Buying a Spanish Villa: Part I

The Discovery

We didn't set out to buy a house that summer we spent in Spain. We had other plans.

We'd been looking for an investment property for a little while already. There were realtors in four different states looking for us. We even put in competitive offers on two different properties that were beat out by all-cash offers.

That's when we started looking at the Golden Visa Program in Portugal. At the time, Portugal was offering Golden Visas to those who invested €250,000 in property. We did some research and started working with a company that would help us find a property to renovate and flip it into a short term rental. It was a really sweet deal! We had a few days of appointments lined up that summer to view some potential properties.

But then curiosity got the best of me.

You see, we have a friend who owns a real estate company in Mijas. One afternoon I pulled up his site and started scrolling through the listings when I stumbled across Casa Durillo.

Casa Durillo had been on the market for over a year already and I could see why. The pictures were low quality and showed quite a bit of clutter. But it had a pool and a large property, which was rare this close to the pueblo. I knew we had to see it. I told Chris about it and we set up an appointment with the realtor for the following week.


Casa Durillo

Nothing could have prepared me for the way I felt walking onto the property for the first time. The large iron gate opened up to reveal a beautiful Spanish villa with dark wood shutters, colorful painted tiles, and white washed walls adorned by blooming bougainvilleas. It was magical.

We toured the outdoors area of the property first. The current owner had taken great care to curate a beautiful landscape complete with a variety of flowering plants, native trees, and an vast array of succulents. At the lower part of the property lay an orchard filled with trees producing oranges, almonds, olives, grapefruit and more. Nestled on one side of the orchard were two crumbling concrete benches, now uneven and leaning a little as the ground shifted over time. I love old things and this crumbling relic of the past felt like a treasure.

To say I was enamored by the property is a harsh understatement; I was in love. We toured the house next and once again, I got caught up in the magic of discovery. We followed terracotta tiles down hallways that gave way to what seemed room after room. Though over-stuffed with furniture, boxes, and years of clutter, I could see this house was a rare gem.

We walked out the front door to views of the deep blue Mediterranean sparkling in the July sun. Shaking hands with the selling realtor, we promised we'd be in touch. Once outside the gate, our realtor Nico looked at us with raised eyebrows and said, "How about we go for a beer?"

A Dream

A few nights prior to our viewing of Casa Durillo, I had a dream about a house.

Chris and I were walking around a village in a foreign country, trying to find the location of a house we wanted to buy. Upon finding it, we snuck inside as if we weren't supposed to be there. The owner and their family still lived in it so we quietly snuck around their personal belongings. At one point, the three daughters showed up. They told us that they'd leave some things for our kids to keep when they moved out. And as dreams go, in the next scene they had moved out.

I'm not sure what the dream meant. I don't think it was necessarily prophetic in nature since I often dream of houses. However, I think it may have been the catalyst to searching the listings on our friends' real estate website.

As we drove into the village to meet Nico, Chris and I talked over the possibility of putting in an offer. We were completely surprised and stunned by how much we both loved it.

But what about our plans for Portugal? We have appointments and tours already scheduled. Do we really want to buy in Mijas? Is it a good investment? Does it make sense?

Twenty minutes later, we were drinking beers while Nico rolled a cigarette.
"Well, what do we want to do?" He asked in that straightforward no-bullshit manner of his.

To be continued...