WHO HAS SWITCHED OFF THE SUN?

I understand that today is 30th of January and that we are in the middle of the winter. But would you rather wake up to this:

Bristol, UK, 30.01.2017 at 8.55 am

Or to any of these:

Loja, Granada, Spain, 30.01.2017 at 8.59 am

San Fernando, Cadiz, Spain, 30.01.2017 at 9.20 am

Ronda, Malaga, Spain, 30.01.2017 at 9.21 am

There are a few very subtle differences between the Bristol picture and the other ones, such us the sunny morning, the light, the blinding sun in your face, the lack of gloominess ... All that bearing in mind that it is winter in Spain too, and it will be probably quite cold.

However, the question still is what would you rather wake up to? What makes you smile in the morning?

After a few years in the UK I realised that what I miss the most is not even the sun, but the light during the day.

It potentially means a total change in your way of life. Instead of spending your evenings at home watching telly, because there is virtually nothing else to do, you can go for a walk. It is the possibility of staying with the kids in the park until 6 or 7 pm, instead or 4 pm. Just to name a few.

So a dream home in the sun it is not only for holidays, it is to improve the quality of your life: better health, everything tastes better, people is normally in better spirits ...

As I have woken up in Bristol, I am going to go and cry a little and enjoy another day in the rain.

BARGAIN!!! OR BARGAIN???

You know that saying that if it looks to good to be true is because probably it isn't true?

It cannot be truer when you are searching for your dream home.

A couple of years back I found THE bargain of the century. Fully refurbished detached villa, I think it was 3 bed property, with plot of land and a swimming pool, only 10 minutes drive away from the coast for 25,000 €.

25,000 €? 25,000€????????? Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?

Yeah, exactly my reaction. So I carried on reading. The property was illegal. It was built/refurbished without asking the relevant planning permission to the relevant authority and it was built in rustic land, which a type of land where is not allowed to build anything. Which means that the relevant authority can decide to knock it down at any time. You might be able to change the status of the land and to ask for retrospective planning permission, but that will cost time and money.

Therefore you have to be veeeeeeeeeeery careful when looking at buying a place anywhere. Research the area as much as you can, even if possible go and spend some holidays in your chosen destination. And please, ALWAYS use professionals such as local solicitor or "asesor" (consultant/adviser).

When I am watching programs like "A place in the Sun" (which I am addicted to, by the way) I cannot believe when people go for the first time ever to a place, see a house they like for their budget and they decide to make an offer! Come on! What do you know about how the place really is in winter? Or what do you know of the neighbourhood, or the town itself? If there are no real facilities/amenities closed by, how are you going to cope with that?

Because, my friends, one thing is the dream and other is the day to day living reality.

So it is very good to have a dream, but you wouldn't want it to become a nightmare, would you?

A DIFFERENT HOBBY

Some people like to play with their phones, others to go cycling, or to exercise their muscles by going to the gym. I like looking at properties in Spain via online.

I use a variety of web sites, some Spanish and some English but mainly fotocasa.es and rightmove.co.uk/overseas.

I can spend hours (if kids allowe me anyway), and I do so because I believe that if you visualise yourself following your dream then you will be able to get what you desire.

For example, sometimes at work after a particularly difficult conversation with a customer I might need to take a 5 minutes for myself. Some people go for coffee, to the toilet or to chat with a collegue. If posible I would go to rightmove and check the latest deals regarding property.

Just need to introduce your search options:

Country: Spain

Area: Costa del Sol

Property type: any, as I might feel like buying a plot of land or a mansion

Currency: euros

Price from: 0

Price to: well, that depends on the day. Sometimes I feel like really living the dream and I would look at properties like this one

At the end of the day I think that if I make just a few cuts in my budget and save a few quids here and there I will be able to be living in this 12 rooms mansion for sale at 40 million euros by this time next year and leave a couple of millions to put it to our taste, why not.

However other days I am just a tad more realistic and try and check what I would be able to buy if I was a cash buyer (which unfortunately I am not), so I would limit the price to 50,000 €, and will check properties for lower price first.

Once your ignore the garages for sale and the share/fractional ownership properties, first of all you will find the static homes in caravan parks with prices starting at 16,000€ for a 2 bed.

However I do not think it would suit my family. If it was just hubby and me, maybe, but with the kids and our five hundred million possesions there is just not enough room.

Oh! Just spotted a bargain! 18,000 € for a town house, close to amenities but in need of a total refurbisment.

Do I really want to take on some much work? It would be a pretty special project, and for sure we would be able to make the place totally ours, but it might be a bit too much perhaps.

On the other hand, I could buy this property with a personal loan from my bank here in UK and not having to think about mortgages etc... Something to be considered definitely, as it would cost about 400 pounds a month but would be paid within 5 years.

For 29,500 € I could have a 3 storey building with 2 double rooms already modernised and with doors and windows replaced ...

So, which one would you go for?

THE BEGINNING OF THE DREAM

I have been living in UK for nearly 8 years now. My first time around I was fresh from University and I really wanted to move away and experience what it meant to live in another country.

Back then I thought my English was very good, that was until I set foot on Heathrow and people started to talk to me! My main priority became to learn the language and I gave myself 6 months to do it, the length of my trainee course.

But of course I met a guy and I ended up staying for nearly 3 years.

However, like it happens to so many Britons, I was missing the sun. Not even the sun, I was missing the daylight. And I kept seeing how British would go to Spain and buy a place in the sun and I remembered thinking "that is what I want". The pound has always been stronger that the euro, so it was an advantage to be earning in pounds.

Finally I decided to move back to Spain altogether. Few years passed, met my hubby and started a business. Unfortunately the global crisis hit us (among other things) so we have to close down and we decided to return to UK.

We have been here for over 4 and a half years now. And again from the very beginning I had that feeling: I want my own place in the sun.

We haven't managed so far, so the question is how does other people do it?