Should you a buy a new or old property in Spain?

Does your dream home look more like a crumbling ruin surroundedby olive groves or a spanking new penthouse with designerapplicances? Here's our round-up of the relative merits ofbuying new-build versus resale properties.There are those of the Driving Over Lemons variety who can thinkof nothing more idyllic than buying a run-down barn in themiddle of nowhere which demands enough DIY to fill their everywaking hour over the next couple of years. And there are others(likely to faint if they ever meet a Lemon) for whom paradisemeans virgin marble floors, high-tech air con/heating/securitysystems and a shiny red Smeg fridge. These two contrasting breeds may be househunting within a fewkilometres of one another, but their visions of a Spanish idyllare planets apart. The growing desire among many people to experience 'real' Spain,and the budgetary constraints imposed by soaring property priceson the coast, have seen a shift in many buyers' demands fromwanting something on a seaside urbanisation to somewhere inlandand more authentically Spanish .While the average price for a decent apartment in Costa del Solis now around 300,000 euros, head 20km inland to towns such asCoin, Antequera or the less discovered (and hence far cheaper)likes of Alora or Casabermeja and suddenly your 300,000 euroswill stretch to a townhouse or finca with a chunk of land and aswimming pool. Similarly, prices in desirable coastal spots ofnorthern Costa Blanca such as Moraira o...

...r Javea break the budgetsfor many second home buyers. But buy in a beautiful inland town such as Pego, Xativa orBocairent and you can luxuriate in a spacious house (in thelatter, still often for a five-figure sum) and be on the beachwithin half an hour of leaving your back garden. So the price is often far more appealing when you look forsomething a bit more rural. And the range of properties wider,more individual and with more character when you step beyond therealm of identical two-bedroom apartments on the coast. But whatabout the other considerations - like how far your Spanish willstretch when no one around speaks a word of English, how you'llfare in winter when street life is reduced to nil, or how muchof a struggle it can be to install a landline in a ruralproperty. Agents report that many prospective buyers go on aproperty-viewing tour thinking the rural idyll is for them - andgo home having put down a deposit on a new apartment in apurpose-built block. Suddenly all notions of spending their days DIYing, cleaning theswimming pool every morning and learning the Spanish subjunctivego out of the window when faced with the alternative of asparkly, clean apartment or townhouse on a maintained complexwhere you can just dive in the pool without having to rake outthe leaves first. And where, when you're feeling lazy, everyone speaks Englishanyway and the local supermarket has all your favourite brandsfrom back home. Buying a new-build proper...

...rty can also mean buyingoff-plan, which is another proposition altogether. Then you needto be the kind of person who has a good imagination of what theplot of land you've just pumped your money into is going to looklike in two years' time - and the patience to wait while itmaterialises. On the plus side, you know that you will be the first person toever step in that property. You fingerprints will be the firstto grace that Smeg door, and hopefully you'll have bought at anearly stage which means the price will already have risen by thetime the property reaches completion. Also, new-build specifications are extremely high now, as buyersbecome more knowledgeable and a slowing market means they can bemore demanding and developers compete by offering top notchfixtures and fittings and discount golf club fees to pull in thepunters. What about fears that you've just handed over a big wad of cashto a dodgy developer who doesn't even own the land? It'scertainly the case that some disreputable developers havepersuaded gullible buyers to spend their money on little morethan fresh air. But if you buy off-plan through a developer affiliated toLighthouse Spain, you can rest assured that the developer hasthe relevant planning permission, bank guarantee and licenses tobuild - and that they adhere to a Code of Ethics which regulatesevery part of the process. So the choice is up to you. What's itto be - DIY and lemons or a clean swimming pool and fancyfridge?