“During our first trip to Valencia, we instantly fell in love with the city, the people and the mentality. We knew immediately: this is where we want an apartment too.”

 

Explains Alexandra Kiel. The adventure started with a vacation apartment in Valencia. Meanwhile, Alexandra and her family emigrated to their beautiful home in Náquera. Marja Beerens of Match Better Valencia assists them with advice and assistance.

 

“Spain always came back as a common thread in our lives because of the work of my husband, Peter. But our heart was with Italy. About 8 years ago, through a friend, we ended up in Náquera, near Valencia.”

 

Alexandra and Peter became impressed by the top spot where their friend lives and went to see the city of Valencia with her.

 

“What a fantastic city, Valencia! We immediately fell in love with the place, the caring and kind people and the relaxed way of life. They make a little party of each day. We were immediately convinced that we wanted to buy a vacation apartment here, together with good friends of ours. After an orientation round in several neighborhoods and an offer on an apartment that came to nothing, we planned another trip and called in Marja. She found several apartments for us. One was our current vacation apartment in el Grau, in the harbor. We went over there and knew it right away: this suits us perfectly. In the morning we made an offer and in the evening we were drinking champagne. “By making the purchase with the four of us, we were able to spend a little more and, as a bonus, we made our friendship even stronger.”

 

The vacation apartment in El Grau is an investment and is used by Alexandra, Peter and their two friends, Mark and Irene Pel  for themselves. They also rent it out to friends, acquaintances and family for a small fee. To cover the fixed costs and let people enjoy the wonderful life in Valencia.

 

“For the past 6 years we have all been, with each other and also separately, in the apartment. Valencia has really become a home town for me, actually much more than the Netherlands. That’s quite a special feeling. It also confirmed the idea that we wanted to be in Spain more often. In Holland we weren’t very happy anymore: it’s always a bit gray there, people are becoming less cheerful, then the corona crisis came over it. Over the years, through all this, the idea arose to also buy a house near Valencia and vary more between Holland and Spain. To build a “somewhat nicer life” for ourselves. You can really live nice here. The climate is pleasant, you live by the day, it’s lighter here. That was kind of our dream.”

 

“In our search for that vacation home, Marja was always there. She went looking for us and with us. Also she was and still is always ready when we need advice. Very nice, because you come to places and houses that are not ok and need a lot of maintenance. Marja sees that immediately: what is or is not good about a house, she can really see through it.”

 

While searching online, Alexandra came across the house of their dreams in Náquera. It didn’t fit her search query at all but it looked fantastic.

 

“The house picked us I always say. It suddenly came along and we were immediately excited. After an hour my husband said, ‘we’ll sell everything in Holland, buy the house and emigrate to Spain.’ It is an atypical Spanish house, all wood and in a beautiful location. Marja went to look and called us: you have to come, this is fantastic. In November 2021, Peter flew directly to Valencia with our son to have a look. The next day me and my daughter also went to have a look. The house and the place felt really good, but for us there was one condition: we only do this if our children also want it. My daughter was still hesitant, but after seeing the house and the place, she could imagine living in Valencia during her gap year. We made an offer and in April 2022 was the key exchange. On King’s Day: a symbolic day because the same date several years earlier we bought our first apartment in El Grau.”

 

“For the past six months we have been adjusting and renovating the house. On October 1, we moved here with moving trucks and complete contents. Now we start building our life here, a great challenge for us as a family and each individually.”

 

In the search, Alexandra and Peter regularly asked Marja of Match Better Valencia for advice and used her to arrange things.

 

“The great thing about Marja is that she immediately saw that this house is really something. Marja can see through it very well, she helped us a lot with that. Also, the lawyer Virignia, who Marja works with, helped us tremendously, guided us and resolved some issues. Julian from Match Better Valencia applied for the NIE numbers for our children. It is very nice to know that Marja is always ready to give her opinion and advice.”