Low Maintenance
We had owned a villa on Menorca some years ago but it is very quiet out of season and with three teenage daughters, we decided that Mallorca might have more to offer the whole family all year round.
Having had a villa, we also wanted a holiday home with very low maintenance and so were looking for a large apartment. We had visited Mallorca many years ago, but we were not terribly familiar with the island and an estate agent friend in Menorca recommended Shortcuts.
We visited the Shortcuts web site and then contacted them. We talked through our particular needs with Andy who turned this into our Property Search Brief and as we had already booked a week’s holiday in Mallorca, we arranged to meet him on our arrival before finally deciding to go ahead.
At our first meeting Andy suggested a tour of the areas that he thought might meet our needs in terms of our daughters’ holiday interests, Bob’s and my own - you can imagine the difficulties of pleasing a family of five. Andy wanted to know from all of us how we liked to spend our holidays, what we enjoyed together as a family and separately.
We were looking to use an apartment all year round for long and short getaway breaks – both all together and independently with friends. Andy recommended we focus on the south west of the island in the first instance with its proximity to Palma. He showed us around a number of locations, talking about property prices, activities and the differences between them. One immediately struck a chord and met all the family’s requirements in terms of access to beaches and golf, close to a marina, shops and cafes and with a pleasant village feel and atmosphere.
As our search intensified it became apparent that although the location was great, finding the right type of apartment was proving less easy – we like our space! Andy suggested another location, which had the added benefit of being closer to Palma and so viewings also focussed there.
Over the course of a couple of days a number of other property options emerged in both our preferred locations and the inevitable decision had to be made by us all or the search continued.
Shortcuts organised and attended all the viewings with us and gave us candid analysis of each location and property’s advantages and options for each of us. We had several very lively family discussions and Andy was there to aid our decision process. We made a measured and democratic choice, making the transition from Mallorca novices to Mallorca homeowners in less than ten days – no mean feat I can assure you! Well done and many thanks to Shortcuts.
