Well I live in Alicante have done for 2 years, if your looking to buy a place here, dont buy in the big property developments you wont make any money back as they are over built, Alicante is great its nice and spanish, Torrevieca is full of brits I hate the place its full of down and out brits, nice places nr alicante, are San Juan, El Campello, Altea, Alfaz Del Pi, Villajosa, property is good value and you will make money with out hassle.
When you come out here the first thing you need to do is get a NIE its like a spanish National insurance number, when you have that you can open a Spanish Bank account with just a copy of your NIE and your passport and if you have a mortgage you need a spanish bank account, the best account is either Bancaja or Banco Popular, do not go with CAM or BBVA there awful, I would not be lieing to tell you in alicante alone theres prop. 20 different bank, some are regional some are national, Bancaja regional and you can do stuff online in english.
Any help with getting property or a mortgage email me and ill put you in the right direction my email is
[email protected]