Tikhai

Hello
living in spain with 2000 Euros it's fine , you get around the month
very nicely no need to worry about the money , maybe it would be better to buy your own appart now it the time to buy they are very cheap due to the constrution crisis

Rosemary

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

Tambo

Thanks everyone for your comments.

The more info and opinions I get before moving there the better!!!!

berenike

Hello,

I am new to this forum and not a Brit ex pat. Please forgive me for that. I am one of your Yankee cousins from across the pond. My wife and I are taking a very serious look at a property in Moraira and will visit to see it first hand in March.

We would greatly appreciate it if any of you out there now living in or in the proximity of Moraira have advice/information on things like Spanish income taxes (on income from outside Spain) and general costs of living. Things like property taxes, utility bills, general costs for food in (both in grocery stores and eating out), owning and operating a small car, etc. Can you get good deals on travel throughout Europe and the Med from Moraira? What do you like most about Moraira and Spain in general and what are the disadvantages of living there?

Thanks to anyone out there who takes the time to answer these questions!

Rosemary

As Concierge for the Spanish section of BE I would like to say hello and welcome.

BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

mikelincs

Not sure just what sort of visa you would need, but remember health care isn't free, but then from the USA you are used to that. If you become a resident of Spain, then you will have to pay income tax on all your worldwide income, but not sure if you can claim and back from the USA, most of the people on here are British, and do get the advantages that living in an EU country bring, one being that any tax paid in the UK can be offset against Spanish taxes due to the dual taxation agreement. Electricity is quite expensive but property taxes are quite low, however they have been rising in the last few years. Please remember that summer temps can reach 40+ degrees, and that winter temperatures can get quite low, and most Spanish houses do NOT have central heating, it's either electric via the air con, or gas or log fires. Internet is expensive and the speeds aren't very good, 5mbps is a good speed in many places and a lot make do with just 1 or 2mbps. Difficult to give comparisons as most on here will not know what you normally spend on these things in the USA.

Domino

spanish houses are not necessarily well insulated either, the rooms can be very small as they are used to heating one room only via a butane heater.
we are used to the UK having a max temp change of +/- 5-6degs night vs day, whilst here it can be as high as 15degs (C that is). Last night it was cloudless sky, 5c at 0800, 20c in the sun at 1300.

and be careful, those houses can easily have no water or electricity or be without both, relying on PV cells and a well/borehole unless in the city proper, where to have mains gas is still quite unusual.

hth

berenike

Hi,

Thanks for this helpful information. When looking at our prospective purchase I will not assume that utilities (electricity, water, gas) are connected to the municipality. Were we to buy we were thinking of installing some solar panels (as we have done on our home in the USA) to help with the electric bills. In the US not only did we eliminate our electric bills, but were actually able to sell the excess power we generated and make a profit. I am not sure if/how this might work in Spain, however.

I lived in Greece, Egypt and Turkey so I know what you mean about lack of central heating and how cold those floors can get in the early morning (throughout the day, actually).

Can anyone tell us anything about the Spanish medical system? How good is it? How expensive? What kinds of health insurance would you recommend? I am assuming that the insurance we have in the USA would be of no use in Spain.

Many thanks for taking the time to respond to this Gringo!

lynnxa

if you're a US citizen, unless you come on a working-sponsored-by-an-employer visa, the state health system wouldn't be available to you, so you would have to take out private insurance

you need to check out the requirements of whatever visa you are applying for - at a guess you would need pretty comprehensive insurance

the good news is, that from what I remember of the costs of insurance when we were in the US, it's very much cheaper here

if you do a search of the forum you'll find various discussions about health insurance various companies recommended

I suspect that

berenike

Hello,

Thanks for the information on health insurance. I did not think we would be eligible for any Spanish state health coverage. In the US, as you know, it is like the old wild west when it comes to health coverage and even the best there isn't always that good. I'll look into private insurance.


Berenike