For those of you who have made your life in Spain, I would like to know if you would do it all again in the same way now you have the benefit of hindsight. Or would you do it differently.

Been here for years now and don't want to have to go back, however I would seriously think twice about doing it again.

All things being equal, I'd do it all again and hope and pray I was quite so fortunate next time around.

Only problem is, all things are NO LONGER EQUAL by a long chalk to what they were twenty plus years ago.

after 10 years here I wouldn't go back

however, if I were thinking of doing it NOW, with the state of the economy, even if everything else was the same as when we came - I probably wouldn't

I would do it again, even with the state of the economy as it is today. But I wouldn't have done it 7 years ago if I'd needed to look for work here, let alone now.

YES, I would definitely do it again for several reasons. One is that it fulfilled my husbands dream and that in the end proved to be very important, two is that I settled here immediately, three is that we chose the right town for us and four I am still happy here even though I am now alone.

If we had to earn a living it would have been a different story but as early retirees it was alright. With hindsight we would not have bought a house that needed renovating because we would not have wanted to waste so much of what was left of his life doing it up but that is not really relevant to the question. With hindsight regarding our choice of street, town and area, no regrets on any of them, best thing we ever did.

Rosemary

NO-I regret getting involved with a particular developer who has caused much heartache on this urbanisation.
I probably would have felt different if I had chosen another area, but the tax system,( the implications of which are understood by few) would in itself put me off.
I also think few give any thought as to what will happen to them if they can't cope in Spain due to fragility, medical conditions etc.Had they done so they would never have moved here.
Conflicting advice from professionals, constant changing of the goalposts in rules, all contributed.

Sure, I'd do it all again - but this time with the benefit of hindsight.

.. but that presumes that in the next life, we'd still not need to depend entirely on the Spanish system for our well-being. Otherwise, I'd have to consider elsewhere.

I certainly have no regrets. I feel that moving here was one of the best decisions I´ve made ... maybe it doesn´t say much for previous decisions I´ve made
However, Spain makes me nervous. I feel as though I live the prospect of unforseen trouble sitting on my shoulder.
A good example of this was a visit we had from a guy at the town hall.
In order for us to have opened our business, we had to apply for various licenses, to the point of ridiculousness.
So with all of the paperwork in order, and delays of approx 4 months in opening (due to paperwork), we finally got trading.
So, back to the guy from the council. He turned up to advise us that one of the licenses had been declined. Bizzarley, it was a license we didn´t apply for as we don´t need it for the type of business we run, and the size of the premises we rent.
It was another person at the town hall who advised us of this but clearly, they have changed their minds. Now we´re in a very tricky situation.
It also happens that our local competitor, who has been here for some years has a very influencial family. I just wonder who might have whispered in someone elses ear?

We bought 8 years ago. Yes we would still to come to live in Spain but at the time we seriously considered renting for 2 years. If we had taken that a step further we would have removed our only regret about moving here.

My reply might be tempered by yet another invitation to a leaving party this morning. It's pointless going into too much detail, but some of the main reasons for leaving are the devaluation of the pound Sterling by some 30%; house prices falling by 40% over the past five years; the obvious unhappiness of our Spanish neighbours because of ridiculously high unemployment levels and their kids leaving to work abroad; and the endless corruption which has blighted all our lives.

Some are also going home for medical reasons, although I hasten to add that the Spanish Health Service is every bit as good as the English one. The trouble arises when you have insufficient language to understand in detail what is being said to you on life-threatening matters.

And you won't have your interpreter with you when the pre-op anaestithist asks you which hip and knee is to be replaced, all you will have is a just a small label on your ankle with just your name on it, often spelled wrongly.

I kept such a label from years ago. It said 'Xabi' on it, nothing like my real name.

But to answer the OP - would I do it again? Of course I would.

Exactly. I would do it again if things were like they were in the 90's when it was really a laid back place and foreigners were actually welcome.

So now you have the benefit of your experience, would you do it again the same or differently?

Like I said, no regrets.
The benefit of hindsite would tell me not to trust anyone. Especially those in power!
Unfortunately, that´s all I could change because I would still have to deal with these people.
The frustrations are still worth the fight as life here is pretty damn good

Why not?