hi there everyone me and my girlfriend are selling up and moving to spain we own a property out in spain ,which we still have a mortgage on ,we are trying to decide if we should keep our money as a safety net when we move out there or do we pay our mortgage off !

Could you not invest the money in an ISA type savings account in the UK at least in the medium term?
I'd have thought the growth would be similar to the cost of a Euro mortgage, so would be self financing and you'd still have reasonable access to rainy day money?
Could of course be talking bol***ks here?

I would look into this, our investments give us a monthly return that would go a long way if not all the way to paying mortgage repayments. Of course depends on the size of mortgage.

Can you have an ISA if you do not live in the UK?, but you shouls aso look at the short term high interest accounts that you can open in Spain, usually even higher interest if you deposit the funds in £s.

Hi Crispygirl,this sounds like it is going to be interesting,because when we sell here,we have decided the safer way to go initially would be to rent in Spain,so we will be looking to invest our money from the house,hopefully the interest will go along way towards the rent,do you think.

Jandy look out for pm to you I am doing now before I have tea and cake.

Afternoon tea hey snob

You can keep an existing ISA and receive interest on it, but are not allowed to make any more deposits whilst you are a UK non-resident.

And the interest is taxable in Spain if you are a resident.

A little bit of what you fancy does you good, and today I am having a french fancy!!! Not really just had a bakewell tart and a piece of cherry fruit cake, we went to Morrison's during the week and OH slipped them into the trolly whilst I was faffing about looking for current buns, which they didn't have.

never Keep the mortgage on

You never know whats around the corner . Once you are really settled and know alls fine then re decide..

hello big pete how you doinging ?thats very true, thought about that big pete , might do that first then see how it plans out but im not sure about putting funds in a isa account whats your thoughts on that ? i think if we do decide to stay out there we are better off paying mortgage off and then what we earn is ours !

My husband mentioned New Years Eve "How do you feel about moving to Spain". Totally out of the blue

I am now in a quandry. We have found a property that we have both fallen in love with. It has been on the market for 15 months apparently (alarm bells ring ) I suggested to my husband how about asking the owners if they would like to rent it (at least they would be getting an income) for a minimum of 6 months max 12 months with a view to buy at the end of 12 months. We would rent our property during this time and what we would get from that would cover the mortgage and the rent hopefully or at least a big chunk.

Like most people its a big step to take and once we sell up we would not be able to move back to the area we currently live in, if of course it didn't work out.

15 months is not a long time, depends on the area, we have at least one property here that has been on the market for over two years, and another that was taken off after 18 months, people had been looking to move, but then decided they would stay where they are and not have the hassle of moving, some people are just looking to see if they gan get the price they want, have no need to sell quickly, so can afford to turn down all offers that do not meet what they want.

mikelincs - Thats re-assuring, I was starting to wonder if there was something wrong with the property or area that we weren't aware of

I did hear that they were keen to sell. They had to move back to good old blighty as they needed an income and couldn't afford to live in spain anymore.
I also heard that they might accept a lower offer.

I'm just looking for excuses really. My husband is keen to move but I'm the one with the doubts