Fantastic opportunity to purchase a Ground-Floor 3 Bed 1 Bath apartment in Sax for only 75000€ in a super location. 

Apartments in Sax are not only rare, ground-floor are even harder to find, but prices have almost doubled since 2021. 

Now add the excellent outside space, a split-level patio and also a garage and this apartment is obviously very special. 

This apartment has been empty for a while and is in need of modernisation and a little work but nothing of any concern. The water and electricity (3.5kw) are still connected. 

Let me give you an idea of what needs to be here

The old kitchen has been removed entirely so a new kitchen needs to be fitted but we have just fitted out a similar-sized one for around 3,000€ and it looks beautiful. 

There are no “white goods” so the Utility Room, yes there is a Utility Room needs a washing machine and a dishwasher and it is easily big enough to put in a second fridge as is becoming the popular choice. 

The bathroom would benefit from a complete reform but you can simply replace the old shower with a new modern one if you are on a tight budget. After saying that a bathroom of that size would cost around 2,000€ at most for a full refit.

The paintwork at the rear (exterior) around the patio needs two coats of good quality white paint. The interior might benefit from a whitewash but that is it. 

There are no steps or stairs to the apartment entrance from the street or from the hallway so it is perfect for people with reduced mobility. 

The small hallway leads through to a lounge/diner and then another hallway takes you to the three bedrooms. Two bedrooms are large doubles and the other will take a double bed but it best described as a large single or an office or nursery. 

Another small hallway leads to the kitchen and then the Utility Room and then the surprise feature, another room next to the lower part of the split-level patio that would make a great summer kitchen or a large storage room or whatever you like. 

The garage is below the patios and is entered from the other street. 

For an investor, this would be perfect as when the necessary changes are made it would expect to achieve 550-600€ per month whilst we would expect a valuation of around 100,000€. 

For anyone requiring a mortgage, we cannot see a current bank valuation possibly being less than the purchase price.

Why Sax?

There are no traffic lights, it has a 13th-century castle, one of seven on the castle route but ours is the best and there are no traffic lights, parking meters or fee-paying car parks. What? That isn´t enough?

Sax is so popular because it is far enough inland to be “inland” yet it is only 30 minutes to Alicante Airport and 35 minutes to the beach.  Access is by the A31 Dual Carriageway Alicante to Madrid Autovia (Motorway to you) which runs just outside of the town, by rail and coach from Alicante so you can go to the beach and not have to take your car, and now we are only eight minutes drive away from the AVE station at Villena.

The AVE is the high-speed train from Alicante to Madrid which has only four stops. From boarding the train will have you in Madrid in 2hrs 9mins for as little as 9€ if you are lucky enough, but around 25€ if not.

Let us stick with the town of Sax for now rather than escaping to the beach or Madrid.

Sax is dominated by its 13th-century castle known as the Headlight And Guardian Of The Border a landscape of history and rock. When driving back home to Sax after daylight the sight of the castle, fully lit, and seemingly floating in the air is one of the most welcoming sights I have ever experienced. It´s a sign we are almost home.

Commercially, is the home of three major international businesses selling “persianas y toldos”, window blinds and sun canopies and a shoe industry that means if you recently bought a pair of shoes in a UK Department Store, for example, the chances are they could have been made in Sax or nearby Elda and we now supply 60% of the footwear used in all Spain´s hospitals. It is an incredible feat. No pun intended.

Both Sax and the smaller town of Salinas just eight minutes drive away have close to full employment and lots of opportunity which means our crime statistics are very low and both towns are safe in a way that is hard to imagine if you have arrived from the UK or Holland. Walking around whatever time of day or night is a pleasure rather than something to fear.

Sax is small enough for everyone to know each other and a family who has a son or daughter who is a criminal brings shame on the family. I suppose it´s like when I was growing up in the North West during the 60´s.

Recently we have seen the opening of a Consum supermarket, the equivalent of a Waitrose or Marks & Spencer Food Hall whilst there has been a Hiperber and Dia, both excellent supermarkets for as long as I can remember, and if that isn´t enough there is a Carrefour (Think Tesco) eight minutes’ drive away within a shopping mall complex that has a cinemas which shows films in English with Spanish subtitles. There are also six gyms in Sax and a superb one in the shopping mall along with Ten Pin Bowling etc Sushi Restaurant and many others.

Sax is served wonderfully well with schools, our son was eight when we moved here and reluctantly, we put him into a state school, he always went to a private school in Manchester, and within six months he was fluent in two languages and following five years in a secondary school went on to study Pharmacy at Complutense in Madrid one of Spain´s most famous and prestigious universities.

 

However, he didn´t like the idea of going into pharmacy as a career so he is studying law and working as my business partner. He already has a diploma in Spanish Property Law.

For health, Sax and Spain, in general, is far superior to the UK. In the town, we have a new Health Centre with eight doctors, two nurses, a diabetes clinics and a 24/7 Emergency Walk/In Centre. We have three pharmacies, two of which have at least one person who speaks English and their advice is always excellent.

Ten minutes away in Elda is the remarkable award-winning University Hospital El Virgen De Salud where the surgeons are second to none and the food is atrocious, well it can’t all be good!! Newly opened is the Fibromyalgia centre offering support and therapies for those suffering from acute pain.

There are now three Language Schools in the town and the town hall ran a scheme for language swapping that may be run again. Learning Spanish is a lot less difficult than it may seem and there are new ways of learning that concentrate on conversational Spanish.

There are restaurants and bars aplenty with prices that are at first beyond belief and a three or four-course lunch of good quality can easily be found for 13€ or less. For a special occasion, there is Casa Mami and El Fuente restaurant at the hotel Fuente del Cura which are a little more expensive but great food experiences can be had.

Nearby Villena, ten minutes or so up the A31, has some excellent restaurants including the very fashionable Tita´s Gastrobar and the stunning, in my opinion, Condumio.

In Elda, ten minutes in the other direction there is Xambel, Xhagar, Fabrica, La Sirena and Tenaz, all very good restaurants and surprisingly inexpensive. In most bars and cafes a coffee and toast for breakfast will cost no more than 2,50€ and the coffee is possibly the best in Europe.

Our biggest challenge these days is finding properties as opposed to selling them as Sax and Salinas as both have become incredibly popular as there are very few building permits left in either of the towns and yet they are growing. So, come look around and enjoy.