Thank you so much everyone for your time and help. It has certainly given us a lot to think about.

At the moment all we have done is a lot of research on the internet and chosen two or three towns that we like the look of. We thought of coming over to spend a few days in each of them to get a `feel` of the places and then come back and do yet more research on the areas. Once we picked a town then we were going to make appointments to view properties and fly over and check them all out.

Hubby is quite handy and can turn his hand to everything except plastering - and Im ok at painting/decorating so we thought that between the two of us we could have a property good condition within 6 months to use as a family home.

We were hoping to have a second property let out, most probably to a spanish family, on a long term let to provide us with a little bit of income. Dont know if this is a good idea now.

Im just hoping now that you are not all going to tell me how stupid I am and to get a grip!

But Im sure you will.....

Getting really worried now.... 60-odd people have viewed this thread since my last entry and nobody has commented.......

A few days, is nowhere near long enough to get to know an area. Maybe use that time to find somewhere to rent first while you look for somewhere to settle.
tim

Well the problem is, Carole that all the agents seem to have differing commission rates, so some may add 14,000 and another only 1200 euros.
So, we are really up against a wall - we only want to sell our houses, but also be able to afford to buy another, and also have something left in the bank to live on !! Prices rise here as well......

Valenciatim, thanks for that. There are 4 places at the moment that we like the sound of..... Iznalloz in Granada province, Alcala la Real, Alcaudete and Martos.. all in Jaen province. We couldnt rent in all 4. We wanted to spend a few days in each to see which we liked best.... and then come home and do more research and then decide which we like best and THEN rent for six months or so in our chosen town. If we dont like it then we move on to the next. I dont want to appear stupid on here, this was my fear, Ive read enough threads to know bits and bats and I didnt want Mitzyboy and Jdr to come on and start sighing at me ... which did happen (see above) ..... Im a newbie and Im asking all the same questions.. (and Ive tried to word them differently and tried to get away with it and failed miserabley) but I Im hoping someone from these areas will read this and give me a bit of advice. I opened a new thread a couple of days ago and nobody bit.... I hope Im not going to get into trouble now from a moderator!

No it's because no-one understands Spanish law!!! All English estate agents that we have been into offer the 11 month contract and their actual contracts are a minefield and have no bearing on the Spanish law involved!!

Now thats interesting. Will have to look further into that. Thanks Sue

Out of interest have you worked out a realistic %age income from renting out a property?
It seems from the figs people quote to be about 4 maybe 5 % absolute tops - would it not be easier/safer just to leave the money in the bank and rake off the interest?

Hang on a moment .... no ones "sighing" at you. You asked a question and I answered it with my opinion. If you'd prefer then Debsy I'll tell you "yes, no problem you will easily find a good habitable property for €50k" .... but I simply dont think it to be true. I tend to give a balanced view when I can but theres no point in misleading you is there?

Why are you going to get in trouble with a moderator

Yes, had thought of that too. Looking at everything at the moment. Thought it best to check out everything before deciding on anything. Im aware that spaniards are loath to buy and prefer to rent and from personal experience the property that they do have that ends up on the market for years, and in they are in no rush to sell, is inherited property.

Mitzyboy..No no youve got the wrong end of the stick - I meant that `tongue in cheek`... Ive been reading this forum for a while and just managed to gain enough courage dip my toe in a couple of nights ago . Sam and Crispy were very nice and gentle with me. I have a mega sense of humour and Im worried that I will come across as just another new one with yet again the same old questions... which to be honest we all seem to do regardless and we are rightly redirected to the Free Beer thread. Im now drowning in my own questions!

You do not have to worry about unleashing your sense of humour on here! (We've got some right wierdos on here, but dont worry). And dont worry about asking the same old questions ...... unless of course .... it has to do with importing a UK plated car cos we already have about 1323 threads on that, and even a separate thread on how many car importation threads there are

Thank you

Now, How do I go about importing our two RHD Landrovers??............

OUCH!!!! I felt that!

At the end of the day, it's no different to moving to any town / area in the UK. You'll never really know what it's like until you live there.

The Internet will tell you nothing... because the only thing written about Spain on the Internet is by estate agents trying to sell property there (don't believe me? Just google Iznalloz... first place... property. Just google Alcala la Real... fourth place... property. Just google Alcaudete... first place property. Just google Martos... third place... property.)

At least with renting, even if you stuck a drawing pin into a map of Spain and moved there... you could always move somewhere else if you weren't happy.

Good luck...

Sometimes there are over 1500 people on this site, although some look at threads they may not have any info and are just looking like you to glean some off about the subject, don`t panic this is Spain, it`s a different life. ;-))