5 Bed Townhouse in Salinas for Reform

This is a big Townhouse in an excellent location in Salinas.

Salinas is a lovely small town near Sax in inland Alicante and just 35 minutes drive to Alicante Airport and five minutes more to the beaches. Like Sax, Salinas has almost no unemployment and this means that both towns have very low crime rates, a far cry from when I lived in the UK and we had to lock everything a million times, here the life is tranquil and very safe, neighbours are like family members in these towns and they are always on hand to help newcomers. The Consum supermarket, an equivalent of Waitrose in the UK, in Sax will deliver to you in Salinas as well as one of the Kebab and Pizza takeaways in Sax.

There are two banks, Sabadell and La Caixa which are two of the biggest banks in Spain. A Doctor´s surgery, a Butcher, a Baker but, sadly, no candlestick maker, however, there is a minimarket, a Public Swimming and Sports Arena and a Pharmacy along with a host of bars, cafes and restaurants and a lovely Public Park and magnificent views of the four mountain ranges in which the town settles. The superb El Virgen Hospital in Elda is a 15 minute drive away. The health service in Spain is thought of by nearly every Ex-Pat as in a different class to the UK.

So, the property, the downstairs is in relatively good condition and requires modernisation rather than reform although there are options to change the distribution as two of the bedrooms are on the ground floor. Upstairs is a different matter as this is where the vast majority of reform is necessary, however, I should point out that the mains electricity and water are connected and the property is liveable so that the work can be done bit by bit, or "poco a poco" as the Spanish would say.

The photos are not filtered or played around and we have tried to show the good and the not so good so that they are a very fair reflection of the property. The roof is in good order and that makes the reform much easier and you are safe in the knowledge that it doesn´t need replacing.

The bathroom seems to have been an afterthought and is at the very end of the ground floor so I would suggest that a bedroom upstairs is removed to make a second bathroom, perhaps, an en-suite and walk-in wardrobe. There is a 3mx4m patio at the rear of the property but this can be extended as the owner, I know not why, decided to build a storage room which can easily be removed and the area opened up to let in more sunlight and to make it possible to have a really usable outside space.

If you wanted a builder to do all the work we would estimate to complete the reform with a 4 Bed 2 Bath split as suggested above would cost in the region of 25-30,000€ but if you can do the work yourself you would see a material cost of between 30 and 50% of the builder´s estimate and a saving of up to 20,000€.

The property has many of the original features as can be seen in the photos, especially the beautiful beamed ceilings on the ground floor, and has also one of the worst looking bathrooms I have ever seen but hopefully, your taste is different from mine. What is important is that similar 4/2 split properties that have been reformed are for sale at between 80 and 100,000€.

Salinas is a lovely small town near Sax in inland Alicante and just 35 minutes’ drive to Alicante Airport and five minutes more to the beaches. Like Sax, Salinas has almost no unemployment and this means that both towns have very low crime rates, a far cry from when I lived in the UK and we had to lock everything a million times, here the life is tranquil and very safe, neighbours are like family members in these towns and they are always on hand to help newcomers. 

There are two banks, Sabadell and La Caixa which are two of the biggest banks in Spain. A Doctor´s surgery, a Butcher, a Baker but, sadly, no candlestick maker, however there is a minimarket, a Public Swimming and Sports Arena and a Pharmacy along with a host of bars, cafes and restaurants and a lovely Public Park and magnificent views of the four mountain ranges in which the town settles. 

Consum supermarket in Sax, an equivalent to Waitrose in the UK, will deliver to Salinas along with Mercadona Supermarket in Elda as will one of the Kebab shops and also a Pizza delivery service is available. The superb Hospital in Elda is 15 minutes away. 

Parque La Rana (Park La Rana) is a small but very beautiful park where a Medieval Market is held once a year and also it is the home of the restaurant La Rana Salinas which currently has a massive 4.7 rating and where people come from miles around for their rice dishes and superb quality meats. 

My favourite Café is Trivial and there is now a lovely Conservatory built next to the small park where you can sit in the warmth of the winter sunshine or, in summer, all the glass is drawn back to allow the mountain breeze to flow through. 

My second favourite has to be the Petrol Station that has a tiny café in the rear, it used to be famous as the “unofficial smoking” bar but those days have gone and it is now a place where many of the factory workers go for a coffee and a tot of brandy or rum. There is something about it that tells you this couldn´t happen in the UK. 

Whilst Sax has seen massive increases in property values due to the number of itinerant workers looking to rent Monday to Friday – the Spanish don´t do commuting, even 20 minutes in the car is seen as commuting – Salinas I snow catching up and is proving a great town for investment as there are still affordable townhouses and apartments. 

My son has recently taken advantage of the lower prices to make his first investment in Salinas and we are excited to see what he makes of it. Meanwhile, we have some excellent options starting at 25,000€ needing reform and some around the 35-40k needing less work and all are capable of long-term rentals bringing in around 350€ per month, a great ROI.