CONSIDERING DIFFERENT HOUSE TYPES

Urbanisations

Spain is a land of urbanisations, which is a continental name for housing estates. They may line the beach, be in the country, attached to towns, villages or resorts, they may be on flat land, on hills or around sporting facilities such as golf courses. They can be high-density estates of identical white properties, or small individual developments of big detached houses spread over a hillside. Or, more likely, they will be various combinations in-between.

A property on an urbanisation is easy to buy and maintain, having all the necessary facilities, ready-made social contacts and greater security than owning a detached home in a more remote location. The disadvantages can be the inflexible and restrictive community rules, difficult neighbours, a lack of privacy and a lack of control over the future of the development.

Life on an urbanisation can, however, be popular whatever the type of house. Sitting by the swimming pool meeting new continental friends, passing the time of day with a glass of wine in hand is an agreeable way of life. Little Spanish is spoken. Sharing experiences bonds the community together. Informal groupings take place. Golfing partners come together. Coffee mornings just happen. Family problems are shared. The siesta is forgotten as people assemble in the local bar to escape the searing heat of the afternoon sun. Life is easy. However it is very important for mind and body to stay active or a slow soporific mental decline will occur.

Some urbanisations are closed communities where people meet up at night and know each other’s business. Others are less intrusive. Some are entirely of one nationality while others are more mixed. In some most of the residents are elderly. Some urbanisations are a group of holiday homes scarcely having any permanent residents, and becoming virtual ghost towns in winter.

Is a property on an urbanisation a good rental proposition? The answer is yes, particularly with foreigners holidaying in Spain who can meet up with people of their own nationality for sporting and social occasions.

Detached villas

These properties offer privacy at the expense of security. They can be expensive. Built to an individual design they are sometimes perched precariously on cutaway hillsides, so much so that insurance companies can charge a premium. Windswept plots make dust a perpetual irritant. Even with some disadvantages a detached property is desirable, particularly one that overlooks the sea or the mountains or even a lush green golf course. They are more expensive than a house of similar size and comfort on an urbanisation, but the advantages are privacy and no community of owners to deal with. With a swimming pool they are prized letting properties.

Villa properties are attractive for up-market tenants soaking up the summer sun while on their annual holiday. They tend to be the houses of owners seeking to defray some of their annual expenses by letting out the property. A buy-to-let investor should think carefully before acquiring such an expensive property, let out only for a short season, when the alternative could be four cheaper apartments let out for longer periods.

Apartments

Choosing to live in an apartment offers easy living in secure surroundings. In order to sell apartments quickly they are always built to a high standard, with outside balconies included. Some basic economy flats exist in large cities where low cost living is a priority. Living in an apartment will probably mean Spanish neighbours, as urban Spaniards are traditionally apartment dwellers, with more floor space than some UK semi-detached or detached houses. Nice people they may well be, but they tend to be noisy and have a different ‘body clock’ to other nationalities. Normal behaviour is to rise late, have lunch at 2.00 p.m., an evening meal at 9.00 p.m. and go to bed at midnight or after. Family discussion is often loud, very loud, Spanish voices having the unique ability to penetrate all bricks and mortar.

Holiday apartments are meat and drink to a buy-to-let investor. They are small, flexible housing units. A large number of holiday apartments have been built along the coast. Many are designed for pretty undemanding tenants residing about two weeks at a time. They offer limited comfort for a long-term stay. It is often these apartments that are used for basic holiday rentals. An equally large number of apartments are available in cities, towns and villages but designed and furnished for longer stay tenants.

Traditional homes

Older Spanish properties exist in small towns and villages that often have a number of cool, shady rooms. Houses on a slope often have several floors, balconies and internal courtyards invisible from the street and of great character. In most cases they have been modernised or rebuilt. They are called reformed houses. A reformed town house is in many respects an ideal property since it gives easy access to the town with the benefits of living in new modern surroundings. They offer good Buy to Let opportunities for Spanish tenants but foreign tenants find it difficult to integrate into the local community.

Fincas

A finca is normally a sizable property, usually set on a substantial amount of land in the countryside. It is a pleasant place to ‘get away from it all’ but can be considered too large or too remote for renting. For a resident, it is where dreams are made. It can be a labour of love, with considerable skill, determination and money required in order to succeed in rebuilding an old crumbling building into a individual, personalised property of pride and charm. Renovating a property, or indeed maintaining it, demands very good DIY skills. Living in one needs patience, a degree of tolerance and some enthusiasm to deal with everyday problems.

A PERSONALITY FINCA

What makes the difference between a real old finca and a modern reformed house? Not just its age but also the greenery that slowly and magically grows around a human habitation. The mature trees and the familiar sounds that make an ancient house an individual home. Not to mention the birds that live in the eaves, bats in the attic and kestrels that hover over the field at the back.

The personality of a house can be no greater than in an old finca where generations of families have left their imprint on the building and its surroundings, so that every window, fireplace, corridor and cupboard reflect history. A finca surrounded by well tended land gets better as it grows older.

Modern finca restorations tend to replicate the old with large beams and fancy hallways. Personality is forced and imposed through its layout by the building work and the materials used. A fine balance has to be achieved between the old and the new. The windows and outside doors usually make a statement in dark oak giving an impression of instant ageing. There is just enough reclaimed timber and floor bricks to take the edge off the newness of the building, without it looking antique. Then there are the fireplaces, a focus of warmth in every sense and a home to the traditional Spanish metal woodburning stove or enhanced into a big open fireplace.

How can a new house compete with all this? But character is not the only factor to be considered in recreating the old as it invariably costs more than the new and, while it may be a home, is it a rental proposition?