Re: Regrets?
 

i certainly don't have regrets about not buying a home in spain. if i had bought when i arrived in spain 10 years ago, i would have a huge amount of negative equity by now!!

besides, there are so many nice places to live in this part of the world :)

Re: Regrets?
 

Where abouts are you living now Jackytoo?

Re: Regrets?
 

Well I am in Algorfa village , great best thing I ever done.Cheap living, healthly life style. great friends Spanish Engish German Russian,Scandanavian.
In saying this not very touristy as not a lot there but a few quality restaurants supermarket laundrete electric shop and ferritaria,few bars on the square 2 spanish 1 british. A few other tapas bars around Hosts a fab fiesta in July. Where Spanish and incomers mix comfortably and enjoy together.
We rarely see any lager louts here, Except for the odd summer renter
Quiet place but has everything you need to live.but is very central accessabile to beaches and sand dunes , by car ,not the business of Torre. With the joy of discovering inland spain also on your door step cant fault it.
Its smashing to visit the busy places around but heaven to retreat back to my casa heaven
One has to find what suits them I love this place :D
Only one regret wish I had more money to buy bigger place.

Re: Regrets?
 

Can I ask Johnnyone is there a reason for posing this particular question??????

Re: Regrets?
 

Out of interest.
Also when new posters looking to move to Spain come on the forum there is always plenty of advice about how careful you have to be.
Not everyone could get that right and I thought a few posts from people who have regretted their move may be useful and perhaps serve as a warning.
I just do not believe everyone has no regrets about their move.
I do think there are a number of rose tinted posters where all things best are Spanish and was looking for a bit of balance.
So far there has not been one post of regret, probably like asking a DM reader who they are voting for.

Re: Regrets?
 

A good post J1.

I have known many people who did things right, but still regretted the move, some regret it for what may seem trivial reasons, but to them not so.

The heat in the summer is often cited for this, I know someone who was a real sunworshipper when younger, but on moving to Spain found that she could not tolerate the summer sun, like she could 20 years ago.

There are plenty of posts on the OZ Canada, US sections of people regretting the move, after all the hoops those people had to jump through to be accepted in the first place, so it was usually well thought out, but they still have regrets.

Those posters seem to get a lot of sympathy from others who understand their feeling, and a lot agree with them, but due to all the planning and hard work to get there, they try to stick it out.

However if someone makes comment about Spain not being right for them (for whatever reason) they are shouted down as being negative, failing to intergrate, miserable, bad attitude etc. So I presume that they refrain from expressing thier view.

A distant relative of mine in the UK, regretted moving back to Spain after being their for 20 odd years, said the reason was "it was not England"

Re: Regrets?
 

You can have regrets about changing where you live, without being totally negative about a place. I've found it far harder to get work since coming back to England from Madrid, most things are quite expensive, and the old myth of English efficiency is sadly wide of the mark (try getting delayed for the umpteenth time on the Underground) but that doesn't mean everything is bad. At least there are lots of nice walks, parks etc here in London and plenty of well-publicised events that take place. And as mentioned in many threads, the heat of full summer can be hard to bear in Spain. There may be many more wet days but I quite like the English summer. I just need to find a cafe that serves cafe con hielo! :)

Re: Regrets?
 

Friends and ex neighbours of ours did exactly that, absolute sun worshipers, moved to Portugal, now can't stand July/August, it's unbearably hot even for them. Also sadly underestimated how cold it can get in winter, last time over here she said what she would give for her old central heating back! So if they ever sell, they're heading home, many thousands of pounds lighter. :frown: It's a bit like Sevilla, probably one of my favourite cities, but no way would I want to live there, well certainly not in the summer.

Re: Regrets?
 

:)

no regrets from us either! And we're glad we didnt move to a wholly english area, based on the hassle we have had with (some) other brits since moving to spain.

Re: Regrets?
 

I agree with that. I'm glad we didn't buy a place 12 years ago.

Re: Regrets?
 

And I just can't understand why some people refuse to believe that some of us here have NO REGRETS about our move, it's as if they would just love us all to be miserable and longing to return. :thumbdown:

Saying we have no regrets is not saying one place is better than another, it's just saying that after all the planning that goes into such a life changing experience some of us at least got it right!

Re: Regrets?
 

There are a lot of things people regret when they move anywhere new.....And moving abroad is no different, some regret buying when they did, others regret not buying when they should have, some regret not bringing furniture, winter clothes.

Others regret leaving people, jobs etc behind.

Regretting not being able to go to the places football matches they used to go.

People regret changing pounds to euros on a certain day, others regret not changing.

Life is one round of little regrets, that is what life is, but it does not make us unhappy if they are looked upon as minor irritations or just simply life.

And as long a the little regrets dont turn in to humungus regrets of the more important things, then the balance is fine.

Re: Regrets?
 

That's not what I meant. Although only a holiday home I have no regrets about buying our house.
I also have friends who have made the move with no regrets.
However I just do not believe that is the case with everyone and was interested in hearing other peoples experiences that they regretted.

Re: Regrets?
 

Careful planning certainly helps, but in some cases no amount of it seems to make a difference if the reality turns out to be different to how someone imagined life in Spain would be - I know a few people who have been in that situation, the latest being a neighbour who returned to the UK last week, leaving her husband behind. It's a pity, but we just have to acknowledge that sometimes we make changes to our lives that turn out not to have been for the best after all - has anyone ever changed their job for career advancement, maybe even relocating because of it, only to think after a few months "OMG, what have I done?".

Because life in Spain doesn't suit some people, that doesn't mean that it is, or will be, bad for everyone. You just can't be 100% sure in advance.

I don't regret moving to Spain, having bought a house here, or the particular house I bought. I do anticipate, though, that we will want to try to move after a few more years but that will be because we want to make some changes because of getting older, not because there's anything wrong with the house.