One thing that you must understand is that the perfect property does not exist - everything that you see will have something about it that you don’t like. If you are serious about buying a property here then you must be willing to compromise. If you draw up a list of 10 things that are important to you in the property you are looking for, then expect to only be able to tick 6 or 7 of the boxes.

Some rules of thumb:

• Properties in Spain are in general much smaller than those in the UK.  The Spanish do their socialising outside of their house and consider bedrooms to be nothing more than somewhere you sleep.  In a space that we would consider adequate for two bedrooms and one bathroom, they will fit three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
• The Spanish tend to have much smaller and fewer windows.  This is a hot country with more than it’s fair share of sunshine so properties are designed to keep heat and light out.
• Being South facing is not as important as it is in the UK - there is no shortage of sun and many people who live here permanently prefer to have somewhere which will provide them with shade.
• Gardens are not the norm in this area of Spain.  In general, the locals consider them to be a waste of space and money and just not worth the effort to maintain.

When looking for your property, bear in mind that you are going to have to balance three things; your budget; the type of property you would like, and location.

The closer you are to the coast and to amenities, the higher the price of land and hence the higher the price tag on equivalent properties

In common with most agents, and to assist you in finding the sort of property that best suits you, we have categorised our listings into some standard types as follows:

• Apartments
• Town Houses
• Country Houses, (including Farm houses, Fincas and Cortijos)
• Villas
• Ruins
• Build plots

In this section we have attempted to provide you with as much information as possible to help you understand what to expect from each.