[QUOTE=Chiclanagir;7641710]No, I don´t think I would have. It would have scared me off completely reading about the illegal homes and probs with electricity in Chiclana. We spent the first year here in utter stress worrying about our "illegal electricity". I think if I had been forwarned I would have looked elsewhere.[/QUOTE

We've got friends who bought their house on a small, new urbanisation three years ago, and are still on generators after their builders went into administration. Iberdrola can't connect them and can't complete the paperwork because of the administration procedure. It's a total Catch 22 situation, and they've tried more than one expensive lawyer.

Sadly, the same builders (developers) were already the subject of forum attentions and what was being predicted all came true. By the time our friends joined some of the forums, and found out the truth, they were already shivering in the dark.

On this site they have 1600 bars for sale in Spain.

http://spain.businessesforsale.com/s...-For-Sale.aspx

Thats amazing.

I almost feel the urge to go and purchase one and return to a life of sun and sangria.

This one is a bargain at 6,000 Euros including fixtures and fittings, it turns over 500,000.00 with a profit of 250,000.00.

http://spain.businessesforsale.com/s...-For-Sale.aspx

Anybody think what i am, 6000.00 to buy and make 250,000.00 in first year.

Yes it looks pretty good to me - I think I might be interested.

It says you need "strategic vision" - would I be able to get some of that at Specsavers down the road?

Very True, Even the Bible can't be taken as Gospel (Pardon the Pun) We started out in 2000 for our move, Didn't use this forum but we used the Weird Wild Webster to find our house and used it again to sell it and find another again within France. Only the person moving can evaluate all the information and build a picture to their needs. Everyone has different life experiences and varying views on how they see things. Which can produce mixed feedback on peoples ideas.

I did watch that fateful bar experience unfold, Those people were swimming against the tide from the word go. All the Threads should probably be cleaned up and stuck in the Free Beer Sticky as a guide to what happens when you completely ignore everyone.

I`ll keep to my killer sense of spotting a bullsheeter.

No, I'd still be renting - just to make absolutely sure that Spain was "right" for me, and that I had chosen the right area.
(In fact, I knew exactly what area I wanted, even before I'd ever been to Spain. I found a house that met my requirements within a week on my first trip out and have been very satisfied with it ever since.)

Yes, definitely they come "rose tinted" , oooh. Nearly forgot: and completely blinkered.

Depending on your beliefs, there has been research done by some experts in the realm of past life experiences that could place these kinds of feelings as being your experience of Spain in a previous life.

Its really interesting, if you keep an open mind on the subject.

I'm quite happy to admit that this forum played quite a big role in our move to Spain.
I remember using it first to get recommendations for areas that people thought would meet our requirements, then the schooling system, matriculating vehicles and for loads of legal stuff.

I wouldn't blindly follow any advice from anywhere, but as a nudge in the right direction it can save you loads of time by allowing you to focus your research in the right areas.

So I'm really grateful to this forum and most of it's members, and the main reason I keep checking in is to see if there is anything anyone needs a little help with. Give a bit back as it were. And I say 'most' members as I distinctly remember some bitter halfwit coming out with negative comments for everything I asked, when we were all booked and within weeks of leaving blighty.

As the Dutch sying goes, 'it happens in the best of families'.

Ste.

Mother in Law gets every were these days Happens in every place known to man. You go in to any pub there is always some bitter fart moaning about everything. Nature of life.

Far more prosaic, I have to say. My one and only, single, motivator for buying a place in Spain was to pursue my astronomy (note: not astrology) hobby. I therefore had done research into good areas: away from population centres, the further south the better, and within my budget to buy.
Therefore I knew from maps and satellite photos where was good and where to avoid. The only "fine tuning" I had to do when I got here was to look for places less isolated - purely for pratical reasons, like roads, electricity and water supply. There was no "falling in love" with a place or "lay-lines" or anything like that - just a good horizon all the way around and as little light pollution as possible.
All very scientific.

The ones a lot of people wear when going back to the UK are even worse. Desperately striving to put a positive spin on going back.

When we first moved here there were no street lights, it was very dark up here. We always moaned, we could do with street lights for security and peace of mind. Now we have them, I wish we hadnt as it used to be wonderful at night staring up at the skies which are now sort of bleached out by the light

You have to be positive in life.

Location dosn`t bring happiness on its own, there are plenty of unhappy Spaniards living in Spain.

Same as the weather, if i hear another Expat in Spain boasting about the weather.

Then again i think i`d only be truelly happy watching the F1 from my Yacht in Monaco.

Yes, funny that!
A lot of people think that having streetlights gives security - when actually the opposite is true. All they do is let the burglars see what they're doing, when they're breaking in to your house at night. If they had to carry torches, they'd stick out a mile - you could see them coming, so it'd be too risky. Same goes for "security" lights. No-one looks, or cares when they come on because they do so, so often. All they do is let the baddies see what they're doing in all the little nooks and crannies where the streetlights don't reach.
Strange things, people