I promote green issues as we only have this one blue planet and we need to look after it a lot better than we do. Lame reasoning from anyone that doesn’t even bother recycling for instance normally runs along the lines of what difference can one person make? Or there is nowhere to recycle. There are recycling points even in the smallest villages and its really easy because the blue bins are for paper, the green ones for glass and the yellow ones plastic and tins.

Bars are often the biggest culprits; one owner told me that they don’t recycle as it would take two hours a day to put the bottles in the bottle bank due to its shape?!? The bar must be doing excellent business indeed if two hours are needed every day just to get rid of the bottles. So the bar in question instead dumps the bottles in the bin which is only ten paces away from a bottle bank.

Currently with the high fuel prices it costs 50€ to fill up even my little car and selling houses means I do a lot of travelling. Recently I got a round robin email asking me to boycott Shell and BP to force them to reduce the prices at their pumps. Simple maths says this just won’t happen as most of the price of fuel is tax and duty. In Britain for example a £1.25 litre of fuel includes 21p VAT and a whopping 59p in excise duty leaving 45p for the oil company. Even if BP shaved 10% of their prices it’s only four pence off the price. Unfortunately we live in a carbon based economy and we all use oil in some way or another. Most of us drive a car and we buy food that has been delivered to the shops by road. Even the logs used to heat a house ecologically have been cut with a petrol chainsaw and delivered in a truck.

Simply we must all use less fuel. Is the journey really necessary? Walk if possible or ride a bike, share a lift. As the little jobs mount up around the house why not do them all in one car trip rather than lots of separate journeys. More electric and hybrid cars are available each year and okay not many will be suitable for long slogs on mountain roads but they are ideal for use in larger towns and cities. Murky Donuts have realised all those placcy bags they currently dole out free cost money and they too will be charging for bags from February. How many thousands, even millions of plastic bags will Mercadona save each year from their new policy? Quite a few less will be seen hanging from bushes or floating in the sea.

Mr Edisons’ original light bulb design will soon only be found in museums as only low energy light bulbs are now being manufactured. Every single person that does their bit to conserve the environment and reduce their fuel use has an effect when others do it too. Duracell now sell rechargeable batteries and they are not doing it just for green brownie points as they will make money from it. Our spending habits make businesses change as they need to make money. We cannot wait for governments to make laws instead our spending and lifestyle habits will make change happen quicker.

I have a house on my books near Baza and the owners have a donkey which they got from a sanctuary located at junction132 on the A92 motorway to Seville and so on the way we diverted and visited El Refugio de Burrito where over 70 donkeys live in comparative luxury. Very friendly docile animals it’s hard to understand how anyone could mistreat these hard working beasts. Some miniature donkeys there had been rescued from a zoo in Naples in Italy. I suppose the next step is to adopt a donkey and I picked up the form.

Close by is the Fuente de Piedra lagoon, the second largest salt water lake in Spain and it is home to a huge population of flamingos. The breeding grounds here are the biggest in Spain and the second largest in Europe with 6000 chicks hatching last year. There is an information centre but if anyone unable to read Spanish will be out of luck. Take a long lens camera and binoculars to see the flamingos at their best. The lake did not dry out this year and so the population has stayed. Salt was extracted here from Roman times right up until 1951.

Onto Seville and being the third largest city in Spain it is surrounded by industry but the ugly views soon give way to wide boulevards and there are glimpses of the Guadalquivir River. The cathedral in Seville is absolutely colossal being the third largest in the world. It is also the biggest gothic cathedral in Spain and construction started in 1401 after a large earthquake in 1356 damaged the mosque that stood on the site previously. The designers apparently said the following before building “Let a church so beautiful and so great that those who see it built will think we were mad”. According to the minutes of that day, the new church should be: “a work such as good, which like no other.” One of the only parts of the mosque to remain is the huge bell tower which is easily climbed.

More impressive however is the Real Alcazar located next door. This started life in the ninth century as a military fortress but had a change of use under Abd al Rahman II and was converted to a royal residence. In 1364 King Pedro of Castile who was keen to use existing Moorish buildings had the palace extended and cleverly used a mixture of Christian and Moorish artisans and the result is the finest example of Mudejar architecture in the world. Room after room of beautifully frescoed walls, huge tapestries and stunning gardens. The whole site is easily a rival to the Aljambra Palace in Granada and for my money is actually more impressive.

The Plaza de Toros is the oldest in Spain with construction starting as long ago as 1749. Whatever views anyone has of the sport of bullfighting it’s an impressive building and should be seen. The annual Feria de Seville is held here each April and is one of the best known bullfighting spectacles in the world. By coincidence a bullfight was organised the day we visited with two of the most famous in the business booked to appear so I got a photo of DVenturas luxury tour bus.

For shopaholics Seville is heaven with street after street of shops that for us living in the Almerian backwaters can only marvel at. Take plenty of money as something will surely tempt you. For ice cream aficionados there are many stylish places to indulge in the guilty pleasure and I had the best chocolate ice cream ever. Then I had one the next day just to make sure.

Many clients prefer to have a villa with pool close to services or a town house perhaps so I have always made sure that there is a good selection of these for sale as well. Otherwise the bills would not get paid and my working life would be more difficult. Clients that are retiring often sensibly chose to buy a villa as for one thing everything is normally on one level, the house will be fairly new and so maintenance issues will not normally jump up and bite them on the bum. Fellow English speakers may also be closer at hand so the language barrier is not so hard and friends can be made more easily.

Four years ago Jose Luis a lovely Spanish colleague of mine told me of a huge cortijo for sale situated high in the mountains near Seron. He had not yet been to the property so we set off on a beautiful road that goes up over the Filabres Mountains close to the Calar Alto Observatory which leads finally to Gergal on the A92. Going cross country after we left the main road we stopped high up in the middle of nowhere. At times like these it’s good to have trust in people as there was no way on my own that I would have found my way back to civilisation. Off we yomped climbing steep slopes and fording mountain streams until after about an hour we found the ruined house. As a treat we had brought a simple picnic of bread, ham and fizzy pop and we sat in autumnal sun easily 4500 feet up in old money admiring one of the best views I have ever seen. Jose Luis having lived in the area all his life pointed out all the different mountain ranges that could be seen in the far distance towards Velez Rubio, Oria and Castril. Then we raced to safely retrace our steps as the sun started to set behind Calar Alto the highest peak in Almeria at 2168m.

Other work based excursions have taken me high into the Sierra Maria near Velez Blanco and one fine house in particular sits in 50Ha of farmland and mountain side. It is so remote that the nearest electricity supply would have to come from seven kilometres away so water comes into the house via a solar powered pump from a year round spring. Any client wanting to view this house is always told firmly that the house is in the middle of nowhere and then luckily only the intrepid make the trip. It takes an hour simply to get to it from Velez Blanco.

Another property I have for sale is in a beautiful yet almost secret valley between Albanchez and Lubrin. On the details it says that the house is remote and the nearest shops are 30 minutes drive away yet however much I warn clients they are never put off. When we get there the comments are always along the theme of ‘I did not think it would be this remote.’ Maybe dictionaries give two meanings of remote.
A client once said ‘well 30 minutes on a motorway is not bad so I thought it would be similar.’ It’s a beautiful property but only for someone wanting tranquillity and preferably in good health. That’s because it is remote.

With many couples moving each year to Spain to spend their retirements in the sun it is unfortunately possible that one or other will either get ill as they get older or perhaps sadly pass away. Often then there is the decision to return to the UK and the former home in Spain is put for on the market to sell.
‘This is a strange subject’ some may think to write about but the fact is that working in property sales for over four years here in Almeria I am still disgusted by the way some clients or ‘ambulance chasers’ try and then buy these properties at far less than market value. The poor surviving spouse normally relies on this money to support themselves on an expensive return to the UK. So if anyone out there is in this unfortunate position then I have full sympathy for you.
If anyone does make a ridiculous offer then please find the strength to tell them to ‘Go Away’ in very rude words.

I have had clients in the past that have openly talked to me about looking to take advantage of someone else’s misfortune. One chap even told me he was hoping to find a widow so desperate to sell her home she would accept a knockdown offer from him. Clients like that are quickly discarded by Findmeahome; let them try their disgusting tricks via another more unscrupulous agent. The property game over here is fraught with perils as many of us can testify to so at least by us showing these ‘sharks’ the open door it’s a step in the right direction.

As I write the first of the heavy autumn rains have been falling for the last few hours. My mother gawd bless her visits twice a year normally in May and September and in four years she has yet to have a visit and not need a raincoat. Anyone with important plans for these two months next year should drop me a line and I can safely guarantee that as long as you avoid the days she has booked for her trip it will be sunny and glorious.

Sitting enjoying the sun and the glorious sea view in BBME on Mojacar playa and enjoying some good food and chilled music the other day it was good to see everywhere looking a lot busier than the same time last year. This very newspaper reported occupancy levels up during August so let’s hope the trend continues as the Almeria Costa is a great place for a holiday whether someone is travelling from abroad or already living here in Spain.
It did make us laugh though when various British holidaymakers were overheard practicing their peculiar ‘Spanglish’ language. “Hello mate can I have a zumo?” “Can I have the bill por favor?” “Two large beers please gracias.”
Certainly we all have to start somewhere I know and just last week when in a restaurant I asked the waitress for a doggy bag for the leftovers in what I thought was my usual passable Spanish only to be asked to speak Spanish as she did not understand the language I spoke to her in.
Hmmm more Spanish practice needed methinks.

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www.findmeahomeinspain.wordpress.co
www.facebook.com/pages/Findmeahome/108588762518569

We spent 4 days in the Beaujolais region of France which not having visited before completely wowed me. The scenery is fabulous, reminiscent of South East England but without the traffic. Instead stunning sandstone villages and castles nestle amongst wooded hills. Tidy yet tiny little vineyards meander gently down the hillsides and there are wine cellars everywhere to visit. Our best mission had to be atop the highest hill in the area at dusk, where we created a very chilled scene of holiday makers (models) relaxing by a camp fire listening to one of the Contiki reps playing his guitar. All make believe but the shots were great. Mind you at 11pm in the pitch dark scrabbling back to base down a steep and rocky path laden down with props is a sure way to get the adrenaline flowing yet we all made it down safely.

Then a day in the Rhone valley near Hermitage to do some promotional shots for a chateau hotel Contiki use for guests in the area. Here we came up against some real Gallic logic. We were a crew of 10 people there at the hotel at Contikis expense to promote the owners hotel for him, we had been on the road for hours and so to keep costs down we had stopped at a supermarket and bought ourselves a picnic. The hotel sits in acres of parkland so we thought we could find a shady spot have a bite to eat then work all day to help the owners business. Oh NO! Only paying guests were allowed to picnic in the grounds and we were told to eat elsewhere and then come back to take the photos.
The owner is very proud of his crumbling old hotel that he took 3 of the crew on a tour which included the ancient but open and stinky sewage system deep underground (why?) Then he led them to the base of a Rapunzle like tower and persuaded them all to climb in the pitch dark to the top. After a long climb they reasonably expected a pretty view from the top but instead again in Gallic style the owner told them there was no key for the door and they would have to go back down in the dark again.

Then off to Switzerland and as the Art Director (another Mark) had cleverly brought walkie-talkies both cars played each other at lots of silly games which at one point had me singing the female part to The Dirty Dancing theme song. I-Spy followed with our car getting stuck on ‘C’ with the clue being a place to live, couse, capartment, clat, were all wrong and the answer was of course chalet.

It rained the whole time in Switzerland which was a shame as we were based near Interlaken in the Alps and so only had brief glimpses of the towering snow clad mountains. The highlight was our visit to the Trummelbach water falls. The melt waters of the mighty glaciers of the Eiger, Monk and Jungfrau mountains all pass through the falls with tremendous thundering force. Each year the melt waters drag with them over 20,000 tonnes of broken rock through the falls so helping the constant sculpting of the mountain. The clever Swiss have built a perpendicular lift inside the mountain and then created walking tunnels so that the force of nature can be truly and very wetly appreciated.The falls are a UNESCO World Heritage site and well worth a visit www.truemmelbach.ch

True to form as on most shoots, as we left early morning for home it was under a clear blue sky.

Having moved to the Bedar area recently I am in my element as the wet winter and sheltered micro-climate has meant there is a fantastic display of spring flowers and the first poppies locally were seen on Monday. The Chirivel couple I mentioned last issue – I shall call them B&M have been very helpful indeed as within hours of arriving here I stumbled across some beautiful orchids. These were duly photographed with copies sent via the interweb up to Chirivel where they speedily identified them for me.

A few days later B&M made a visit to Bedar and after some delicious tapas in the El Empalme bar on the crossroads we headed off along the dicey but beautiful looking mountain road that leads to home.

The previous owner of the house had told me 3 years ago of a well hidden mountain path that started close to the house. We intrepid 3 headed off up the tricky path and found even more orchids than when I was there a few days previously. Luckily, being south facing, the valley is very sheltered and these rare little gems of the botanical world are very much at home here. I hope you like the 4 photos in the article and B &M have kindly identified them as follows. If anyone thinks they may be different then please let me know by email.

Mirror orchid – Ophrys ciliata; the Sawfly orchid – O. tenthredinifera; Dull orchid – Ophrys fusca; Fan-lipped orchid – Orchis collina.

This is an excellent time to discover the beautiful Almerian countryside. Take a walk and breathe in the clean and fresh air and keep an eye on the ground as there are some fascinating plants to discover. Remember though not to pick or remove anything as this will upset the delicate ecosystem. With such extremes of temperature and rainfall this region experiences it’s a wonder that anything flourishes at all. Summer day time temperatures of maybe 42°C are contrasted with temperatures of -5°C on a cold winter night.

Over the past few months I have had a hankering for a proper Italian style thin crust pizza. Listening to personal recommendations it’s a long but necessary journey and plenty of establishments have been tried out but rejected until now.

For some reason many places idea of a pizza in Almeria is to cover a pizza base with masses of sloppy and near tasteless cheese and then to undercook the lot. At last I am confident to recommend the first place so far that I think does an excellent Pizza.

It is the Fuente Restaurant in Bedar and is above the fuente funnily enough. Crisp thin crust and you can design your own as there is a huge selection of fresh and delicious toppings to be chosen from. The chef makes all his own bases using 1/3 semolina flour in true Italian style. Cheap too and they also do a takeaway service. The excellent Aljambra beer is also served on draught and the delicious Penascal rosé wine is very reasonably priced too. Great mountain and sea views from both the restaurant and terrace with the rest of the menu well thought out and excellently prepared too.

There is a term that is all too often incorrectly used nowadays when describing food. When the starter arrived of Carpaccio of beef – so delicate were the wafer thin slices of beef fillet they were most definitely ‘melt in the mouth.’ Another visit there soon methinks.

Maybe I should consider doing a ‘website of the week’ column as I have come across a great one for any other cloud watchers out there. www.cloudappreciationsociety.org

I met an interesting couple recently and when we were admiring some amazing photos of tropical storm clouds on an owner’s wall they told me of the cloud appreciation society. A family member had given them a membership as a present. Ever one to spot a bargain I rushed home to log on and paid my £5 dues. I can report that member number 20726 is now active. There are members all from over the world and I join 120 other members in Spain, 13423 in the UK, one member in Vietnam and another in Gabon!!! There is an amazing photo gallery which I hope to add to with some of my photos.

My eco warrior antennae quivered yesterday as I discovered in Vera  there is a fuel station that sells bio-diesel and it’s a bargain 96 cents a litre currently which means that you can save money and help save the world all at the same time – fantastic.

Bio diesel is basically made from harvested plant matter and recycled cooking oils etc. That’s why there are used cooking oil recycling points springing up in some places. I will have to find out if its 100% bio diesel but it’s more likely that it is a mix with conventional diesel. Either way it’s another small step anyone can take to reduce their carbon footprint.

Findmeahome have had a very busy week and what has come out of it as well as a few sales is the following simple bit of advice which is aimed at all owners wanting to sell their properties.

Price your property correctly for the current market and it will sell!

Rentals however continue to surge ahead and clients especially are looking for quality homes with pools – as soon as we get them onto our books we have clients lined up to view. So if you are reading this and are finding it difficult to sell and need to move on why not rent out your home for a while and get an income for your self. Of course this option does not suit everybody but hopefully it may help some readers to start afresh.

Property agents that are proactive will do their best to sell whatever properties the client has chosen to view and also others that the agent feels are best value and most suited to the clients needs. Agents have the best chance of selling when the owner lets them get on with the job of showing the client the property. Owners are always advised to keep a low profile as otherwise the client may feel pressured or even worse the client gets over burdened with the information given by the owner. Sometimes owners when talking to clients can get carried away and speak about problems that have been sorted long ago in the past. They may mention mice or rats found years ago, the leak in the roof that once happened or the pig farm that’s a long way off.
The problem is the client will only remember the words ‘mouse, rat, leak or pig’ and associate them with that particular property. They forget the context it was said in and they then have negative thoughts about the property. Leave it to the agent instead to sell your house – If it’s in the past don’t mention it because your agent surely wont either.

Last week I wrote a little about conservation of water and also recycling. This week I started to wonder what anybody thinks when they first fly into Almeria Airport and look down and see the shiny plastic squares all over the ground that we all know are the omnipresent green house or invernarderos as they are called locally. I did some research (instead of replying to property enquiry emails) and found an excellent article by a chap called Bob Maddox who writes for a Malaga based newspaper.
He gives some amazing statistics such as in 1966 when Sergio Leone filmed the cult spaghetti western ‘The Good The bad and the Ugly’ in Tabernas there were only about 10 hectares under plastic in Almeria – now its over 26,000 hectares which is about an area equalling 55,000 football pitches. In fact 70% of the coastal strip is covered by greenhouses.

Remember the old school question about what man made object is visible with the naked eye from space? – The answer of course is The Great Wall of China and now it’s been joined by another – The Palm Islands project in Dubai. Type in the link to see a photo if you like http://spacefellowship.com/news/art18385/artificial-archipelagos-dubai-as-seen-from-space.html
Did you also know that the only manufactured objects visible from space are……… the greenhouses of Almeria! And you can see those via the following link http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=16826
Some 30,000 tonnes of plastic and organic waste are produced each year by the industry too. I remember living in the UK and seeing all those pretty bags of shiny red tomatoes which said ‘grown in Spain’ on the packaging and imagined sun drenched fields and dusky maidens hand picking the tomatoes and rolling them clean on their thighs STOP – NOW. Seriously though it was easy to imagine a pastoral landscape filled with tomatoes and peppers all growing under the Andalucían sun etc. Then you arrive in Almeria for the first time and suddenly realise with a shock – OH GOODNESS or ruder still. Luckily in our corner of Almeria – the Levante, the problem is not as bad as further south and west.

One positive consequence of the greenhouses with all this talk of global warming is that Spain as a whole has seen a temperature increase of 1.3 degrees over the last 100 years or so – yet here in Almeria the average temperature has in fact dropped by 0.9 degrees in 25 years. This is mainly due to the sunlight being reflected back to space, by all that shiny plastic. The other positive aspect is that so much produce is grown here the greenhouses act as a ‘carbon sink’, and absorb 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide for every hectare (2.5 acres) cultivated. That’s over 250,000 tonnes per year of carbon captured. So not all bad then.

Linking back to the water theme from last week the other dangerous consequence of all this intensive agriculture is the export of water. As 95% of fruit and vegetables consist of water this means Almeria is steadily exporting its most valuable resource abroad. The water comes from deep wells some of them illegal as the average rainfall is only about 200mm per year which is not nearly enough to support all the agriculture. The Spanish average is 650mm so we really do live in a semi desert area. Not that you would want to believe any rainfall statistic with the all the recent heavy rain.

Once the underground water has gone that’s it and the plains of Almeria will surely become a continuation of the Tabernas Desert. Modern living demands year round produce instead of seasonal availability as it used to be. Business often puts short term gain in front of long term viability so I doubt anything will change until the water finally runs out. As the aquifers dry up then sea water seeps in and slowly but surely agricultural land becomes unusable. 80% of all water used in Spain goes to agriculture, with only 5% used for urban supply. Spain actually does rather well in its water use as lots of the crops it grows such as almonds and olives use very little water. Some crops however use huge amounts of water which I may write about another time before I bore people with my eco warrior ramblings.

The Almanzora River has been flowing now for a good few weeks and at times has completed filled the basin near La Cinta which is an amazing sight considering its normally resembles a bit of a barren dust bowl. Last winter the river ran from mid September until it dried up in June last year. This year it has started 3 months later and it will be interesting to see how long it lasts. Could a reservoir be created near Zurgena to conserve all this water and to encourage wildlife? I remember seeing on maps that there is a reservoir shown to exist below the castle in Huercal Overa and I have made a mental note to see if it actually still exists.
Living in the sunniest and driest part of Europe – water is a resource we should all seek to preserve and its great visiting peoples’ homes and sometimes seeing people reuse the ‘grey water’ homes produce to water their plants. Even on a small scale just keeping the washing up water and pouring it on the flower bed makes a difference.
Cold bath water too can also be used. It’s sobering to think that with all the recent rain – Reservoir levels in Andalucía are still only filled to 47.8% of capacity.

Environmental protection on a personal level is often seen by people as pointless –
‘What difference can I just make?’ being a common theme as to some peoples reasoning not to recycle. It’s been on the news agenda for decades Recycle Reduce Reuse’ I think the slogan says. We also have had the comedian Eddie Izzard telling us on the tellybox why recycling is good for us all. Children in schools especially in the UK get taught how to be environmentally responsible so they in turn can inform their families and change habits for the better.

My best friend who lives in the UK would only recycle when I visited him for a few days then he would go back to his old just chuck it all in the bin routine. This he kept up for years despite me trying to show him the error of his ways. That is until recently when he moved in with his new partner who now badgers him constantly so he submits to her eco conscious ways. Now he recycles everything – albeit grudgingly and he does make a difference.
When I saw him recently he was teasing his girlfriend over her ownership of a 5 year old mobile phone – until she noticed my old phone sitting on the table next to hers. Recognising a kindred spirit she asked me why I did not rush out to update my phone on a regular basis and as I answered my friend realised he was going to get it from all sides and now his girlfriend had an ally. Why use up the worlds valuable resources just to have shiny new phone every few months or so.
All the heavy metals in mobile phones can cause great damage to the communities where they are eventually dumped as the pollution leaks from landfills into water tables. In the UK I know the major phone companies actually accept old phones for recycling and will pay customers to return their old phones to them where they get refurbished and sold abroad to developing countries.
In my head – quite reasonably I just want my phone to have 2 functions – call/receive phone calls and to be able to send/receive txt messages. Some of these new ones have some many gadgets on them its hard to see what they were actually designed to do in the first place. I am realising that slowly I must be getting older as I start to sound more like my dad. I also find myself going round the house turning off lights and grumbling under my breath.

Andalucía has lots of recycling points and its weird sometimes to see people simply chucking for example their used 8L water bottle straight into a skip when next door to it or close by is a bright yellow bin there just for that purpose. Towns, villages and urbanisations often have a good selection of the different containers for recycling and the more we all use them then the more often they have to be collected and more containers provided. For those that do not know the differences – the yellow containers are for plastic, metal cans and tetrapaks, the blue ones are paper and card and the domed green ones are for bottles. Put the bottle cap in the yellow one though and always remember to crush anything you put in if possible to save on volume. Often people simply chuck a water bottle in its entirety into a yellow skip and then it’s full after 20 or so bottles. Crushing them and replacing the lid to keep them crushed greatly increases the amount that can be stored in a recycling bin. Old batteries can be recycled at branches of Lidl where they have a bright little green bin near the tills in every store. ‘Every little helps’ I say as I pat my back pocket. I know it’s an Asda slogan but hey it fits.

Lastly I hope everyone is appreciating the beautiful almond blossom that can be seen all over the place. Almond trees were brought here by the Moors over a thousand years ago and there is a romantic story that says a princess missed the snow on the Atlas mountains from her home so her husband planted white blossoming almond trees on hill and mountain tops so that it resembled snow from a distance to make her feel less home sick for her native land.

Driving past the new flyover being built in Arboleas near the Industrial Estate on Thursday it was such a shame to see the beautiful cortijo had been demolished. The farmhouse had sat there solidly amongst all the road works for an age and naively  I hoped it may remain as a monument and talking point. I suppose it’s gone now because those in higher authority thought it may spoil the look of the new motorway. No Angel of the North or similar for Arboleas then.

Funnily enough it looks like the work was done in the dead of night as by 10am the house had vanished with not a wooden beam or stone left to show that there had once been a lovely farmhouse there. In the UK for better or worse there are controls in place to preserve Britain’s architectural heritage. Buildings are listed and then and given either a 1,2 or 3 grade depending on whether the whole or certain parts of the building must be protected.

In Spain there no such foresight as far as I know– rip it down and put up yet another block of apartments or in this case a motorway flyover. Driving through our beautiful region is a great perk of being an estate agent in this area. I visit many interesting places but there often seems to be beautiful buildings just rotting. Huercal Overa for instance there is the once beautiful coloured building in its own grounds opposite the theatre. Another one is in the Square nearby off Calle Cura Valera which is surrounded by horrible blue scaffolding – and I think I saw in the Spanish press this week it’s in danger of collapsing.

For many years we Brits and our Northern European neighbours have been buying up Spain’s architectural heritage in the form of old farmhouses and the like. These buildings are then lovingly restored so preserving them for future generations. It’s a strange situation indeed  when so many old Spanish buildings are now in foreign hands. Most have used their hard earned cash to restore these buildings, which on balance seems to be better than accepting grants from any agency looking at the horrible way lots of houses have recently been updated by the local councils  – what is it about UPVC windows that our host nation just loves. With no listing categories there seems to be only one class of reform and that’s to modernise and destroy any original features.

Industrial heritage too seems to be just left to decay; there are many old wheal houses and water culverts, old cable car workings, disused railway lines etc. just left to rot. Especially around Bedar, Villaricos and Garrucha there are remnants of the industries that once were the lifeblood of the region. I found an interesting website the other day about it all – www.faydon.com/Bedar/Bedar.html

The last few weeks have seen a veritable flood of clients visiting the area and all too often I write about what owners can do to help us agents sell their homes. One great tip is to let the client into your house in the first place!!! Obvious really one would think. A colleague tells me that recently an owner said they were too busy to tidy up even though they had been given a weeks notice so the agent was told they would just have to show the client the house from the garden and then if they liked it to make another appointment. The client rightly said ‘how the hell do I know whether I want to see the inside just from looking at the garden?’

A good agent if they like your house and think it’s sensibly priced will do what they can to sell it – as if we don’t sell we don’t eat. Quite a simple equation really…  Clients often end up buying a house that they never asked about in the first place especially if the agent has listened to their needs. Clients ask to view properties based on the photos they have seen on the internet. Only the agent knows the real story and so a house that to a client may look great when they are sitting in an office on a rainy day in the UK may in fact to turn out to be completely unsuitable for them once they arrive in our sunny neck of the woods. Local knowledge is very important so chose an agent that knows the area well. Agents will normally collaborate with other agents and so if your house is particularly good value and something special they will share the details with their colleagues so giving the owner greater exposure.

Before picking an agent to market your property ask them what other agents they work with as then you will get a picture of how and where they cross market. Find out where they advertise – do they regularly advertise in the local press for instance, what websites they pay to advertise on. Another tip is to ask what lawyer the agent recommends their buying clients to use. If you are unhappy with their recommended lawyer then maybe use another agent who uses a lawyer that you are more comfortable with. Selling property nowadays is a potential minefield and so as a seller you must be confident that whoever buys your house is going to be properly legally represented to avoid any pitfalls in the future.

When a buyer is found normally a 3000 holding deposit is paid by the buyer to secure the property whilst legal checks are made. This deposit is best kept safe by the lawyer not the agent so as to avoid any unpleasantness in the future should the buyer be advised to pull out. The 10% when paid by the buyer should go the seller – so again make sure the money is sent via the lawyer not the agent involved.

Building work too – agents often have their preferred contractor but if you intend to do any work on a property then get more than one quote, and make sure at least one is from someone completely independent of the agent. Make sure that your builder is legally entitled to work in Spain and paying their IVA and NIE as otherwise you have no comebacks in case of complaint. Always ask to see examples of their work and to speak to previous clients of theirs. I remember once being shown an entire house that had been supposedly reformed by a certain rogue – turned out the client had thrown him off site months ago but he had kept a key so could still get into the house. Needless to say he never got the job that he was pitching for.