Sal, Cape Verde

Houses like these, within easy walking distance of the beaches and the town centre, do NOT come along every day. With 120 square metres of well-constructed living space, Italian design and build, 3 bedrooms and a large outside garden and roof terrace, this immaculate townhouse must be seen.

The current owners bought this amazing property off plan around 17 years ago, when it was just a stick in the ground. Their faith paid off, as they have enjoyed this as a family home ever since. Lovingly maintained, it is an Italian architect-designed home for a price less than many 2-bed apartments. It is sold fully furnished, has very low annual costs, as the IUP is just 138.75 Euros a year and there are NO condo fees.

The property comprises:

* Wrap-around largely paved terrace

* very secure ground floor

* open-plan living and kitchen area

* wooden non-slip stairs

* 2 bedrooms and family bathroom on first floor

* 1 bedroom with patio doors to roof terrace

* utility room (could easily be converted into a 2nd bathroom)

* sunny tiled roof terrace with ocean views

This is an investment for the future. It takes some vision to see what this fast-developing area is going to be in just a few years' time. Though at the moment, many people see this as a quiet backwater with sandy streets and building works going on, a quick glance at the town plan shows that this will be in the heart of the new tourist and commercial centre of southern Santa Maria. Renowned developers Ocean Property have confidence in this area; so much so that they have built an entire avenue of modernistic villas just around the corner, and are constructing a new residential and commercial block on this very street. The road on which this house sits will soon be surfaced, and lies just behind the main new road to Serena Bay (large hotel and marina) and the central piazza.

Just a few minutes' walk from the sea, this semi-detached townhouse has views of two coastlines from the roof terrace. Within a couple of hundred metres are the almost deserted coves and natural swimming pool on the southern tip of the island, a nature reserve and turtle nesting ground, shell cemetery beach and Kite Beach. Ill health forces sale.