For the past six months or so we have been investigating the options of retiring to Spain, possibly in the Malaga region. Our house in the UK is about to go on the market and we intended to spend some time at the end of this month house hunting in Spain. We have also been doing a lot of research on line, property prices, problems etc.

One of the things that really is worrying me now is that we keep hearing more and more stories of demolition and how houses which had previously been declared legal by local councils are now falling foul of regional government.

In the present climate (no pun intended) would you honestly move to Spain at this point in time?

I'm unlikely to ever move to Spain.

There are better countries more willing to accept my childrens inheritance.

the climate is lovely & warm & sunny today

if I knew I had a good regular income that I could comfortably live on then yes, I'd move to Spain now


rent for a while first though, get to know the area


certainly in my area 'everyone' already knew where the illegal properties were/are

Absolutley, positively yes.
Would I do things the same way I did when I moved here? no, but that´s hindsight for you.

Hi Madridboy,
Would you let us all in on what / how you did it first time and what you would now change if you were thinking of moving there now.

Regards,

Baz

Definately, but as someone else has just said, rent for 6 months or so first to make sure its right for you. As for demolitions. There are reasons behind most of them. But I wouldnt recommend buying until you've experienced how things are here and exactly what you want and where you want to be!

We were going to buy when we moved here two years ago. I'm so glad we didnt, in retrospect, the things I thought I wanted before moving here were actually silly and the things I didnt want - well I did - if that makes sense!!!

Jo xxxx

that totally makes sense

we wanted a villa in a remote-ish spot - tried it - didn't like it

much happier in town able to walk to everything & no-one has to be taxi for the kids

we always said we'd rent for up to a year while looking for somewhere to buy

6 years later we're still renting - in the same town but we've tried out various different parts of it!

where we are at the moment is perfect for our current needs - but in a few years when the kids have grown up & left home I can see we'll probably want something totally different - maybe the middle-of-nowhere villa


we're glad we didn't buy (yet) - we nearly did a few times but something was always not quite right

One of the things I have noticed is that house prices still seem to be falling in Spain with some houses/apartments taking very vast drops in a matter of months.

Is this because owners are desperate to get back to the UK due to financial problems or do they believe they are under threat of demolition.....any ideas?

Without going into too much detail......(famous last words!)......
.....I came over here in a relationship that hadn't realy been working for years (first mistake)...moving house can be stressful enough but moving to another country can be extremely overwhelming.
I allowed my ex to dictate how everything should be done (in a vain attempt to relight our relationship) despite me being the more intelligent one (doesn't say much for my ex does it lol), good with numbers and good numericaly and with a management mindset.
Couldn't speak mre than 20 words in Spanish (all pronounced badly(mistake number 2)). Either learn it well (and I mean well) or you're either going to get ripped off by many or you're going to have to pay a ranslator who hopefuly doesn't have financial ties with whoever you're going to be dealing with.
I paid 1 years rent in cash and didn't ask for a discount (mistake number 3). The Spanish would never have done this. Expect to haggle with pretty much everything, people will move the world if you dangle enough money in front of them.
Don't decide upon a buissnes that is your dream unless you are 100% it will work. We decided upon a buissnes that was viable and workable despite not having experiance in it. Don't ever get involved in other peoples personal problems or disputes (other mistake, thanks to my ex for getting involved in everyones life and loosing us customers), it's a buissnes, stay nuetral, too much gossip and back stbbing goes on in the English communities.
If you're not 100% with your partner suggest a joint bank account which requires both signatures for everything (if you're not 100% with each other don't even think about emmigrating and starting a buissnes together(huge thanks to my ex for clearing the bank account and f+*king off back to the UK with all MY money.....actualy in hindsight....thanks for f+*king off back to the UK)).
Don't go into buissnes with a buissnes partner you don't know (my last big mistake over here). I basicaly lost EVERYTHING. If you're going to do it get everything in both names...this way if everything goes tits up at least you'll both be liable for sorting everything out.
In short....(well short'ish)....I came here with a lot of money.....lost 2 buisneses, one due to the economic climate and the other due to being scammed out of everything.......finished with nothing.

Despite everything that's happened and what has already been said on this forum I'm actualy thinking about doing another bar.
I do have some advantages with me. My current Ex-to-be (just kidding) is Spanish, an ex celebrity over here and has good bar experiance.
I know this area well and I know a bar that is badly managed and is not too far off closing and with other info I have I know we could make this work.
How will I finance this? Not too sure at the moment but we do have some options open to us.

Hell yes, in fact I just did. I have taken early retirement, - as long as you can do that, Spain is pretty good IMO.

Only of course if you have the financial backup to do it as the thought of getting a job is less likely with every passing day.

Buying a property, well, take care, get independant advice and study the game carefully. Listen to what people here have said, and bear it in mind. Rent in various areas. Look at different places. Personally Malaga would be far from my favourite destination, but then I'm a country boy, and like more rural areas where the lifestyle is Spanish, not expat.

Learn the language. Even if you don't go it's a useful skill.

You can never have a 100% guarantee of anything especially not here.
As you are only in the pondering stage, as has been said, homework and renting is good advice but also then you will be 99% sure you really want to be here at all, which has to be your main concern.

I took early retirement just 22 years ago, I was 48.

I did the right thing then and have never changed my mind.


I now have a Filipino wife, 32 years younger than me and life get better and better.

Yes I think so. Nothing's ever definite, and OH keeps muttering about different countries he's heard about, but essentially I think we're happy with the choice/decision.

Yes learn the language, as well as you possibly can and then some. Ordering a couple of beers and saying thank you and sorry really isn't enough, despite that there are apparently people here after donkeys years whose language is barely better than that.

Yes rent first. We didn't and I don't think either of us regrets that because we're happy with our house and location, etc., but we're also realistic enough to recognise that would have been more sensible and we maybe could have found a better deal if we'd bided our time.

Yes have an income, at least twice what you think you should be able to get by on. Spain's a-changing.

Don't discount anywhere on the basis of what someone's said, because we all have different perspectives. I, for example, believe Malaga is actually one of the nicest cities I know - old bits, commercial bits, wonderful beach(es), wonderful paseo maritimo by which I mean the pedestrian bit, yes grotty bits but hasn't everywhere.... and of course it depends if you mean Malaga city or Malaga Province, which has a wide range of coastal bits not all of which are teeming with kiss me quick hats. And it takes less than half an hour to be in a substantially different, unmistakably rural world, with a fair sprinkling of furriners but mainly Spanish villages. Sure there are others that are very Brit/whatever oriented, but anyway I'm going on..... point being, Bil has his views on Malaga & I have mine and neither of us is OP, who might see it totally differently from either of us. So listen, take in, make notes, whatever, but make your own mind up having looked around for yourself.

I love Málaga too. The city and the province - such diversity. It has everything!

Jo xxx

Another vote here for Málaga. It's a fantastic city to live in.