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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

In 2017, I bought two houses through Mar Delux. For the first property, they acted as developer/constructor/vendor and for the second as real estate agents. Not only were their offers exactly what I was looking for, but they were extremely helpful throughout the whole acquisition process, which was a bit more complicated as usual, as I was buying for my 4 children. I did not go for the assistance of other consultants (e.g. lawyer) and did not regret it in any way. The whole team is excellent and pleasant to deal with and they got me into contact with other valuable people for the management of rentals, garden, pool etc. I have recommended them to my friends and would not hesitate to do so to anybody else.

Reinhard van der Does – Germany
December 2017

We took possession of our house in Urbanisation Valdemar July 1st, 2025. We had previously owned an apartment on Costa del sol. And what a difference! In buying from Marla and Juan we didn’t only get a beautiful, high quality home with great views in the charming La Herradura. We also got nonstop help and service from them and from their whole team of pleasant and competent colleagues, We and our children are confidently looking forward to enjoying this wonderful place for many years. Thanks to Marla and Juan. Nellie and Jes, Denmark

Nellie & Jes – Denmark
September 2025

Bought our dream home from Juan and Marla 5 years ago (in 2018)! Everything went very professionally and correctly. The assistance in buying a property in Spain for us as foreigners was very serious.

Markus & Ulla – Austria
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

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

I met Juan for the first time at the end of February 2024, he showed me a house ready to move in. The place, the house, the view are amazing. At the end of March Juan and Marla gave us the keys to our Spanish house. Marla helped us buy the necessary equipment for our new house and Juan still supports us with the technical aspects of the house. We were lucky to meet Marla and Juan, they build beautiful houses and they are good, true partners, who help us feel good and safe in a new home, new country.

Teresa and Wojtek – Poland
July 2024