*UPDATED* Day 5 of house viewings, the final day of initial viewings

Well what a day today has been! We came into the home straight of our house viewings with just two houses to see. We already had two houses that were front runners. To say todays houses were like chalk and cheese is an understatement! One house was again in Vera and it was standing vacant with little or no furniture in it. It allowed us to see the room sizes properly and they left a little to be desired! The kitchen was ok, though it had only half the room utilised properly.The lounge was small and would have been cramped with decent furniture in it! The master bedroom was small while one of the other bedrooms was quite big in comparision, ironically this bigger bedroom had no bathroom attached as an en suite which was puzzling. That last comment pretty much sums up the internals of the house! Outside there was a good sized plot (5000 sq meters) and the pool area was nice too. It had a double garage and a decent sized parking area. All in all the place just did not add up!


The second house we saw was back up in the hills above El Pinar where we saw the house we liked a lot on the first day. It was above in Bedar so potentially it was going to offer some lovely views at least! When we saw it on the web the house looked like it offered great kerb appeal, a lovely pool area and views of the mountains around Bedar. Size wise it was on paper a little bigger than the El Pinar house but it's other charms were an unknown factor until we viewed it! From the drive and parking area there are stunning views to the coast taking in Los Gallardos, Turre, Mojácar Pueblo and onto Mojácar Playa beyond. The difference to the El Pinar house is that instead of a wow and a small pool area this house has views all around the house up into the mountains too. It had a decent sized vestibule entry hall which leads onto the living areas to the left and the three bedrooms and two bathrooms to the right. The master bedroom is a good size, though the jury is out on whether it would take a super kingsize bed yet! The bathroom is compact but boasts a lovely walk in shower. It also had some lovely built in storage for towels etc. The family bathroom is well specified with bath and seperate shower, plus sink and bidet. The outside areas lead off the good sized L shaped lounge & dining room area. These are well specified too with fly screens, covered areas and some with fly screens but open to the sun offering a great choice of alfresco dining possibilities. These also have spectacular views to the coast and the mountains! The pool is average sized but it has roman steps into it and a generous surrounding patio area with a walk in shower. The kitchen is in two parts offering extensive storage and some great features. There is also a good sized garage/store room which could also be adapted to work as a studio/computer room area also. Lovely landscaped garden areas on three sides of the property made this another home we now are having a second viewing of on Tuesday. The down side is the winding access road leading up to Bedar and also then onto the property. Stuart suffers from nausea and motion sickness due to an inner ear condition so this could be the deciding factor as both houses we are re-viewing offer excellent facilities and both have some great points that the other does not. 


Ultimately we will decide on overall merit which we go forward and put an offer in for after a lot of discussion! Currently we both feel either could work for us and we really need to think carefully about which we decide to go for! An interesting position to be in after only a week of viewing houses. But we devoted a lot of time looking in advance on the web and appyling a set of criteria to narrow down a potentially huge list down to a smaller subset that we knew we were intrigued by. All that we viewed we actually wanted to see so it was a nice position to be in! The good news is that we narrowed potentially three houses down to two as it kicked the El Pinar house to the kerb as it has everything the El Pinar house had and more for the same price! 


After viewing the Vera house we went into Vera town itself to check out the street market that takes place on a Saturday there. It was predicatbly knock off city with blatant copies of designer goods all over the place! But we didn't go to look for those! We found the section with fresh produce and got some amazing bargains! 1 kilogram (2.2lbs) of radishes locally grown for 1 Euro! 1 kilo of Tangerines for 1 Euro, a kilo of big oranges for the same price! We got some lovely large red apples for 0.80C a kilo! Amazing prices were on offer for all manner of locally grown produce! This place really is very cheap to live! When we have been looking at the price of meats I have to remind myself that the prices are for a kilo not a pound! 


Living costs here are very low too. The equivalent of council tax or property tax is ridiculously low compared to the UK & USA. The highest we have been quoted on a house is 500 Euros a year ($800 a year!) Admitedlly you have to pay water rates just like in the UK or USA or in some that don't have direct supplied water you might have to pay for a tanker to fill your water deposit (tank) but this lasts months and isn't expensive either! Then there are the other usual utilities too but this doesn't add up to a massive amount. The only difference to buying costs relating to our readers from the USA is that here in Spain you pay an initial tax on the purchase price called IVA which is 8% of the purchase price on top and you have to work with a solicitor (lawyer) to make sure the house is properly registered and fully legal etc. This also adds to the cost up to about 10 - 12% extra in total. Overall the upront taxes paid are far less in the long run when you consider just how much you pay for the taxes in the UK & USA every year!!

Bedar house.....kerb appeal!

Master bedroom with built in wardrobes - jury out on if it will take a US King size bed yet!

Guest bathroom, it also has a shower to the left as you walk in.

Amazing view to the coast from fly screened patio

Dog does not come with house! Views to mountains do!

Looking the other way towards coast, pool views

One of the garden plots complete with young fruit trees.

Vera House, partially fitted kitchen, behind me another part same size with nothing in!

"Amazing" views from main gates!

Rest of the plot, the "lovely" garden!

Redeeming feature was the pool and double garage.