Serious house hunting in Costa del Sol starts...

15 Feb 2017: Arrival to Malaga at 11:30 on Norwegian flight. Approximately 35 showings agreed upon with four different Real Estate Brokers.

The first showing took a place at Frigiliana, already at 14.00, so after the lunch we hurried to the first showings, the townhouse in Frigiliana and three in Torrox. That day was very warm and I had already some blisters in the feet. Fortunately, there were pair of comfortable sneakers available in our rental car. Shoes for exchange and back to the lane! The Torrox house was wonderful and we would have liked to buy it, but unfortunately another buyer had already paid the deposit. Checked in at the hotel in Nerja. No parking space, parked in the hall, near Balcon de Europa, 25 euros a night! Bitter!

16 Feb 2017: Meeting with a local broker in Frigiliana. We went through all houses that were pre-selected in Sweden. Many good ones were seen but they were slightly above the price range we were willing to pay for. Seen the most wonderful house in need of renovation, fantastic location but unfortunately too big project for us!

In the afternoon another estate agent meeting in Competa. The purpose was to see the townhouse with a swimming pool. It was very wonderful house, but the heavy 5 km uphill made us wonder….

This same broker had a “joker house” in her pocket, a new townhouse in the nearby village that was new in market and actually brought to the market in the same morning.

Driving around with broker’s car, four villages were seen; Competa, Canillas de Albaida, Salares and Canillas de Aceituno. After our tour, two village villages were deleted from our list, Canillas de Aceituno and Salares; they were just too far away from everything.

17 Feb 2017: New day and new spins. Check out of the hotel. Disappointed of the hotel and we decided to move us and our belongings to Competa. After a short search we found the awesome B & B - Casa-B. The local real estate broker escorted us up and down in the village but the disappointment was great. Most apartments that were visited did not match the adverts and the quality was just poor. I just waited the day to end :-(.

18 Feb 2017: Re-showing for the joker house in Canillas de Albaida. A renovated townhouse which turned out to be the absolute best seen! I could tick all the boxes – we can have an outdoor kitchen and 2 terraces! Wonderful!

19 Feb 2017: Deposit paid, fearful feelings, flight back home! ARGH what have we done!