We Found Our New Home in Spain!

I am so happy to report that we found our new home in Spain, and today is moving day! But you know I have to start from the beginning and tell you how it all came together. It’s a good story.

Where We Started

When I last wrote, we were in the thick of house hunting. Our Airbnb was based in the adorable city of Arroyo de la Miel where we initially thought we would like to reside. On paper it had everything we were looking for, including affordable housing, good schools, walkable city center, and a beautiful public library. It even boasted the region’s only indoor ice skating rink! I mean, an ice skating rink in the south of Spain? That’s like a total bonus (Even though I don’t ice skate.) But after two weeks there, I hadn’t fallen in love with the place and even worse, housing options were quite limited.

Expanding Our Options

I always have a Plan B.  I knew that I wanted to live closer to the city of Malaga itself, and I knew there were some neighborhoods right outside the city center that could work for us. From the United States, I had been keeping track of the housing options in these areas, assuming they’d be more expensive than the ones in Arroyo de la Miel, but there were a few apartments and small houses I saw that were reasonably priced and well located. There was one particular apartment that caught my eye right before we left the US and I prayed it would still be available once we landed. When we realized we needed to expand our options beyond Arroyo de la Miel, I convinced el esposo we should start looking closer to the city.

Because the clock was ticking on our Airbnb rental, the decision to start looking in a completely different area, that was a good 30-minute drive away, meant we had to be efficient with our time. Once we decided to house hunt near the city, we selected one day and booked seven house showings for that one day. Yes, we were on fire. The best part, the gorgeous apartment I’d had my eye on from back in the States, was still available! It was number two on our list of seven to see that day.

Flies in the Shower!

via GIPHY

The first apartment we saw, made me cry. It was really inexpensive but in a really luxurious neighborhood. I knew it was too good to be true. Besides the fact that it was a basement apartment and it smelled like a basement, the space was so small, I would have had to lose ten pounds just to turn around in the kitchen. But it wasn’t just the tiny space, the moldy basement smell or the practically non-existent kitchen that had me in tears. No, it was the swarm of flies coming out of the shower drain and populating the entire apartment that made me think this wouldn’t work for our family!

Needless to say, it wasn’t a very auspicious beginning. What’s worse, as soon as we left that apartment, we got a call from the agent who was supposed to show us that lovely apartment I’d been eyeing from the States. He told us, “Sorry, it was rented this morning.”

I wailed right there on the street. The disappointment, coupled with the lingering smell of moldy basement and a passing fly, just had me in my feelings. But the search had to continue.

House Hunters International

I was down but not out. We still had five other homes to see and it turned out they each had something wonderful to offer. Nothing was perfect, but we ended the day with options, including a dark horse back in Arroyo de la Miel. I will spare you all of the details of how many times we went back and forth on different houses and said yes, only to change our minds and then say, no. It truly felt like we were contestants on my favorite show, House Hunters International. Minus the cameras, and plus a lot of extra stress.

Luckily, el esposo and I were on the same page all the way through this chaotic process and we made decisions as a team. Unfortunately, due to the fact that we kept changing our minds and the fact that finding a house, signing a contract and actually moving into said house takes time, we had to move out of our Airbnb and find a new place to settle in the midst of all this. One clear decision we did make during this time though, was that we were not going to live in Arroyo de la Miel, so I found a new Airbnb for us to live in closer to the city.

Miracles Do Happen

By the beginning of week three, we were very close to making a decision. We found an adorable but tiny house close to the city in a walkable neighborhood. We were prepared to make some lifestyle adjustments to make the small space work for our family of four, including having el esposo and I sleep in the living room and commit to using bicycles for all of our transportation needs because there was absolutely no parking space. In fact, there wasn’t even space to park our bicycles, but we figured if we had to carry them up to the roof deck every day, we would. And then a miracle happened.

Remember that gorgeous apartment I had my eye on from the States, that was rented on the day we were supposed to go see it? It suddenly became available again. Because I’m obsessive and a little extra, I continued to scan the real estate listings every night. And the night before we were going to commit to the tiny house, I saw it. My dream apartment was back on the market! We made an appointment to see it the very next day. (We later found out a father had rented it for his son, but the son had found his own place. Kids these days!)

At first glance, the apartment looked old and dirty. It had been uninhabited for more than a year, we were told. But I could see past the dust and dirt and saw the potential beauty in the luminous space.  El esposo wasn’t impressed, neither were our kids. But we made another appointment the same day to see it again, just el esposo and I. Maybe it was the golden evening light. Maybe it was because I had painted such a wonderful image for him, begging him to look beyond the dust and mild disrepair and imagine all we could do with the glorious space. Plus, the balcony, overlooking the lush manicured gardens. I mean, it really was an aging beauty of an apartment. And it was located in a residential neighborhood with walking access to schools, shops, markets and public transportation. El esposo fell in love too!

We Found Our New Home in Spain

El esposo and I spent about 36 hours trying to decide between the tiny house and the big apartment. There were pros and cons to both places, but at the end of the day, there were far more pros to living in the apartment. It felt like destiny to make that decision. We found our home. What’s more, we were lucky enough to actually meet the owners of the apartment and they were so kind and generous. And fun fact, they have a son who spent a year in the United States as an exchange student in my home city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin! How crazy is that?

The Kindness of Strangers

The only problem with our decision was that the apartment was still being painted, cleaned and. prepared for new occupancy. Plus, we had no furniture (see my previous post about leaving everything behind.)! The apartment was perfectly empty. Once again, we were pressed for time because our Airbnb agreement was almost up. I didn’t want to move us to another temporary home; one because it was getting expensive, and two, it was just so disruptive. I checked to see if I could extend our stay in our current place, but it was booked through the end of July. (It is such a lovely place, I could understand why.) So, el esposo and I told the kids, we might just have to rough it a bit. And then another miracle happened.

Our Airbnb host knew our situation and she came to tell us in person that we could stay a few extra days…For FREE! They had blocked out a few days in between guests, so it was no problem for us to stay, she said. El esposo and I both cried. Real tears. The kindness and generosity of “strangers” had us shook.

Where we are Now – Today is Moving Day!

So, dear readers, we have finally made it to moving day in Spain. As soon as I hit send on this post, I’ll be turning my attention back to packing and preparing. We got beds for each family member, the apartment is painted and we’ve deep cleaned it. Oh, and I’ve bought two plants and a couch. You know, essentials. The rest of the summer we’ll be furnishing and decorating our place slowly as we get to know the rhythm of our lives here. My hope and plan is to make this apartment our home and never move again. I’m tired!

Wish us luck!

(P.S. In case it isn’t clear, the lovely picture at the top of the blog is not my actual home, but it’s cute, right?!)