Our Dream Come True 

By John and Susan Hardwick.

We had been contemplating for three years the desire to purchase a property abroad for retirement and had considered Spain, Portugal and France, unfortunately nothing we saw met our requirements. In April 2003 whilst reading the magazine "Homes Overseas", Susan saw an advertisement by Hellenic Homes relating to several developments that were being planned to be built, this advertisement had an immediate effect on both of us and caused great excitement, in an instant we somehow knew that Crete was the place for us, even though we had never visited the island previously. We contacted Hellenic Homes for property details and received the company portfolio within days. We were very impressed by all the properties on offer and all the locations - but most of all the cost of the homes which by far surpassed anything we had viewed in other countries.

Within weeks we were on a flight which took us to Chania for 14 days. The first seven days were spent getting the feel for Crete, its culture, its people, the climate, the cuisine and the islands ambiance. Everything was so wonderful it seemed unbelievable, we searched for faults, defects and things which might help us change our minds - but found none, the more we searched the more perfection we found.

 
"We had fallen totally in love with Crete, particularly the Chania area and our decision was made - the island was to be our new country were we would spend the rest of our lives." 

After a week we visited Hellenic Homes who arranged a tour of the property sites available - we loved everything we saw and finally decided that we would like to settle in a mountain working village called Meskla. One problem, the dream house we had chosen was not planned to be built on that site, however, after one telephone call to Hellenic Homes who then contacted the Planning Authorities, it was agreed within hours that our dream home could be built on our dream idyllic plot. We were so excited and it seemed that time stood still, we just could not take it all in.

All the staff at Hellenic Homes (Yiannis, Markos, Demetrios and indeed the Managing Director Nikos) were so helpful and made everything so easy for us, they advised us wisely and knowledgeably throughout all our negotiations, assisted us with the choice of solicitor and advised on banking arrangements. Nothing could have been made more simpler, we left everything to the company to decide, we never had any cause to question any decision made by them - we even gave them total freedom to decide which way the property would face and the site for the swimming pool, they were the experts after all. Their expertise proved invaluable to us in every way, the ease of the legal process is also worth a mention, we never had a single worry or concern throughout the purchase process.