wheatsheaf42

It probably depends on lifestyle things like how often you eat out and whether you have a mortgage.

EsuriJohn

Hi helenp,

I have just noticed your address and as an ex Gorsey Brow resident wonder which part of Spain you are aiming for/living in?

Regards,

John.

BigDave

Thanks Helen, your advice is greatly appreciated.
Off to work on getting some more irons in the fire.
Cheers.

CAROL ELIZABETH

Could any of you point me in the right direction in terms of what you think would be the trade of choice for Spain? Are there specific trades that are lacking in Spain...People crying out for a particular skill? I know there will be limits to what I can learn here and financial constraints too, but this could be a starting point at least? Thanks for all of your help so far guys.....Cheers [/QUOTE]

There is still a lot of building going on in Spain - the place I am buying (but as a holiday home only) is likely to have building going on for many years and there are going to be thousands of homes. Most of the apartments and homes are pretty 'unfinished' - shower screens needed, lights fitting, curtain poles, gardens developed etc as well as someone to help see furniture installed, key holding, guest management, trouble shooting etc. Whilst there are some companies that will do this work (often linked to estate agents) I do not know whether there are enough. Perhaps others who are actually based in Spain know whether this is the case. The ones we have seen make very fair charges so you would need to either offer that personal touch or price keenly. I know we will make use of one of these companies / individuals as my husband is not too keen on DIY and we do not want to spend our precious holiday time doing this. I am sure we cannot be the only ones who feel like this. You would need to set up a website promoting your services etc. I am sure learning to produce and manage a website would be a very useful skill if you are going to end up working for yourself. And of course it is not just Brits buying the homes so the language thing rears up again and you need the language to deal with the Spanish side of the services. I am into my third lot of lessons - spread over a number of years and I think I am making slow progress although it seems just that bit easier every time I go to Spain -I think Keith is right you have to be there - the Spanish based language schools sound like an excellent idea - all the ones I have seen from here in the UK are very expensive - someone is taking a big cut!

helenp

Hi John and Kath

We live behind St.Marys church on the Trent Road estate, its a small world!We love Andalucia, looked at Jaen which was beautiful but a little too far into the country Malaga East is a little expensive so we are going out to look at inland Almeria when we sell our house.

Helen

GCM

Agree with Carol Elizabeth - although there is lots of competition - if you have practical DIY skills and you are GOOD - then you can get by ok in Spain - there are lots of Brits moving over and lots of old houses needing lots of attention from someone and Brits tend to want to deal with Brits - whether that is right or wrong is a topic for another thread!

If you don't have practical skills you are in the second tier and likely to struggle - look to do pool cleaning etc.

Mark

EsuriJohn

Hi helenp,

All three of our children and the three of Kath's sister were christened at St Marys with two weddings so far! Yes I do believe in the six degrees of separation.

We are buying a plot on Costa Esuri Ayamonte but it is a long drawn out procedure and we are at least 12 months away from a completed villa. However we think we have found our bit of paradise and visit Ayamonte as often as we can, 4 or 5 times a year, and so far its great. You could do worse than look at the Costa de la Luz from Gib to Portugal there is such variety but so far we have not seen the commercialism of the med coast which suits us.

Regards,

John.

helenp

Hi thanks for that I will have a look into that have seen it on tv and it doesn't look built up like a lot of the rest.

Regards from Billinge

Helen

GCM

Costa del Luz is a good choice as an up-and-coming area - it is however on the Atlantic side - cold waters, very windy and doesn't have as many flights - but those are the negatives - there are plenty of positives of course!

CAROL ELIZABETH

Actually there are plenty of flights on the border side around Ayamonte as you can easily access all the flights from Faro which all the budget airlines do (35 - 40 mins away). Water is colder but the beaches are fantastic and often practically deserted - must admit I am not a swimmer in the sea and paddling is fine - plenty warm enough.

Mercedes

Big Davy, have you looked at the opportunties of maybe Bulgaria or Croatia, or somewhere else where the market is heading. I'm not trying to put you off Spain, but I've seen in the last year or so, many RE closing down. Not only are you up against other British expats you are up against other Europeans who speak several languages. It will take you time to learn enough spanish and to familiarise yourself to how things are done out here. If you have no saving behind you etc, you may find yourself in a similar situation whereby many return to UK broke.

The market has slowed down here, and a few years back you may have had more of a chance of doing well, but I don't think it is right time now to come down here with no spanish and try to break into a market whereby every man and is dog seems to be working in. With no spanish you would be reliant on the British expats and I know many who have worked for British companies who are owed thousands in commissions.

Take a step back and look at the up and coming countries where you may be more successful, and still maybe able to get the lifestyle you want. I don't think Spain is a good time necessarily to try and break in, with no knowledge of Spanish or how things work. You will find it incredibly tough. I am based in Spain, but am not reliant on having to work here, as all my work comes from overseas, and at the moment I could be based anywhere providing I'm easily accessible to an airport with daily flights.

Best of luck, and seriously do some more research and don't react on emotion of being pissed off with UK. If you think smart you can make the right decision and hopefully one where you are successful and not go back like thousands of others broke.

BigDave

Cheers Mercedes.
I am looking at the bigger picture at the moment with my Wife as we are realising that it isn't going to be at all easy to make the dream happen...not for now anyway.
We have decided that the language skills are the most important task to deal with first and to sort out some extra skills as we do so on the job front. My Wife is a trained councillor (so I will be able to use her skills for myself as I go more and more doolally trying to sort this out!) She is a hairdresser and trained in nail beauty etc.. I am a jack of all trades, master of none etc.. so I need to get a grip and think of what I can do??
Gracias and adios Mercedes. (Thought id'e make a start!)

BigDave

There is still a lot of building going on in Spain - the place I am buying (but as a holiday home only) is likely to have building going on for many years and there are going to be thousands of homes. Most of the apartments and homes are pretty 'unfinished' - shower screens needed, lights fitting, curtain poles, gardens developed etc as well as someone to help see furniture installed, key holding, guest management, trouble shooting etc. Whilst there are some companies that will do this work (often linked to estate agents) I do not know whether there are enough. Perhaps others who are actually based in Spain know whether this is the case. The ones we have seen make very fair charges so you would need to either offer that personal touch or price keenly. I know we will make use of one of these companies / individuals as my husband is not too keen on DIY and we do not want to spend our precious holiday time doing this. I am sure we cannot be the only ones who feel like this. You would need to set up a website promoting your services etc. I am sure learning to produce and manage a website would be a very useful skill if you are going to end up working for yourself. And of course it is not just Brits buying the homes so the language thing rears up again and you need the language to deal with the Spanish side of the services. I am into my third lot of lessons - spread over a number of years and I think I am making slow progress although it seems just that bit easier every time I go to Spain -I think Keith is right you have to be there - the Spanish based language schools sound like an excellent idea - all the ones I have seen from here in the UK are very expensive - someone is taking a big cut![/QUOTE]

Hi Carol Elizabeth, thanks for taking the time to reply.
I am going to look at getting my Spanish language skills sorted first, as this is the most important thing on the agenda. I will then take a look at what I can do from a job work/skills point of view and see what is about at the time?
I know it will be difficult from whatever angle I go in at, so I just need to be as prepared as I can before taking the leap, so to speak!
I am a Little down in terms of realising the dream isn't going to happen any time soon, but we will get our heads down and work hard to make things happen for hopefully closer to this time next year.
Cheers and thanks again..... Dave.

BigDave

Hi Mark, thanks for replying and giving me your thoughts..much appreciated!!
I have had loads of advice (thanks to all of you guy's)
We have a lot to think about after the replies that we have had and need to re-evaluate where we go from here really??
We knew it wouldn't be a walk in the park and we knew we had an uphill struggle to get to where we needed to be, but I don't think we had thought in enough detail.
Still, we can get our heads together and stick the old drawing board back up and work out a new game plan. We aren't going to give up on our dream to emigrate, but will just take a step back and sort ourselves out more methodically.
Thanks again Mark and cheers.....

Gray C

Do you think a family of 3 can live on approx £1100 a month? We would hope to buy a cheapish village (to renovate) property a few miles inland, so no rental costs to pay.

Is the income sufficient?

Graham