Withavee

We are flying into Murcia for our first look around on 14th October for a week. Plan is to rent a car and check out the countryside.

First thoughts are to stay a few days in or around Mojicar and a few up towards Valencia.

We are looking for a country home so will mostly be inland and may look at a small number of properties just to get a feel.

Any suggestions for car hire and towns to visit will be well received and if any of you good people wanted to meet up for a glass of something it would be great to say hello.

Peter and Cathy

missile

I would suggest that you would need more than a week to cover Mojacar to Valencia.

I find Firefly easy to deal with, reliable and reasonably priced for car hire.

lurchio

Welcome, good idea, but you will have to go some to cover that ground effectively in a week. Perhaps a bit of research and arrange viewings before you come. I would personally do Almeria/Murcia/Granada (possibly) in the first week, and then try and sort a second week for perhaps Alicante / Valencia if you can. You'll be rushing around and taking little 'in' otherwise. Murcia is a good choice of airport, but limited as regards car hire its fair to say. Look out for the best deal, but personally I would go with Firefly if poss. Enjoy the adventures!

missile

I hope you have not booked with Ryanair?

lurchio

Ohhhh, hadn't thought of that! Easyjet also fly there, Bristol for sure.

jonboy

I would try not to use Rhodium/Goldcar as they give their own unfavourable exchange rate for each transaction.
When they claim that you have damaged their car it is a nightmare to get the details and final bill from them to pass on to your own insurers.
Get your own insurance in advance of any booking you make. Insurance4carhire have saved my skin/money on a couple of occasions.

You will need repeated and longer visits to make any sort of comparison. If you are not familiar with Spain visit at different times of year.

Good luck and enjoy the experience.

Deb16

Hi, just thought I'd say hi, and good luck, we are doing exactly the same as yourselves and flying into Alicante on the 14th October for 2 weeks to look at areas that we would be interested in living in with a view to buying.
We have arranged with an agent to look at different areas then look at properties in ones we think we would like.
We are staying in La Marquessa Golf , Quesada.

Rosemary

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. Myself and Fred James are the moderators for the Spanish forums whilst BEVS moderates Europe. Moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. This is so that members gain the information that they are looking for and find their experiences on the forums to be friendly and worthwhile.

Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderator who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are usually friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge about the issues of living in Spain. I hope that you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

missile

Great location

Leper

Roy Keane's mantra was always "Fail to prepare, Prepare to fail" - A week in an area is about as helpful as the police violence against demonstrators in Catalonia over the past few days. However, you have to start somewhere and a week will have to do initially.

You need to write down all you wish for, all you don't wish for and what might you wish for. SWOT analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats.

Just to start you off- Do you want to live in a coastal resort or inland, in a town or outside of a town? Choice of airports is important. Do you want to rent out your property when you are not in Spain? Can you take the hit of paying large amounts of money and perhaps a mortgage? Are you putting yourself financially out on a limb?

Suggestion:- You have to decide on an area. Move there for 4/5 weeks in the off season.January/February would be best time. Is the place situated in a ghost town with no supermarket October to May? Is public transport OK? How accessible is the airport to revisit the UK? Where in the area do you want to live? Remember you could find your dream home and your neighbours could be what you don't want.

If you are retiring and have a home in the UK, do you want to rent it out to finance your time in Spain? You can rent a good two bedroom apartment in a good resort in the off season for €600 (Euro not GBP£). Perhaps buying is a bad option? I don't know, I'm only trying to jab a reaction from you.

Would you be better off renting as above and then buying? Do not get emotionally involved in Spain. Be cold, calculated and check and re-check everything. Don't listen to people when they say they are living the dream or have discovered the Real Spain. If you are naive, Spain will eat you without salt.

I hope things work out for you. [For the record we bought and live in Mojacar Playa, Costa Almeria on and off]

Withavee

Hi Leper, thanks for the comments. Brief review:

This will be our first visit to do with a possible move and our intention is to look around at a few country areas to get a gut feel for them.

We will inevitably look at a small number of finca/country homes to see how estate agents info matches the actual properties.

If we still feel the move is attractive we plan to spend a month in Spain early in the new year, worst weather, and look at some properties on the market at the time.

If that works we would hope to be in a position to move out around September 2018. This is likely to require further visits to sort out a six month rent to confirm our location plans prior to buying.

If you have any comments we are happy to listen.

Cheers

VEDShappy

Time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted.
Google is your friend.

Don't rush. There are lots of dwellings for sale and more than one of these will suit your purposes.
With practice, you can find many of those listed for sale on agents' websites via Google maps; this can then assist your decision making.
If you take a particular liking to a town or area, go back at different times of day and days of the week.
Try to decide WHAT you want and WHERE you want it.

Rotor

In these uncertain times I`d rent for a couple of years then decide .

earlyoap

Hi
We are doing the same sort of thing. Our plan is to drive to Tarifa stay there for 6 weeks and have a look round. This will be mid Jan to March. Jan just gone we went for 4 weeks and it was not until the last week we realised than we wanted to move to Spain LOL or around Tarifa. We know that the town may be dear property wise so would look in say an 30 min to a hour drives more heading into the hills than the coast. There is also a village we stop at on the way down we like but have been told it gets really hot in the Summer. Where as Tarifa stays coolish. The plan would be then to go back July/Aug and see what they mean when they say it gets hot LOL

bobd22

Good advice in my view