dibyrne

We're having to rework our budget as we underestimated the cost of property. The initial plan was to just rent, but rentals are far more expensive than we first thought and also hard to come by (we're moving to the Javea area). We thought 700 - 800 euro per month, but it's more like 1200 +. We're now looking at buying as it makes more sense at these prices. However, this has changed our investment profile and we are having to review our budget.

We've also decided to put my son into the international school.

We're on a fixed income. Originally we had about 3,500 euro pcm to live on, inc rent. Which seemed fine. Our revised figure is now round the 2,200 pcm net after school fees (no rent). Assuming all things being average, is 2,200 pcm enough for a family of 3 to live comfortably on? On paper it looks fine, in fact we end up with about 1000 a month to spare, but that's the theory, reality might be completely different.

The alternative is to review where we live, go for somewhere we can get a decent villa for 800pcm and go back to plan A, but we do love Javea.

Any thoughts as to our situation would be very welcome.

Di.

cricketman

It's a very difficult Q to answer

If you want to live on the Coast then Javea and the Costa Blanca is pretty much the cheapest area

You will still be better off renting. Rent is usually just 2-3 per cent of the purchase price per year. So a property renting out for 1200 euros per month on a long term let will have a purchase price of around 400-600k euros

Each month, budget would be about the following in a smallish 3 bed villa

Rent EUR1,200
School EUR800
Petrol, car insurance and maintainance (per car) EUR200
Food EUR500
Electric. water, tel, internet, mobile phone etc EUR300
TOTAL EUR3,000

Which leaves 500 euros for clothes, going out, holidays, one-off gifts etc which is tight but not impossible

dibyrne

The issue is there really is not much to rent. If there is it is usually winter lets, and the market is a bit on the volatile side here, so tenure is a bit unstable, and we don't want to be moving around every 6 months. The holiday rental market here is very strong, so people don't want to rent their property out long-term. The risk is, in a strong rental market, we might end up being priced out of the area.

Maybe we'll have to rethink Javea.

avocados

It's been cheaper to buy, for a number of years now. Anyone still renting after the purchase opportunities of the last 10 years doesn't know much about finances!!

Unfortunately, you missed the bottom of the market but with a lot of hard work good deals are possible. You won't find a result by searching the internet. Pounding the pavement is the only way.

Also, as a non-resident you will pay about 30% more for a property (recently published government statisitic) than a resident, irrespective of nationality and including Spaniards.

Good Luck.

cricketman

What a load of nonsense

Until recently a paid 800 euros per month for a flat that was offered for sale at 800k. Just the sales tax would have cost me 80k euros which is roughly 8 years rent

There are a lack of good rental properties across the whole of Spain because the Spanish culture is to buy not rent, but if you find a good rental property then you cannot lose, and no stress around deposits, sales tax, mortgages etc. And if you want to leave, just 1 month notice and off you go!

snikpoh

Absolutely untrue!

There are many reasons for wanting to rent - not just financial.

Also, in some areas, house prices are still falling so how can you say "you missed the bottom of the market"?

Please provide a link to this statistic as I would like to see how they get to this figure.

Kentishladd

And you don't have the worry of selling up.

snikpoh

???

Longlegpete

This is not correct , Javea and some of the surrounding area's are the most expensive on the costa blanca and are somewhere near twice or more over the southern costa blanca and are also more expensive than a far few other area's round the Spanish coast.

Longlegpete

When you say international school do you mean the Lady Elizabeth school?

Moses2013

As you can see, all posters have different views and expectations.
Cricketman found a rental that's obviously cheaper to rent than to buy, but there are millions of people who don't pay €800 a month for rental, just like there are millions of properties that don't cost 800K.




Maybe you should rethink Javea. I don't live in Spain permanently and only have a holiday home, but in the area I bought it's certainly cheaper to buy than to rent, but every area will be different.




A 3 bed house with decent sized garden can be bought for 130K where we are, but most Brits want to be further South, so I suppose you pay a premium.

cricketman

I am much further North than you and a 3 bed with garden here will be 300k euros plus, unless it is located in the middle of nowhere

And yes snikpoh, the Spanish culture is to buy property not rent. They are the most house ownership obsessed nation in the world. 85 per cent of Spaniards own their own home, compared to about 75 per cent in the UK and only 50 per cent in Germany

Which means that there are not a lot of long term rental properties about, and those that are offered to rent are often in bad condition

Moses2013

You are in an expensive part of Spain though and if you look all along the East Coast, there are plenty of cheaper areas.
I agree with the home ownership rate, however it went down but is going up again and around 80%. UK is even slightly lower at around 65%

Pulaski

... after Romania, Lithuania, Slovakia, and Latvia.

Moses2013

Although in Romania you don't really own the house. You just take one of the empty ones and there are plenty of them.