Alicante to Mar Menor - You can Still Find Cheap Property in Spain

The Murcia region in Spain benefits from some of the most beautiful coastlines of Europe. Nowhere else will you find so many fascinating contrasts - with Spanish Mediterranean architecture, magnificent mountain ranges and beautiful long sandy beaches. Real estate in Murcia is buoyant with many people from northern Europe looking for bargain property deals in Spain. Some choose to rent a home in Spain long term while they decide if they want a house in La Manga or one of the many golf properties in Spain. We have property for sale in El Campello, Spain as well as apartment sales in La Manga del Mar Menor. There are dream villas for sale in Spain to suit all tastes and budgets, we can arrange mortgages for buying property in Spain with both leading Spanish banks and the more familiar English banks that are represented here.

If you are looking for properties for sale in Spain, look no further than Villa Angels - your friendly real estate agent in Spain.

Costa Blanca South / Costa Calida

The Southern region of the Costa Blanca, differs vastly from the North. Where the mountains meet the coast in the North, the South provides a far flatter landscape with immense Salt Lakes dotted around the coastline. Some of these Lakes are operational and full of wildlife including the famous pink flamingos, and others have now become protected Natural Parks.

The beaches between Alicante and La Mata include some of the best in the whole region, for example, La Marina and Guardamar. The majority of the land in this area is protected with a vast expanse of pine forests separating the beaches and prohibiting further development making the area quite unique. There is a constant demand for property in the La Marina and Guardamar area and it is virtually impossible to find front line property on the beach side, however, there are still affordable new developments and resales just a few minutes drive away.

Just a little further down the coast and you will find yourself in the bustling town of Torrevieja. This is a busy town all year round and is home to many expatriates and Spanish nationals alike. Such are the facilities in Torrevieja, with everything you need on a day to day basis right on your doorstep, that many Spaniards choose the town for their own holidays -they have also been known to call it a holiday town for foreign residents!

As with several coastal towns in the Costa Blanca, Torrevieja and the Orihuela Coast have areas where the properties are mainly owned by expatriates. Many people find comfort living amongst their fellow country men, whilst for others it is to be avoided. Due to the numbers of foreigners moving to this area, there are many international facilities available, international schools and multi-lingual hospitals and health care to name a few. Whether you want to live amongst a British / Non Spanish European community, or live as the nationals do but have the international services close by - the choice is yours as both aspects are available.

Go past the Orihuela Coast and you will find yourself approaching the Costa Calida / Mar Menor. This is home to Europe's largest salt-water lagoon, with over 170 square kilometres of shallow water separated from the Mediterranean by a 13 mile peninsula known to most as La Manga. Along the coast of the Mar Menor you will find many small Spanish towns such as Los Alcazares and San Javier, where development of small residential areas are underway providing homes for both Spanish Nationals and foreigners.

One thing to note is that in all these areas there is an abundance of golf courses - you are never more than 15-20 minute drive away wherever you are! Also, thanks to the motorway links you are never far away from home, whether you land in Murcia or Alicante.

Karen Milacic is a graphic and web designer living as a British expat on the Costa Blanca for the past five years. Visit her other web sites at:http://www.costablancaworld.com; http://www.thedesignbusiness.co.uk; http://www.costablanca-webhosting.com

The 1960s Buff & Hensman-designed Wong House has a pool, a walled garden and downtown and ocean views.

It seems as though actress Scarlett Johansson had no sooner sold her old place in the Hollywood Hills than she and her husband, actor Ryan Reynolds, closed on a house in Los Feliz for $2.9 million.

Completed a few years ago, a Normandy-style estate was built to look a century old.

Glen and Linda Keane felt guilty about tearing down the O'Melveny family home. After all, John O'Melveny was part of a group of Los Angeles businessmen who formed Lake Arrowhead Co. in the 1920s and oversaw the lake's development into a popular resort destination.

The mortgage giant quietly launches the HomePath program, which offers subprime-era terms for buyers: minimal down payments, no appraisals, no mortgage insurance and lower minimum credit scores.

If you're a buyer with little cash or a small-scale investor looking for a deal on a foreclosed house, a little-publicized national lending program could be just what you need this fall.

How some of our previously featured properties have fared in the sales market.

Buff & Hensman-designed beach house

Lenders lose an estimated $310 million annually in undervalued short-sale transactions, according to a study released in August.

Question: I am fed up with my homeowners association and successive boards for sabotaging owner requests for records and refusing to fix maintenance problems in common areas that directly affect individual units. I believe I have no other choice than to sue the association and the boards. What are the steps I have to take?

Keeping tenant out over concerns of illegal activities may be viewed as a 'constructive eviction.' Such moves as changing the locks to prevent access can bring significant penalties.

Question: I own a couple of houses that I rent out for extra income. Unfortunately, they are not in the best part of our town. I have a tenant living in one of them who may be dealing drugs or doing something else illegal because the police have arrested him several times. Every time he is arrested he makes bail and returns to the house in a day or so. Even though he pays the rent on time, I realize that I can't continue to allow him to live in my house. My plan is to change the locks the next time he is arrested, so he can't come back into the house. I know that I need to protect his property inside the house if I do this, but my plan is to move his belongings into a storage locker. I can't afford a lawyer to file an eviction case, so this is my only alternative. Will I be OK if I do this?

July's increase from June in the National Assn. of Realtors' gauge for previously owned residences follows two straight months of declines and a report that sales of such homes dived 27.2%.

An index of home purchase contracts for previously owned dwellings unexpectedly increased 5.2% in July over June, the National Assn. of Realtors said Thursday, a modest note of good news for the U.S. housing market.

Treasury bond yields, which influence the home-loan rates, have surged since Tuesday.

Mortgage rates fell for the 10th time in 11 weeks, setting fresh record lows, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. But a rebound in Treasury yields in the last two days raises the possibility that home-loan interest costs won't fall again next week.

The home builder's stock soars 11% after an announcement that there will be no action taken as result of an investigation into the company's accounting procedures.

Shares of Los Angeles-based KB Home soared on Wednesday after the home builder said an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into the company's accounting and disclosure procedures had concluded and no enforcement action would be taken.