house-hunting in Spain

It's been over a month since I posted to this blog and I am now in a temporary rental situation while I house hunt. What a nice change living in the mountains 30 km. from the Levante coast and A's urban disaster. Everyone is helpful, friendly and nothing beats a small town for practicality. This town has everything the bigger city has, less the bums, rogues and riff-raff. Well it doesn't have a Corte Ingles department store but I don't go there much anyway. Now that fall is here the nights are definitely cooler than in A. I must get a heater soon as the homes and apartments in general here donnot have any central heating installed. They use butane gas bottle fueled heaters mostly. They are safe, although you do here on the news about house fires and the occasional explosion caused by a faulty device.
Since arriving here end of September, I have been actively prospecting the area for a house or apartment. I have now narrowed the search down to a new housing development a few kilometers away. I have chosen it for several reasons, after viewing other options.

1º Floor plans and neighborhood: The development is well done, with a mix of condominiums, fourplexes, duplexes, and 4 models of single family homes which are quite nicely laid out. There is a community swimming pool, tennis courts, a green zone, bank and small shopping center in the center. Less than 10% of the finished homes, mostly condos, are now for sale, 2 years after completion.

2º Views: The views are spectacular of the mountains around and the neighborhood community committee is already quite solid and active in working with the developer and the mayor's office to see the place finished properly. 1º The development has been conceived and has successfully attracting 95% Northern European E.U. nationals and there are already 2000 persons dwelling in the finished phase of the residential community.

3º Access: It's close to freeway, cities and especially the sea and the city of A. where my boat is moored.

4º Capital appreciation: the opportunity that investing in a home there represents, is quite solid. The home value has increased 15% a year in the development and is expected to increase more in the next years as the area continues to attract E.U. nationals. The latest phase of the development includes a major golf course with luxury homes.

5º Work: Between the need for translators (I translate and interpret Spanish and French), for a population of permanent residents who donnot speak Spanish and the potential for boosting sales of upscale home linens, such as mercalydia.com, my online shop sells, is exciting.

4º Social contacts: The opportunities for social contacts as all these new neighbors set up house is quite interesting, certainly better than the minimum contact afforded when you live in an apartment in town. It would be a nice change to interact with other English-speakers and perhaps find a sailing partner or get a game of chess without getting online.

When you speak of purchasing a house, the subject of mortgages comes up. The bank has rained on my parade as far as how far my budget will stretch, but after careful revision, I'm going to be able to get my foot in the door.
Right now I have an offer and a counter-offer on 2 duplexes. One has a full daylight basement and 2 car garage while the other has no garage. However, it has an obstructed view of the mountains and no neighbors in view. The second should be less money while the first would give me space to set up a "brick and mortar" bath and bedding shop to complement Mercalydia online store.

Next week we should have some answers.