agoreira

Went there many years ago, travelled all around Córdoba, Priego de Córdoba, Jaén, spent a week in Baeza, Úbeda area, Parque Natural de las Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas etc. Nice area to visit, and in those days there was no chance of bumping into expats! Certainly wouldn't want to live in Jaén though.

cricketman

I've been to Jaen a couple of times. Stayed in the parador at the castle once. Its an OK city, though there are many better ones in Andalucia.

My SIL bought a 3 bd flat which needed full refurbishment in Barcelona a few years ago for half a million euros. Yes its expensive! But bought it to live in, not rent out

Domino

why so incredulous at the thought ?
I know Brits who commute down to Granada everyday for work
others who live in the province - seems they prefer Jaen to Granada province but have not worked out why yet....

ISTR the southern boundary of Jaen province is somewhere around Iznalozz and Pinos Puente which are only a few miles N of Granada.

steviedeluxe

Not really incredulous - just stating I'd never come across anyone who'd settled there; well up until to now not even heard from anyone who'd visited there. Just seems too far away from the coast or the normal famous places (Toledo, Madrid, Seville) to attract most expats. If indeed you know some who commute to Granada, then yes it surprises me a little. Perhaps they took advantage of lower prices?

cricketman

Jaén isnt that far from the coast, takes an hour and a half from Málaga

Still, its not much of an attraction. Much better are the towns of [U]beda and Baena which are lovely historical towns where the people there seemed very posh and cultured for being out in the middle of nowhere. Looked idyllic to bring children up

Domino

one couple have bought 3 houses together, gutted, stripped and rebuilt as a holiday home
another run a equestrian centre
the province is a reasonable size, lots of hills and olives (surprise surprise)
Jaen itself is only 96k from Granada and 116 from Cordoba so not too far into the sticks, and the main A44 N\S.

the planned high speed rail link Antequerra - Granada is almost finished (just can't go anywhere after that as Granada is a dead end)

as to prices - yes they are lower than some other parts, especially the marbella\malaga strip. I suppose like most things, its what you want out of life and what you want to put into it to achieve that goal.

is the coast the main thing about spain for expats and visitors ?
(Granada has 2m+ visitors every year).

I have spent most of my life at sea level, in the navy and then in East Anglia, when I left the navy with an oar on my shoulder, I walked and walked until one day a guy said to me "whats that on your shoulder?" then I knew I was far enough away from the sea.

rgds

jackytoo

There are quite a few British living in jaén. I don't know all the area but what I have seen I think it is nice. We enjoyed our stay in the city, wouldn't like to live there but it beats many of the inland places around málaga.

The town has put on various music festivals, classical and rock. Their olive oil is second to none.

steviedeluxe

It usually seems that way - Malaga is opening up another runway,whereas as far as I know inland airports like Ciudad Real can't get any flights! Certainly, when posters ask here about possible places to settle, job prospects etc., they almost invariably rule out moving somewhere like Madrid. Although that may be a preference to settle where other Brits are based. You're getting more weekend Brit visitors to Madrid though - a lot more than 15 or 20 years ago.
A lot of the visitors to Granada are there just for a day to see the Alhambra, and then they move on. A shame really, but then it means it still feels like a Spanish city at night, rather than being totally overrun by tourists. Disclaimer - that was my impression when i did a course there in the 90s, maybe it's changed?

jackytoo

Granada has a large community of British at the University.

Cats-R-Us

Just a question on interest only mortgages. Years ago I had one in the UK. The only problem was you also had to have endowment insurance which would pay the loan back at the end of the term. This, of course, added to the monthly costs which doesn't seem to have been mentioned.

Second point. The rail system doesn't end at Granada. The high-speed trains might but the lines goes on east to Guadix and, I believe, down to Almeria.

bil

I had one of those buggers, and we paid it off thank god. We had barely taken it on when people started saying that the payout at the end probably wouldn't be able to pay it off!

jackytoo

Swings and roundabouts. When the euro was introduced at around 72 pence FA's on the coast were advising Brits to change all their money into euro investments. The euro lost in value in a matter of months you could get a euro for 59 pence. Those British who moved over substantial amounts had a considerable loss.

Currency, like property prices are volatile right now, they could go anyway. I do think prices have further to fall in Spain. Don't want to sound like "desolation" but I think coastal properties will be in the doldrums for at least a decade because of all the bad publicity and the economy. What do others think?

agoreira

You can say that again, gets a bit boring after a while! Places like Baeza are like an island in a sea of olive trees. Úbeda sticks in my mind, as although we were there in June, at 8pm, the temp was showing 40º. And the hotel in Baeza had A/C, but it was so bloody noisy, we couldn't have it on. Happy days!

cricketman

Property prices need to take into account people's income

Very, very few people actually earn good enough money that they can afford property asking prices.

Only 2% of families in the UK make over £100k, and that is more like 1% in Spain. So for a normalish family house on the CDS to be priced 500k or more is a joke. These will come down to around 200k. With 2-3 bed flats being 100-150k within the next 3 years. Maybe even less in less desirable areas.

I know someone who had a 4 bed villa with pool and gardens near Mijas up for sale for 650k 3 years ago, no viewers. Now priced at 375k, still no viewers. Imo, this would be interesting priced at 280k looking to accept 250k.

steviedeluxe

Yet now the euro costs 88 pence.
You've proven my point. Impossible to predict (with 100% certainty) what's going to happen. Which is why the top advisors state you should have a majority of your money in the currency you incur your expenses in. Then you have a firm idea of what money you have, and you don't lose out if a currency slumps. The downside is you don't benefit if the currency goes in the opposite direction, which is why hedging with a percentage of your money may be a good idea.
Of course if you are certain that (for instance) the pound will rise against the Euro, then maybe you can make financial bets and win even more!

As for the price of coastal properties - I think it will depend on other countries to be honest. If there is a slump in tourism for example, prices could go still a lot further down. But suppose there was a big increase in Chinese or German tourists? My gut feeling is that this winter will be the bottom, but it's little more than a feeling and I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to make an "investment" based on a poster's gut feeling.