It ISN'T all doom and gloom but why doesn't your daughter rent first and establish the business as a success - see if it works - if it doesn't and she wants then to sell up you will find yourself selling with many others and at the moment due to mortgage crisis you probably will not be able to sell.

Moving to Spain doesn't mean you have to buy a property - there are plenty of long-term rentals available.

Mark

It is so refreshing when I read a SENSIBLE reply, there is no question about it, it is indeed a RENTING TIME not buying, the market is so volatile and unpredictable. I also think people have short memories apart from New build properties which the big company's pushed hard, resales have barely moved for the last 3-4 years there being such a glut. I personally would love to be in the position of having loads of cash invested to earn more than enough to cover the rent and give me an additional income. Rentable property is plentiful at very attractive rates.

Research research research and research some more, thats the name of the game.

Unfortunately, she wants to run kennels, so renting is not an option.

[QUOTE=johnreynolds;6736989]I personally would love to be in the position of having loads of cash invested to earn more than enough to cover the rent and give me an additional income.

Wouldn't we all?

Johnny, I dont disagree with your analysis, but with stockmarkets tumbling around the world, and governments plainly bent on reducing interest rates to even more ludicrous levels just to stave off the evil hour, where we are going to find the dividends or interest cover? It looks as though they are prepared to continue playing fast and lose with the value of money, so if they HAVE let the inflation genie out of the bottle, property may prove the only safe haven again.

We are ourselves intending to do just as you suggest, but have awful memories of how Callaghan's government destroyed the value of money in the 70s. And it took all of the 80s to get inflation back down from 25-30 percent.

Dont get me wrong, I am not doing a Darling here. The situation is in no wise comparable with then. The likelihood is that normal service will resume in the next few months, although property will remain soft for years to come.

But I have found it an invaluable maxim that there is no situation so bad that a government cannot make it worse. And generally, if they can, they will.

[QUOTE=bigglesworth;6737051] I think you are also forgetting Thatcher´s years. Okay so you may have had your interest on your dividends but there were very few who had jobs and even more lost their homes. The trouble now is the media talking us into recession, grabbing every little bit of news, sending the pound diving.

How true!

Chiclanagir
You are of course absolutely right - the consequences of bad decisions by Government last for a very long time , and when those decisions and policy are exceptionally bad (as most in the 70s were) the effects can be both long lasting and brutal. Which I think is exactly the point I was making.

But to take issue with one point – yes of course the press are milking the situation – easy copy, no need to think and bad news sells more papers than good.

However, the government’s obsession with low interest rates is exactly what has created the situation we all find ourselves in. To keep interest rates below the real rate of inflation can have only one consequence. So we all need to be very careful. All politicians will say just anything to get elected and absolutely anything to get re-elected.

Maybe partly but not wholly.

Getting back to the plot - the majority are not moving because they cannot sell their property in the UK.

Despite what others on here say, you cannot sell because no one is looking to buy (well hardly anyone).

Just ask the agents in the UK. They are not getting anywhere near the amount of people buying to move up the ladder that they once had and if the Halifax Building Society had to close so many of their estate agency offices that has to say something other than simply the property is over-priced.

The cost of living cannot be the answer to why people are not moving because anything Spain can do we can do better (or do I mean worse?)

As I see it, property prices rose to ridiculous heights and what is happening now is that they are falling to where they should have been in the first place. If the lenders hadn´t lent at rates like 125% of LTV the problems wouldn´t be arising. Prices will eventually level out and then start to rise again.

Well, if the idiot lenders in the US hadn't sold ridiculous mortgages to people with no hope of repaying them, and then if our lenders hadn't followed suit, would we be in the trouble we are now?

Hi, correct me if I am wrong but didn’t banks like Northern rock buy these subprime mortgages. Which to my mind is like buying bad debts.
The next question that comes to mind is where is all the collateral, the deeds to the condominiums/apartments and houses. Someone must have them; no banks lend money without the property as collateral. Somebody is sitting on a fortune.
Hope I am not too of topic.
Barry

"To keep interest rates below the real rate of inflation can have only one consequence. " I think this explains it all to the layman ,goverment inflation figures are BS, in reality joe publics inflation rate far exceeds the low fantasy one Gordons lot give us.

Rgds

Rotor

hi , i totally agree with you gcm it aint all doom gloom ,there is loads of property for rental so rent for while then when you are on your feet and you have found the area you like buy then. i think when you buy a place in spain you buy it for long term and because you like the area , when i brought my place in spain i did not think about the profit i was going to make in the future or if it was going to drop in value , i brought it because the area and what i was getting for my money , i thought it was great value compared to the uk . yes the uk and spanish market aint great at the min but there is some cheap property to be brought and if you looking to buy now you will get a great deal , but dont be expecting to make a profit straight away just stick with it and it will come around , i found that property is long term thing and you got too stick with it to win in !

its 10 30 pm been raining all day ,on and off .dark damp dismal .quality of life is the key ,blue sky and sunshine ,were about to make the leap next couple of years ,dont look back .were here for a good time not a long time !

I spent the afternoon on the beach, a quick swim then watching the windsurfers risking death
Then I spent early evening in and by the Pool reading a book
Then a few beers

Its a tough life but someone's got to do it