Best area to live

Alicante is a very calm and beautiful city. Therefore, it seems to me that you will like it there. We rested there last year, we really enjoyed it.

Hi.
We attended the home in the sun exhibition in Manchester and saw the great prices in this neighbourhood.
I asked the same question and the reply I got was that it was working class with lots of immigrants and not described as a smart area.
Put us off but not sure what  are good areas with reasonable prices.
Dave

Thanks, Westfield1760.  I was thinking along those lines myself.  Might have a re-think.

Even though it is very inexpensive to live there, I will not live there if I was you!!  Carolinas, Benalua, San Gabriel, San Blas are better places to live.  Monica

We are recently arrived retirees, so the cost of rent was always an issue. Still, we wanted a decent apartment with two baths, at least three bedrooms, a view of the water, indoor parking and a storage room. We found all of that within our budget in San Gabriel. We've been here three months and love it.

We opted to rent, but there are a lot of fairly new apartments here and I see units for sale. I hear there may even be two penthouse units on the market in our building.

Happy hunting!

Do you have the names / details of any agents in the area ?
Thanks

I know the real estate situation in Spain is structured differently from what we are used to in the US (i.e. no MLS), but I'll ask the agent we contacted for this apartment if it is something he can help you with. To avoid commercializing this site, drop me an email ***and we can continue this conversation offline.

Hi all

We have been thinking of relocating to Spain, not sure which area, relocating to retire with two cats.

Alicante I here isn't that nice is that why the villas are so reasonable.

We [US expats] find Alicante to be a livably-sized Spanish city with a lot to offer. There is not the throng of English-speakers you'd find in Benidorm or Malaga ... and I think that's a big plus. If the purchase prices for real estate are low, it is more likely because of supply and demand than the quality of life.

We chose to rent just because we could get a lot for a reasonable price and not tie up all our cash. If you are on the fence about it, rent for awhile and see what you like before you commit to a purchase that may take a long time to sell if you decide to move on.

Makes sense to rent I guess before buying.

If you look at the rental cost versus the cost to buy (as a ratio) you find that rents are lower than in most areas of US, and I suspect that is also true of other places as well.  So it makes some financial sense to rent. 
On top of that, I have seen that it can take a LOT of time to sell a place, if you decide you don't like the location or your purchased property for some reason.  We know of an Italian couple, they bought immediately, and very quickly found that the neighborhood was very noisy until early in the morning; and are now stuck in the unit.
It's not clear to me also how easy it is to get your money out of a property.  I see pisos/villas listed for sale, lets say Eu 200k.  But that does not consider the tax on sale (10% where we live).  So, you would be into a property for the 200k plus 20k.  If you turn around and sell it, you would need to resell it for 220k to recoup the tax you paid.  Which you probably won't be able to do for at least a couple of years, maybe 3.
Regards

Goips wrote:

Alicante is a very calm and beautiful city. Therefore, it seems to me that you will like it there. We rested there last year, we really enjoyed it.

Same experience here. Great time and enjoyed our stay. Simply beautiful there.