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Our Story
Our First Days in Spain to Present Day
If you are thinking of coming over to Spain to live you may find our story interesting. It tells of our early days and how we have coped since then. A longer more detailed version is in the pot to come out at a later date so keep your eyes open for that.
We left England September 2002, with a view of buying property over here and working in the local area doing whatever we could to earn a living. We came over on a two week package tour and immediately searched for an apartment to rent at the end of that time. After looking we found a two bedroom / two bathroom luxury pad and moved in for a month. During the next month we started looking around the area and seeing loads of vacant properties. Not one was what we wanted but it seemed like a good area for the music work I really wanted to do so we decided to really concentrate in and around Benidorm.
We had met up with some people who were importing caravans over from England for permanent living accommodation. I gave them a hand moving one around, and was amazed at the facilities these had and the parts which were included when they sold one. An idea hit us, why not buy one of these and live in it while we looked for a house instead of continually paying out for rent. We found a newish LMC caravan with fully furnished extension and moved it on to a brand new site that had just opened.
Our First Spanish Home
Ours was one of the first 50 on this huge complex which could cater for 650 more. Everywhere was sparkling clean with superb up to date equipment, all beautifully laid out, with wide roads, individual plots and first class restaurant and bar. We have watched as things have progressed from those early days. The supermarket is even busier and fuller than ever, there is now a daily doctors surgery, and a hairdressers salon on site. With three beautiful individual outdoor pools and one indoor pool, swimmers are well catered for. The excellent views of the mountains from all corners of the complex are a sight to behold. Sitting on the patio of the restaurant looking out over the pools, towards the Benidorm skyline is an unbelievable experience.
After we had settled into our first caravan, we decided to buy another for the kids to come over and stay in. We bought a more substantial model, a Roma, and set it up using a bit of the knowledge we had learnt. Whilst the work was in progress, someone came past and was so impressed by the standard of finish of it all, they made an offer for it which we accepted. We quickly bought another and set this up to an even higher standard and moved into this, leaving the original for our children and grandchildren to use.
Having realized the complex was becoming popular, we got a couple more plots, put caravans on them and then sold them, realizing a small profit on each. As we didn’t want to get into this as a business, we left ourselves with just the one to live in. Ours was probably one of the best kited out units of the 700 or so on the site.
We were now back searching for a house. A guided tour to the urbanization of Torreveija put us off that area completely. The houses we were shown were nothing like promised, and it is not a very nice place to live. Certain parts are, but it was not for us. I don’t know how people could buy a property on a weekend trip, it must be something to do with the pressure they put on you, and they certainly do that. Not a way of doing things I would recommend.
Search forfirst Bricks and Mortar Home
Anyway we decided in August 2004 to move into Albir a little Spanish village near to Benidorm. We put our place on the market and started looking in Albir. A lovely couple came to see our little home and bought it straight away, but it put us in a fix as we hadn’t seen what we really wanted to move into. We were now getting cold feet. The complex has a mainly English population and we have many friends here. The whole atmosphere is like England 30/40 years ago, when you could go out and leave your front door open. In the end, we sold ours to the couple and went back to England for a caravan buying visit. We traveled up and down the country until we found the best Roma caravan we could find. They are the only mobile caravan designed to be lived in permanently and have superb durable construction. Models we have seen which are 12 -
The caravan we purchased was shipped over, and soon had crowds gathered around it in the car park, it looked so good with its double patio doors and superb finish. Inside were all those little extras. Apart from the double glazing, central heating, cool air fans, island bed, extra display units, dimmer lighting, and wardrobe units, it is in immaculate condition. A real home from home. We had bought a Tabbert caravan on a plot, so we moved it off and put it into storage as soon as we could, and moved the new Roma on. An extension unit was fitted onto it early January and we had a fortnight of solid work to get it ready to move into it before the couple took over ours.
One of my jobs here has been designing and building kitchens for other people. So I hand built our new one, making use of every inch of space and utilizing all the experience I had gathered from the others I had completed. Just little things you pick up on the way like, why have a table and chairs inside taking up lots of space because if you have friends over for a meal its always outside, so I built in a more useful breakfast bar in the kitchen area for Ruthie and I to sit at. It’s also more work surface for her when she makes that lovely homemade bread. (No wonder I put on weight).
All the luxuries of a normal Home
As we moved in, vans were arriving with the new bits and pieces. Believe it or not, we are civilized. We have a plumbed in automatic washing machine and mains toilet, we don’t live like normal caravan holidaymakers in England. Arriving were the special high back fully reclining chairs, the sofa bed, the glass top table and chairs, 2 x TV,s, (one for those football nights), a large half and half fridge freezer, full size stainless steel cooker, microwave. The list was endless. Luckily we had managed to finish putting down the ceramic tiled floor and the outside patio area before most arrived.
When it was finished and friends started calling, we were really proud of the finished result. Here we were on probably one of the best sites in Europe, on what everybody agrees is the best plot, in the best set up unit. So live was looking good. All my music equipment during this time had to be put in storage for safe keeping, and I hadn’t had the chance to start back working the clubs again. One of the locals wanted to sell their caravan and asked us if we would sell it for them as they were going back to England and as we were staying on the complex permanently we would have more opportunity than them to sell it. We agreed and set about advertising it for them. There were a lot for sale at this time on various sites around Benidorm, so I decided to put it on the internet, along with couple of other caravans that people wanted me to sell.
This was a new venture for me, I had never done a web page or designed any thing like this but I bought a program and tried to learn how to do it. I bought a domain and after many hours, days and nights, got it started on the internet and was very pleased with the final result. I found a counter I could put on the web pages and was pleasantly surprised to see how many people actually logged on. From those early days things have moved on, and we have over a million pounds worth of stock for sale on our pages, it is now a Spanish registered company and we have many satisfied customers, both from buying, and selling. Its hard work but well worth it when you see the smiling faces of the new occupants of the property. We have made many new friends from the venture and it is building into a very worthwhile business. All the experience I have learnt in my previous work environments, I have put into practice with this. I try to give value for money from both sides of the business selling and marketing, a professional service and mainly have a good working relationship with all clients to help the business move forward in a positive direction. Everything we do is to enhance our reputation, so that all clients are pleased with the end result and recommend us for the service we give.
Our New Life
It has certainly been the ideal way for us to start our life over here. We have now found the area we want to live, we have a basis of the Spanish language, we know where to go shopping for those odd little bits that you take for granted in England, we have many friends for help and support, and have grown to love Spain and the Spanish people. I’m sure If we had bought a house straight away, we would have struggled with those niceties and maybe lost money on the property due to the things that do happen with the Land Grab situation over here. I think we know better how and where to buy now. Buying a caravan has been a good start for us and hope that we can help people through through those early tough days, and on to the better life you can have over here in amongst some wonderful people.
I hope you have found some interesting information here, but if you do need more, don’t hesitate to give us a call or email, we would only be pleased to help.
© Sunseekers-Spain 2008