we are moving to spain end of jan 08 yepee we are currantly selling a property in the uk once that is sold by the time everything has gone through ie sale completed it will be october/november, we are now trying to decide do we reinvest some of the money in a property in the uk for a buy to let i already have a place in spain so we dont have to buy a place out there its just making decision about do we buy another cheaper place to rent ie a flat so we still have a foot on english soil , or do we take the money and run and put it to a good use in spain , i know a lot of people will say keep a foot on english ground but ive heard so many horror storys about renting out propertys it puts me off

Well if it was me,I would buy a property here,because the rent you recieve will be a good return for your investment,the property market here is much stonger than Spain and you would find it easy to let out,Spain is overun with rentals.This is one of the options we may consider when we sell ours.

All I can say is renting out English property has worked very well for us. Six years ago I obtained a post working overseas and it was all a bit of a rush leaving England. We didn’t have time to even think about selling the house but we didn’t want it standing empty so we decided to rent it out. We hated the thought of people living in our home but we bit the bullet and did it. What happened? Generally the tenants have been good. Some leave with out giving notice, some do a bit of damage but usually it was OK. But the plus side the house is worth a lot more now; we couldn’t have made the same money putting it in the bank. Additionally we made a nice income from the rent. Also of course it means we could always go back there if we wanted to. What we discovered after living abroad for five years was that we really liked it and didn’t want to go back to England. So a year ago when I retired we decided to move countries and went to France. After a year we have discovered that we love France but the weather has been awful. Luckily though we didn’t sell our house in England and invest in France so now we are in a position to move on, and guess what, Sunny Spain will be our next move. So if I were you I would keep money invested in a property in England until you have lived in your property in Spain for a year, then if you want to splurge in Spain go for it.

thanks for the advice guys its like bob hoskins says it good to talk i think im coming around to idea ,we will have to see ,the property market is so over priced in the uk at the min and interest rates are going up and i keep thinking is it worth buying here what if property prices crash

I would say if you have loads of money and the UK House is paid for or only on a tiny mortgage keep it..

But if it has a big mortgage and you havent got a nice wedge behind you for when you get to Spain then dont keep it ..

I dont know why people have this hanking for keeping the UK home ? I personally feel the big massive property boom has peaked and if after a year you find that Spain and its clear seas squidgy sands and the cheap living gets you down , all you have to do is buy another one in Uk as within 1 year it will be a buyers market in the Uk trust me

thanks for your reply big pete thats what i have been thinking about uk market well over priced! but my o/half keeps telling we should still have a foot in uk but like you saying i think it will be a buyers market in uk in the distant future

Nope, it will not be a buyers market in the UK after a year. Property prices will continue to rise as has always been the case even though there was the big blip when interest rises rose to 15% and there was mass unemployment in the UK but even that evened itself out and prices went up. Whilst there are more and more people wanting to buy and not enough houses for them property prices will not plummet. You are far better to keep a place in the UK
both for investment and if like many people the ex-pats style of life is not for you, you then have a place to return to. Even if it is only a small flat.

I agree,I have owned property for 30 years and been through all the above, it was painfull at times..but that was just interest rates, i can't remember the prices dropping just rates rising in the areas I was involved in.
My feeling would be rent untill you know what you want and are settled( or not) then make your decision. never say never .

That theory works if you have loads of money !!

If moneys tight how you going to keep 2 propertys on the go ?

So as i said in my first post depends on money position ..

Regarding the Uk Market , i have just shaved the price of my house in the hope of selling quick and put it with a agent !! The agent confirmed the market is crap at the moment , interest rises people thinking hmmm lets see whats gonna happen etc..
Not Good times ahead in his words !!!

So if poster hangs on with a big mortgage Uk side he could find the property actually drops !

Who knows if we all knew we would be rich property tycoons right ?

My Gut instinct tells me ;

propertys in the right area in Spain or UK will maintain the same growth ..

So buy right in Spain you will be ok
And UK in right area will hold its own .

But forget the silly returns we all enjoyed in our past years ,that just gave us our retirement money right

Maybe long term could come back but short term Nahh dont think so ..