But in Spain, it´s a completely different story. I´ve been advising Spanish property buyers for the last 10 years and have always maintained that the Spanish mortgage market is way behind the times when compared with the choices available in the UK.

I took out a 60% mortgage with Banco Sabadell last June, and asked for a period of interest only payments. This made complete sense to me. I had secured a wonderful property at what I considered to be a great price, but with the global economy in peril and with Europe in the grip of a deep recession, I wanted to keep a close eye on my cashflow and give myself a bit of breathing space if I needed it.

I received a 12 month interest only period from the bank, and at the time I recalled that it felt like the bank had bent over backwards to get this facility agreed at their head office. Apparently I was the only customer to have a Spanish interest only mortgage within that particular branch! How lucky!

I have just had a meeting with the bank to try to re-negotiate the terms of my Spanish mortgage deal as I wanted to extend the interest –only option by a further 12 months. This time the reasons were similar to before, but also because I have decided to cash in on a rise in the value of my property and sell the house, so I didn´t see the point in paying out an extra 700 euros a month while waiting for the house to sell, knowing that only about 50 euros of that amount would actually go towards paying off the capital each month.

The bank just don´t get it. The manager looked at me as if I´d just kidnapped his mother! He told me that I really should be starting to pay off the capital. When I asked ´Why?´ he said that this was the agreement I had signed 12 months ago, and so I should honour that undertaking. I didn´t fall out with the guy, but it was clearly apparent that I was asking for something that was not at all the norm. ´In England, this interest-only thing may be common, but here in Spain, we don´t have it´……that´s me told then!

I checked with a mortgage broker and she assured me that at present there is only one bank offering interest-only mortgage facilities as the norm in Spain. The bank of course is the Halifax, and there are no surprises to learn that it´s a bank with its origins in the UK.

Anyway, the upshot is that if it takes me (say) 12 months to sell my house in Spain, I will have paid around €8,500 during that time in extra repayments (above the interest-only amount), of which less than €1,000 will actually have been paid off my mortgage. So I could be about to pour €7,500 down the drain, purely because the Spanish ´don´t get it´. Am I right to be frustrated, or am I being unreasonable? I would be interested to know of anyone else who has had similar issues.

Most of these, or course, make absolute sense – the garden for the dogs, the third bedroom for the teenage boy…I´m sure you get the picture.

But the one request (or ´demand´ in many cases) that I always query is the need for a west or south-west facing terrace. Now, don´t get me wrong, I can totally understand why any pasty Northern European like me might want to soak up as much sun as possible during the summer trip to their apartment in Spain…and I must admit that the idea of sitting there with my feet up, gin and tonic in hand, watching the sun going down is more than appealing, I always ask if people have seriously considered this scenario…particularly if they are thinking of doing it during July and August.

Trust me on this (I´ve lived here 10 years) - when the sun starts swinging to the west come mid-afternoon, we have normally reached the very hottest time of the day, so by 4pm any open terraces facing the sun will be baking…quite literally. And this ´baking´ effect will continue until the sun sets at around 9pm. That´s 5 hours of direct sunlight at 35 degrees.

Even for those enjoying the cool of the air-conditioned interior, chances are you will need to close the curtains, either to escape the glare, or to prevent your lovely lounge feeling like the inside of an oven on Christmas Day.

I know you think I´m being a Drama Queen, but try it for yourselves when you next take a holiday in Spain and see how long you can stand it for!

The other highly notable name here in Marbella at the moment is the Saudi Prince, Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, brother of the late King Fahd (and you thought I was going to say Peter Andre, didn´t you?!!). With an entourage of over 100, the compound of lavish palaces on Marbella´s Golden Mile, together with suites at several of the neighbouring 5 star hotels, is being used as their base. The Saudi Royal Family have been holidaying in Marbella for 30 years, and their yacht, Shaf, is moored year-round in Puerto Banus, a 3 minute drive away.

Lots of police, lots of chauffeur-driven Mercs, lots of lavish parties, lots of Arab princes out partying– I am sure you can picture the scene.

Elviria is home to some of the best sandy beaches on the Costa del Sol, plus a multitude of places to eat and drink, including the renowned Nikki Beach Club, several very good chiringuitos and the plush Don Carlos 5 star hotel. There are also plenty of restaurants offering cuisine from all over the world, including India, Japan, China, Italy and Germany.

A little further away from the coast (although still within a leisurely stroll of the shops and restaurants) is Santa Maria Golf & Country Club, and then as you steadily climb the hill to La Mairena (400 metres above sea level), you are treated to amazing views of the coastline. Indeed, property at La Mairena is becoming ever more popular with tourists who enjoy the peace and nature that surrounds them.

The price of properties for sale in Elviria varies depending upon the usual criteria such as location and specification, although in the main, properties here are relatively new. Expect to pay over €300,000 for a 2 bedroom apartment on the beach, whilst you should be able to snaffle a 2 bed apartment on the other side of the road, but crucially still within an easy walk of the beach for a touch over €200,000 in the current climate.

Due to all amenities being within walking distance, Elviria is a good bet for anyone seeking to rent their property to tourists.

In all, Elviria is a great all-round resort.

One of the most luxurious of these is La Alzambra….and it doesn´t some cheap. Typically, 2 bed apartments in La Alzambra start at around €600,000, with 3 bed properties fetching upwards of €800,000. Of course, for that sort of money you can expect a supremely spacious, luxurious pad with all the mod cons, lagoon pools, tropical gardens and 24 hour security, but the thing that may amaze some people is that demand for properties at La Alzambra is high. In fact, the demand for stock hasn´t really abated, even during the economic crisis. Buyers recognize that the location and specification is ´5 star´ and that there is rarely a sniff of the words ´distress´ or ´discount´ in the air. And for good reason too. As well as the benefits already mentioned, owners of properties at La Alzambra can fetch top-dollar rental returns, €8,000 per month in peak season being the norm for a 2 bed apartment.

So while all those unwanted and unloved bank repossessions in low-end, unpopular locations lie vacant, depreciating fast, a place like La Alzambra is forging ahead as a true recession-buster in the midst of a supposed collapsing housing market.

I´ve been commenting for months that we are witnessing a 2-tier Spanish property system at the moment, due to the fact that the large segment of buyers that actually fuelled the Spanish property boom in the first place (i.e. the speculative investors) are now a thing of the past. With the demise of the ´get rich quick´ investment opportunities and the huge range of easy, ´no questions asked´ finance deals, the vast majority of current buyers are looking for a long-term return, primarily a place that will satisfy their need for an annual rental income and/or tick the box for a family holiday home in the sun. In both of these cases, location is absolutely critical. Holidaymakers usually want to be near the action. In fact, they want to be as close as possible to shops, bars, restaurants and the beach. The criteria isn´t too different for golfers who flock to Southern Spain in the winter. It´s a myth that they would prefer to have a nice quiet apartment overlooking a golf course for their week´s stay. Sure, most golfers hire a car to get them and their friends around several different golf courses during the week, but in the evening, what they really want is to walk out of their holiday accommodation and enjoy a meal and a few beers with their pals.

See Part 2 for mor

I was initially taken by ambulance to the Costa del Sol Hospital in Marbella, where (apparently!….I was unconscious for most of the time) I was looked after very well, and the various procedures and treatments were explained to my partner via an English translator.

I was then transferred to the Carlos Haya Hospital in Malaga, a bumpy 50 minute drive in the back of an old knackered ambulance. I didn´t stay too long at the Carlos Haya as the staff there preferred to transfer me (again!) to the nearby Civil Hospital in Malaga where a specialist in Maxillo-Facial surgery is apparently in residence.

I was given my own room with a tv and en-suite facilities…it even had a spare bed, but was told that the specialist wouldn´t be able to see me for at least another 36 hours (this was now a Saturday evening). I wasn´t really in the best of shape, covered in bruises and scratches, jaw broken to pieces and missing my front teeth. I managed to get some sleep on the Saturday night, but swiftly decided to check out on the Sunday morning when I was offered a piece of cake and a sandwich for breakfast (!!), one of the nurses started ranting at my partner for his poor knowledge of the Spanish language, and then to top it all, they decided to move another patient into the same room…..along with an entourage of about 20 members of his family.

No way, Jose!

So I ended up going to the USP Hospital in Marbella (I am a member of Sanitas, so receive subsidised private heathcare). Within half an hour, I had been seen by a doctor, x-rayed and been given advice to be able to treat the injury at home. When I returned to the hospital 48 hours later, I saw a specialist who advised that I would need surgery that same evening, until his colleague advised that he would be able to treat the broken jaw with an elasticated brace and physiotherapy.

What an ordeal! Anyway, I now feel in very safe hands and am well on the road to recovery. I´m still on a soft diet but at least I have new teeth! And while I´ve been very fortunate with the timing and have been able to watch every single World Cup game on the tv during my recuperation, I am wary that I may be the only person to have broken his jaw and likely to end up fatter than he started! I blame M&S mashed potato and chocolate mousses!

We´ve been given access to a very smart computerised database in which we can find Spanish properties for sale in a variety of regions. We can see an overview of the details of each property with measurements, a picture, a bank valuation, and importantly the current sales price that the bank is after.The first thing that hit me was that although this particular bank´s repossessed properties can be found in most of the popular Spanish property hotspots, the majority of them are located in areas that saw a glut of construction during the years of the recent Spanish property boom. There aren´t so many repossessed Spanish properties located in the very best, most established areas, eg Marbella or Puerto Banus on the Costa del Sol, or the villa enclaves of the Northern Costa Blanca, for instance.

The other thing that I noticed related to the pricing. In most cases, the bank´s asking price was actually higher than comparable stock currently for sale within the same locality or on the same development. There were certainly no ´giveaways´ as you would maybe expect with this kind of deal.

So if buyers are solely interested in securing the best price for a property in Spain, it seems that the banks fail to deliver the best deal. However, the one key advantage of buying a bank repossession in Spain is that you are likely to be able to secure a very good mortgage deal, with banks so keen to offload their stock that they will even provide a 100% finance facility if you can simply prove to them your ability to repay the monthly amount.

If you don´t mind paying 20% above the price that you could otherwise haggle with the distressed vendor of a similar property, and if you are looking for a minimal cash outlay, then bank repossessions may be the way to go. But remember that if you are mortgaged to the hilt and you have paid over the odds, you won´t have any wriggle-room or an escape route if the market flatlines for a while.

You pays your money and you takes your choice!!

In simple terms, this all means that a property that has been on the market for €200,000 is now just under €30,000 (sterling) cheaper than it would have been in December 2008 at the same price. That´s a big saving in anyone´s language. Long may it continue….although it seems my cheap holidays to London may be coming to and end!!

Nikki Beach is one of the most exciting venues on the Marbella nightlife scene, but is also popular with guests seeking an exclusive environment for lapping up the sun and indulging in fabulous food and drink during the daytime.

Nikki Beach is based on the sand in front of the Don Carlos Hotel in Elviria, just a short drive to the east of Marbella town. There are many lovely properties for sale in Elviria, including beachfront apartments and penthouses as well as some great Elviria villas for sale.