Nice place to live?

[debster]

Hi, any info on the area much appreciated,  such as , better complexes than others, areas with the best amenities,  is a car necessary,  do Mercadona deliver, weather in the winter months, a good expat community. We are over in Feb looking at different places in and around the area to buy a property so trying to gather information.  Thanks

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[gaveteran]

Are you retiring here, or would you need to work?

[debster]

Are you retiring here, or would you need to work?

It will be a holiday home

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[wilson]

I appreciate we all have to start somewhere but most of your concerns can be answered by mr google ie the weather. The complex’s are actually urbanisations and if you ask a resident from each which is the best they would say there’s. The expat community is also marmite some love em others keep well away from them. My best advice is trust no ones opinion and spend time in Ga at various times of year in different parts ,all have good bits and bad bits. Cars are nice to have though not in the summer but aren’t essential.

[debster]

I appreciate we all have to start somewhere but most of your concerns can be answered by mr google ie the weather. The complex’s are actually urbanisations and if you ask a resident from each which is the best they would say there’s. The expat community is also marmite some love em others keep well away from them. My best advice is trust no ones opinion and spend time in Ga at various times of year in different parts ,all have good bits and bad bits. Cars are nice to have though not in the summer but aren’t essential.

There wouldnt be much point of a forum if I had to Google everything? I think advise straight from the horses mouth is always better, especially people living in GA. Although I don't think there must be many people online today dur to response.
 Unfortunately as there are so many places in Spain that we like spending time in one place certain times of the year wouldnt be practical as it would take us many years to buy somewhere.
I get what you mean regarding which complex though. I guess we will just have to put it on our list of places to visit and make our own minds up.
Thanks

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[phil]

Hi Me and my wife spent a whole week up and down the coast 3 years ago. we wanted somewhere close to a airport for easy transfers but found it very difficult finding anything within our budget which was close to amenities beach and airport. Then just by chance a day before flying home again we found carabassi area. Stopped at Mollies and had a drink where we made some useful contacts straight away. Then found a lovely 2 bed town house in the next road av de polonia near the school. After 3 years we still feel we have made the right decision and visit several times a year. The area is improving all the time a hotel in the town is nearing completion. It is helpful to have a car but not needed as there is a bus service every half hour that does a round robin of the resort. The main bus stops at top Alicant the town and along the coast road take you further afield.
The best way to make sure is to rent for a few weeks and have a good look around Although February is a quiet month You will need when you buy some heating if you are coming over in the winter months as its lovely in the day but cold once the sun goes. Also air con for the hot summer months. We favour of course the carabassi area (that's why we bought there) close to the beach Nice restaurants and bars and of course Mollie Malones sitting on his sunny terrace until the sun goes down chatting to the locals. Give it a go  Gran Alicant is one of the nicer areas close to most things with good access to the airport.

[lesandtony]

First start with budget.  Apartment / Villa.  Which way you want face
Summer or winter visitor.  All seems logical but believe me after 20years here you come to no which are good and not so good for the the times of year. 
Deffo rent first and get to know the locals they can be a mine of information


Good luck

[BeachLife]

Echoing all the above Debster.

As Phil posted, the area in general worked for us as opposed the drive down to La Marina & Torrevieja or up at Denia and Calpe. The value of short transfer times to and from the airport are a real plus point, especially of you want to use your place for long weekends and walking to the beach is easily possible (although we do drive down as we have to face cardiac hill on the way home)

If you have been watching "A Place in the Sun" - you can forget about getting Villas for €100K and Apartments for €40K. They dont exist in GA - you want cheaper you will have to go inland into the Campo or down to Torre or Murcia. There is a premium on GA for location to airport and beach.

Simply put - you get what you pay for here. The TM houses down by the Clot & Carabassi Bars are generally a bit bigger and have some better materials used in construction than the Masa build houses (I am saying that as a Masa Alba owner) and you get offroad gated parking, tennis courts etc - but for €20 K or so more - so your call again 

A front line south facing property will fetch a premium as well perhaps by as much as €15K - I have seen that in by own block with a South facing sale vs the house behind that was North facing. Mind you that was a winter sale - in the summer you might be glad to be north facing !

Best advice, as mentioned - get yourself a rental and come and explore, listen to others and make your own mind up ! 

[Maricia]

Also consider,

do you want to be part of an ex-pat community (works for some but not others) as GA has darts league, bowling club, quiz nights, pubs that hold theme nights etc?  Although many home owners choose not to get involved.

Do you want to use the place as a base to travel &/or mix with Spanish communities?  Then any area would be suitable, in particular, inland towns or villages where your money goes further.

If you plan on long-term stays, then as mentioned previously, consider a property that gets the winter sun &/or an open fire.

Winters can be cold & quiet but this is a bonus and the summer can be busy, again a bonus for some.

In my opinion the area is generally split into into top (market, Altomar and far from the beach), middle (high st banks, main bus stops and a reasonable walk to the beach) and bottom (GA centre not walking distance to beach but Carabasi is walking distance to beach).  All areas have bars, restaurants, banks and supermarkets, except for Caraasi which does not ave a main supermarket or bank.

In summary, GA is a lovely area and we have had a place for 14 years but we have seen many people come & go over the years.  Would we do it again if we could turn the clock back? The jury is out on that one I am afraid

Good luck with your potential purpose.

Maricia

[John H]

We sold up last year after owning a holiday home in GA for 14 years.
In the early years of ownership when we only visited for a week at a time the proximity to the airport was a real bonus.....when we retired and came for five or six weeks at a time that didn’t really matter.
Again when we were working a holiday relaxing on a sun lounger for several hours a day was brilliant....once your retired your attitude changes, two or three hours on a beach now or at the side of a pool and I’m looking for things to do!!
We were down on Novamar and we had the no problems at all with the house, the TM properties do seem better built than others in the area, but be warned they have the thermal efficiency of a colander....as soon as your heat source is turned off the house becomes cold....those tiled floors are great in the Summer but dreadful in the Winter months. The other point to make is that noise isolation from adjacent properties is dire!!
We were very lucky that non of our neighbours rented their property out....I know from the experience of friends that noisy neighbours can be hell....as can neighbours who leave dogs alone in the house all day...non stop barking.
We bought south facing....so glad we did, in the Winter months the house was so much warmer, until the sun went down, and brighter than those north facing.
We could sit out for a few hours a day even in winter in shorts and T-shirt’s, our neighbours behind us had sweaters and body warmers on at the same time.
Being south facing also made then house a lot easier to sell, we actually sold it to some people from another Novamar phase who had bought North facing and regretted it.
The Winter temperatures were one of the main reasons we sold up....it just wasn’t comfortable, even the bars and restaurants are bloody cold!
Hindsight is a brilliant thing, if we’d bought in The Canaries we probably wouldn’t have sold.
We love ballroom dancing and had to travel to Torrevieja, La Marina and Quesada to dance, we met some lovely folk in these areas and did discover that these areas had far more going on than GA.....with much lower property prices.
Our best memories of GA revolve around the friends we had and the things we did, we had some brilliant times together and they made our visits fun.

Regards all

John

[debster]

Hi Me and my wife spent a whole week up and down the coast 3 years ago. we wanted somewhere close to a airport for easy transfers but found it very difficult finding anything within our budget which was close to amenities beach and airport. Then just by chance a day before flying home again we found carabassi area. Stopped at Mollies and had a drink where we made some useful contacts straight away. Then found a lovely 2 bed town house in the next road av de polonia near the school. After 3 years we still feel we have made the right decision and visit several times a year. The area is improving all the time a hotel in the town is nearing completion. It is helpful to have a car but not needed as there is a bus service every half hour that does a round robin of the resort. The main bus stops at top Alicant the town and along the coast road take you further afield.
The best way to make sure is to rent for a few weeks and have a good look around Although February is a quiet month You will need when you buy some heating if you are coming over in the winter months as its lovely in the day but cold once the sun goes. Also air con for the hot summer months. We favour of course the carabassi area (that's why we bought there) close to the beach Nice restaurants and bars and of course Mollie Malones sitting on his sunny terrace until the sun goes down chatting to the locals. Give it a go  Gran Alicant is one of the nicer areas close to most things with good access to the airport.

Thank you for the reply, the information and your view on things is great to hear x

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[debster]

First start with budget.  Apartment / Villa.  Which way you want face
Summer or winter visitor.  All seems logical but believe me after 20years here you come to no which are good and not so good for the the times of year. 
Deffo rent first and get to know the locals they can be a mine of information


Good luck

Thank you! The position of the house is something I really didnt consider and a very good point! X

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[debster]

Echoing all the above Debster.

As Phil posted, the area in general worked for us as opposed the drive down to La Marina & Torrevieja or up at Denia and Calpe. The value of short transfer times to and from the airport are a real plus point, especially of you want to use your place for long weekends and walking to the beach is easily possible (although we do drive down as we have to face cardiac hill on the way home)

If you have been watching "A Place in the Sun" - you can forget about getting Villas for €100K and Apartments for €40K. They dont exist in GA - you want cheaper you will have to go inland into the Campo or down to Torre or Murcia. There is a premium on GA for location to airport and beach.

Simply put - you get what you pay for here. The TM houses down by the Clot & Carabassi Bars are generally a bit bigger and have some better materials used in construction than the Masa build houses (I am saying that as a Masa Alba owner) and you get offroad gated parking, tennis courts etc - but for €20 K or so more - so your call again 

A front line south facing property will fetch a premium as well perhaps by as much as €15K - I have seen that in by own block with a South facing sale vs the house behind that was North facing. Mind you that was a winter sale - in the summer you might be glad to be north facing !

Best advice, as mentioned - get yourself a rental and come and explore, listen to others and make your own mind up !

I'm still not familiar with the names of places and different houses. Will get my head around it in Feb when I visit. Thanks for your response,  it's great to hear what others make of the place! Much appreciated x

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[debster]

Also consider,

do you want to be part of an ex-pat community (works for some but not others) as GA has darts league, bowling club, quiz nights, pubs that hold theme nights etc?  Although many home owners choose not to get involved.

Do you want to use the place as a base to travel &/or mix with Spanish communities?  Then any area would be suitable, in particular, inland towns or villages where your money goes further.

If you plan on long-term stays, then as mentioned previously, consider a property that gets the winter sun &/or an open fire.

Winters can be cold & quiet but this is a bonus and the summer can be busy, again a bonus for some.

In my opinion the area is generally split into into top (market, Altomar and far from the beach), middle (high st banks, main bus stops and a reasonable walk to the beach) and bottom (GA centre not walking distance to beach but Carabasi is walking distance to beach).  All areas have bars, restaurants, banks and supermarkets, except for Caraasi which does not ave a main supermarket or bank.

In summary, GA is a lovely area and we have had a place for 14 years but we have seen many people come & go over the years.  Would we do it again if we could turn the clock back? The jury is out on that one I am afraid

Good luck with your potential purpose.

Maricia

We plan on a holiday home first and abit more often ie in around 5 years when my hubby retires.
We dont get involved that much with others but would like to make a few friends to socialize with on occasions. It's all very exciting but also very daunting,  your information helps and is much appreciated x

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[BeachLife]

Just to add - I am aligned with John H on the Canaries thing to some degree and we seriously looked at a place in Lanzarote. Back in 2005 Canary Island process were double (like for like) that of our part of Costa Blanca and as we were working long weekends were great for us we couldn't have done that so easily with 4 hour flights.

I actually like the winters out here - I am into my fitness and cycling and walking in 18 - 20 degrees in Dec to Feb suits me just fine on a bright day (which it usually is)