Michelle Murray’s purchase of a second home in Spain is the culmination of 20 years of groundwork – with a couple of throwbacks to the boom days of the overseas property industry.
Yet it finished in exactly the same place as it began – the popular holiday location of Villamartin on the Southern Costa Blanca.
It might have been a goal from the age of 15 for the accountant from Derry in Northern Ireland to retire early to the sun – at 51 she’s achieved that one – but she has learnt a lot along the way.
Her story starts around 2000 when she and her then boyfriend (now husband, Peter), fresh from travelling the world, decided to buy a home in Spain: “We put down £5,000 on an apartment but then it turned out the developer didn’t have a licence for the project.” Michelle fought to successfully get back the money from the Spanish developer.
Plan B to achieve their dream was to invest some money in Bulgaria’s Black Coast beach resort of Sunny Beach in 2005 – something many people did back then with a bad outcome. “But it worked for us. We bought a two-bedroom apartment on a good development five minutes’ walk from the beach and we enjoyed it for several years,” says Michelle, who describes herself ‘ambitious and ‘goal-focused’.
They sold up in Bulgaria in 2017, achieving the same money they’d paid for it, and started thinking again about Spain. “We wanted warm winters and thought we’d try Almeria. We bought a big caravan, towed it down to Garrucha [a coastal town] and made that our base in 2018,” she says. “We went two or three times a year and really liked it but realised it was not quite for us. The flights to Almeria airport were not frequent enough and also the vibe.”
Loving the Costa del Sol they looked into Calahonda but finding it was beyond their £160,000 budget for a three-bedroom property, they headed towards the Southern Costa Blanca. Buying and selling properties around Derry had helped them save up to be cash buyers.
“We found aplaceinthesun.com a great place to research properties and so full of useful information that we focused on the Orihuela Costa area and found the agent Zoe Humphries of Spain Property Specialists through the listings. After heading out to see lots of properties in early 2020, we completed just after lockdown began.”
The gated urbanisation of Bosque De Las Lomas 1 in Las Filipinas is well located in a quiet part of Villamartin, yet handy for the Mercadona supermarket and only a five-minute drive from the busy Plaza. Their three-bedroom townhouse is a traditional Spanish style, with two balconies and great outside space.
Says Michelle: “Our plan is to spend summers in Ireland and winters in Spain. With Irish passports we are lucky not to worry about the 90-day limits. We got married last year and look forward to having the best of two worlds.”
Read more
- Getting Spanish residency
- How you can legally work in Spain
- What is the most popular area in Spain for foreign buyers?
She puts down their success at finding an estate agent you can trust. “There are agents out there who don’t tell you that a property is cheaper as it’s on a floodplain or crime hot spot. Zoe was very good at pointing out the negatives of a property, not just the positives.”
Estate agent photos can be deceptive she says. “There’s no substitute for getting out and seeing things yourself. Try before you buy – Almeria was case in point – it is also very wise if you can make the time to find out about the area before buying.”
She also suggests that if possible you should keep a small UK base. ‘When people come back to the UK they have to rely on family and friends for accommodation, or rent a place if they are back for good. You never know how things will work out. It’s always good to plan ahead”
On that theme, her final advice is to just seize the moment and realise your dream. “There are no pockets in your shroud.”
