We still haven´t found what we´re looking for
We´re off to the UK for a week on Monday to visit friends and when we get back to Spain, we will have been here in the Málaga province for nearly three months, so almost half-time.
As I have mentioned before, we really do like this area: the countryside is beautiful, the white-washed villages are sizeable but they haven´t lost their charm and the access to Málaga city centre, the airport, the coast, Ronda - to list but a few places – is simply excellent. We´ve met some very nice people - and dogs - and we are greatly enjoying the peace and quiet in and around the finca we have rented.
Can you feel a ´but` coming on? You´re right, there is a ´but` and it´s quite a big one too: despite the general slump in the housing market (which we selfishly welcome of course), this region – mostly due to the advantages I have described above – is still very expensive as far as property is concerned and our budget does not seem to be compatible with our list of `must haves´ with regards to our future home. We have looked at a few houses but they are either out of our price range or - if we can afford them – not what we are looking for. (Somehow, we cannot really see ourselves living in a 50m² glorified tool shed plonked on a plot of land which looks like a desert, not a mature tree or shrub in sight.)
House prices are all over the place at the moment. Apparently estate agents in Spain don´t value houses - the owners simply state what they want for their property (this, as you can imagine, is often totally unrealistic and sometimes downright greedy). If the house doesn´t sell subsequently, the asking price simply gets reduced, at times drastically, depending on how desperate the owner is to sell. However, the pound is so weak compared to the euro at the moment that a reduction in price still does not mean you are getting yourself a bargain. (Over the last year we have seen the exchange rate drop from 1.5 to a mere 1.2). Besides, here in the Sierra de las Nieves not many people are indeed anxious to sell their house. A lot of the properties around here are owned by comfortably off northern Europeans who still reside in their home country for most of the year and therefore only use their finca as a holiday home. A lot of them have snapped up their plot for next to nothing around ten years ago and had their house built relatively cheaply. Now, patting themselves on the back to have proceeded before the market went absolutely crazy, they are the proud owners of a nice finca which even now would probably fetch ten times more than they paid for it and – of course – they are in no hurry to sell.
So, unless a miracle happens (we might decide we want to live in a village house or a shed after all or somebody might feel really sorry for us and reduce their sales price by at least 50%, or who knows, we might even win the lottery – were we to start buying a ticket), it is decidedly looking as if we´ll start exploring again when we get back from our little holiday in England. For our next venture, we are thinking of having a sniff around the Córdoba area where you still seem to get quite a bit of house and land for your hard-earned money. Ah well, it´ll be another chapter in the book, I suppose.
Maybe we should just buy ourselves a mobile home and be done with it?
P.S.:
On a totally different note: I´m getting quite excited about tonight´s football match although I´m still a bit confused as to which team I am actually supporting. Well, I have decided I shall be wearing my España T-shirt and my Deutschland hat (unless we go out to watch it, then I´ll be dressed in neutral clothes as I´d probably feel a bit of a twit to be honest) and then I´ll just keep my fingers crossed that it´ll be an exciting game and that ultimately the better team wins (and that there won´t be a penalty shoot out). ¡Vaya Deutschland! España vor noch ein Tor!