What have we been doing for 3 months?????

Where do we start.....the last blog was in March and we were staying at the Mar Menor in Murcia (Spain) and generally enjoying ourselves, although coming to the conclusion that we needed to start thinking about what we were going to do in the long term . Funny as before we left Hong Kong, a couple of friends who had a year out said "give it about 9 months travelling and then you will start to feel you need to do something, need some focus" - and they were right!.  I think by this time we were both probably thinking we would end up back in Finance, but perhaps try another location.
However we had always thought an option could be to set up a holiday letting business, ideally a place with a separate building which we could set up as a rental, but we were open to different ideas. We had already decided Murcia was not where we wanted to be and to be honest, we had felt like that about most of the places in Spain - it was strange, we liked the country and there was a certain draw, but we hadn't found any specific location where we wanted to settle. We started to explore further afield and were looking at places on the map which seemed interesting and in our trip south, back in January, we realised that we had "by-passed" Almeria - and within Almeria was a place called Mojacar. This name seemed familar to Patrick as he had an aunt who was a travel agent back in the '70's who had visited Mojacar and brought back a pink tee-shirt with the name Mojacar in black and a picture of the Indalo man for his sisters (so he says!). So on this basis we decided to take a day trip to check it out.

Indalo Man -The Indalo Man is an ancient symbol found in the province of Almeria over 100 years ago. Also known to some as the “Indalo Puppet”, it was first found somewhere in the Las Velez mountain range of northern Almeria province in a cave known as La Cueva de los Letreros (Cave of the Signboards), near Velez Blanco by Antonio Gongónia y Martinez in 1868. The cave itself was made a National Historic Monument in 1924. The symbol is said to date back to Neolithic times and seems to depict a man holding a rainbow in his arms, over his head.


And surprisingly, we found the beach front - Mojacar Playa - and the old town nestled on the Mountain side, all white washed buildings - Mojacar Pueblo. This town had a pleasant feel, the beach looked good, the old town was interesting and it was clearly a holiday area but not as commercial as the Costa Del Sol or Costa Blanca. Consequently, we visited an estate agent and explained our ideas and before we knew it, we had a couple of days set aside for property viewings!

Mojacar - Pueblo

Mojacar - Playa

After seeing what seemed like a vast amount of properties from the economic list (or Patrick's list) that were not so good, we referred to Nina's list i.e. added a few zero's and actually found a property we both liked, there was something about it which made us feel we could do something with it, although there was plenty that needed updating. It caused many sleepless nights and many discussions but we came to the conclusion that whilst there are obstacles like money, regulations, laws and taxes, you only live once. And it didn't seem right to let the tax implications stop us. Whichever way you move......in a similar way to breathing, you will have to pay tax somewhere!.

So, we decided to put in an offer and see where it went from there.

As the Spanish legal system is not one to be hurried, in April we moved closer to our ideal location to stay at - Valle De Este. This had an amazing golf course which had stunning views but given that we don't play, that was the only attraction. The apartment we had was ok but as usual not very clean, however all good experience to take note of for our own business and we know our place will be clean and ready for people to enjoy themselves without the need to don the marigold!
Valle De Este was a quiet location apart from the local boxer dog - Jack. He was not a yapper but he did have an aggression problem, Patrick encountered him when the red mist had descended (Jack not Patrick) he had seen the local labrador and they had history. However, even Patrick was shocked by Jack's aggression - he was in the red zone and it didn't matter that he was being hit on the head with the dog chain or being hit on the side with a golf club - he was not snapping out of his mission to do some serious injury to the other dog. Unfortunately, the lady with Jack, who was in her 60's, had no control of him. She was trying to separate the dogs and was hit with the dog chain in the process - resulting in a nice bruise. Eventually, Jack decided enough was enough and let go of the bloodied labrador. A week later, we met Jack and his owners and it was a different dog. He was a typical boxer and his face was so mischievous and like butter wouldn't melt. But thankfully, he will only be walked with a muzzle on in future. Naughty Jack!

Anyway, the month of April was a blur getting to grips with the purchasing process in Spain. Here, when you agree an offer, you have to pay a reservation fee which if you change your mind, you forfeit. The process in Spain is somewhat laid back to say the least and if you want to have a survey then that's your choice but most people don't bother - if its standing, its ok! - and the lawyers have their way of doing things! But you can't buy a property without an NIE number and you can't get an NIE number until you've got an agreement in the pipeline which seems a bit 'chicken vs egg' but it's  the way of life which we need to adjust to. This adjustment is particularly challenging when given our background of corporate banking where everything is documented approved and verified down to the purchase of a biro!. Here it is what it is.

In addition, as most will know, Spain has had problems re building illegal homes or more accurately no correct documentation. there are many parties involved such as local town halls and the Regional/County registers. So we needed to be sure that all is legit with the property we had found - and unfortunately, the documentation had been prepared but not approved - so we are still waiting for the approval to come through - as at the end of June!!

During the wait we decided to go back to the UK for a couple of weeks to see Hannah and James and our friends and families. Also, we were able to attend Sarah and Charlie's wedding which was a very nice day and luckily wonderful weather.

As we needed to return to Spain to complete the purchase, whilst waiting for the paperwork, we are living in the accommodation that we will be letting out!! Fortunately, the owners are very decent people and have been great in allowing us to stay here - and it has been an excellent opportunity for us to acclimatise to the local area and the house.

So, our next update, will hopefully confirm our purchase and we can share more information/pictures etc.......it is really exciting and if you'd asked us both in June last year "Where will you be in a year's time? " I don't think either of us would have said "Spain" but what a year it has been and we are really looking forward to the next year!!

Adios Amigos,
Nina and Patrick x