Well I have to say, after telling you about last year’s golfing break in the glorious sunshine of the Algarve, I was bound and determined to return as fast as I could. And not only did I return, but I had studied the Algarve property market to see if there was a possibility of owning a second home. This is what happened.
After arriving back home last year with my girlfriends, we found the snow was still thick on the ground. We all froze as soon as the plane landed and we didn’t thaw out until we reached our homes and the central heating! This made me more determined than ever to try for an escape from these interminable winters.
I held a coffee morning and all my golfing friends came over for a chat. I told them all about our recent trip to the Algarve and our golf in the winter sunshine. They loved the photos and couldn’t believe the vibrant colours in the fields in winter! I explained all about my vow to return and try and buy a property there. The excitement level rose as the morning progressed and they stayed on for lunch, plotting and scheming with me. It ended up that two of us were semi-retired and two more worked from home and so there was a chance to make this dream come true.
Without further ado, we booked another cheap trip for October, but we also went online to check out properties available. We agreed that we could afford a flat by a golf course but close enough to the beaches and towns, so we could make the most of all the activities and events in the region. We found quite a few on the Meravista site, as we discovered it’s dedicated exclusively to Algarve property. We contacted the agents and made appointments to view, at times that wouldn’t clash with our golf of course.
We duly left the rain and the grey skies behind last October and arrived in Faro to sunshine once more. We played a fabulous round of golf on the Saturday, on a course that was not only immaculately kept, but that had really good facilities. We didn’t play on the Sunday as it got a bit busy, so we took ourselves off to the BLiP exhibition in Portimão to see all the latest innovations available in the Algarve.
Lo and behold, there were the Meravista team at their stand, showing everyone the latest properties on the market! Of course we got talking to them (nice bunch of ladies) and they not only put us in touch with more estate agents, but they pointed out their superb descriptions of each county in the Algarve, plus articles and blogs about the region’s numerous events and activities. They also explained about buying for yourself for the winter and renting your property in the summer, now there was food for thought! This gave us far more insight into what we should be aiming for.
As soon as we finished our next round of golf on the Monday (which was brilliant by the way), we contacted the new agents, went to view some of the properties we had lined up already and generally worked out where our best options lay. Luckily we all agreed about everything, and apart from our golf and dining out, we often split into two and hunted down apartments separately. Each night we would discuss what we had discovered and, over a bottle of wine, we would keep and discard brochures like mad.
This must have been one of the busiest weeks of our lives. What with the golf, the BLiP show, the golf, the viewings, the golf, the markets, more viewings and more golf, we were exhausted but thrilled with the experience. Especially when, at the end of it all, we had come up with absolute bargains. We had found two apartments close together, both at the right price, a lawyer to take care of the buying process and we’d also managed to get the required fiscal numbers so we could proceed with buying. This meant we would be sharing two to an apartment instead of four, a bedroom each, with good letting prospects.
On our last night, after a cracking game of golf and a lot of running around, we dined in style and tucked into a bottle of bubbly in our room at the hotel to celebrate. We left Faro the next day on a high - only to face the worst wet winter in history ahead of us. We should have done it a year earlier!
By February we had all completed our deals and were each the proud part owners of an apartment for two. We shall all be back this April to have a good golfing holiday and explore our new surroundings. We shall also be getting our apartments ready for the summer rental business, with a management company in charge. If things work out as planned, we should be quids in by the end of September, at the very least, we’ll have covered the running costs until next summer.
So now we are all looking forward to our next golfing holiday and getting away from the floods, the constant rain and bitterly cold weather. We are optimistic that this will be our last freezing winter!
Look out Algarve, the golfing girls are on their way!
Brought to you by Meravista – the place where smart people search for Algarve property for sale.
This Lady is Returning
by Lady Golfer
Well I have to say, after telling you about last year’s golfing break in the glorious sunshine of the Algarve, I was bound and determined to return as fast as I could. And not only did I return, but I had studied the Algarve property market to see if there was a possibility of owning a second home. This is what happened.
After arriving back home last year with my girlfriends, we found the snow was still thick on the ground. We all froze as soon as the plane landed and we didn’t thaw out until we reached our homes and the central heating! This made me more determined than ever to try for an escape from these interminable winters.
Without further ado, we booked another cheap trip for October, but we also went online to check out properties available. We agreed that we could afford a flat by a golf course but close enough to the beaches and towns, so we could make the most of all the activities and events in the region. We found quite a few on the Meravista site, as we discovered it’s dedicated exclusively to Algarve property. We contacted the agents and made appointments to view, at times that wouldn’t clash with our golf of course.
Lo and behold, there were the Meravista team at their stand, showing everyone the latest properties on the market! Of course we got talking to them (nice bunch of ladies) and they not only put us in touch with more estate agents, but they pointed out their superb descriptions of each county in the Algarve, plus articles and blogs about the region’s numerous events and activities. They also explained about buying for yourself for the winter and renting your property in the summer, now there was food for thought! This gave us far more insight into what we should be aiming for.
On our last night, after a cracking game of golf and a lot of running around, we dined in style and tucked into a bottle of bubbly in our room at the hotel to celebrate. We left Faro the next day on a high - only to face the worst wet winter in history ahead of us. We should have done it a year earlier!
So now we are all looking forward to our next golfing holiday and getting away from the floods, the constant rain and bitterly cold weather. We are optimistic that this will be our last freezing winter!
Look out Algarve, the golfing girls are on their way!
Brought to you by Meravista – the place where smart people search for Algarve property for sale.