Sugarpuff

Hiya All

My partner and I are seriously considering moving to Majorca within the next couple of years. I have read a thread on moving to Ibiza and was hoping for some constructive replies on mine. We have seen some properties online in Manacor and intend to go and see some when we next go over in July. Is this a decent area or would we be better going somewhere else? My partner is an electronics/IT engineer and would hope to work in this field. I'm going to be a "lady of leisure"

Our daughter is 7 so we need to think about schools. She currently attends a private school but we would consider a state school.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Rosemary

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the employment situation is dire so your husband may find it very difficult to find work unless he is extremely talented in his field and can speak Spanish fluently.

Rosemary

Sugarpuff

My husband is a native Catalan speaker, but also speaks Castellano and English fluently. He would just like a bit of work to keep him occupied. We plan on renting our UK house out and live off the income as well as savings until my occupational pension kicks in in about 7 years time.

cricketman

Your position is very different to most British "expat" situations, but your questions really should be for your partner. He will know much better than an expat forum!

I assume your child will speak Catalan given that your husband does, so no problem there

If Manacor is good enough for Rafael Nadal and family then it would be good enough for me!

lesleyandme

I have been looking at moving out to Spain since the turn of the year.

Initially I favoured the Murcia area but having done several weeks of visits to various locations around Spain I have plumped for Alcudia, Majorca.

I was looking at various business opportunities and during my questioning of locals and expats the same things kept cropping up regarding Majorca. A shortage of air conditioning engineers and IT engineers, the later of which may interest you.

Would it be worth your husband setting up his own business. The fact he is bi-lingual would give him a massive advantage of making it a success I would say.

amideislas

There are many lovely places to live on this island, but Manacor is a very practical choice.

Nothing particularly charming about it (yet the surrounding areas are beautiful), but it does have 7 major supermarkets, good DIY stores, a major train / bus station, good restaurants, excellent services, major hospital, major motorway to the airport and Palma, low cost of living, low crime rate, and minutes from lovely beaches. Manacor is not a touristy town. It tends to be very traditional, and in some ways rather backward in character. You'll understand when you begin to mingle.

Manacorians aren't especially friendly - unless of course, you're fluent in Catalan, then they warm up quite a bit. I think Manacorians are just now beginning to live in the 21st century. Just 10 years ago, it was a rather remote place where precious few bothered to travel to, and not much worth going for. It's advanced dramatically in the past decade, but (some of) the people still live a few years in the past. That's changing too.

Your greatest asset is your husband's native Catalan (and presuming your kids also are Catalan-fluent). Mallorca has amongst Spain's best economies, and I recently saw a number of reports that the jobless rate has fallen dramatically. Manacor's public schools are highly-rated.

I recommend buying a property just outside the city or in a nearby village like Petra, Son Macia, etc. If you have any DIY skills, properties that are in need of upgrading are abundant and tend to be cheap (or very negotiable). The value of having "buffer zone" of land between you and the next neighbour cannot be understated.

I think you have a real shot. Good luck. If you need any help, feel free to PM me.

-Ami

Moses2013

If it's a good area really depends what you want and can afford? Amideislas said Mallorca has amongst Spain's best economies, and I recently saw a number of reports that the jobless rate has fallen dramatically. You have to look at the whole picture and there aren't really many well paid jobs in Mallorca. With German/English/Spanish, you could probably get a job tomorrow, but if €800 - €1200 is enough depends on the individual. As long as your savings will keep you going for 7 years and you're realistic, I don't see a problem.

johnnyone

Sugarpuff, Ami's advice on Majorca is always well thought out and worth noting.

Ami, I do not always agree with you on the more contentious posts but glad you are back posting, it might liven the forum up a bit!

Sugarpuff

Thank you, everyone for your advice. My partner is from Barcelona but we do not want to go there (Too close to the Mother-In-Law for my liking!), hence why I am asking for advice as he does not know all areas either. Unfortunately our daughter is not bilingual as we live in UK, and she has always been in English speaking nursery/school. I do not speak Spanish or Catalan so we speak English at home. We do have a couple of hundred plus we'll have the income from our rental property in UK which is mortgage-free so if we're careful it should last us even if he does get a fairly low-paid job. Thanks again.

Moses2013

You might be worse off in Mallorca if the Mother-In-Law comes for holidays (2 weeks non stop). Barcelona is big and you have many areas to be close, but not too close.

amideislas

Thanks, Johnny...

I'm only lurking occasionally. But I'm honoured that you'd miss me

Cheers,

Ami

cricketman

The first thing you should do is get your partner to speak Catalan to your daughter

My wife and children are Spanish, go to Spanish school etc, but are fluent in English because I speak to them in English about half of the time

I'm guessing you havea few hundred thousand rather than a few hundred pounds If so then you are in a good position, but still you need to do a careful financial plan