We are a family from the Uk who are thinking of maybe buying property over in Spain.

Initially we were going to buy a cheap holiday home and come over during school holidays etc, we are now thinking about selling our Uk home to fund a bigger place in spain so we can spend more time there. we will then rent a place in the Uk for the time being while our kids are still at school.

If we decide Spain is for us, we may then decide to move lock stock and barrel over for good.

Obviously this is a huge decision, and there are many people who are dead set against us doing it! but then again others who are saying 'go for it'!!!!.....we would love a place to 'escape' to for long weekends, school holidays etc... and maybe rent out while we're not using it?

any ideas, suggestions would be welcome on areas, prices etc.....

I have done a fair bit of research and am aware that andalucia seems to be a bit cheaper than say valencia. i seem to spend hours on the pc looking at property!!!!

thanks in advance for your help

Becky

Becky welcome to the forum. You will find masses of helpful and knowledgeable people here.

We are moving out on the 1st June. We are going to Galicia as the Costas are just too hot for us, plus we are gardeners. Probably 99% of the advice we have received is "Try before you buy" as property can be very difficult to sell, so we ill rent before we buy.

I think also there are deals to be had in the South on rentals at the moment, but someone will be along to tell you more precisely.

Best of British anyway!

thanks for your reply and good luck with your move....... we are hoping to go out for a bit of a reky trip but not sure about a permanent move.

As you can see from my profile, we were originally hoping to go to Oz but it all fell through, so we're a bit wary of making the 'big' move now!!!! That's why we're thinking of doing the sort of half and half thing!!!!

Owning the property in Spain outright and renting a place in the UK so the kids can still carry on with their schooling. we can then go over at half terms, long weeeknds, summer hols etcc. We run our ow business so getting time off is fairly flexible.

I would love to live in spain, although hubby is slightly more cautious!.....

Many people would caution against buying property in Spain at trhe moment, but on the other hand there are plenty of bargains.

I dont know Murcia that well, having only driven through it, but the Northern CB is a lovely area and worth considering

Do a lot of research. We went for the South Atlantic coast as it's less developed than the costas. If you like the expat scene, it's probably not for you tho.

Not every bit of the costas is ex pat land!

Very true, but a lot of it is. Bit cold up there tho isn't it?

Plenty of Spanish where I am. ;-))

Having made the move quite recently into property we already owned I would caution against buying is Spain until you are ABSOLUTLY SURE that Spain is where you want to be, and that the bit you think you want to be in is right for you. Consider that it is just as hard, if not harder, to sell in Spain than in the UK.
Rent first.

It has been for sure, but its all relative. Cool at night, but I've been out sitting by the pool the last few days

:curse::curse::curse:

So you dont recommend selling our UK property, buying a place in Spain to use as a holiday home initially.....while we rent in the Uk? We wont be moving over yet, so rent ing is not an option. We either buy or we dont!!!!

You will really have to know the area you want to move to inside out because selling a house if you are not happy or unsettled here in Spain at the best of times can take 2/3 years so you can imagine at the moment nothing is moving so good news for buyers at least.

We bought our house back in 2003 knowing that we would want to move on after about 6 years so we put our house on the market 2 years ago, we are still waiting to sell. Sort of given up now and expect we will stay put and ride the current market out and try again once OH is over 65 then we get benefits from the tax side of things.

Lots of things to consider if you find you are not happy in your area, as a non resident and a non pensioner you may find what equity you have in a house will be eaten up by the Spanish tax man. I think what peeps are saying is just be 100% sure of where you want to be and what you need or expect from a home in Spain. Good luck.

yes, thankyou.........i've tried to do quite alot of research online but we definately need to go and see for ourselves. we dont know Spain that well so it's not going to be very easy! it's all a bit of a minefield to be honest. We dont really know where to start!

You're suggesting that you want to own a place in Spain and rent for a while in the UK, most of the responders are suggesting you do it the other way around for a while - continue to own in the UK and rent somehwere in Spain - why would this not be an option?

So many people have bought in the wrong area or have found they couldn't get employment and so on, only to find they then can't sell either. Renting for 12 months is a very sound idea.