The Property Finders – locating your property in Andalucía
Why you need The Property FindersAndalucía is a big place, around 87,000 square kilometres, and many property buyers will have a problem knowing where to start a property search. It should be no surprise to anyone that an estate agent will always say that the best place just happens to be where their office is, when what a property buyer really needs is a balanced overview and comparison of all the locations that may suit their property requirements. And even if you are certain about where you want to be there’s another problem: who can you rely on to give you impartial advice with your interests as the priority?
Problems need solutions and The Property Finders in Andalucía is just that – the solution that will make the property buying experience problem-free.
- The Property Finders work for the buyer. We see every aspect of every property search and purchase in Andalucía from the buyer’s perspective, as if we are buying a home for ourselves.
- The Property Finders give balanced and impartial advice about property purchase, locations, legal issues, business start-up, schools; in fact, anything you need to know to make an informed decision about your purchase.
- The Property Finders covers the whole of Andalucía, not just one particular area, and this allows us to guide you to the location that’s right for you and then pinpoint the very best properties available within your budget.
- The Property Finders protect you from mistakes. If there are negatives, we will tell you about them.
- The Property Finders will introduce you to the best independent advisers who will work only for you.
- The Property Finders can find every type of property in Andalucía, whether it is a holiday home purchase, an investment or a permanent move we can source villas, apartments, farmhouses, city investment, village house or agricultural estates. If it’s there, we will find it.
First, we examine your needs and we genuinely listen to what you tell us. Then with balanced and impartial advice we help you choose the right location in Andalucía for your requirements and target properties that match what you are looking for. The Property Finders independence means that we can often open doors with property developers and private vendors that an estate agent cannot and complete fluency in Spanish allows us to talk to the locals. We will help you make informed choices about all aspects of your property purchase.
The Property Finders, working for you, the property buyer, can be the most important tool in finding your property in Andalucía especially when it comes to getting the location right. A common mistake often made by buyers is to start the search by looking at specific properties without really understanding the dynamics of a location. If you think of a property search as series of steps then the first one should always be deciding on the right location, finding the perfect property in that location the last step in the process. The Property Finders covers the whole of Andalucía and this allows us to compare locations, guiding you to the one that is right for you. We really listen to what you tell us and our in-depth local knowledge often means we can suggest possible locations that have not occurred to you.
The Property Finders is a service company rather than a property company. We put integrity to the forefront of all our actions and we get results. The Property Finders will help you save time, money and frustration, while connecting you to that special property in Andalucía. Please do not ask us for a property list, we do not have one. Lists are for the masses, we treat every client as an individual whose property requirements are unique to them. We tell it like it is, the negatives as well as the positives. If we know a particular location has a problem, e.g. it is under a flight path or there is a vicious winter wind, then we will tell you. And it is our business to alert you to new road and rail projects, possible developments or changes to planning regulations, anything that could adversely affect a property purchase.
About the Region
Andalucía is the largest autonomous region in Spain, occupying almost 20% of the Spanish mainland and with a total of 900 kilometres of coastline, 600kms on the Mediterranean and 300kms facing the Atlantic. The 150kms of the Costa del Sol have more golf courses than anywhere else in Europe while the Atlantic coastline of the Costa de la Luz has stunning beaches and at Tarifa, one of the world’s top wind-surfing and kite-surfing destinations. Some of the highest mountain peaks in Europe are in the Sierra Nevada, the location of Europe’s most southerly, and sunniest, ski resort. Buyers interested in great street life and culture need look no further than the historic cities of Seville, Granada and Córdoba. But the size and variety of the region can make finding a property in Andalucía quite a challenge.
Throughout the region summers are hot and dry, but in winter conditions can vary from very mild on the coast to snowy mountains inland. For example, in 2008 the ski resort near Granada was one of the first in Europe to open for the season. The height of the resort often means there is good skiing well into April or even May and that should be a good clue to the winter climate in the part of Andalucía influenced by the Sierra Nevada. So if you intend spending some of the winter months in Andalucía you need to choose your location and your property with care. Too many people buy a property in July only to find that the winter climate in that particular area is not what they were expecting. But there are micro-climates within the region that give this part of Spain the best winter climate on the mainland of Europe and we can give you the facts you need to make an informed choice so you can be sure that your search for property in Andalucía will result in a purchase that is right for you.
Property buyers now understand that Andalucía is so much more than beach and golf. Over the last decade Andalucía has been one of the main beneficiaries in Spain of E.U. and regional government funding to improve infrastructure and this is having a real impact on the property market; as access to an area improves, property prices always rise.
Changes in property markets are driven by multiple factors and in Andalucía these would include:
- Property prices and density levels in the prime coastal areas of the Costa del Sol; this is encouraging those who want a coastal property to consider other options, e.g., the Costa de la Luz and Costa Tropical. However, future property development on the Costa del Sol looks likely to be greatly reduced following the fall-out from the Marbella Town Hall investigation and although parts of this coast are ruined the best bits are still very good indeed. If you know where to look it is still possible to find quiet, sandy beaches within 5kms of Marbella and San Pedro. On the west of Málaga the prime area of the Costa del Sol is centred around Marbella while to the east of Málaga the most attractive beaches and quality properties are found between Nerja and Salobreña.
- The Costa de la Luz, between Tarifa and the Portuguese border is a coastal option growing in popularity although property buyers should be aware that the winter climate is different from the Mediterranean coasts of Andalucía. And as many Spaniards own holiday homes on this coast which they only use in the high-season summer months, many resorts are very quiet and empty for the rest of the year. However, with the coast road currently being upgraded to motorway and agreement between the U.K. and Spain on the status of Gibraltar airport the Costa de la Luz looks set attract to more property buyers. Tarifa has become very chic, the hottest wind and kite surfing destination in Europe and is popular with the young crowd; head further west for less wind and superb beaches between Chiclana and Sanlúcar de Barrameda. The prime resort is El Puerto de Santa María.
- In addition to the main airport at Málaga, Andalucía has excellent regional airports, Seville, Jerez, Granada and Almería, to which low-cost airlines are increasing flight frequency from a number of U.K, Irish and European regional airports, e.g. Stansted – Jerez, East Midlands – Granada, Düsseldorf – Seville. Expansion is underway at Málaga airport, which already has daily flights from almost every regional airport in the UK, Ireland and Europe and there is now a direct Málaga - New York flight. The second runway will be operational by 2010.
- There can hardly be a road in Andalucía that hasn’t already been upgraded or is scheduled for improvement soon and the motorway network is excellent. Now, major investment in high-speed rail services (AVE) is underway. The Málaga-Madrid route opened in December 2007 and work has started on the Antequera to Ronda and Antequera to Granada sections. By 2013 there will be around 1,100kms of AVE rail services in Andalucía, linking all the provincial capitals and Jerez airport will have its own AVE high speed railway station giving a journey time to Seville of just 20 minutes.
- Regeneration of Andalucía’s historic cities: E.U. and regional government money is helping to revitalise stunning cities such as Seville and Granada. They are both superb locations for the property buyer looking for weekend destinations with some of the best street life in Europe. Both Málaga and Seville are constructing new metro systems and a feasibility study is examining the potential for a rail link between Málaga and San Pedro.
Barbara Wood has loved Spain and all things Spanish since her student days in Madrid and was able to use her Spanish often during a 13 year career flying with British Airways. It was during this time that she developed an interest in property as time off between flights allowed her to ‘do things up’. When she decided it was time to unpack her suitcase for the last time she knew that she wanted to develop a career in the real estate sector. Initially she worked in the UK but with her fluent Spanish she was soon offered an opportunity to relocate to the Costa del Sol. She leapt at the chance and has been involved in the Spanish property market ever since.
Arriving in Marbella in 1983, just as the first sustained property boom was under way, the experience she gained then led to her working for top Estate Agents Knight Frank, setting up and managing their office on the Costa del Sol from 1990. Barbara believes that the years she worked as an Estate Agent have made per particularly effective as the buyer’s representative. She understands how the property market works in Spain and knows the kind of pressures that buyers may be subjected to, often signing binding contracts that have not been properly explained or translated. It concerns her that she regularly meets property owners who have defective title deeds when with the right care and attention to detail at the outset, such problems are unnecessary and 100% avoidable. In fact, Barbara maintains that all the property horror stories that grab the headlines happen because the right questions were not asked and in her view, carrying out due diligence on behalf of clients is one of the most important parts of The Property Finders’ service.
The unregulated Spanish real estate sector allows almost anyone to open an Estate Agency and in a situation where a non-Spanish speaking agent is trying to sell a property to a buyer who knows little or nothing about the procedure things can go badly wrong. She insists that no client of The Property Finders will ever sign a contract unless it is absolutely in their best interests and checking title deeds and documentation prior to short listing a property is carried out as standard procedure. This attention to detail is just one of the factors that give clients of The Property Finders total confidence that their interests will always be the priority. Over the years Barbara has helped clients buy ruins in the Andalucían countryside, often no more than a pile of stones, found fine country estates, hunted down special properties among the thousands on the coasts and discovered gems in the historic city centres of Seville and Granada. She finds it particularly satisfying when her clients buy a property not listed for sale with any agents, having tracked it down through her network of contacts. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it is somewhere in Andalucía, Barbara reckons she can find it.
In 2003, together with Rita Fryer, she founded The Property Finders and the network now helps buyers locate and purchase property in Andalucía, Catalonia (including Barcelona), Mallorca, Costa Blanca, Valencia & Murcia, Ireland and Italy.
For more information on locations in Andalucía, analysis of current market conditions and predictions for 2009 click here
To find property in Andalucía please contact:
Barbara Wood
andalucia@thepropertyfinders.com
Tel: +44(0)800 622 6745
or if you would like us to contact you please complete the form below:
