Alicante Sunshine Villas

Alicante Sunshine Villas is a family-run estate agency in Sax, and it's the sort of place to call if you're after a country house or finca inland rather than a flat on the coast. The founders say they set it up after a rough experience buying their own home in Spain, which is why they lean hard on being straight with buyers. Its patch is the Vinalopó valley and around: Sax, Villena, Elda, Petrer, Monóvar, Pinoso, Salinas, Castalla and Aspe, with some listings further afield in places like Orihuela and Ciudad Quesada. Stock runs from village townhouses and villas to fincas, plots and even cave houses, across resale, new build and long-term rentals. The team speaks English, Spanish and Dutch. It suits buyers who want more land and space for their money, and who'd like someone local to explain what life in a smaller inland town actually looks like.