I transferred pension and savings to a Spanish bond when we moved here. It's far more tax efficient and there is no CGT to pay

Interesting. where can I find info on that please? Regards, Rich.

I don't think the UK is the opposite and like minded people who support themselves and "enjoy quality of life" can be found in any country or location. The big difference is that a lot of wealthy foreigners believe they are living the typical Spanish life and when you are retired with enough cash, the real problems can be ignored as long as they don't affect you personally. For most Spanish, quality of life is not about the maximum amount of sunshine hours you can have and many locals would be happy if they had the support you get in the UK.

Good point. It comes down to what we want. After over 40 years of non stop work, in all weather's, at all times of the day or night and in areas of conflict on some occasions we just want to relax in a nice place so this is what will most definitely suit us fir our retirement. Cheers.

I'm not sure on the rules for making recommendations any more but here goes -

My IFA in Spain is Paul Griffiths - +34 693506288

Sure, what many often forget is that we won't be getting younger. I don't know what type of properties you are looking at but a lot of these villages are not always age friendly, so when buying it's something one shouldn't ignore. It's easy to get carried away and I suppose the dilemma is that your hobby means you have to be further out. We have a lot of trees surrounding our area and while it's nice, I wouldn't want to be too far out when a fire starts. You just need one crazy person, so it's something to consider when you are out in the countryside.

I guess that is why it is called the Dream. It is what you imagine it to be. And you imagine only the nice bits. Most of us in reality have no idea about Spain. How many expats watch the news or read the Spanish papers?. Not many. So I guess ignorance is bliss

If that's what the OP wants, that's fine - as long as they don't kid themselves that it's "the real Spain". They are not always well regarded by the local Spanish population, either (much like the second home owners in the UK who gradually buy up many of the properties in villages, putting them beyond the reach of locally born young people who have to move further away, and the shops and facilities the original residents depended on dwindle away, and the village school closes down because there aren't enough young families left. There's a small airfield at Trapiche not far from the area where the OP is considering moving to. A few months ago some nearby residents complained about the noise of light aircraft flying over their properties. The (Spanish) President of the flying club based there responded angrily by saying they should be ignored as the complaints were only from foreigners who were living in homes built illegally in the countryside. Areas where there are such high concentrations of foreign residents who are perceived to be more prosperous can also attract higher rates of house burglaries, as this article says (Alcaucín being one of the villages mentioned):-

https://www.diariosur.es/malaga/2015...830213705.html

I would guess those figures re burglaries in the rural villages are actually the campo houses, within the municipality of the villages rather than the actual village houses. Like anywhere travelling burglars are around, rural houses with no very near neighbours can be a target.

Actually, I've seen quite a few reports on local FB groups of break-ins having taken place involving properties on urbanisations around that area.

I don't doubt that Lynn I was comparing more with living inside the actual village area in village house. Burglaries do occcur in villages but not so easy to burgle given proximity of neighbours and people around.

I completely get what you are saying and that has been our experience in Spain. We split our time between Spain and Portugal these days but that's another story!

We bought our first plot of land in the Axarquia and built a holiday home way back in 1998 and I have to say our experience has been mostly positive (our experience in Portugal has been equally positive). The worst aspect was the so called illegal property situation which has been rectified with DAFO as per my post further up the thread.

The demographics have changed in recent years and as the British have sold and left, Dutch, Belgian and other nationalities have bought properties in the area so it's a good mix of people. The property market has drastically improved too and houses sell quite quickly now.

​​​​​​Yo u could take an extended holiday to try it out first but I think you will like it.

thanks for tge heads up!

thanks. We will be methodical but appreciate all the comments.

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