British Father Buys Entire Spanish Village For $60,000
Neil Christie, a British father of two, has bought an entire Spanish village for just $60,000 , taking advantage of the country’s economic crisis.
The entire village is worth a fifth of the price of an average semi-detached home in Britain. However the entire village is in a state of disrepair after most of the inhabitants, who inherited the homes from their past generation, moved away to more urban areas for work.
Arrunada, which is on the border of Asturias and Galicia in the north west of the country, was bought for $60,000 and Christie has already started to completely rebuild some of the abodes.
Those who sell them are unable to maintain or restore them so sell them at knockdown prices, and 80 percent of the individuals who are buying them are foreigners, whilst a third of these are British.
Christie, who worked as a transmission controller for a leading British television channel, moved from his home in Northern England, and is now staying in a nearby village whilst his wife works as a schoolteacher.
Christie originally fell in love with the area in 2005 during a holiday with his wife, and their new home was abandoned at least 27 years ago. Christie is able to use the skills he amassed working on the Swan Hunter Shipyard in Newcastle and predicts that he can rebuild the entire village for around $250,000.
Neil said: “My wife walked away saying, ‘I’ll leave it to you,’ when I saw this village and decided it’s where I wanted to see out the rest of my life. That was probably because a tree was growing right through the middle of our front room and it didn’t have a roof. But she’s as excited about the project now as I was then.”
He then added, “She’s moved here and is working as a teacher. We’re living in a cottage in a village a 10-minute drive away while I get this house ready. It’s not a decision for the faint-hearted. The village was a ruin to start with.
Christie then concluded, “I had to bulldoze down the walls of this first house and rebuild them up again using the original stone. I’ve spent most of the last four years renovating it and I’m still 18 months away from finishing. I haven’t even touched the house next door, apart from clearing it out a bit.”
