cbatch

hiya can anyone help im interested in moving to spain but i dont know how to go about it can anyone help me please im 34 and my wife is 31 and we have a 12 year old boy thanxs

We are coming

It is our age! I am 34 the wife is 33 and we have two skids as well. We are hopeing to move to spain early next year.

Have you decided were in spain?

Good luck:scared:

cbatch

no we havent found anywhere yet cos we dont no how to go about it but we are trying to

Dawn Adams

I'm just a casual observer with no information to offer you. But I'm curious as to why you would want to move to Spain, and which areas you find most attractive.

It looks desert country in the main, with ghettos by the coast. I've never been there, and my only information is the tv programs where people are planning a move and go "oooh, ahhh", and I can't see what the heck they are on about, unless the "oooh, ahhh's" are written into the script.

Please don't think I'm poking fun at your intentions, I'm not. Just trying to pick your brains to fill in gaps in my own knowledge.

hilary

Hi!! I am moving to the North Costa Blanca in the new year. I ruled out the Costa Del Sol as it was too hot, too busy, too far. Go for a short break to the area one hours drive north of Alicante and you'll be stunned by the coastline and the incredible mountain scenery. You can get cheap flights at this time of year, and I know of a lovely place to stay which is v. cheap and which is close to the expat community but still "real Spain". Don't listen to the opinions of people who have never been there. They're worthless!
Contact me if you want.I can give you lots of help. [email protected]

All the best
Hilary

jdr

I agree with Hilary.

Take a holiday here first, suss out the countryside, then come back and rent somewhere and check out the area befor you buy.

jdr

I said i agree with Hilary, that is apart from the costa del sol bit.

quote.. " Don't listen to the opinions of people who have never been there. They're worthless! "

Also study the property taxes, ie sale and family inheritance of the property.
It is best to have a big mortgage on it.

gazzza

Best thing to do is RENT for 6 months look around the areas that you think you might be interested in living
But dont leave it too long as property prices are going up fast
real fast my house has gone up 80% in 20 months
But make sure that you are 100% happy BEFORE YOU BUY

Any questions fire away Ill be glad to answer any questions
By the way LEARN Spanish, Ok you wont die from hunger, pointing goes a long way
But speaking the lingo goes further...

aprenda a hablar español

Dolphingirl

Hi

Well depending what your work and where you like to live gives you various option. If you dont speak spanish it may be a good idea to start in a English community until you feel your feet and then slowly move into a spanish community, wont be just a shock to the system.

This may be a good link to start up with.

www.aboutspain.net

Decide what you want, do you want to live in a city, ie like Madrid or on the coast where other expats are, or do you want to live in a village where they dont speak English and you are thrown in the deep end? Do you want a variation of weather or sunshine 300 odd days a year? Are your children good at handling challenges and would they be able to handle going just to an all spanish speaking school or would you like them to go to a bilingueal school. Remember Barcelona has a different language to the rest of Spain think its a combination of French and Spanish.

If you choose to go to the British expat communities either in Blanca or Costa Del Sol this will also depend on your occupation. There may be more opportunities in the Costa Del Sol area than in Blanca, this you will have to find out as well as which offers the better schools for your children.

Are you going to drive down to Spain or buy a car in Spain as you will need what is known as a NIE number to purchase any property, car, house etc, you get this from the Police Commissiona in any of the main towns. Not too hard to fill in, take a copy of your passport as well as the original and it normally takes 20 days before you get your number.

Renting, you can get 6 months and 11 months contracts often in furnished property, if you go down this route you will need 1 months rent and often 2 months bond. Be wary of anyone who wants also 1 months commission for putting an Ad in a paper!!! Often you will find cheaper accomodation if you go slightly inland, getting hold of a spanish paper is often better and someone to translate, as the prices are often cheaper than in the British expat papers.


You will also need an E111 from your post office in case you are ill and have to use a medical service.

If you go to the Malaga region and need an no nonsense lawyer at any time, I can recommend a good one that I have used.

Be wary of other expats until proven otherwise, sometimes they take advantage of a new boy on the block, but otherwise there are some good guys around. Working for some British companies be aware that they may only give you 3 months contract and often you may not get paid - yes it does happen.

On the costa del sol there are a couple of English Newspapers, the English Sur and European weekly which have some useful number in and in Blanca Costa Blanca News (I think). The best thing is to fly to one of the costas and have a drive around, Alicante is about 4 hours from the Costa Del Sol, (depending on your driving ) so one may be more to your liking than the other.

If you have your own house, rent it out for the time being which will pay for the mortgage and if lucky may go towards your rent in Spain.

Another positive is that you can get some good flight deals if you book ahead so at least youre not too far to fly back if you get homesick at any time.

Hope the above helps

Dolphin Girl

bfg69bug

i´d agree with all the above, i´d take out either a short term rental or a 6 month rental at the most. try and keep track of how much u spend per month on the main things, electric, gas bottles and food etc, it´ll give u a good indication of how much u need to live.

will u be working over here or will u have enough money that u dont need to / other income from the uk ?

u need to get ur kid into school too, and if he dont speak spanish u´ll need to look into the cost of english schools too.



as i think of more things i´ll post them up for u.

willmags

Hola D

you say "Be wary of anyone who wants also 1 months commission for putting an Ad in a paper "

All the property agents I have been in contact with state that they will charge 1 months rent.

How can I avoid paying this?

sibsie

All agents will want a security deposit. I think that was referring to when one of the great 10 percenters we have here put an add in as a middle person.

willmags

The security deposit is separate. All the agents from whom I have received info state 1 months rent in advance, 2 months rent security deposit, and an additional 1 months rent for their commission and legal work.

I was surprised by this extra months charge, as here the landlord/lady will pay the agents commission (although this simply means higher rent)

sibsie

I rented when I first moved here and only had to pay a month's rent in advance and a month deposit.

The owner will be paying them commission as well. Are they Spanish agents or English? There's no way I'd pay the extra charge.

Dolphingirl

When you are reading ads in the paper often the same number will come up more than once if they are an agent. I´ve come across some agents who dont charge the person looking, depending how desparate you are, personally after getting ripped off by one when I first arrived, is putting an ad in the paper stating what you want and "no agents" you may find the owner will contact you direct. But some owners do advertise and when you telephone an ad ask if they are an agent or an owner, and if an Agent what the fees are involved, you then have a choice in avoiding them if you are careful. I´ve only had to pay commission once, but got half of it back as the Agent found me another temporary appartment and once found they had nothing to do with the owner I refused to pay for the appartment and that it would have to come out of her commission.

This is something you have to watch, sometimes the "Agent" doesnt have anything whatsoever to do with the owner and once the commission is paid you will be on your own and have to deal with the owner direct..... See also if the Agent is registered, although not mandatory you will see if they are a fly by night also....and always go to their office. I got caught out on this one, told me that I needed to "hold" the appartment until we got to the office......of course when we got to the office she was nothing to do with the owner but was helping the tenant who wanted to move on out.

Another tip is DO NOT SIGN anything without Legal Advice........ I have just brought a house here and...........the Agent told me I had to pay the commission which was 6 grand........this was signed very quickly on the first day.......luckily for me the Agent has screwed up on the contract, and both me and the seller had signed....which was in Spanish and could have been viewed as an Agreement of offer.......

When it came to signing at the Notary........the Agent became quite vocal as I wouldnt pay the commission, in fact they said they would take the seller away if I didnt sign a piece of paper saying I would pay the commission.......My Spanish lawyer advised me not to and the original contract did not STATE who had to pay the commission.......The seller still wanted to sell to me and in private both the Sellers and my Lawyer tore up the orginal contracts.......it was agreed also that we would pay half each....however the Agent refused their half and wanted me to fork out the whole lot.......because he refused that offer........now he gets nothing from me as he can´t prove that I should pay and the orginal contracts no longer exist in the legal eyes........so I dont have to pay anything!!!!

This has been my experience, so I hope someone learns from it.......DO NOT SIGN anything without getting advice..... I was lucky....


Hope it helps .......
Dolphin Girl....