Country houses or farm houses (known as cortijos - please note that a finca is just the land and a cortijo is the building on it) tend to be older rural properties, normally with land, that are outside the urban limits.  In common with most older Spanish properties, many have been built over a period of time, constantly being added to as the family has grown.  It is also quite common to find these properties in small groups as the extended family had built their own house next door.  Typically this has also resulted in segregation of the land resulting in most of the properties sitting right at the edge of the land that comes with them.

These properties come in various states of repair - from the barely habitable to those that have been beautifully reformed.

The key things to consider when looking at country properties are:

Access

Many of these properties are very remote and can only be accessed by dirt tracks (pistas) or dried up river beds (ramblas).  Although this shouldn’t be a significant problem, don’t expect to be able to drive your brand new Ferrari to most of them.

Water

Surprisingly, water is fairly abundant in most areas of Almeria, however most of the more remote properties are not connected to mains water and rely on bore holes or springs.  Occasionally you will find that this water is drinkable, but in the majority of cases, it has only been qualified as fit for irrigation.  You will be fine to use it for bathing and washing but will need to bring in bottled water for consumption.  In the most extreme cases, there is no water supply at all and you will have to get water delivered by the tanker load and store it in a water deposit.

Electricity

Again, many of the more remote properties are not connected to mains electricity.  Although it is always possible to do so, in many cases it is cost prohibitive as you will be expected to pay for the pylons, lines and transformer box which can add up to tens of thousands of euros.  Where no mains is connected, the most common option is solar power with storage batteries for night time use.  Please bear in mind that these do not provide much in the way of current and if you want to be able to watch TV and have the washing machine on after dark, then you will also need a generator.

Obviously, the better the utilities and access and the closer to town you get, the higher the prices get.

Search for Country Houses (including farm houses and cortijos) for sale