Yes, we know it’s Xmas time and many of you are looking forward to eating and drinking far too much over the festive period so today we thought that rather than giving you more to think about we’d look at our greatest hits from 2022 on a month by month basis. A post you can dip into and out of as you wish to read the most important or sometimes the most popular posts we have produced on the blog this year and also a look back to some images we have taken this year. Without further ado therefore, let’s look at 2022 on Valencia Property month by month.
January
Our first post from the year which really seemed to resonate with people was this little late night thought about the little things that make living in Valencia so good.
“We often write in these blog posts about how good Valencia is in terms of lifestyle. We show you images of properties and areas that show Valencia “in the whole” and give you a broad overview of what awaits you in the city and around. On our social media channels we show you impressive views, great properties, Valencia Blues, the stunning countryside and news about what is happening in and around the city. We even once posted an epic image based post about 112 Reasons for Moving to Valencia. However today we are going to focus on some of those little things that make Valencia a satisfying place to live. Things that we often overlook but increase the liveability of the city. Take a look at 20 great little (and not so little) things about Valencia.”
January Image of the Month
Taken on a Sunday morning walk above Cullera as a sea mist rolled in leaving just the highest skyscrapers visible.
February
On Valentine’s day we produced our most popular post of the year, it came from a podcast which remains our most listened to podcast all about timelines.
Those of you who listen to the podcast will have heard about the timelines you need for buying Valencia Property back in episode one (You can get it here and while there listen to our other episodes and subscribe). However, we know that there are some people who prefer reading to listening and therefore today we are going into a deep dive about the timelines you should be thinking about when looking to buy property in Valencia. Now this is an overview and for some people the timeline will change but as a general rule of thumb these are the stages and actions you should be thinking about.
When to Start Looking
You should start looking now, or better yesterday, or last week, month, or year and if you could then get a time machine go back five or six years and just buy everything you can and you will now be getting a great return on that investment. We recognise that time machines are a bit rare and would be extremely costly so start now because there’s no time like the present to start, so get looking.
February Image of the Month
A property in Denia taken by the drone after the purchase in February. Such a lovely place at ground level and from above. We gifted the owners their own drone video of their house and surroundings.
March
Our most popular March post really predicted the rest of the year with people looking to get into the market in order to rent out their property due to the large demand for rentals. It seems to be a worldwide phenomena that there is hardly anything for rent.
“The refrain we are constantly repeating on every call we receive asking us whether we have anything to rent is as follows:
“I’m sorry, we haven’t got anything”
Every day we receive calls, Whatsapps and mail asking us whether there are any flats for rental and we haven’t got anything. Now and again we get an apartment for rental and we are renting it out in days without a problem. As a potential Valencia Property buyer looking to acquire a property for rental this is good news of course as you have a large pool of potential tenants looking to move into your apartments.”
March Image of the Month
Unusually for March it rained and rained and there were storms all month. Fallas was almost ruined as there was just one hour of sunshine during the whole of Fallas. The image here is taken on the Patacona promenade which had become a part of Patacona beach.
April
It was a practical post which was our most popular in April. It may be true that you don’t want to open a Spanish bank account for many reasons however it’s almost always the case that you need to open a Spanish bank account. Find out why in this post.
“One of the main questions we get asked by clients looking to buy Valencia Property is why they need to open a Spanish bank account. Spanish banks aren’t known for being easy to deal with and they are certainly going to charge you commissions for just about everything you want to do, and for the mere fact of the existence of the account, so why on Earth would anyone want one? In today’s post we are going to let you know why and what to expect.”
April Photo of the Month
A colourful picture of the dome in the Central Market in Valencia. After the sun came back it was a much better time to take photos.
May
The explanation of concepts in the Spanish property market is often a popular theme so this one about the reserve payment and why it is becoming more normal struck a chord with many people it seems.
“This isn’t going to be an epic long post like some of our recent ones but it is quite important as it explains a concept that we have mentioned in passing before but as it is now becoming more the norm you should know more about it. We are talking here about the concept of the reserve payment to take something off the market while the owner considers an offer. What is the reserve payment and why is it becoming the norm?
Traditionally the process of buying a Spanish property, which you can read more about at the link, was simple, make an offer, wait until it is accepted or negotiated and then put a deposit down in the Arras contract. Things have changed because of the market which is blowing really hot”
May Photo of the Month
I wrote an article last year about iconic buildings and projects in Valencia and one of those buildings was nearing completion in May, the Ikon Tower. Set against a background of #ValenciaBlue and a foreground of cranes, the Ikon Tower units are almost all sold now!
June
Our most popular post in June came from a rant I had about Facebook. I often rant about Facebook and especially Expat Forums on Facebook so in this one I was happy to get something off my chest whilst at the same time explaining why weekends are generally a no no for property visits. That’s not true in many other countries but in Spain people like to enjoy life.
“I got riled by Facebook this week. I know, I know, I should just avoid it like an increasing number of people are doing but I couldn’t let it lie this time.
Apparently, according to people in Facebook groups at least, you cannot go to see properties in Valencia at the weekend because, and I paraphrase, “all agents are a bunch of workshy cowboys who don’t do anything to justify the commission payments they receive on making sales“. And as you know people in Facebook groups are reasonable people with considered opinions who are not know-alls at all and know everything about everything despite never having worked in any of the industries they opine on so it must be true right?”
June Photo of the Month
Not an image but a screenshot. Careful out there. The thieves are very thorough and might even steal family members.
July
In July our most popular post came right at the end and talked about the Big Red Flags you need to keep an eye out when you are looking to buy property in Valencia or Spain.
“Here at Valencia Property we like to feel that we help to make the buying process as painless as possible for our clients looking to purchase property here. We prepare things, talk with our clients before their visit and answer as many questions as they may come up with in order to get them prepared, then work hand in hand with them to a successful conclusion. We generally avoid the major problems that can come up when buying a Spanish property but now and again we are faced with situations that require experience and advice and this week we had one of those situations. Let’s take a look at that one and then tell you about the other big red flags that you should keep an eye out for when buying in Valencia or even when buying Spanish Property in general.”
July Photo of the Month
Taking advantage of a cricket match in the riverbed I took the drone up over the Baseball Ground and got a view of the Serranos Towers with the city of Valencia in the background.
August
August was for holidays so we didn’t upload a post until the end of the month. In this we announced the posts that were coming up so you could look forward to them and we actually produced all of them… eventually
“As you may have noticed there has been no movement on the blog in the last month. That’s because just like everyone else in Spain we essentially stopped for the summer. Our colleague Paul was around as his significant other likes working in August so he goes away at other times and he gave a great service to the few clients around while also listing some properties on our main site, you can see them on the Valencia Property homepage here.
Meanwhile, I was working my way around Europe on an interrail with the family visiting amazing places and planning what’s going to happen in the last part of the year. Over the next few weeks we will be updating the blog every week and bringing out a new podcast episode which is already partially written and we may be updating the main site in a big way but one that you may not notice for a time.”
See All Our Planned Posts and More Here
August Photo of the Month
I was interrailing my way around Europe for most of August as it was holiday time. Can anyone guess where this one was taken?
September
We were back firing on all cylinders in September after the summer hiatus and it seems that this was the month where we had the greatest number of visits to the blog with all the posts finding an attentive audience. The favourite though was this one about the features that people requested when buying a Valencia Property.
“About a year and a half ago we put up a post called the First Step to Buying Valencia Property. In it we included a form (You should fill it in by the way, I’ve included it below) where we asked for your must haves, would likes and definitely must not haves. I think it has been our most useful post ever on the site as it gets people thinking about what they really want when they are looking to buy property in Valencia and we get more of an idea of what people really want before they come over.
Since we published it, hundreds of people have filled in the form and therefore we have a lot of data regarding people’s requirements and we are able to present today an overview of what people are looking for when they look to buy a Valencia Property.”
Click Here to Find Out The Most Requested Features
September Photo of the Month
We kept the heat in September and with it came spectacular sunsets. This one taken on an evening walk just outside La Pobla de Vallbona was particularly special.
October
There was hot competition for the prize for the most popular post in October so as we can’t really split them we have two. The first was this one about the best neighbourhoods in Valencia.
“We recently listed a property in Benimaclet and described it somewhat controversially as the best neighbourhood in Valencia. The author of the listing will now be called to account at our next meeting sometime in the dim and distant future and if they can’t justify that description they will be summararily executed of course. However, some people agree that Benimaclet is the best, or at least one of the best, neighbourhoods in Valencia, even though it is largely overlooked.
Today though we thought we would look at the candidates for that title, why they are popular, who they are popular for and where they are in the city so that you get more of an idea of the layout of Valencia and what surprises may lie in store for you around every corner.”
Find Out All About The Best Neighbourhoods Here
The second post in October as mentioned above was our article about the rental crisis in Valencia. It has been probably the most effective article we have ever published in encouraging people to buy in Valencia.
“We offer a rental service among our many services and we get many clients wanting to rent a property in Valencia before buying their final Valencia Property. However, we are currently not taking any new clients for the rental service as Valencia has a rental crisis at the moment in the same way that many other cities and countries do.
Whether it’s pandemic driven, greed driven or for any other reason Valencia finds itself in a rental crisis and this is a problem for both the local population and for anyone looking to move to Valencia for medium or long term living. We cannot charge for a service when we cannot guarantee that we will get a positive result.
Today therefore, we are going to look at the current situation, the background and possible opportunities or solutions for this rental crisis”
Fnd out more about the rental crisis here.
October Photo of the Month
It was still beach weather in October but essentially you would have had Valencia beach to yourself. Valencia’s beach is huge and doesn’t get full even in the summer but in October it’s all yours.
November
In November there were two articles again that really resonated with people. The first is obvious and is about Spain’s upcoming digital nomad visa. However, as the definitive details are still not out there we will go with our other very popular post this month which was all about how to work with us at Valencia Property.
“We keep getting more and more requests to help people with their purchase of Valencia Property. There has been a large uptick in requests in the last two weeks since we published our articles about the rental crisis in Valencia and the new digital nomad visa in Spain. It’s really gratifying to see so many people trusting us with their most important purchase in Spain. As the most experienced, twenty years plus and counting, and trusted (see our reviews), estate agency in the area we take this responsibility towards our potential clients seriously and continue to build relationships with them right from the start of their Valencia Property journey.
Nevertheless, we still get people contacting us when they only have a couple of days left of their visit and they have been disappointed by their property visits with other agencies and their experience in the Valencia Property market.
Usually at this point it is too late for us to help you because we are stacked up with our own clients who have booked their visits weeks and months before and firefighting is not our speciality.”
Find Out More About How to Work With Us Here.
November Photo of the Month
Still lovely late autumn weather gives opportunity to get out into the mountains and walk. One of our favourite haunts for these walks is Olocau and the low sun combined with the Autumn colours gives a really nice atmosphere at this time of year.
December
The overview of the market in 2022 was popular as was the final draft of the long promised Craft Beer Crawl but what people really liked, while wondering which client they were, was the which type of client are you post. Please don’t be a Marvin!
“Here at Valencia Property we love working with our clients. We generally get really nice people to work with who we click with and we work very well together. This is probably because there is a natural filter on the website in the descriptions of the properties and the tone of both the descriptions and the blogs, irreverant, tongue in cheek, cheeky and light.
It’s not for us to be the suited and booted agents you find elsewhere, dry and without any defined personality. Some people may prefer that and as a result we might not see them as they won’t get in touch with an agent that describes a house to the tune of a Mariah Carey song, one that is described as An Ecumenical Matter or one that talks about my semi-obsession with Baileys. They’ll just go with the agents wearing ties that describe square metres, bedrooms and double glazing. (You can find those details in the features part of our website but there’s no point describing a window now is there?)
However, not every client that comes through is our ideal client just like we aren’t the ideal agent for some people, so today we are going to take a look at the types of clients we sometimes get. As usual it’s tongue in cheek, not at all serious and don’t think that next year we will be using you as an example, we wouldn’t do that! With thanks to David for most of the suggestions below, let’s go, and let’s hope you are not a Tom, a Freddie, a Patrick or most importantly, a Marvin”
Find Out About All Client Types Here
December Photo of the Month
Still warm, still colourful, Valencia in winter still has the #ValenciaBlues to admire and remember always to look up in Valencia as the architecture is something else. This is at the Mercado de Colón.
Our Prize Draw Winner
Finally we got to the end of December and we made our prize draw. Thanks for all of the reviews and for sending them to us. It was all a bit confusing in the end because we were sent links to reviews and sometimes weren’t able to see them so we had to ask for screenshots too. (Apparently this is because if you don’t follow us on FB we cannot see the review but Google reviews remain a mystery when they cannot be seen.) We gave all of the entries a number and then used our favourite method of a random number generator to pick the winner.
And the winner is…
Number 17 (As you can see we had 29 verified entries). And number 17 belonged to Ian Tunnacliffe. So congratulations Ian. We will arrange to meet up and hand over the prize at your convenience next time you are in town. You can read the review below.
The Second Prize Draw
This is a map that I still need to get framed (or not if I need to send it somewhere) so this draw won’t be happening until January when I get back from Northern Spain. Remember that this draw was for people who had already given us a review in previous years or those who gave us a review about the blog and website. Therefore you still have time to review us on either Google or Facebook about the blog and website. We currently have just over 30 entries so a decent chance of winning I think.
Property of the Week
It’s Christmas week, and we’re warming our chestnuts on an open fire (insert smutty joke here), which is all very nice, but really its only a distraction to get us through the winter. Its almost the shortest day, and then starts the slow climb back towards the summer, the sun and hot temperatures everyday. Was it really only 4 months ago when we were all complaining about the heat?
If you have been thinking about buying a property for those sunny summers, now is the time to go about it. Its much easier to visit these places in the winter, and in fact a lot of them are taken off the market by the owners in the summer, as they want to get one last bit of use out of them. For example this great villa in Orba, in the hills outside Denia. About 20 minutes from Denia town and similar distance to the beach.
A perfect sized plot (800m2), big enough for some space but not so big as to be unmanageable. A lovely pool and the house has 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms in total, including a bedroom, bathroom and kitchette in a studio apartment with separate access. Guest areas like this are always handy to have, a bit more privacy but also simple convenience for everyone.
The property faces west, and there are views to the horizon, so easy to imagine you spending those long hot summer evenings cooling in the pool while the watching the sunset. A long way from pretending to be excited about a mince pie and watching yet another rerun of Home Alone.
If You Liked This…
Then make sure to bookmark our site, favourite it and come back regularly because we will continue to add to the most comprehensive website about Valencia and Valencia Property in 2023 too.
For now though it’s goodbye until next year when we look forward to another record breaking year in Valencia. From Graham, David, Jess, Gavin, Paul, Maria, Diana and Pete and all of the rest of our extended team we wish you a Merry Xmas, a Happy New Year and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
If you want to start your Valencia Property journey then just click the image below to send us a mail so we can start working with you or fill in the form below.
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