Originally Posted by jojojojojo

His comments are also tinged with how he's found things in the US, which has nothing to do with Spain in the slightest

Jo xxx

Originally Posted by AL1492

No, its also to do with renovating and renting houses in the UK, which i did quite well at, after I left the merchant navy, then thought, "well if it works here, it will work in the USA" and it did. Dosent matter where you go, people need a roof over their head.

Might be just that spain is the only place you have ever been, and you think its just so different from the UK, Its actually being quite racist, making out that their countries are hugely different, because you are then making out people are hugely different. In our global village today, we all drive cars that run on gas, all pay a mortgage or rent, all watch tv, all eat and drink, and go to work. As for spain, ok, their legal system is different from englands, but its not that different from scotlands, as spain and scotland, both base their legaly systems, on roman law. But like you mention USA, and the difference, between evicting someone in Missouri where i am, and florida, is probably as different as evicting someone in england, or in spain. You refer to the USA, in the same way, that you should be refering to spain as Europe. In truth, the member states of the EEC, have less independence, than the states of the United states, non of the EEC countries could decide to bring in capital punishement, could they.

Originally Posted by Domino

are you suggesting that a whole continent from top to bottom, left to right, all speak the same Spanish - whilst there are 4-5 in Spain ? Even in Granada there can be major differences, usually caused by sloppy use by Spaniards - I came across 3 different ways of saying the same word over the weekend.

the BH works with Spaniards and also a Mexican and German, the Mexican has difficulties at times whilst the German is more formal and Madrid based in the use of her language, which gets her many funny looks.

Wales, Spain and Italy each have a central organisation that monitor the use of the language and crack down on abuse
English we leave to the Americans..............

as has been suggested earlier, you need to come over here, let it waft over you, let it get under your skin.

Originally Posted by AL1492

www.kyro.com Is the site i have been looking at house prices on. I have also seen preditions, that prices have another 25% to fall, but predictions are just that, predictions. If you go to that site, put in any region of spain, apartment, under 50k, you will find they start about 18k.

I have never done holiday rentals, i did think of it doing it in Florida when i came to the USA, but when i did buy property, it was in the midwest, and i have done very well out of it. I made a lot of mistakes, construction was different, roofs are made of asphalt shingles, its so easy to re roof a house, but only after someone shows you how to do it. Electrics are 110, but then i found out, a stove, a dryer, a water tank, and things like heaters, are 220, took me weeks to work that one out, their houses are all twin phase electrics. Insulation on all plumbing, is must, took me two years, to figure out, the only pipe, that can cope with the low tempratures, if the property is empty is Pex pipe. I spent about two years, renting to people who never had the rent, because they had garbage jobs, that paid little, and the people that had good jobs, didnt want to rent, as they would buy, then i figured out, you rent to the people with social security dissability income, and they pay as soon as they get their check, or you rent to people with section 8 where the government pay their rent.

You cant really lose money on a rental, someone will always want to rent it, and asset is always yours, buy it low enough, and even if it dosent rent for four years, all you are out, is property tax, (community charge in spain) and when you sell, you get your money back. Even if you bought a crap rental in a tourist area of spain, ok, tourists might turn their noses up, but the young couple from australia, working their way around europe, and staying for season, doing bar jobs, wont, they will want somewhere cheap, and all they want is a roof over their heads, and a place to keep their gear safe.

Originally Posted by lynnxa

yes, Mexican Spanish has its roots in Castellano, as do other south American Spanish languages - but they are different enough so that if you learn say, in Argentina, it could cause you problems in Spain & vice versa - it's not just that some vocab is different as far as nouns are concerned - some verb usage is different too

they don't all speak the same language in that respect in the same way that American/English/Canadian & Australian English are concerned - they are essentially the same - but with differences

they speak Portuguese in Brazil

Catalán, Valenciano, Euskadi, Gallego are all separate languages & speaking Spanish won't help you understand them much, if at all

some of my dds' friends only speak Valenciano at home, but they & their parents speak Castellano too - although some of the parents forget themselves & speak to me in Valenciano (I don't & won't speak it, [though I now understand a lot of it merely by osmosis], it took me long enough to learn Castellano!) - I answer in Castellano & we have been known to have entire conversations like that!

you will find Castellano speakers everywhere though & they will usually be happy to speak to a foreigner in Castellano - though in different areas the accents & true dialects (as opposed to different languages) might give you problems

Originally Posted by AL1492

I spent about two years, renting to people who never had the rent, because they had garbage jobs, that paid little, and the people that had good jobs, didnt want to rent, as they would buy, then i figured out, you rent to the people with social security dissability income, and they pay as soon as they get their check, or you rent to people with section 8 where the government pay their rent.

You cant really lose money on a rental, someone will always want to rent it, and asset is always yours, buy it low enough, and even if it dosent rent for four years, all you are out, is property tax, (community charge in spain) and when you sell, you get your money back. Even if you bought a crap rental in a tourist area of spain, ok, tourists might turn their noses up, but the young couple from australia, working their way around europe, and staying for season, doing bar jobs, wont, they will want somewhere cheap, and all they want is a roof over their heads, and a place to keep their gear safe.

Originally Posted by bob_bob

Al, there are thousands and thousands of empty properties in Spain that are up for rent, why will yours be fully rented? You can rent a one bedroom apartment for around $us 350 a month and they are still empty. You could buy your $us65k dollar apartment and end up renting for six months if your lucky so $2k return on your money? A $2k return if fine if you own forty or fifty apartments but not on four or five.

With your divorce looming I can guess you need to get out of Dodge fast but you really need to go to Spain for a month or two and do your homework.

My favourite quote from a member here is
"Want to make a small fortune in Spain? Then bring a large fortune and work your way down"

Good luck in your endeavours.

Originally Posted by AL1492

Ok, you have clarified that for me, but why over so many years, since the civil war, and Franco, where he fought to unite spain, why was spain not united in language, like the UK was. Also, why do you call it "castilliano" i was taught it was castillian, when you put an O at the end, you are making it masculine. This may sound like a completely stupid question, and i am still learning spanish, have been since the first classes i did, in 98, but do both women and men, speak castilliano, the 'O' dosent refer to who is speaking does it. like castilliano, castilliana, like i say, i was taught it was castillian

Originally Posted by Mitzyboy

DO NOT bring racisim into this conversation in such a ridiculous way. People ARE different in many countries. They aint the same, and that is NOTHING to do with racism!
Thank you

Originally Posted by lynnxa

It's because of Franco that the different languages are so strong now - he tried to ban them.........& if you tell a Spaniard he can't do something he'll be even more determined to do it


I call it Castellano because that's what it's called in Spanish (Castellano )

if you've been learning Spanish since 1998 & think that because I'm female I should speak castellana I think you need a different teacher.......... it's a noun

Originally Posted by AL1492

Ok, i have only had two different teachers, and dont have one just now, like i said, really stupid question, I was just looking for an anwer as to why i was told castillian and you said castilliano, but hey, i have learned something. Of course its a noun, i just never engaged brain to think about it, like messa, or casa, or libro.

Originally Posted by AL1492

Ok, i have only had two different teachers, and dont have one just now, like i said, really stupid question, I was just looking for an anwer as to why i was told castillian and you said castilliano, but hey, i have learned something. Of course its a noun, i just never engaged brain to think about it, like messa, or casa, or libro.

Originally Posted by bob_bob

Al, there are thousands and thousands of empty properties in Spain that are up for rent, why will yours be fully rented? You can rent a one bedroom apartment for around $us 350 a month and they are still empty. You could buy your $us65k dollar apartment and end up renting for six months if your lucky so $2k return on your money? A $2k return if fine if you own forty or fifty apartments but not on four or five.

With your divorce looming I can guess you need to get out of Dodge fast but you really need to go to Spain for a month or two and do your homework.

My favourite quote from a member here is
"Want to make a small fortune in Spain? Then bring a large fortune and work your way down"

Good luck in your endeavours.

Originally Posted by cricketman

This is either a wind-up or you have a really low IQ



Sorry guys, but sometimes...

Originally Posted by cricketman

This is either a wind-up or you have a really low IQ



Sorry guys, but sometimes...