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Re: Thinking of moving to spain and have some questions.
Originally Posted by alicefrances
(Post 9989036)
Hi all,have just been trawling through all the comments,so will add my 2p`s worth!My family came to Spain before that country joined the EU to run a similar business to one in UK we had previously.Came to Costa Blanca with 1 daughter of 11 years.Once Spain was in EU things changed(I think for the better)immensely as it brought in a lot of younger people & more up to date conditions.Initially our daughter went to a private English language school but shortly after we got her into the local Spanish state school & had her private Spanish lessons to help her integrate faster.We are fortunate in being in a town which is very multicultural,mostly Norweigian but also Dutch & German as well.It is now considered quite affluent & enjoys all the local facilities expected by northern europeans such as rail links,bus transport,supermarkets,health clinics/hospitals & a variety of Spanish state schools & other fee paying schools of other nationalities.I am now retired & still live here.My daughter,grown up of course,married a local resident,has a family & her own business here,again locally.I have been on both sides of the fence-self-employed in UK & Spain & I know what side my bread has been buttered.One part of our business was sending back ex-pats. pets to their home country,many into the UK & we have heard every story as to why there was a need to leave Spain.Perhaps I am of a flexible nature,having been born on the English south coast,joined the WRAF & lived in Scotland & various other places so I am well aware that always you need to weigh up the advantages against the disadvantages.This is NOT England with sun & the Spanish have a different culture.However I have survived here despite keeping a lot of my ingrained British habits & the fact that my dearest Spanish granddaughter tells me that I cannot pronounce Spanish words properly because I am English!Hope you have a good life in Spain if you choose to come.
kr D |
Re: Thinking of moving to spain and have some questions.
Originally Posted by alicefrances
(Post 9989036)
Hi all,have just been trawling through all the comments,so will add my 2p`s worth!My family came to Spain before that country joined the EU to run a similar business to one in UK we had previously.Came to Costa Blanca with 1 daughter of 11 years.Once Spain was in EU things changed(I think for the better)immensely as it brought in a lot of younger people & more up to date conditions.Initially our daughter went to a private English language school but shortly after we got her into the local Spanish state school & had her private Spanish lessons to help her integrate faster.We are fortunate in being in a town which is very multicultural,mostly Norweigian but also Dutch & German as well.It is now considered quite affluent & enjoys all the local facilities expected by northern europeans such as rail links,bus transport,supermarkets,health clinics/hospitals & a variety of Spanish state schools & other fee paying schools of other nationalities.I am now retired & still live here.My daughter,grown up of course,married a local resident,has a family & her own business here,again locally.I have been on both sides of the fence-self-employed in UK & Spain & I know what side my bread has been buttered.One part of our business was sending back ex-pats. pets to their home country,many into the UK & we have heard every story as to why there was a need to leave Spain.Perhaps I am of a flexible nature,having been born on the English south coast,joined the WRAF & lived in Scotland & various other places so I am well aware that always you need to weigh up the advantages against the disadvantages.This is NOT England with sun & the Spanish have a different culture.However I have survived here despite keeping a lot of my ingrained British habits & the fact that my dearest Spanish granddaughter tells me that I cannot pronounce Spanish words properly because I am English!Hope you have a good life in Spain if you choose to come.
BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums. Please let me know if you need any further help. Rosemary |
Re: Thinking of moving to spain and have some questions.
Originally Posted by agoreira
(Post 9986670)
http://www.expatforum.com/expats/spa...-living-spain/
http://www.thespainforum.com/ http://lamarinaforum.com/ Thanks to everyone :) Lesley |
Re: Thinking of moving to spain and have some questions.
Originally Posted by lesley1802
(Post 9993886)
Thanks for this - Im having school overload just now but will be back on soon :)
Thanks to everyone :) Lesley |
Re: Thinking of moving to spain and have some questions.
I moved to Javea December last year, there is an international school here and one in a nearby area. There seems to be a fairly large expat community here.
Our children are still young so we have put them into the local spanish school, is ok so far. My little bit of advice is, decide if you really want your own furniture brought from the UK. In Javea there are so many properties to rent but mostly are furnished. The hidden cost of renting is the agents tend to ask for the tenant to pay a months rent as commision! Outrageous I know. However there are a few agents that don't do this. The cars here are so expensive. If you already own your own car look into brining it to Spain. There are car transporter companies that do this or drive it yourself. If you import your car within the first 60? days of registering on the padron, you can avoid paying the import tax. You can get an agent to do all of this for you for around e950. It can be done by yourself but of course it is in Spanish. Consider the costs of have LHD lights fitted (some cars lights are switchable-read the car manual) and the reverse light rewired or just have it on both sides. There is a lot of information online about this. I used a great company called carimportspain. My car became Spanish two weeks ago and in true Spanish style the indicator has stopped working, lol. The first couple of months in Spain were very difficult, and cold. The house (holiday rental) we lived in was not suitable for cold weather. We used up many large bottles of gas, which is very expensive. The heating cost is more than we used to spend in the UK. So be cautious on the house you rent, it may be lovely in the summer but freezing in the winter! Internet, we are with movistar/telephonica through bay connect which gives us free UK TV too. The customer service has been terrible but the internet is great, we've have no problems. My husband has an internet based company too and he has wireless internet though bayconnect and it has been fine so far. As our company is still UK based so our income is steady and secure. I think if it weren't for that we probably wouldn't have moved. The unemployemnt figures in Spain are so high. We are very happy in Javea and I am so glad that we moved! Our reasoning was rather try and fail than not try at all. Good luck with your decision! |
Re: Thinking of moving to spain and have some questions.
Hi,
I realise this Thread was a year ago, I was just wondering if you made the move? and which school you chose? as we are now in the position that you were last year. All help would be appreciated. Thanks :D |
Re: Thinking of moving to spain and have some questions.
Originally Posted by lesley1802
(Post 9983874)
If you look at a later post, after receiving advice we have decided on International school but thanks.
Lesley |
Re: Thinking of moving to spain and have some questions.
Originally Posted by spiceboy
(Post 10744264)
hi Lesley, go for it if your not there already?!! your right property is cheap enough in spain, you only have to dictate to the owner what u r willing to pay, after all you see enough places up for sale or long lets and the owners know it, why live in rip off Britain, we go to cabo roig every year to play golf and is a lovely area, as for food just pack plenty of tins from home!! if not san Miguel mixed with jps black as bob said ....:D to many negatives on here,give her some support peoples, besides we might be moving soon to haha
BE is a very large expat website, so if you have problems finding your way around we have concierges who will try to direct you. The moderators for the Spanish forums are Mitzyboy and Fred James, moderators are there to ensure that the site runs smoothly within the rules of BE. Problems and complaints should always be addressed to a moderador who will look into the matter and deal with it efficiently and fairly. Our members who post in the Spain Forums are friendly and helpful with a wealth of knowledge of the issues of living in Spain. At the top of the page you will find a quirkily named thread called Free Beer which is full of important and useful information. Hope you enjoy your time participating in the forums. Please let me know if you need any further help. Rosemary |
Re: Thinking of moving to spain and have some questions.
Originally Posted by spiceboy
(Post 10744264)
hi Lesley, go for it if your not there already?!! your right property is cheap enough in spain, you only have to dictate to the owner what u r willing to pay, after all you see enough places up for sale or long lets and the owners know it, why live in rip off Britain, we go to cabo roig every year to play golf and is a lovely area, as for food just pack plenty of tins from home!! if not san Miguel mixed with jps black as bob said ....:D to many negatives on here,give her some support peoples, besides we might be moving soon to haha
there are over 250,000 in Andaluca, 12,500 in the Albox area of Almeria. so lets not get too carried away with "cheap" properties, the higher the price the more chance there is it is actually legal. In the same way as a cheap lawyer may tell you its ok but a dearer one may actually read the documents (when there are some) and save you £oodles ` |
Re: Thinking of moving to spain and have some questions.
Originally Posted by Domino
(Post 10745588)
except that many of those "cheap" properties are actually illegal builds and you may well be buying an expensive heartache. If you give the owner a nice price he is the one making the most of the deal, you may also have to find the money for the bulldozer that pulls it down.
there are over 250,000 in Andaluca, 12,500 in the Albox area of Almeria. so lets not get too carried away with "cheap" properties, the higher the price the more chance there is it is actually legal. In the same way as a cheap lawyer may tell you its ok but a dearer one may actually read the documents (when there are some) and save you £oodles ` |
Re: Thinking of moving to spain and have some questions.
I'm such a donut, was read all this thread thinking it was current.
Wonder what happened to Lesley ? |
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