A Place in the Sun viewers watched tonight as Lisa and best friend Jo set out on a mission to find the perfect home on the Spanish island of Tenerife. The show was presented by Ben Hillman, home designer and property expert.
For the best part of a decade, Ben has been helping people find their dream properties across Europe. When he was tasked with helping Lisa find a property, he faced a lot of mixed opinions about the properties he showed the buyers, as they travelled across different regions of north Tenerife.
Lisa’s love affair with Tenerife started at 19-years-old, after many holidays and trips to the country with friends and her husband over the years. The friends set out with a budget of £255,000, but were willing to go as high as £300,00 if a property really stood out to them.
Agents say demand for homes in north Tenerife has driven prices up by 80% in recent years, with properties a lot cheaper than those in the south. Lisa shared that her husband Jonathan, is not a DIY person so they are looking for somewhere that “doesn’t need” much work.
Explaining the reason for choosing the north of the country, the buyer stated that the area has more locals and less tourists. The first property viewed by the Lisa and best friend Jo was in the town of La Guanche. A “popular part of the world” with buyers, according to host Ben.
Showing the couple a country bungalow with 3-4 bedrooms, the property had different courtyard areas and open plan living. This included a diner room, utility room and third potential bedroom currently used as a dressing room.
However, after showing off the first property, the seller asked Lisa: “what is that face”. He proceeded to show her the “Canarian rustic” kitchen, which didn’t go down well with the seller.
Priced at just over 265K, the viewers were not entirely impressed with the property. Talking about the kitchen, Lisa said: “I like the floor, I could paint it white” to which Ben replied “Oh God, let’s get outside.”
Ben asked, “how did you find it?” and was told the “view is amazing and terrace would be for a party, the house is not quite me I would put a kitchen in and have to do something with bedroom it’s quite dark.”
Further asking how the potential buyer found it, the host added: “We have to turn a bit of a corner” as Lisa said it was just too dark. The second property was located in the town of El Tanque, finished with a guest annex it was for sale in the region of £247,788.
Although Lisa was impressed by the “uniqueness” of the Tenerife home, she spoke on behalf of her husband who could not make it on the house hunt mission due to work commitments, saying: “I don’t think it would be Jonathon’s cup of tea.”
Despite the remark about her partner’s thoughts, the host wasn’t disheartened as he told viewers “this place is going down a storm” Lisa initially had the Spanish home as a contender, before being wowed by a further corner plot property, also located in El Tanque.
Although the third property sparked more interest than the previous two, Lisa remained pragmatic as she told her best friend and Jo: “It’s got potential but I would have to think about a little bit of money to do extra bits.” The breath-taking view from the property was a huge draw to the £300,000 home., however it was ruled out due to the lack of greenery for their dog Bella.