“We’d never been to the Costa Blanca but ended up buying a new home in El Raso”
For the Moores, who together own a successful florist business in Leicester, enjoying a holiday home abroad was always going to be a family affair. Father, son and now two grand-daughters have between them run A A Moore & Son since 1985 but managed to enjoy many holidays in Spain over the years.
“We have always wanted a place of our own, but until my mum passed away and left us a tidy sum we never really considered buying abroad. We thought about investing the money but stocks haven’t been doing that well, so we headed to the A Place in the Sun show at the NEC last September,” says Jeremy, 64.
Jeremy and his wife Jayne, a book keeper, headed to Birmingham with their two daughters, Amy and Emma, and their respective partners, James and Joe. “We arrived mob-handed with our two girls and at the outset it was the Canaries or Portugal – we thought,” says Jeremy, having had many holidays at a friend’s villa in Lanzarote.
Their budget was £250k for a three-bedroom villa. “We didn’t want the hassle and expense of a private swimming pool,” he adds. A trip to the MASA International stand – where the new properties on the Costa Blanca caught their daughter’s eye - led to a viewing trip being arranged for the November.
They saw a few different properties over four days but singled out El Raso, an urbanisation between Guardamar del Segura and Ciudad Quesada north of Torrevieja on the Southern Costa Blanca. It’s famed for its Lemon Tree Market on a Sunday with food and drink stalls and pop-ups.
“We’d never been to the Costa Blanca but liked what we saw. The development overlooks a lagoon, it’s got a great climate – it’s been warm both in November and January when we visited - and it’s only 20-25 minutes to Alicante airport. It’s on Vista Azul, a community of around 175 properties, it’s got a new commercial centre being built and nice palm-lined roads. A new, hassle-free property will be ideal for long weekends which we plan on doing as much as we can while we are still working,” he adds. “But Amy and James who have a son, Oakley, will go during school holidays.”
Seeing a three-bedroom penthouse apartment with great views – for over their budget - they wavered a bit and then decided the next day to go for it. “We liked the area, thought it was now or never so we put down a deposit on it. It is due to be completed in September, and they’ve bought a furniture package.
“Kerry [Dixon] at MASA was super helpful, and introduced us to a lawyer, helped us get our NIE number, open a bank account and we used A Place in the Sun Currency to send over our money,” he says. “In fact it was all surprisingly easy. We are looking forward to using it as much as possible, but not all together as we can’t all down tools and keep the business going.”
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