Before I get onto the topic of villas in Spain, I want to tell you something about why I fell in love with Spain in the beginning. I first played around with the idea of moving to Spain about 20 years ago when I was a college student in Munich. I was studying languages in London, French and German, when I decided that I would love to visit Spain on a small break before I went back home. So, I took a trip to Barcelona for the last week before I was about to return to university. That week made me fall in love with not only Spain as a country, but also its culture and its people.

So, it took me over five years to get back to Spain, which I did for a full summer this time. In the meantime back home I started studying Spanish and now had a fairly good grasp of the language. I decided it was time to purchase a property in Spain. Almost as soon as I began my search I came across a hillside finca which was selling for next to nothing. It needed so much work putting into it that I knew it would take me a long time before I ever moved in. Having said that I spent the next three summers in Spain working on that house until it was just the way it wanted.

There are huge differences today in the land of Spain and why people are trying to purchase property there. When I first moved to Spain, the tourist industry was just starting to pick up at a good pace. The amount of holidaymakers who were deciding to spend their money on Spanish property as an investment was increasing year by year. So, if you're thinking of going out that way and you want some advice on how to go about buying a villa in Spain then the first thing that I would suggest that you do is to learn some of the language. Although this is not absolutely essential if you are only planning on going to Spain as a holidaymaker, it is absolutely essential if you're going to make the move permanent. Many people move to Spain and get by with absolutely no Spanish at all, but this only lets you stay within your own communities, you can never intermingle with the Spanish and get to know their wonderful culture, it's just impossible.

The second piece of advice I would give you when you are trying to buy a Spanish property is that if it is at all possible, you should move there for the amount of time that you will be spending looking for your perfect property. It's a lot easier to try and find a property when you are actually there than it is to search for one while you are commuting backwards and forwards.