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| This corner unit is ours! All the way at the end of the walkway is the Mediterranean Sea. |
You heard some of the stories of looking at different houses. We actually found these townhouses when we first came looking at Valencia about a year ago. We had been given several areas to look at by our supervisors (I think I told y'all this...) and this area was one of them. I LOVED the area right from the start because it was so quiet. We are so different from the average Spaniard. Most Spaniards like to be right in the center of the city, near everything so that they don't have to drive anywhere... they like everything at their fingertips.
I on the other hand, like to be "out"enough to breathe. :) La Patacona is right on the outskirts of Valencia... and as I'm sure you have picked up along the way... it is RIGHT on the beach. This is another thing that is so strange to us Americans. These townhouses are right on the beach... well, they are as close to the beach as you can get in this area. But, because it is out a little bit from the city, it's LESS expensive to live here. HA! Wes and I still shake our heads... we found the closest major grocery store and it has the most impressive views! It's parking lot is LITERALLY beachfront property. In our minds, it's such a waste! Such valuable property... used as a parking lot! But, of course, from their standpoint, it's not part of the city center; so it's not as valuable.
Anyway, we found these townhouses a year ago; but at the time, there were none available. We loved the area, but the only 4 bedroom places in this area were these townhouses. Apparently, according to the realtor we spoke with a year ago, they don't come available too often. We knew this before we even went Stateside, so I was praying that if the Lord didn't want us in Patacona, that there wouldn't be a single town home available... b/c I knew my heart would be drawn here if there was one available... that is how much I liked this area!
Well, when we got here, there was one open, and one ABOUT to come available. We looked at the first one (it was really a mess and Wes hated the ugly green color all the way through the house), and then we emphasized to the realtor that we were in a big hurry. The second one wasn't going to be available to see for another week, but we were really hoping to make a decision before a week was up. We figured we'd move forward and just see what the Lord opened up.
As we looked all over the city, we kept coming back to Patacona to look around. As we walked through one of the streets, we found one townhouse (an end-unit) that was "for rent by owner." So, we immediately called and asked to see the place. This guy wasn't too eager to rent, to be honest. I think he was really wanting to sell it. Anyway, we talked him into showing it to us... then we had to talk him into lowering his price a little bit, b/c we had a budget set by our company. He agreed to the price and then we set the contract in motion.
He had a number of things in the contract that we couldn't do... the biggest thing being that he wanted us to pay the yearly taxes on the house. He wasn't willing to budge on that one. In the meantime, the other townhouse came open and we decided to walk through it. We definitely liked the end-unit better, but there were definite pluses to the second one, as well. Since the first guy wasn't willing to change the contract, we went forward with the second townhouse. They dragged their feet in answering every little thing we asked about. At the time, it was frustrating to us; but if they hadn't, we would've signed the very first day we started the process with them. We worked out all the details, but they were still dragging their feet and said they wanted their daughter, who was a lawyer, to look at the final contract. We were going on several days and still hadn't heard anything when the FIRST guy changed his mind and decided to agree to our terms. It was so crazy! I had really given up on that first place... it was definitely my first choice, but I really had thought that the Lord was closing the door.
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| This is looking left out of the gate of our house. LOVE being able to see the sea from our balconies and any time I walk out the front gate! |
The things we really liked about this townhouse was:
(not in any significant order)
1) It was a 4 bedroom and definitely big enough for our needs (4th room to be used as an office for Wes.)
2) It had a garage so we could store our bikes
3) The garage was big enough to fit our van
4) It has a fireplace!
5) There were cafes and restaurants within walking distance
6) There were two little "tiendas" within walking distance that have food and fruit and veggies, so that when Wes is out of town, I could walk and get food.
7) It was an end unit, so we only had neighbors on one side... and lots more windows and light!
8) Since it was an end unit, the patios were a lot bigger, giving us better space for when we host our outreaches in our home.
9) The school was within walking distance
10) Outside our gate was a pedestrian walkway, so the kids could go out there and kick the soccer ball around.
11) It had two little "storage rooms" in the basement that would work nicely for a little play room for Carolina and a Wii room for the boys. :)
12) There was a bus stop VERY close to the house, so we could easily take the bus into the city.
13) And... of course... it's so close to the BEACH!
So, needless to say... we signed the contract for the end-unit the very next day and started everything in motion!
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