A few years ago, we came up with the idea of buying a house in Spain. We searched on the internet and by chance came across the site of Second Home Andalusia where we read a lot of information and good reviews. We already knew a few cities in Andalusia, but we had not yet visited the area east of Málaga and were very curious about it. So we booked a cottage in La Axarquía, in Canillas de Aceituno which we found to be so cosy and we thought how nice it would be if we could also find such a place for ourselves.

One afternoon when we walked past an estate agency and saw a small house for sale, we decided to contact Second Home Andalusia.

Caroline immediately had time for us and we were able to view the house with her the next day. It turned out not to be quite what we expected, but Caroline had more ideas and that same day we were able to visit several more houses with her. This gave us a good impression of what was for sale and what to look out for. We didn't manage to find anything that holiday, but we decided to keep in touch and Caroline would inform us if any houses came on the market that met our needs.

A few months later, we were back in La Axarquia and had picked out a few houses to view with Caroline and Malcolm. When we stepped into a cute little house in Cómpeta, we immediately had a good feeling about it - this had to be it. We made several bids and finally agreed on the selling price. After a couple of days, Malcolm informed us that there were problems with the documents and that the old English lady who wanted to sell the house did not have the right documents, so unfortunately the sale could not go through. We were hugely disappointed, but did not give up and continued searching on various websites. More than six months later, we were back in La Axarquia and went out again with Malcolm and Caroline. We looked at houses in Torrox, Sedella and Cómpeta, but unfortunately nothing seemed to meet our expectations. Our spirits did sink a bit, would we ever find a house for our budget? 

Six months later, we were on holiday in Cómpeta again. As we walked past the house we had tried to buy, we saw that painting work was in progress. Could it have been sold after all? we wondered. We asked Caroline to contact the selling estate agent again. It turned out that the selling estate agent had bought the cottage from the old English lady and was now preparing the documents for the house herself. We visited the house again and were still enthusiastic about it. It still needed some renovation, but Malcolm was also in touch with several contractors and was able to give us good advice. We decided to reserve the house and proceed with the purchase as soon as the documents were in order. This turned out to take longer and be more complicated than expected, but thanks to the good lawyer Second Home Andalusia works with, we finally managed to buy the house.

It was quite exciting and we were extremely happy with Malcolm and Caroline's support. Apart from the good support and advice, it was always very pleasant to be on the road with Malcolm and Caroline. We had many good conversations and found it very fun and inspiring to hear how they emigrated to Spain years ago.

Femmy & Alexander