Spain

Around 8 years ago my mother and my 2 brothers and me decided to purchase an apartment in Spain.All the research was done by my eldest brother,we opted for Gary as he already owned an apartment in Spain and was the obvious choice as he had the experience.The area was always going to be in close proximity to his recently acquired apartment for family holiday purposes.It took around 8 months from start to finish for the purchase and soon we were proud owners of a Spanish holiday home.At the beginning we decided just to use it between close family for free,and let a few close friends have holidays there for a small charge to cover fees,but the interest in it as a holiday apartment grew and grew so we came to the decision of renting to a wider clientele. At first this was great,but never underestimate the power of TripAdvisor, a couple of issues arose after a few months (nothing major,all could have been worked out) but these issues escalated quickly due to hastily written bad reviews on the internet.Now there’s nothing wrong with constructive criticism but these reviews were obviosly written on the spare of the moment and tended to exaggerate the faults without any thought to the consequences of the owners.We were new to the rental market and didnt have the experience to deal with them properly (we were trying to put things right from another country,and this was a big stumbling block).So we draughted in a contract cleaning firm and the owners of the apartment above us (who actually lived there permanently) were given the job of general managers and key holders,they even volunteered to pick customers up from the airport at a reduced rate of 50% less than a taxi.The TripAdvisor reviews had done the damage and we couldn’t get many bookings,so with a heavy heart we decided to put it up for sale.During the 8 years that we owned the apartment (we do still actually own them,lockdown in Spain has slowed the market to a standstill),my wife and I travelled to the apartment many times and made a few good friends,there was an array of nationalities that owned apartments in the complex and we had some happy times over there.One thing I would say is when you have a holiday home it tends to be the only holiday you choose so we did miss out on some other destinations,but we will certainly make up for it in the coming years.

So down to the beer and wine side of things.With the apartment being located in a predominantly Spanish holiday resort,the bars and restaurants had mostly Spanish speaking customers which me and my wife absolutely loved, traditional Spanish bars and restaurants serving great Spanish food and drink (all at great prices too).I would choose the paella any day of the week (absolutely gorgeous),I’ve never been a fan of lager,but when in Spain as the saying goes try the local brews.Picture the scene,the sun is shining,your sitting outside a bar watching the world go by with an ice cold glass of Spanish beer what’s not to enjoy about that.

There was a few factors about why we decided to sell the apartment, 1.Cost of up keep,2.Tripadvisor,3.Ever changing Spanish rules,4.Nightmare of trying to get a hire car from Alicante airport without fear of being excessively charged,5.Air travel in general (to me as an ordinary passenger it’s not a comfortable travel option),6.Arriving at the apartment in the middle of the night.When the build up to the holiday began deep down in the back of our minds we thought is it worth the hassle.Having said that when you’ve done all the above and settled in,it usually turned into a fabulous holiday.