Three years ago my wife and I were looking for a place in Spain. We went along the Costa route, looking at property in and around Alicante, but the area was just not for us. It was too built up and prices were too high for our limited budget.
In 2006, armed with a map of Spain, we decided to explore the Extremadura area. Flights are available from our local airport in the West-country, and from other airports in the UK to Madrid, Sevilla, Valladolid and Lisbon. We chose to fly to Madrid airport, from where beautiful Cáceres province, the northern part of Extremadura, is easily reached within two to two and a half hours.
We found Extremadura Country Homes via the internet and saw several properties within our budget. We approached Hendrik Berends, or ‘Enrique’ as he is called locally, the founder. He is not an Estate agent but a Lifestyle Consultant and he was more than interested in our plans and keen to help us with a number of valuable suggestions. Enrique asked us for his small one-off fee which we were happy to pay, as he had already introduced us by email to other satisfied clients who had used his services. He searches for the right property and helps to achieve his client’s goals and aims. His knowledge of the area and local bureaucracy is second to none.
Over the weeks Enrique kept in close contact with us. We came over to Spain in June 2006 and we met up with him. According to our emailed specifications, he had a shortlist of properties for us to see and we spent several days with him and his assistant. We fell in love with Cáceres province with its enormous wide open spaces, little traffic, modern infrastructure, fabulous nature and incredibly rich birdlife, and decided to purchase an old village house. It is in need of reforming but the size and potential of the property was what sold it to us. Enrique put us at ease and there was no pressure whatsoever.
To put our mind at rest regarding the transfer of funds, Enrique introduced us to a local bank director in Cáceres city: English-speaking Alfonso Rodriguez, who to our delight received us in his personal office and took us through all the necessary steps we needed to take. What a relief to be received by the bank director himself, instead of standing in a queue somewhere, having to discuss our private business in public! Alfonso still asks us into his office each time we visit our Spanish bank.
We came back to the UK and returned to Spain in September 2006, again meeting up with Enrique and his team: Alfonso our banker, our local architect Diego and an excellent english-speaking lawyer.
All were extremely helpful and shortly after our visit, Enrique and our Lawyer completed the purchase for us, all duly legally signed and registered.
We have just returned (March 2007) after a very successful trip meeting up again with Enrique and his team, because they had managed to secure for us a small plot of land adjoining the property we had bought earlier. So we bought this plot as well as it really enhances our new home in the sun. This time around we were duly assisted in getting our NIE numbers, and can now plan without any further worries for our move to Spain this coming autumn.
The sound professional approach of Architect Diego Mostazo was a revelation to us. He works with a shortlist of local highly reputable builders whom he asks for estimates. He presented us with detailed computer-drawn plans, right down to lights + sockets and internet access point. Apart from his design work Diego will also supervise our reform project, for what we consider to be a very reasonable fee.
He will send us monthly update reports including his findings on site. Only after getting his confirmation on the quality of work carried out, we then transfer further monthly instalments of the construction cost to the builder. One of our concerns was that the house would not be finished by our required date, but we are now very confident that it will be finished on time. At Diego’s suggestion we have included penalty clauses in the contract with the local builder. Diego along with Enrique pulled out all he stops and we are more than happy with the progress made.
Our Spanish language skills are still limited and we really could not have achieved the progress we have made without Enrique and his team. If you, like us, long for peace and quiet after decades of hard work back home then you can do a lot worse than explore Cáceres province. The people are very friendly and cannot do enough to help, plus you get a lot more property for your money.
Where else would you get a five-bedroom detached property with four bathrooms and a large garden on the outskirts of a beautiful village, enjoying fabulous views of the entire countryside around, for less than £75,000, including reform? Just bear in mind you cannot do this alone. Even with good Spanish we could not have done this without Enrique and his professional team, in our opinion their knowledge is priceless.
Alan & Molly Streeter
alanstreeter@yahoo.com
18th of March, 2007