Minstrol

Hi everyone, I, like a lot of people are fed up of the weather and wish to move to Spain. I'm thinking mainland, leaning towards Benidorm especially. Can anybody inform me of the realistic costs of moving and settling? if I do decide to eventually move I'll also need to find work, I would literally do anything my specialism is retail. Just really looking into the costs before I decide to make any move.

Tadd1966

Minstrol
Good luck but work is difficult to find. You may find summer work and off the books at no more than 5€ per hour. Even if you speak Spanish
Also health care is an issue
As regarding costs depends if you are renting or buying. Buying add approx. 11% to price for taxes and costs. renting again depends on what you want a small apartment anything form 300 to 500€ per month but location is key
Utilities (electric, water) on a par with UK
Council taxes cheap
Cost of living about 25 to 35% cheaper than UK unless you shop at ex pat shops!!

Minstrol

I'd be renting and going solo as well, would like to have at least a years rent and living saved up beforehand

Rosemary

Hi and a warm welcome to the Spanish forum on BE. Myself and Fred James are the moderators for the Spanish forums whilst BEVS moderates Europe. Moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. This is so that members gain the information that they are looking for and find their experiences on the forums to be friendly and worthwhile.

Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderator who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are usually friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge about the issues of living in Spain. I hope that you enjoy your time participating in the forums.

Please let me know if you need any further help.

Rosemary

Moses2013

It depends how much money you have or need, what kind of life you expect, age etc. There's a reason why young people are leaving the country and once you move to a low wage region like Benidorm, returning to the UK will be very hard. Yeah the sun shines, but many return and realise that it's not everything. Don't be fooled by people telling you how cheap Spain is. It certainly isn't, unless you're an alcoholic and like a low quality full English every day.

tebo53

Hi Ministrol, I live in Benidorm and although I don't need to work as I'm retired I can tell you that there is a lot of people looking for work in this area. Even the locals who have lived here for years and speak fluent Spanish are finding it difficult to find work and retain the job they have.

Long let Apartments here are difficult to find at this time of year and you will need to start looking around sept / October time. A decent one bed will cost you around 300 to 400 euros a month, plus electric, water and gas bills on top.

Apart from electric and petrol everything else costs far less than the UK. You will need to sort out healthcare which isn't cheap. You will need to prove you have enough money in your bank and regular income to satisfy the authorities that you won't be a burden on the state.

To move here and to fully settle in cost me around 5000 pounds.

Best of luck
Steve

Good

Rosemary

I was there at Christmas and there was a lady going around the shops asking for work with no luck at all. She did not speak Spanish. After she left one ladies wear shop I overheard the manager say to a member of staff that she could not give jobs to her Spanish friends who begged her for work and that she knew many other shop managers and owners who were in the same position. Also that with so many Spanish people out of work she did not hold out much hope for the English woman. This manager did genuinely sound sorry too.

Rosemary

Moses2013

It certainly isn't easy. Unfortunately too many people just base their life on weather and don't realise what they have back home. It's a different story if you're retired and have a guaranteed income, but Benidorm is not the place to be if you need work. If your mortgage is paid off and you don't mind long working hours, hotels can maybe an option, but there are enough young qualified people waiting for these jobs too.

Minstrol

So realistically for chances of work a big city would be better? Like Barcelona or Valencia?

Moses2013

Personally I can't see what's so great about Benidorm. Barcelona would certainly be better, but then again you have a lot more competition and really depends on your skills. One of the many reasons why I bought land in Girona region was because you are close to Barcelona and there will always be multinational companies around there, should we ever move over at some stage and need an income. Main reason was obviously the beauty of Costa Brava, but it's a benefit being close to a city like Barcelona.

mikelincs

More chance, yes, however there are many thousands of unemployed Spainsh, and even in the cities many of the jobs are very low paid, and also many are working 'on the black' which is without a contract, no contract no Spanish healthcare, so private heath cover needed. If you have specialist skills then there are possibilities, and even better if you are fluent in Spanish.

Moses2013

And have to agree with Mikelincs. All the young ones are flocking to the cities for jobs and especially in retail you need Spanish/Catalán.

Irmelin

We just moved to Javea about 30 min drive from Benidorm. I went on my own in April to explore area from Alicante to Valencia and fell in love with Javea, this little town has a lot to offer it has old town going back to 14 century, port and massive sandy beach with promenade and restorans. I was lucky in April there was not a lot of long rent available, but I had managed to get a lovely Spanish willa 4 bedrooms with swimming pool and gardens with orange trees for 700 euro per months, the biggest house bill we have is 70 euro swimming pool clean. we had bought small bottle of gas for hot water and another for cooking 12 euro each, still using it. We have online business in Uk and set up company in Spain to do the same thing, so work wasn't an issue for us. We have 2 girls age 3 and 6, they been going to summer school for a month it will break tomorrow for summer, they will start school on 10 of September. There almost has not been any problems for us so far, also took longer to buy a car then we expected and ended up buying a new one as prices on used almost as high as on new! It is very hot here now, but we are all loving it (we do have aircon working all day so ) and girls spend most time in swimming pool. So if you in retail you may try online business, there are a lot of companies in UK offer drop ship service (they hold your stock and ship it to your customers) and Amazon being one of them offer a platform to sell as well...just an option...

amideislas

There's a reason why Brits flock to Benidorm. It's warm, you don't need to learn another language, your pension goes further, and you can buy HP at the local supermarket.

But going there to find a job would be a bit like moving to Italy to get way from Italians.

cricketman

Yes - and by law shop assistants must speak Catalan in Barcelona

And then you would be lucky to get 5 euros per hour on a short term contract, when a 1 bed flat is at least 600 euros per month. Twice that in the nice areas

The only chance you have OP is if you are young and good looking and willing to work for 30 euros per night cash in hand, then you could work in a tourist bar