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Advice on areas to live as an expat

Advice on areas to live as an expat

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Old Jul 16th 2018, 9:57 am
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Default Advice on areas to live as an expat

Hi, we are looking to retire (early) to Spain within the next 12-18 months and hoped somebody can give us advice.
we are looking for a detached property with a large garden, preferably not too close to neighbours as we have 4 dogs.
We will have a budget of around £100,000 and wouldn’t mind a (small) renovation project.
We are coming over soon to have our first ‘research’ trip and was looking around the Huelva area.
Questions...... are we being unrealistic in our wish list? Is it possible to get this type of property in this area for our budget or do we need to look at other areas too. Is it possible to rent a property long term while we look around and do landlords take dogs (we have 4 small dogs)
any help and advice would be very appreciated, we are aware this is a long process and lots of research is going to be needed!
Thanks in advance
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Old Jul 16th 2018, 11:50 am
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Default Re: Advice on areas to live as an expat

Originally Posted by 3robinsons
Hi, we are looking to retire (early) to Spain within the next 12-18 months and hoped somebody can give us advice.
we are looking for a detached property with a large garden, preferably not too close to neighbours as we have 4 dogs.
We will have a budget of around £100,000 and wouldn’t mind a (small) renovation project.
We are coming over soon to have our first ‘research’ trip and was looking around the Huelva area.
Questions...... are we being unrealistic in our wish list? Is it possible to get this type of property in this area for our budget or do we need to look at other areas too. Is it possible to rent a property long term while we look around and do landlords take dogs (we have 4 small dogs)
any help and advice would be very appreciated, we are aware this is a long process and lots of research is going to be needed!
Thanks in advance
Difficult as would strongly recommend rental for a year if you are really undecided about where you want to live but then few landlords will accept four dogs, one , maybe two yes. Your budget for purchase is not unrealistic. Suggest you browse a few sites such as : https://www.idealista.com/en/venta-v...20000,chalets/

Even have a look at a separate thread on the Spanish Forum "The Ayamonte Club" basically for residents in the Esuri complex , not so far from Huelva

Last edited by Loafing Along; Jul 16th 2018 at 11:51 am. Reason: Spelling
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Old Jul 16th 2018, 3:10 pm
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Default Re: Advice on areas to live as an expat

Also google estate agents in the area. they may know of someone with holiday home who is willing to rent
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Old Jul 16th 2018, 10:50 pm
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Default Re: Advice on areas to live as an expat

Originally Posted by 3robinsons

we are looking for a detached property with a large garden, preferably not too close to neighbours as we have 4 dogs.
We will have a budget of around £100,000 and wouldn’t mind a (small) renovation project.
We are coming over soon to have our first ‘research’ trip and was looking around the Huelva area.
Questions...... are we being unrealistic in our wish list? Is it possible to get this type of property in this area for our budget or do we need to look at other areas too.
Thanks in advance
I don't know this area at all, but in my opinion, you are going to be hard pushed to get a detached property with land for £100K unless you don't mind something that may have a few legal issues
I checked the whole region on Kyero.com and it brought up very little... What it did show, was in the middle of nowhere, with no access to mains electricity and water... oh yes they call them fincas .... not all of them will be this bad, but you are going to need a GREAT lawyer!

To be fair at this point, I would be more concerned about Brexit! Technically the agreed cut of point is December 2020.... that is if there is a deal.... no deal and it's March 2019!
You need to factor applying for residency into your budget, as you will need some money left over to show you can support yourselves once here (€10-15K).
If the UK just exits with no deal, you will need a rather bigger budget for Visas... but of course no one really knows for certain.
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Old Jul 16th 2018, 11:16 pm
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Default Re: Advice on areas to live as an expat

TV programs like a Place in the Sun, would have you believe that you can get the most amazing villas for €90K and unfortunately that is generally really unrealistic.
There are some bargains still out there but a £100K detached property in the area you want, suggests to me a lot of compromises that the average person from the UK isn't willing to make.
You could try the Alicante region of Valencia.
Generally a safer purchase in that budget would be a town house, if you could get one with a small garden...
Remember too far in land is also very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer

Last edited by Smithy73; Jul 16th 2018 at 11:25 pm.
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Old Jul 17th 2018, 9:45 am
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Default Re: Advice on areas to live as an expat

Thank you for that useful info, now registered with Idealista for both buying and renting. � ����
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Old Jul 17th 2018, 9:49 am
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Default Re: Advice on areas to live as an expat

Thanks Smithy73, we are being realistic as to what we will be able to afford, and as for Placeinthesun.... definitely not on the watch list!
we are aware of the uncertainty about Brexit, do you know of any good sites which keeps people up to date on the latest issues that will affect expats? It seems all up in the air and not much is being said about expats in the news over here. Thanks
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Old Jul 17th 2018, 11:58 am
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Default Re: Advice on areas to live as an expat

Originally Posted by Loafing Along
Difficult as would strongly recommend rental for a year if you are really undecided about where you want to live but then few landlords will accept four dogs, one , maybe two yes. Your budget for purchase is not unrealistic. Suggest you browse a few sites such as : https://www.idealista.com/en/venta-v...20000,chalets/

Even have a look at a separate thread on the Spanish Forum "The Ayamonte Club" basically for residents in the Esuri complex , not so far from Huelva
Not really just for Esuri but Ayamonte, Isla Canela and anywhere in the vicinity 😃🇬🇧🇪🇸🇫🇷🇧🇪🇲🇽🇳� ��
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Old Jul 17th 2018, 2:05 pm
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Default Re: Advice on areas to live as an expat

Something to think about, we, 15 years ago did not realise that if we bought a house with land that was classified urban we would be paying a shed load of rates on it, yes I know it is still less than UK, but houses without gardens here are about 150 euro a year on average, we pay just under a thousand, purely because garden is urbano, Have to say we would still have bought it as very private as it is at the top of town.
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Old Jul 17th 2018, 3:07 pm
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Default Re: Advice on areas to live as an expat

Thank you pwwm, that is useful to know. Unfortunately, we definitely need somewhere with a decent sized garden because of the dogs (the things we do for pets! � ����) Do the rates vary in price according to the amount of outside space you have?
Thanks
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Old Jul 17th 2018, 5:03 pm
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Default Re: Advice on areas to live as an expat

Just a thought as I had a Kennels business obviously in a rural location with,well not so much a large garden as lots of land.That was OK for us as we used a lot of it to create a Pets Cemetery. Being away from near neighbours in a rural situation does suggest a Finca is really what we had.Not sure what you mean by "a decent size garden"?And "garden" could be a big area of dry scrub land which you can work over & develop a nice looking space.If you have a couple of conifers which grow in profusion in rural places as they don't need too much sustenance,watch out for the processionary caterpillares.Dogs are curious when they see them in a line on the ground,one of mine died licking at them.And the big problem is water which will mean a water deposito.That is fairly cheap ,refilled via the water wagon if you have a business contract.I don't know costs otherwise.This idea is not like buying a property out in the sticks in Cumbria or the highlands of Scotland believe me.Having 4 dogs in such a situation would not be a problem but there are millions of nasty biting insects,wild boar in some places although I only ever saw youngsters & tree rats that usually live inside almond trees but invade property when it is a particularly dry spell & are desperate for a drink.Really do your homework though,don't get sold (another) pup!
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Old Jul 17th 2018, 7:17 pm
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Default Re: Advice on areas to live as an expat

Originally Posted by 3robinsons
Thanks Smithy73, we are being realistic as to what we will be able to afford, and as for Placeinthesun.... definitely not on the watch list!
we are aware of the uncertainty about Brexit, do you know of any good sites which keeps people up to date on the latest issues that will affect expats? It seems all up in the air and not much is being said about expats in the news over here. Thanks
You can follow the EU view here : https://ec.europa.eu/commission/brexit-negotiations_en
and the UK government view here : https://www.gov.uk/government/brexit

That way you get both sides of the discussions
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Old Jul 17th 2018, 7:53 pm
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Default Re: Advice on areas to live as an expat

Thank you, that’s really useful!
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Old Jul 17th 2018, 11:34 pm
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Default Re: Advice on areas to live as an expat

Originally Posted by 3robinsons
Thank you pwwm, that is useful to know. Unfortunately, we definitely need somewhere with a decent sized garden because of the dogs (the things we do for pets! ������) Do the rates vary in price according to the amount of outside space you have?
Thanks
IBI (rates) vary according to the area, the size of the plot and house.
Your unlikely to find a house with a decent size plot in the area mentioned on Urbana land, as far as I could see.
In many southern costal areas a decent plot (1200m2) on Urbana land to build will cost the €100k alone or upwards
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Old Jul 18th 2018, 8:17 am
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Default Re: Advice on areas to live as an expat

Originally Posted by pwwm
Something to think about, we, 15 years ago did not realise that if we bought a house with land that was classified urban we would be paying a shed load of rates on it, yes I know it is still less than UK, but houses without gardens here are about 150 euro a year on average, we pay just under a thousand, purely because garden is urbano, Have to say we would still have bought it as very private as it is at the top of town.
I don't understand what the garden has to do with it. As mentioned, it's based on the local rates etc. and a garden is garden. Are you maybe talking about a separate building plot, so not a garden that was actually already attached to property? Then you would be paying tax for 2 properties, so would have 2 cadastral reference numbers. It's easy to check classification online if someone wants to check their area: https://www1.sedecatastro.gob.es/OVCInicio.aspx
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