Signing for a house that is not built yet
August 31, 2026
A house that does not exist yet is bought as a description. Almost every question worth asking is about a document, and wording is easier to change before signature than after.
Journal
Notes on building, buying and living on this coast.
A house by the sea keeps a different calendar
August 31, 2026
Salt, sun and autumn rain age a house here in a different order from the one you know. The months when nobody is in it do most of the damage.
A renovation budget is decided before anyone is on site
August 31, 2026
The kitchen, the floors and the taps are the part you can still change. What fixes the budget is settled earlier, and buried where nobody will look again.
Nationality follows the buyer into a Spanish purchase
August 31, 2026
Spanish law governs the house. The buyer's own country keeps a claim on it anyway, and the two rarely meet where he expects.
Reading a memoria de calidades
August 30, 2026
A thorough schedule of qualities runs from the soil study to the pool lining. A thin one stops at the front door.
Where a Spanish purchase becomes binding
August 26, 2026
Reservation, deposit contract, notary, registry: what each stage is for, and which one commits you.
A Costa Blanca renovation starts at the outside wall
August 19, 2026
The same trades and materials as at home, but a climate that runs the other way and decisions that have to be settled before demolition.
How Jávea works the rest of the year
August 12, 2026
The Montgó sets the weather, and November shows which parts of the town are lived in year-round.