We are heading into Springtime in Valencia with the weather warming up nicely this week until next weekend when it actually looks more like summer. The Valencian fiestas are starting up leading to the 15th to the 19th of March when Fallas essentially closes the city down (And yes, we are closed on those dates) As Springtime is coming and the Almond trees are now in blossom, some fantastic walks to be had around the Valencia region to enjoy the colours in full swing by the way, we thought that today we would show you some properties that are available with great gardens to enjoy for the Springtime and going into Summer.
Also at the end for those of you who haven’t listened to the latest podcast we have a link for that and also a little description of some of the worst properties we have seen in the last year. They are worth reading about. Let’s go and to see more photos of each one just click on the main image and the property will open on a new tab.
La Pobla de Vallbona Villa 260K
Those of you who have been paying attention will know that we here at VP are fans of La Pobla de Vallbona. Why? Well, it’s a 20-minute drive to Valencia city, also on the metro line and the price per square meter is a lot cheaper than its neighbouring town of La Eliana. Basically, your money goes further here. The town itself is a decent size and has everything you need at hand. But don’t take my word for it, our own head honcho Graham has been living out this way for years and will happily extol the virtues of L.I.L.P. (Livin’ in la Pobla).
“La Pobla is a town with no pretensions, a working town where people get on with their lives without showing off. It has everything you could want in a medium-sized town from a superb sports centre to plenty of supermarkets and local shops, cafes and even excellent quality restaurants. A small town and community feel just 15-20 minutes from Valencia” G.H.
As to the property itself, 260K gets you close to 2000m2 of land, including an immaculately maintained garden, an allotment with various fruit trees, a tennis court and a swimming pool. The house is a sizeable 308m2 bungalow with 4 bedrooms. There is a garage with space for 2 cars but could just as easily be used as a workshop, man/woman cave, studio or whatever you like. And of course, you have the ubiquitous paellero or outdoor kitchen.
Go a kilometre or two down the road and you can add another 100k onto this price tag if not more. Great place, great views, great price and unlikely to be on the market for long.
Easy Maintenance Garden on Corner Plot 315k
This is a great house at a competitive price but you will need to make some choices… we’ll get to that later. Built 14 years ago at the end of a quiet road but higher that the other houses so you get great uninterrupted views around from your huge rooftop terrace, this property is on a manageable plot size of 360m2 and has some rather excellent palm and banana trees around it.
The main part of the house is on two floors. Downstairs we have a huge living room, bathroom and large kitchen. The living room could easily be split to include an office and still have plenty of space. Upstairs we have three bedrooms (Currently), two bathrooms including the en-suite and a large terrace which also leads up to the fantastic roof terrace where you really should be putting a shedload of solar panels and a chill out area under a wooden pergola so you can admire the daytime views and the nighttime stars. Off road covered parking and a reform where the owner has put in a new boiler, bathrooms and kitchen. Not at all shabby.
However I did say you need to make some choices. The current owner was getting some work done and it is shall we say a little unfinished, let down by builders who walked off the job after getting paid (Always use our trusted contractors not cowboys like this), and it’s maybe not the best use of the space.
The main bedroom has an open plan bathroom with a circular bath right in the middle of it and let’s just say the builders let him down massively with their work and he is thinking of changing it back. I’d suggest you take a look and see if you like it first and if you don’t then it is resolved with a couple of walls, a bit of tiling and job’s a good’un. Because of this the owner has dropped the price to below local market values to allow you to do the work you want to.
The other issues are the staircase, careful there with no bannister currently, and a wall and wardrobe that was taken out, so what was a room is now a landing essentially and unfinished. This will probably be remedied but don’t be surprised if you get there and it isn’t. You have been warned.
Locationwise the property is great in the Maravisa estate just outside La Pobla de Vallbona and L’Eliana, both within five minutes drive, three minutes from Carrefour and just a fifteen minute drive into Valencia. There is a community pool and padel courts and plenty of country walks nearby. Worth a look for sure.
Large Villa in Villamarchante 295k
It’s March, and Fallas is upon us for a few days of fancy fireworks, deafening Mascletas, huge monuments that get burnt on the last day, and endless tins of flat Amstel, nothing much in the way of work gets done and its kind of like Marmite or Horchata, something you either love or hate, but certainly worth experiencing at least once.
Anyway, once the party is over the clocks will change and we’re back into lighter nights, warmer weather and a lots of people arrive in Valencia ready to start their search for the family home, holiday getaway or even a villa to use and enjoy now and again then occasionally rent out to friends and family to cover the costs. Requirements usually include plenty of bedrooms and good outdoor space but not an overwhelming plot that will eat into your precious leisure time and weekend barbecues and pool parties .
So here we have something that will suit quite a few of you, just a short drive to the bustling town of Villamarchante on the Monte Horquera urbanisation, a large and well maintained house, quiet and private and ready to go with excellent distribution and space to spread out, covered terraces, storage unit, wood shed, a tree house for the little ones, summer kitchen, a brilliant alfresco dining area and a pool that just needs the pump turning on for a few days to get it ready for all the guests, a viewing is definitely recommended and several of our clients live locally, so why not come and see why they chose Villamarchante.
Large Villa For Family and Friends in L’Eliana 669K
Well I had an amazing description lined up for this that was mainly made up of emojis*, kind of like a fun for all the family, interactive and engaging experience, then the website wouldn’t let me upload it, and the property portals would have probably had a hissy fit so maybe it’s just as well.
And now here’s some boring blurb about a very good house in L’Eliana.
A spendidly tranquil villa in a quiet corner of Montealegre in L’Eliana, but still within a walkable distance to the town when you want to see some action, get some supplies, and sample the many restaurants and bars.
The large plot contains several constructions of garage, study and storage areas, W.C, and summer kitchen with an established garden, whilst the house is a well kept, manageable and mainly single storey that includes 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, kitchen and comfortable living room that leads to the shaded covered terrace and views to the large pool.
A fantastic home with tons of space for a family to spread out, and you can invite all your friends, theres more than enough room for the summer pool parties and barbecues and they can even sleep over in one of the annexes.
You social butterfly!
*And if you’re interested I can whatsapp the groundbreaking, original and visionary piece I had prepared
Countryside Villa Near Lliria 225k
Great villa in the countryside not far (5kms) from Lliria town. A nice pool and views right across the surrounding countryside. There are orange, lemon and olive trees, and also a lawn area.
This house has 4 bedrooms and a large shaded terrace to enjoy the long warm summer evenings, and indeed the bright sunny winter afternoons. There is air conditioning already installed.
A property with great potential, its the right size, with a good pool and a decent plot (1400m2). Ready to move into immediately, or if you prefer for a small bit of further investment you could really turn this lovely country villa into your perfect country villa. We can help you with all of that, just get in touch.
Ribarroja Villa With Large Garden and Pool 225K
This property is between Loriguilla and Riba-Roja, in the countryside but really only a few minutes’ drive from town, and 20 minutes from Valencia city. Also very close to Valencia airport. In fact, if you have guests coming in, you could wait until you see the plane has landed before popping out to pick them up.
And with three double bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, there is plenty of room for guests. it also has a summer kitchen and a separate garage/outhouse, which both might be potential guesthouses with a bit of renovation. The house is on over 2500m2 of land, including a well-maintained lawn and a large swimming pool (11×8 metres), and a productive vegetable and fruit garden.
It is in very good condition and is ready to move into. If your idyllic life in Spain involves growing your own oranges and avocados in between doing lengths in your larger-than-most swimming pool, this is the property for you, call us.
Huge Villa With Lovely Garden in Ribarroja 598k
(Ok, grammar police, I know we need an apostrophe there but it screws up the feed)
Currently my favourite property on the site, here’s a cheerful and colourful Villa, filled to the rafters with the signs of the busy modern family, boogie boards, padel boards, fishing rods, mandolins, piano, harp, gymnasium and sauna, art studio, thousands of books, dartboard and even a shelf of scary dolls, it reads like the prize list from Bullseye*. You name it, these owners do it, and I’m sure many years of strenuous activity has worn them out so they need to sell, downsize their lifestyle and put their feet up.
Take away all these items and you are left with one big villa in a fantastic area of La Eliana, Montepilar, close enough to walk into the town and hop on the metro for trips to school, Valencia and even down to Cabanyal if you are in no rush.
6 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms, huge living areas and kitchen, laundry, basement, garage, a loft style study rumble room on the top floor, a large established garden with pool and lovely barbecue area, it comes with central heating, A/C , double glazed tilt and turn windows, (just ask), mosquito screens, ceramic and parquet floorings throughout, a cool retro fireplace and everything is excellently maintained. Phew, what a great place, I think I need a lie down aswell.
*Popular sunday teatime gameshow in the UK about a hundred years ago.
Lazy Spanish Villa in the Foothills of Naquera 260k
Set in the foothills of the Sierra Calderona but at the very top of the San Miguel urbanisation we find this lovely villa that couldn’t look any more Spanish unless you put some castanets, a straw donkey and flamenco dress hanging up in the courtyard, marvellous, I always say you can’t beat an easy sterotype and mildly offensive generalisation. Olé mis cojones. 🙂
Anyway, this large property has tons of character and potential with some nice original features, terraces, gardens, roof top observation deck and whoever built it loved a good arch or three, (I counted 19), there are also 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, living room with an awesome fireplace, kitchen, dining room, garage and store room, currently it has 0 swimming pools but there’s room for one or even two or three at a push but not 19 to match the arches and you can probably do an infinity and make the most of those countryside views.
A quick drive to the town and the urbanisation bar and sports facilities are just a short walk downhill, if you’re not too busy slurping vino, making paella and having siestas.
Maybe we can see it, mañana or some other time, no me agobies, hasta pronto muchachos….
Semi Self Sufficiency In Albalat 175k
The rising price of Avocados and the dream of self sufficiency that made Richard Briers into an eco tyrant and Felicity Kendall into the muse of many wannabe urban allotment owners might inspire you to take a punt on this neat little house just outside the town of Torres Torres to the North West of Sagunto. If that doesn’t then the price might do.
You have around 2000m2 of plot mostly filled with an array of fruit trees, including 4 of the aforementioned Avocados, and potential to develop more of the grow your own market means that this is not a house for the faint hearted or those, like myself, with the total opposite of green fingers. It’s not a place to have as a holiday home, it needs to be lived in and the gardens tended to.
The house itself has four bedrooms, all doubles, a bathroom, toilet, kitchen and living room with plenty of outside terraces and shady seating areas. There is a deep pool which needs filling to enjoy taking the edge off the heat, nice countryside and mountain views and there is good mobile coverage meaning you can tether your Netflix habit to your phone. Off road parking for a few cars if required but make sure to bring the bug spray, that’s what you get with a lot of trees.
Utter Luxury in Rocafort 1.475m Euros
Now it might come as a surprise to a lot of you but these listings are not done by a fancy AI, algorithmically generated to maximise clicks, based on the latest Search Engine Optimisation theories. No, there’s a real live human at the other end here, and sometimes I need a break too.
So here’s my guided relaxation for you loyal reader
1. say ‘Hey Google/Alexa/Siri – play Lo-fi music’
2. Take off shoes, socks, tight trousers, whatever as long as you don’t get distracted and/or arrested
3. Look at and lose yourself in these photos of this beautiful villa in Rocafort. The azure skies, aquamarine pool, magenta bougainvillea and really green grass (gap in the market there for other words for green).
Now, wasn’t that nice? Of course this villa is quite expensive, and we can’t all afford that. But if you are one of the fortunate ones, and you’d like to have a closer look, give us a call and we’ll visit.
I’d put my pants back on first though.
Which is your favourite garden of those above? Self sufficiency in Albalat or manicured gardens in Rocafort? Whichever one it is, if it were for me I’d still need a gardener as I’ve not got green fingers at all. So for now let’s move on to the podcast.
Latest Valencia Property Podcast
In the latest Valencia Property podcast we finished off our full guide to saving money on your Valencia Property purchase. Take a listen at the link below. It’s a must listen for those of you wanting to maximise your funds when buying a property along with part one, which you can listen to here.
The Worst Properties We Have Seen Recently
Sometimes the places we visit are fantastic and beautiful, offering exactly what the clients are looking for and the most difficult decision is which to choose. Sometimes we get to see the opposite. This happens when the client has favourites they have seen online and despite our warnings they still want to see them, just to scratch that itch. Let’s take a look at three of the worst I have seen this year.
The Dog Pee Duplex
I think my favourite of the awful places we had to see was one that was described as a duplex apartment with large terrace in the Carmen in Valencia. It was five bedrooms, just one bathroom but a large space supposedly.
When we got there we had a few surprises, one of the rooms was closed because they had a dangerous dog in there but of course we already knew they had a dog because every wooden door frame was shall we say “damp” from the dog continuously marking its territory in the apartment. Rotting wood from dog pee isn’t something that people usually describe as one of their must haves in a flat. So we couldn’t see that bedroom but that didn’t matter as another bedroom was supposedly the same size. We couldn’t get two people into that one at the same time because it was their junk room. (Honestly every room was a junk room but this was their official junk room)
We could see the main bedroom though, yay! And that one of course had the obligatory exorcist cross over the dark wooden bed and broken blinds meaning the single bare 40 watt bulb didn’t really dispel the gloom. But the most glorious feature is that the apartment wasn’t a duplex at all, it had two floors but they weren’t connected. There was a staircase between the junk room and the dog room, but it led to nowhere as the room above it had been sold to the neighbour to add onto their flat some 50 years previously so it had been closed off.
The other two bedrooms were above and below each other and in order to connect them you had to take a new staircase up from in one of them up to the other essentially losing both bedrooms. And then when you got upstairs the step out to the terrace was about half a metre high up the wall and the terrace itself was huge… However, you didn’t own most of it if you bought the property, you owned about 8m2 then there was a low fence and the rest of the terrace was for the community, so let’s just say that the lead photo of a huge terrace on idealista was somewhat misleading. So small terrace, no staircase, no connection, dog piss and full reform needed. Not the greatest flat we have ever seen. However, the client wanted to see it. We did warn them.
The Hole in the Ground
This may have been beaten by the hole in the ground though, at least there was something you could potentially work on in the previous one. We had a client over from the States to see some properties but he had really set his heart on one which he kept close to his chest until revealing that this was what he really wanted to see. I asked whether he knew what a render was? Because as you might be able to guess from that word a render essentially doesn’t exist. It’s a figment of the imagination of a designer and architect placed into reality via way of an advert on idealista.
Scheduled to be completed in 2026 as long as the clients put their cash down now, it looks dodgy as a property advert just because of the long timescale but when you know like we do with a little bit of background knowledge that the original sales brochure for this property came out in 2008, just before the great financial crisis, then you might be able to guess that we were a little more than sceptical.
The client insisted though, he still wanted to see it. So I said “you can go on Sunday morning but I can’t be there” and sent him the location. Imagine my surprise when I got a whatsapp at 11am and he messaged, “all I can see is an overgrown hole in the ground through a fence”. Yeah, me too. That’s it.
The “At Risk” Townhouse
And for today let’s go with a third choice of mine, a town house I fancied taking a look at for myself. Sometimes you see a project and you think “That might work” and sometimes you’re wrong. Well, that’s what I thought with this one. It was 45 minutes in the car from my home so a bit of a trek but things can always be worth it right? Right? Well not in this case. I got there and there was a suspicious smell of damp, not unusual in old houses that need a bit of a modernisation, or as in this case a lot of a modernisation…
The downstairs had been lived in some time ago and I suspect it had also been died in but not too recently. The upstairs was what is known in Spain as “Diáfano” meaning no tiles, no walls, no pipes, no nothing and then there was another floor under the roof from where I had various views of the sky from which light was flooding in from outside (The agent said water doesn’t get in when it rains, but Einstein wouldn’t have been able to explain how it avoided getting in.)
There was also a second building to the rear,… interesting. This part was sort of a car park but without any access for cars unless you built a road through the house, perhaps which originally there may well have been but for horses, pigs, goats etc… This building had three floors too and what estate agents would euphemistically describe as “Potential“. What it also had though was half a roof and the rest open to the elements whether that be the usual sun and warmth, good, or alternatively the occasional torrential tropical downpour, not so good. And the back building was higher than the front with a ramp down towards the back entrance of the house.
So you might be ahead of me here, where does the water go when that tropical storm hits? It most certainly wasn’t down that 10cm drain hole to the left of the back door I suspect and thus we have the full explanation of the damp issues downstairs I believe. Now the house wasn’t inherently terrible, it was priced decently but it was so huge that I suspect the modernisation would have been into six figures before it all got destroyed by the first flash flood caused by the gota fria of the autumn.
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