A Big Leap of Faith
Our trip to Spain sadly came to a close and we were on our way back to Denver. Coming back to the United States, arriving in Newark, NJ was a culture shock of overstimulation, lots of people, TVs everywhere, some random snack robot (not kidding) rolling around on wheels and overpriced food options. Yes, we were back in AMERICA!
Going through security I got all of my things checked and was frisked/patted down by a security guard going through training. Travel tip, bricks of cheese get tagged going through security! I couldn’t resist buying all the cheese and some liquor made by monks in Montserrat, it was worth the pat down.
Traveling during COVID times wasn’t any easy feat, we thought we were abiding by the rules by getting our COVID tests 72 hours prior to departing back to Denver, turns out it was 3 days in Spain not 72 hours! Our negative tests were a few hours older than the requirement and we had to retake our tests at the airport causing us to miss our flight. We were now going to be at the airport/traveling for 24 hours!
When we arrived in Denver, we both really missed Spain. It was everything and more of what we hoped it would be and we began to weigh all our options. How much do we really think we should budget monthly to live in Spain? How long before our retirement kicks in and how much money would we need to have until retirement? How much do we have in investments that we could cash out and possibly purchase the property outright?
We wanted to retire and have enough money left to travel throughout Europe and stay debt free. It was really important for us to stick to our budget so we could have the freedom to live comfortably and not go back to our working to live lifestyle.
The cost of living in Spain is around $2800 euro monthly which includes a mortgage depending on where you live. Galicia is very affordable and for food, most of the produce we buy in Denver we could grow on our land in Spain, with the exception of cheese, wine, and a few other staples we could be doing alright. The house we were interested in (La Casa Del Castano) had 3 properties on the land, which gives us the opportunity down the road to have an AirBNB for additional revenue and lots of fruit trees.
After weighing our options we decided to make a good faith offer to reserve the house and start down the negotiation process. It wasn’t an easy process, the seller lived in the UK and was very concerned about the money conversion from USD to Euro to Pounds Sterling, which meant lots of negotiation and the seller playing hardball with us. There were many times we thought maybe it’s not meant to be and we may have to fly back out to look at new properties.
We didn’t want to get into doing a bunch of renovations, since most things we researched said renovations can be challenging. We knew we would have to renovate the old stone barnhouse which we thought of turning it into an AirBNB down the road. The main farmhouse we felt was livable and we could make it work until we could afford to renovate.
After giving a small down payment to reserve the listing, we had it inspected. The inspection came back that we would need to renovate the main house and the ruin because of water damage, we would need to update the electrical, the heating, the septic tank and demolish some cinder block around the ruin, as well as other small buildings in front of the main house that were blocking the view. Eventually we would renovate the apartment, the outdoor kitchen, change out the small pool to a jacuzzi and add an underground pool where the chicken run is currently. So basically, everything!
We started to work with our architect to plan out the properties, he came highly recommended by our realtor with Lucas Fox. We were asking him to provide a rough estimate of what he thought the cost to renovate would be based on the inspection.
Left is the ruin layout downstairs on the right is the ruin upstairs with a terrace. The bottom layout is for the main house layout. After working with the architect we have thought maybe we want the ruin to be our home and the main house to be used for guests/ Airbnb.
Prior to looking at houses, Kyle and I told each other we don’t have to decide now, and let’s not get something we have to do a lot of renovations on. We have always purchased spaces whether it's for a business or a house that ended up being a project. I think deep down as hard and challenging as it can be, we like finding the potential in something and bringing that to fruition.
For the cost of the house, where it’s located, the gardens and the potential, we went back on our original agreement with each other and decided to put a down payment on the house. I had a gut feeling that this all just felt right, this is an opportunity of a lifetime and we would regret this opportunity if we didn’t take the risk and go for it.
I’ve followed this place called Chateau Gudanes for a long time, It’s a chateau in South of France that was completely abandoned and had a tree growing out of the roof. It was calling for someone to come and save it. This Australian couple bought it and have been restoring since. I have always been inspired by the idea of creating a beautiful historic property to turn into an oasis for us to enjoy our time in.
We spent a lot of time and effort to make the house that we are leaving in Denver special and enjoyable.
Our house and backyard before
A few after pictures of our Denver home and garden
Everytime I’m out in our Denver garden I’m blown away by how amazing it is. I could just imagine what we could create at this property, with all the fruit trees, the different areas we could have in the garden to relax, have a glass of Alberino, enjoy the beautiful view and the incredible bird songs. Yes there would be so much hard work and huge learning curve on pretty much everything, but isn’t life supposed to be about the journey?
Our offer was finally accepted and we moved forward to close on the property in January. It may seem crazy to most people, going to Spain once and buying a property that we saw once that’s larger than anything we’ve ever owned, not knowing the language or anyone there but each other, selling our businesses, all of our things, leaving behind our family and friends, selling our house of 14 years, and a life that we have grown here in Denver, Colorado.
It is a big risk, a big leap of faith, and I have never felt so alive and proud to be this courageous to let go of control and just live.
