Lizzibaby

Hi all,

Myself and my husband are looking at moving to Marbella, we have no children but have 2 dogs and 2 cats, we want to rent before we buy and I want to either be self employed offering beauty services or employed in the beauty/ makeup artist sector but I can also be a support worker for the elderly or mentally ill as have experience in that too and my hubby is a fully qualified chef, also has been a manager of pubs/bars in the past and also has been a van driver and a forklift driver. We bring a plethora of experience but obviously that will be no good if we cant find any work!

We lead a simple life and will be coming with savings, we need help with
-finding rental accommodation- how much deposit and rent approximately will we need.
-what paperwork will we need regarding visa or the like?
- what driving licence do you need to have?

Any other tips would be helpful, and please no negative comments. We really will be moving out there soon but I just am researching first!

Thanks.

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

Lizzibaby

Thankyou Rosemary! What a lovely warm welcome! :-) x

amideislas

You don't sound particularly unusual - but you mention "Visas" and didn't mention your citizenship, so presumably, you are UK citizens, and that makes you an EU citizen, and that makes it all relatively simple.

If not EU citizens, then it gets a lot more complicated.

I'm not clear on the precise legalities, but you can drive on your UK licence for some period of time. But within (60 days?) after officially becoming a "tax resident", you must have a Spanish licence. Many people therefore initially take advantage of maximum time you can reside in Spain without becoming a "tax resident" - to buy time to sort things out - which I believe is 180 days.

I can't speak for Marbella - I reckon like most places, rent prices have everything to do with WHERE exactly you reside. Just out of curiosity though, why Marbella?

There are shedloads of resources and advisories on the internet describing the process of establishing legal Spanish residence, and everything associated with it - generally speaking, Marbella won't differ much, if at all.

Lizzibaby

Hello there!

Yes we are from the UK!

Well we have been on numerous holidays there and I understand that the beauty side of things is very well used and we have always done everything for the hubby's job and now it's my turn, my dream! I want to be able to get a small part time beauty position and just live a simple life!

We are going to spanish lessons at the moment and we just love marbella, we always have done! Thankyou for your reply!

Domino

I am sure you have already read the tales of woe regarding employment in Spain, although that should really be "unemployment".

Assuming your husband will be the main wage earner, would suggest you both come out here for a "holiday" or two and try to find him a job to come out to. Then start looking for a position with a beauty parlor - plenty in Marbella as lots of people seem to need it

hth

Lizzibaby

Thankyou for the reply, yes we have heard about that. My hubby will be the main job earner, we have savings and we hope to get a house with an area where we can grow vegetables like we do here to keep the costs right down! x

Domino

hopefully lots of savings, Marbella isn't cheap and land is costly even without any building on it.

Lizzibaby

-finding rental accommodation- how much deposit and rent approximately will we need.
-what paperwork will we need regarding visa or the like?
- what driving licence do you need to have?

and any tips helpful...

amideislas

That's kind of what I was getting at when asking "why Marbella?".

There are certainly far less expensive places where you can have a lovely home with more than enough of land for a lovely garden - and you don't even need to be far from the sea - at a fraction of the price of a small house & garden in Marbella, but she loves the area, and so it's probably not a point worthy of debate.

cricketman

Marbella is a city, not a region. The only chance of you having enough land to grow vegetables is if you are a multi-millionnaire, or if you dont actually live anywhere near Marbella - maybe 20-40km away

You will also struggle to be able to afford it just by renting a chair for beauty work - unless you have tens of thousands of euros (maybe more) to invest into a business of course.

Most people working in beauty struggle to make 800 euros per month, and that's once you have actually established a client base which may take you a few years

IamStu

Hi Lizzibaby and welcome.
I live down the road (15 mins by car) to Marbella and I´m loving it! I hope things work out for you.
Rentals this time of year are difficult in the sense that most are currently being turned over for holiday lets. Things improve a lot from Sept onwards.
As has been mentioned there are many sites for you to find somewhere.

Try this http://www.fotocasa.es/pisos/marbella/alquiler/listado

Usually you will be required to pay a full month deposit plus a commision to an agent if you use one of those. Agents fees vary but expect 50% of months rent and you won´t be far wrong.

As another poster has already advised, please do visit before leaping as jobs are very hard to come by!

Good luck!

Lizzibaby

LOL

You people! It's funny how you all try to scare people off and yet you all live abroad so it can't be that bad. I am asking advice from you all because you live out there and I understand you saying about the unemployment but the employment rates in england are hardly anything to write a song about either!

I am not just resting my search in Marbella, I just am fond of that particular place and if you have any other places I should check out then feel free to let me know instead of just saying things like "she loves the area", its patronising!

Lizzibaby

Thankyou IAmStu !

cricketman

Unemployment rate in UK is 7%

Unemployment rate in Andalucia is 38%

In Andalucia most people speak Spanish. You don't

100,000 British people left Spain last year, so you client base is shrinking

Of course look into it, but the odds are not in your favour. I think if you did really well and managed to make 800 euros per month in Spain then you could have made 5-10 times that much in the UK with that same amount of effort