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Our Story

Mar Delux is a real estate company founded by Marla Marquez and Juan Ruiz in 2001. Marla hails from Florida and lived and worked for many years in Asia. Juan is from Granada, and he lived and worked in Mallorca. Inspired by their backgrounds, travels and the beauty of Spain´s Costa Tropical of Granada, the two combined their love for real estate, design and innovation and Juan´s talent for creating things and began developing, unique and luxurious villas in Almuñecar and Salobreña, two delightful towns on the Costa Tropical.

After developing several villas, they decided to keep some to offer as luxurious, holiday rental villas. The couple once again differentiated themselves by offering amenities that weren't customary at the time, combined with unrivalled customer service. This was the beginning of their foray into the vacation rental market.

Then in 2007, they launched a real estate agency specialising in the sale of luxury properties, and for 15 years they ran the most successful real estate agency on Spain's Costa Tropical, which was renown not only for its sales volume, but for its professionalism.

All along, they continued to develop extraordinary villas with magnificent sea views. In July 2021, they decided to focus exclusively on their real passion of development so that they could dedicate all of their energy into the boutique urbanisation of designer, modern villas they are currently building in La Herradura, Spain, called Urb. Valdemar, which is raising the bar for contemporary design in the area. They have exciting plans to continue developing modern style properties on the Costa Tropical of Spain to be able to offer more clients their ideal of "Luxury Living by the Sea."

Our Mission

Our Mission

To create quality homes with stunning designs which are luxurious, functional and environmentally friendly,

to delight our clients and exceed their expectations with our one-of-a-kind villas,

to deliver unrivalled service, with efficiency, quality and integrity, and last but not least,

to offer our clients "Luxury Living by the Sea."

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Years Experience

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Developments

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Properties Sold

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Happy Clients

What Our Client's Say

My wife and I bought a villa in the spring 2024 in La Herradura from Mar Delux. It has been a very good experience with the villa exceeding our expectations in terms of finish and quality. In addition, we have gotten tremendous help through the process from Marla & Juan who are the owners of Mar Delux ranging from getting the villa operational to local support. We can highly recommend Mar Delux.

Frederik Kier – Denmark
September 2025

In summer of 2019 we rented a villa in Salobreña and fell in love with the community of Monte de los Almendros, and we decided that we wanted to see what was available. We met Juan Ruiz and Marla Marquez who showed us a plot of land with a proposed luxury villa design. We liked the plan and bought it in construction (off plan) and followed the whole construction process. Whatever uncertainty we had – making a big investment in a country we never had bought any property in, didn´t know the language and hadn´t heard about the company before – was cleared when Juan Ruiz and Marla Marquez helped us through the process with great professionalism. They even finished the villa in the promised time. I can highly recommend their company if you are looking for a trustworthy and professional team to build your villa.

Frank Svandal – Sweden
March 2023

We first met Juan Ruiz and Marla Marquez in 2012 when we bought a villa in Almunecar via their then agency Cumbre Villas. We were impressed by their professionalism and the ease with which they made buying a property in a foreign country.

In 2017 we decided to move to La Herradura and again Juan and Marla helped to make our dream villa come true when we purchased the amazing Sundara, it’s just the style we were looking for. As much as we loved the villa, when the garden became too much to manage we turned to Juan and Marla to find a new home with minimal maintenance. It was now the summer of 2021 and the new development of Valdemar was in its early stages with 5 houses under construction. This was the perfect solution. A brand new villa with amazing views and no garden! At this stage it was possible to add our own choice of kitchen and paint colours etc.

Since we moved in just before Christmas in December 2021 we have thoroughly enjoyed the comforts of the villa and the wonderful views and sunsets. The quality of the workmanship and materials are excellent and the house is very energy efficient.

Before and after sales service is exemplary, nothing is too much trouble. With over 10 years experience with Juan and Marla we have no hesitation in recommending Mar Delux properties. You will not be disappointed.

Kate Millington – UK
April 2023

In 2019 we bought a villa constructed by the company now named Mar Delux, represented by Juan Ruiz and Marla Marquez. We bought the villa “turn key”, while it was still under construction. The sales process was clear and transparent and we were impressed by their thorough legal approach and know-how of all applicable rules and procedures. Our wishes for some changes of the plan were quickly honoured for fair prices and all high quality machinery was installed according to plan. The construction team under management of Jose Ruiz was very professional which contributed to a quality product without shortcomings. We are very happy with the result and are grateful to live in such a fine house.

Michiel & Yolanda Goedkoop – The Netherlands
March 2023

We were looking for a second home in Spain and toured Andalusia. A friend of us told us that the Costa Tropical was very nice so through the real estate agent we connected with Juan and Marla. We really loved the town of La Herradura and the location where the house was going to be built. The whole process of the construction of the house, the transfer of ownership and after sales has been absolutely great. The house is beautiful and whenever it appears that certain things had to be fixed/improved Juan and his team dealt with it immediately. All in all, it has been a great experience. Thanks for that Marla & Juan!

Jan Schouten – The Netherlands
June 2025

We built our dream house in Monte de Los Almendros through Mar Delux a few years ago. From the first step to our finished house everything has worked perfectly. The budget was respected, the quality exceeded our expectations, and the house was completed within the due deadline. They helped us throughout the entire building process, Thanks to Juan and Marla! We are now planning to buy our second house in the area and would never hesitate to use Mar Delux again!

Roger Johansson – Sweden
March 2018