Channel 4 A place in the sun CAVE HOUSES

Do you have a query about moving to Andalucia and buying property in Andalucia. Find out by posting questions and reading about other peoples experiences.
masterob
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 2165
Joined: Sun Nov 06, 2005 5:08 pm
Location: Previously Álora but now in Milton Keynes UK

Postby masterob » Fri Apr 06, 2007 11:54 pm

Rick. Yes that´s right, Coopers Creek is where Burke and Wills met their deaths. Was in Aussie 67-70. Worked briefly in Melbourne but most of the time in Canberra. Sydney was where we went to get away from the prim and trimmed environment of Canberra!! Good times and a great country. Promised to go back but not made it so far. I guess we are digressing from the world of Andalucia although the climate here reminds me a lot of Down Under! 8)

User avatar
Troglodyfae
Resident
Posts: 605
Joined: Sun Apr 02, 2006 11:20 am
Location: Pulpite

Postby Troglodyfae » Sat Apr 07, 2007 8:25 am

Not a problem Masterob, thank you for pointing this out, I could have spelt it incorrectly on the site. I have the spelling as Coober Pedy, which I took directly from the hotel there, so I assume they know how it should be spelt.

Retro P

Most of the rooms have glass panels in the doors which allows the natural light to flow into the rooms that do not have windows. Those that are further back and do not benefit from natural light are bedrooms. Price vary you can buy an unreformed cave house for as little as €12K and for large reformed cave houses I have seen them for €300K I actually have a cave hotel on my website and the asking price is over €300K.

Gretch I am claustrophobic and I thought this might be a problem living in a cave house, but really it is not. Most rooms have natural light the same as a conventional house, and the bedrooms are very dark and very quiet when you turn out the lights to go to sleep. There is something quite comforting about the sensation, womb like I guess !

tense n rowed
Tourist
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Jul 09, 2006 7:56 pm
Location: rincon

Postby tense n rowed » Sat Apr 07, 2007 9:25 am

BENIDORM wrote:We have stayed in a few cave houses, certainly different, I thought they

were great, but my Wife has always been nervous about them..

.Isn't there a problem with carbon monoxide building up?....I suppose

everyone has alarms fitted.etc.. :?:
No - just little yellow birds in cages.

User avatar
RichardCoeurdeLion
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 2545
Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:53 pm

Postby RichardCoeurdeLion » Sat Apr 07, 2007 10:25 am

Hi Masterrob

Yes The Med climate is very similar to a lot of Oz. Mind you when we went to Queensland it was very humid. Not surprising as it's in the tropics.
I agree about Canberra. Very staid. If you went back you would notice how it has become much more cosmopolitan now.

anewlife
Andalucia.com Amigo
Posts: 237
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:30 am
Location: Galera

Postby anewlife » Sat Apr 07, 2007 4:28 pm

I agree with everything Troglodyfae has to say about caves, as we live in one also, my parents do and a lot of the English people in our village (Galera) live here permanently in them too. We bought ours last July for a steal at 36,000€ (we have been renting one for 2 years) and are in the process of sprucing it up. We are just waiting for our kitchen to be fitted and the electrician to finish off putting in extra power points. When we bought it, we 'found' 5 more cave rooms and then some more behind another wall, but decided to leave these as there would have been too much work to do, but we have had the other 5 rooms reformed. All in all we have 13 rooms, including bathroom and kitchen, a utility room and a huge terrace with fabulous views. The nice thing about where we live now and where our new house is, is that we are amongst the Spanish - no English neighbours at all.

Prices are rising as they have become so popular. I wouldn't live in a conventional house now as they are too cold in winter and too hot in summer.

User avatar
RichardCoeurdeLion
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 2545
Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:53 pm

Postby RichardCoeurdeLion » Sat Apr 07, 2007 5:18 pm

Hi Anewlife

With your pueblo being Gale R A

And my name being Richard Andrew Gale, I guess I am obligated to live there, become mayor, father numerous illegitimate offspring etc.

What's it like? It looks handy for Cazorla national park. Never been there, have you?

PS Lied about Andrew :oops:

User avatar
dido72
Resident
Posts: 1274
Joined: Mon Sep 11, 2006 5:22 pm
Location: Antequera

Postby dido72 » Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:18 am

Come on then Rick, what is it?

Enquiring minds need to know :wink:

User avatar
RichardCoeurdeLion
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 2545
Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:53 pm

Postby RichardCoeurdeLion » Sun Apr 08, 2007 5:36 pm

Hamilton :D

Big Col

cave houses

Postby Big Col » Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:56 am

Hi all

I myself live in a 450 sq mtr 5 bed, 3 storey Casacuava, housing our complete family. (not a quite life i assure you!!.)
3/4 of the property is house with c/h,the other 1/4, cave.

In the winter cave bedrooms are noticebly warm, where as the house rooms have to have the c/h on on all the time, like wise in the summer it gets unbearble hot, when as the caves are cool!!!

From my business i know that interest in caves is rising, and even tommorow, we are moving a family from the coast to a Cave house in Galera!!

If you search for cavehouses on google you will be amazed in how these cave houses look, a lot of modern caves have the appearance of being a house. Some very very large with just the bedrooms being in the back cave. we moved a family last year into a cave house, massive place, looks like a mansion with beiutiful walled frontage, with enormous pool with seperate caves houses for rent, including a Indian restaurant!!! which is also always full!! the place is fantastic, and was featured on television.

all the best

BIG COL

User avatar
RichardCoeurdeLion
Andalucia Guru
Posts: 2545
Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:53 pm

Postby RichardCoeurdeLion » Mon Apr 09, 2007 12:09 pm

Saw it I think. The new owner traveled quite a way and bought a lot of kitchen stuff the a closing restaurant was selling

anewlife
Andalucia.com Amigo
Posts: 237
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:30 am
Location: Galera

Postby anewlife » Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:00 pm

Yeh, think it was Les from SIP who bought the La Zalona restaurant in Galera, realised as they haven't run a restaurant before would be difficult, so sold the kitchen stuff to the curry cave in el margen, which half the stuff didn't work, but fortunately managed to get everything up and running - good for them! I think Big Col will know who I am talking about!!

User avatar
claire4james
Andalucia.com Amigo
Posts: 148
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:22 pm

Postby claire4james » Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:52 pm

read the post about "finding" 5 more rooms and thought to myself, if you found 5 rooms, and your cave dwelling neighbour found 5 rooms etc etc, what would happen if one day you hear a knocking on the wall and suddenly someone comes into one of your rooms shouting to the wife "i've found another 13 rooms, AND they're all furnished!!!! lol

What is the legality of ownership ?
from La Cala with love...........

User avatar
Troglodyfae
Resident
Posts: 605
Joined: Sun Apr 02, 2006 11:20 am
Location: Pulpite

Postby Troglodyfae » Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:23 pm

Good Question. Many years ago and in all honesty, really not that many years ago, this would have happened as boundaries and plans had never really been drawn up for this sort of property. This situation though is rapidly changing as most estate agents now must have a copy of the Escritura or Nota simple. Without these documents you cannot establish a thing, least of all where your potential property starts and your neighbours ends.

Our particular property boundaries were marked with white stones, however we did have an escritura which we then had updated to reflect the changes we had made and those that the previous owners made. This ensured that our land and our cave were mapped and i now know which way both my neighbours caves lie and know where and which direction I can go, and also know that even if I found another five furnished rooms, I had actually gone way to far in the wrong direction.

That is all very well when you have this information to hand, but a very good friend of mine fell foul of the neighbours when she ended up digging into her Spanish neighbours chicken shed :oops:

It will get better and these situations will not occur again, but this is only if estate agents comply and overseas buyers are made aware that they should be able to ask for the above mentioned documents. I will not take a property onto my books without these documents, and so far so good, people seem happy to comply.

User avatar
dido72
Resident
Posts: 1274
Joined: Mon Sep 11, 2006 5:22 pm
Location: Antequera

Postby dido72 » Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:51 pm

How easy is it to get a mortgage on these sort of properties?
Is it the same as any house or are there any complications?

User avatar
Troglodyfae
Resident
Posts: 605
Joined: Sun Apr 02, 2006 11:20 am
Location: Pulpite

Postby Troglodyfae » Fri Apr 13, 2007 12:02 am

Most banks in this area give mortgages on cave houses no problem. I took out a very small mortgage on my property in order to do some building work whilst I was in the process of selling my other property and also setting up my business. Turned out to be a much cheaper option and also ensured that not all my money was tied in the business and the properties at one time.

As long as a person can satisfy the specific requirements for a mortgage you can, and will get up to 70%, however I have heard of 100% being given but not actually spoken to anyone who has done this, so for now I will treat this as heresay.

User avatar
dido72
Resident
Posts: 1274
Joined: Mon Sep 11, 2006 5:22 pm
Location: Antequera

Postby dido72 » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:13 pm

Thank you that is good to know :D

anewlife
Andalucia.com Amigo
Posts: 237
Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 1:30 am
Location: Galera

Postby anewlife » Sat Apr 14, 2007 12:01 pm

When I said 'found', what I meant was that the cave rooms had been blocked up by the owner prior to the one we bought from and he told us there were rooms there. They are on the escritura and we have had to have 'planning permission' at a cost, to renovate these caves for some reason...


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 17 guests