I didn’t set out to buy in Alicante. I set out to escape January.
After a few years out of the business world — buying one property in Bristol and mostly just being a mum — I was ready to do something that felt like me again. I wanted a reason to be in Spain regularly, somewhere that could become a normal part of our lives rather than just a holiday.
I grew up partly in Colombia — my mother was Colombian — but when we moved to London when I was eight, the advice at the time was to focus on English and not confuse me. So the Spanish faded. Since my son was born I’ve been clawing it back — daily podcasts, reading, speaking to him in Spanish even when it’s imperfect. Finding somewhere we could both be properly immersed felt like finishing something I’d started a long time ago.
In reality it didn’t quite work out that way — the property we ended up buying is let on medium-term rentals rather than available for us to stay in. But that’s the thing about this process: you go in with a plan and the market, the numbers, and the reality of the place reshape it. More on that later.
The first trip: testing the dream
In September 2024 I organised a family holiday to Valencia to see if the reality matched the algorithm. Every piece of content I’d been consuming was quietly pointing me somewhere sunny — Financial Times pieces about Southern Europe, Instagram reels of whitewashed streets and 25-degree winters, Google searches that kept drifting toward “best places to live in Spain.” Valencia kept coming up.
It did not disappoint. We loved it — the food, the light, the pace, the sense that life was being lived outside rather than endured inside. I came home and started doing serious research.
The return trip that changed everything
In February 2025 I went back, this time with my two-year-old son and a very different agenda. Part holiday, part research trip. I set up a call with a mortgage broker to understand financing options, and separately met with a wonderful seller-side estate agent — someone with deep roots in the local market and genuine knowledge of the area — to start understanding what was actually available and at what price. I also met with a notary to get the NIE process started. More on all of that in other posts — it’s a whole journey in itself.
At this point Valencia was still the plan. We had a budget. It felt achievable.
Then the market moved.
By the time we were ready to act, Valencia had repriced itself out of our reach. What had been within budget a year earlier simply wasn’t anymore. The city had been discovered — by digital nomads, by retirees, by investors — and the prices reflected it.
A chance conversation on the beach
The trip was structured around a long weekend with a friend, then a few days just me and my son, then my partner joining for the last five days. It was during that first stretch, on a beach in Valencia, that my son started playing with another family’s son. The parents had grown up in South Africa and were living in the UK — but actively planning to leave. They were scoping out areas, already decided on the move, looking for somewhere with a better quality of life.
They talked about what had drawn them to Alicante — mountains and sea within walking distance of each other, a pedestrian-friendly scale, good international schools, a welcoming expat community. The kind of place where family life could actually happen outdoors. Not a sprawling city, not a tourist trap. Manageable, sunny, and real.
I filed it away.
In the days between my friend leaving and my partner arriving — just me and my son — I got busy. I’d lined up property viewings in Valencia through the estate agent and through Idealista, trying to make the numbers work. They didn’t. The market had moved too fast.
My partner arrived, took over with our son, and the very next day I got the 7am train to Alicante.
One day. One train. One decision.
The plan was to view a property I’d been seriously considering. It was in a good location, well priced on paper, but when I got there it felt small for the money. I went and sat on Postiguet Beach afterwards, trying to give my brain a rest from the umming and ahhing.
That’s when I remembered something my uncle had mentioned — a company he’d seen online that sourced properties for buyers. He had no idea if they were legitimate. Neither did I. But I had time to kill and a decision I was going stale on, so I found them on my phone.
Asset1Invest. They had a WhatsApp chat feature, so I messaged them on a whim. They responded immediately and suggested a call. On the Zoom call — conducted entirely in Spanish — they noticed where I was sitting and suggested I walk five minutes to their office.
I did.
I met the two owners, their investor relations contact, and their admin team. We sat down and talked through the numbers, the taxes, the question of buying personally versus through a company. They were calm, knowledgeable, and they had answers to questions I didn’t even know I had yet. In the same building, downstairs, was the accountant and solicitor firm they worked with — who could handle the company setup, the legal work, and the ongoing accounting all in one place.
I walked out, sat on a bench by the port in the late afternoon sun, and called my partner.
“I think we should do this,” I said.
He said he trusted me.
We put down a deposit that afternoon — around €4,000 — to begin the property sourcing process. I got the 10pm train back to Valencia, where my partner and son were waiting at our Airbnb.
Why I’m telling you this
I’m not a property expert. I’m not a financial advisor. I’m a UK buyer who went through this whole process recently, mostly remotely, with a toddler in tow, and figured it out as I went.
That’s exactly why this site exists. Because when I was sitting on that beach in the afternoon sun trying to make a decision, and later at midnight back in London Googling everything I didn’t know — I couldn’t find the honest version of this story anywhere. Just estate agents, currency brokers, and lawyers — all with something to sell.
This is the version with the real numbers, the near-misses, the things that nearly went wrong, and the people who actually helped.
If you’re thinking about buying in Alicante, start here.