of buying here, think: location, view, property, in that order, nice to have a view & wake up to “knowing” you are in Spain, & not “could be anywhere” in the UK. You can always do a little work on the property to make it how you want it.

Any questions folks, no, I am not on commission & I do not work for Barcelo, you can contact me on phil.griffiths55@gmail.com .

Remember “it’s nice to be nice”!