Are ours plans feasible?
 

Hi folks,

As I said in my first post we are planning on moving to Spain in the next couple of years.

In order to help that we are doing the following.

1 learning spanish
2 visiting the areas we want to stay in at least four times this year at different times of the year.
3 selling / getting rid of excess "stuff"
4 saving as much money as possible
5 finding out about clubs/societies where we want to live
6 learning as much as we can from forums such as this.

Obviously most of the day to day practical stuff has been covered before in the forums so I will have fun searching all that out.

My question therefore is this, what else should we be doing now to make the transition easier?

Many thanks

David

Re: Are ours plans feasible?
 

A little bit more info.
We don't need to worry about schools or jobs.
My wife is disabled and has issues walking climbing stairs etc so we are looking for flat, near shops, restaurant type places.

Many thanks
David

Re: Are ours plans feasible?
 

Are you of pensioner age? if you you can get free health care but if not you may need to take out private health cover.
Good luck in your venture, dont look our way, Costa Tropical and would be far to difficult for your wife, very very hilly/mountainouse.:thumbup:

Re: Are ours plans feasible?
 

Not quite pensioners yet. (52&58) So we will need health cover.

We are looking at the southern costa blanca / costa calida which seems to be relatively flat.

David

Re: Are ours plans feasible?
 

Just a thought - don't sell your house in the UK until at least five years after your move (and even then think about never selling it).

Re: Are ours plans feasible?
 

David, I'm thinking again. Your home is always your home (sorry for stating the obvious). Spain while it makes life a little more preferentially different, it is not a panacea for all ills. The phrase Turkeys looking forward to Christmas comes to mind - no offence meant.

Certainly, purchasing property in Spain for the forseeable future is seen as C R A Z Y. Would you be better off renting for long periods in Spain and retreating to the UK when you feel so fit.

Re: Are ours plans feasible?
 

If you, like us have decided to make the move permanent then unless you have a very good income you may need to sell to live rent free.

By selling our house in Uk we have enough to buy a rent and mortgage free home in Spain. As we have no intention of returning there is no need to keep a base here. Yes. things are tough and will get tougher but that will be the same wherever you are based. IMO it's a matter of how sure you are about the move.

Most of those returning, that Ive spoken to say its because of grandchildren or jobs. Neither of those are likely to worry us. (don't tell the spanish but I can't stand kids)

Re: Are ours plans feasible?
 

Spain is not very disabled friendly. You might want to research local health care and public transport in your chosen location(s). You might want to make a list of the activities you like and researching availability of those too.

Make a plan. We found it advantageous to write it down.

Re: Are ours plans feasible?
 

Most people actually go back for health and age related issues, the absence of social service help, the thought of being stuck in a home and not making yourself understood, being in a home and never getting visitors because the family live in UK, being stranded when the driver of the marriage dies or cannot keep a license, all factors to be considered.

And I might add a lot of Spanish who worked in the UK or in other countires, who retired back to Spain for a bit of sun, and whose children were born in the UK, have found themselves in the same situation and moved back because of the issues I have already mentioned.

Of course the language was not an issue for them,but a cousin of my mothers, moved back to Spain, and found the going tough, as the family were still in the UK, and they went back as they were in Spain alone.

Never say never......

Re: Are ours plans feasible?
 

Hi DavidFaeBlantyre

We are making the move later this year after 3 years of planning. You seem to have a good game plan, very similar to ours.
We are also seeking relatively flat areas as we would like to think that we would walk to most local places when we are too old to drive.
As a general rule of thumb, there is the most infrastructure, shops, bars restaurants, supermarkets, public transport, medical services and hospitals near to the more densely populated areas.
If you are looking to the Costas as we are then southern Costa Blanca and Murcia have lots of flat areas with good infrastructure. We found that in the main Northern Costa Blanca although very beautiful only had flat areas very close to the coast.

As a general rule property prices both for rental and buying are lower in SCB and Murcia than NCB.

We have not investigated Costa Valencia nor further South than Murcia.

CB and Murcia tend to have milder, drier Autumn and Winter than further north or south. Also the further away from the coast you go the colder it is in Winter.

Areas that have a high proportion of English speaking residents tend to have services with some English speaking staff.

When considering property check on the orientation, north/northeast facing will be cooler in summer but considerably colder in winter. South/southwest facing property will be warmer in winter especially if you open up the blinds whilst the sun is shining and batten down the hatches when the sun sets.

Try and make sure that there is more than one form of heating/cooking as there are occasional short term power cuts.

We are told that a good quality AC unit that is the inverter type and is very efficient in both cooling and heating will cost about €1,000 fitted. So if the property has none, and you will be surprised at the number that don't, you can factor in the cost.

A really good tool for your investigations is Google Maps and streetview. You can get down and walk for miles around the different towns and villages. Streetview is not up to date but is around three to four years old, the satellite views are even older. All in all though you can glean some information about a place and use the route planner for both walking and driving to work out distances from one point to another.

This forum has been an invaluable tool for us and most of the above has been provided by its contributors. If you have some specific questions just dive in and ask even if you think it is silly, you might get told so but:D

Re: Are ours plans feasible?
 

Point taken.

Yes we will go back for visits. We rarely see family here anyway and they are only a few miles away. Our children will visit for cheap holidays as will varies friends in fact we already have most of spring and autumn 'booked'.

Our greatest challenge will be learning the language at our advanced age. The greatest worry will be one of dying. Yet we would have to cope with that here too and as for social services, they are becoming pretty useless in UK unless you are prepared to pay a fortune for private care.

We will have made our bed and will lie in it whatever :)

I also agree that planning is the most important factor. Know what you want and find the areas that provide it.

Re: Are ours plans feasible?
 

I agree, I would get a long term protected rental in a place you think you would like to live and see how things go...if you have a property in the UK you could let that out, depending on circumstances that rent could cover the Spanish rent so you would live rent free.


I know of people who have rented their UK homes out to their kids because prices are that high now their children can't afford to buy a property. That way you would always have a bed to come home to, holidays and the like...win win.

Re: Are ours plans feasible?
 

You seem to be taking a very pragmatic approach as to where you would like to live so yes, I think your move would be feasible. You might want to contact some private health insurance providers, though, to check if your wife's condition would make it difficult for her to get cover, as all companies exclude pre-existing conditions.

We have been here for just over 5 years now and have no regrets whatsoever , we sold our house in the UK as we didn't see the need to keep a base there. I go back a couple of times a year to see family, but the OH has to be dragged back kicking and screaming, nothing other than weddings or funerals will entice him to go back.

Re: Are ours plans feasible?
 

Like Suejee we're coming with the intention of staying in Spain for the rest of our lives but you never know what can happen.

We have a 3 bed semi with a fairly large garden which we have made as easy to manage a possible as we intend letting it and using the money to pay our rent in Spain.

We haven't decided yet whether to rent permanently or buy in Spain. Whichever we do when we are settled we have considered selling our semi in the UK and buying a 2 bed apartment, we would probably get almost as much in rent and if we did need to return to the UK in our later years would have something more appropriate to our needs to live in.

Re: Are ours plans feasible?
 

I think you are doing the best thing, that is what i would do in your situation.

But, and it is only a little but, think twice about about selling the semi and buying an apartment.

The problem with owning an apartment is the service charges,and the owner not the tenant is resposible for paying them, which in void periods you will have to pay council tax on top of the service charges. Also you will get longer term tenants in a house as a rule, a (right) family in a house for long or longish term are a landlords dream.

Also when selling, a house is usually a lot easier to sell than a flat, as people are very aware of service charges.

If or when you do need to come back to the UK, a nice semi will still be a good thing to own, and could be sold in shorter time than a flat.

I like to see people with their thinking head on.