House hunting is a fun hobby. Especially when the pictures on the internet become reality and you get to view the selected houses. Of course we fell in love with the first three houses right away. Fortunately, each house had a downside. Too remote, unsuitable access road for racing bikes, too close to the main road. A year later we set out again with estate agents, now even better prepared and with even more wishes. A swimming pool, possibility for a B&B, preferably separate, with enough green and fertile land. A big list of requirements. A finca came so close that the purchase was almost completed. And on the advice of our Spanish lawyer, we set a wedding date. It almost became a black page in our history, but that's a separate story. We just had to swallow and continue, full of hope and trust. And then Gloria appeared.
Britt rather overwhelmed and in shock since the first sight of the wooden house, say log cabin (cabana). A pile of beer crates, a sink full of rancid dirty dishes, a stuffy smell of stale beer and sweat, in short, a real mancave. Kees, on the other hand, was in euphoria and all in the Gloria. What a fantastic person, small and stocky but energetic for two, smiling and a waterfall of speech in English imbued with a heavy Spanish accent and ditto enthusiasm. She presented the finca with verve to the man, in this case Kees, who walked around with eyes wide open, naming one plus after another. Gloria quickly found my weak spot and praised the many possibilities of the garden. Flowers everywhere, 40 olive trees, 3 fig trees, grapevines, an almond tree and an orchard with at least ten lemon, pomegranate and orange trees. And three cats. All in one price.
On to house number 2. A small house (casita). The solid wood door hadn't been used in a while and wouldn't open. But Gloria didn't give in, put her little body fully into the fight and threw her whole hip against the door. With a lot of creaking, the second house gave up its secrets. A mini kitchen, fireplace and steel spiral staircase to the balcony with a breathtaking view. In the distance the sea, and in front a sea of greenery, miniature houses and winding roads. From here there is undoubtedly a beautiful sunrise every morning. Behind this house the plot went up quite a bit, in terraces. Everywhere small lawns, bushes and trees, all places for lounge chairs, sun beds, yoga, hammock. And not to forget: a small swimming pool, on top of the one in front of the cabana. So the third house, very suitable in terms of layout as a family home/living quarters for us, had a separate pool. On the facade were letter tiles: Zarzuela, named after the royal palace. Three houses for the price of one and finally a B&B where we had no guests in our own house or garden. Yet it took another hour for everything to sink in and the two of us to drive back to the plot.
Yunquera: only disadvantage: sea is almost 1 hour away. First impression: cabana dark and full of junk (beer crates, dishes from a week, dirty) gave such a wrong impression that the rest of the tour I just thought: what a dilapidated mess, not suitable at all, small houses.
After break in Alozaina on kees' wish we drove back. Possibilities explained, revelation.
Checked the list. Worth a shot? Back home we looked at it over and over again, examined the surroundings, calculated the workload and the finances/revenues. Feasible map. Only distance to sea, do we take that for granted? We make an offer and accept the counter offer. I am in meeting with the party committee IC and walk out when Kees calls around 3:30 pm that November 7. Explained to Theo and Ronald. Then the rest knew very quickly.
210 asking price, 180 offered, became 185?
Attorney's advice: this property is even more risky than Tolox.
What was lacking;
a property, only land transfer 2x
(il)legality Pool and alberca
Played detective: two brothers bought piece of orchard and later another part. 1000 mails later... thousands of questions to lawyer Francisco Montez. Later to find out pozo negro
Disaster surrounding scan purchase contract.
Back and forth KC and Francisco email: over 1000 emails. In the end 2500,- in attorney fees.
Finding out: no escritura, no official property only land purchases recorded.