# moving to the costa del sol



## lily-grace (Aug 20, 2010)

hola everyone 

my names Lily-grace, my husband and i are planning to move out to the Costa Del Sol 
with our 3 young children ages 6, 2,and 2 months old 

we visted Benalmadena 2 years ago and really liked southern Spain 

we plan to move out with 18 months or so and was looking for advise about area's to live along the costa ,

i have been looking at long term term rental websites so have a rough ideal of rental costs 

we want somewhere that's child friendly , good schools and a lot going on for young family's i.e parks , zoo's etc 

also i have just started learning the lingo with rosetta stone so hopefully by the time we arrive i will be able to speak Spanish 

any help would be really appreciated 
lily


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Hola Lily grace

Regarding the language, you could supplement your Rosseta Stone course with evening or day classes. They enrol and start in September.

Regarding the Costa del Sol, I cannot help, I live almost 1000 miles to the south west on the remote island of El Hierro.

Best of luck with your projected re location, it is a big decision and a brave one, but maybe the right one, I made the move and have no regrets whatsoever,

Hepa


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Welcome to the forum. I live inland a little from Torremolinos, málaga airport and altho my town is fairly spanish, there are others closeby that are full of Brits. You really need to come over and have a good look around before you can pin point where you want to be. But you also need to be mindful of other factors. Near the coasts is more expensive, do you need to be near an airport? Do you want to be in a town?

Apart from that there are plenty of schools, health centres, amenities everywhere. Well done on learning the language, altho when you get here, you'll find that its not quite the same in reality - I guess I'd liken it to learning the queens english and then going to newcastle lol!!!!!!

Jo xxxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Unless you have a job lined up you will find it very difficult if not impossible to find work.


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## lily-grace (Aug 20, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> Unless you have a job lined up you will find it very difficult if not impossible to find work.


hiya 
ive read other posts about the work situation in spain and realise it would be hard to find work, luckily we have a well established spray tan business here in the uk, so the plan is not to work but run the businesses from spain and maybe open something in spain in the future


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## lily-grace (Aug 20, 2010)

jojo said:


> Welcome to the forum. I live inland a little from Torremolinos, málaga airport and altho my town is fairly spanish, there are others closeby that are full of Brits. You really need to come over and have a good look around before you can pin point where you want to be. But you also need to be mindful of other factors. Near the coasts is more expensive, do you need to be near an airport? Do you want to be in a town?
> 
> Apart from that there are plenty of schools, health centres, amenities everywhere. Well done on learning the language, altho when you get here, you'll find that its not quite the same in reality - I guess I'd liken it to learning the queens english and then going to newcastle lol!!!!!!
> 
> Jo xxxx


hiya jo 

i think your right we'll have to rent somewhere and have a good look around different area's , the plan was to rent for awhile before we buy, not worried about living close to the airport but would be nice to have a shopping centre near 
by 
i liked the look of marbella but loads are saying its very expensive maybe look for somewhere not to far from marbella/ puerto banus area 

lily x


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

lily-grace said:


> hiya
> ive read other posts about the work situation in spain and realise it would be hard to find work, luckily we have a well established spray tan business here in the uk, so the plan is not to work but run the businesses from spain and maybe open something in spain in the future


That should make it easier...although I doubt whether a spray tan business would go down well in Spain.
But you never know.
Good luck on running your business from the UK. I know many people manage to do so.
We left our businesses in the hands of our General Manager when we left the UK.
It was not a good move. We closed down and sold within a year. 
It depends on the number of employees you have and the nature of the business, I guess.
My advice would be not to sell your UK house and to have a carefully worked out exit strategy. A large fall-back capital sum would be handy too.


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## lily-grace (Aug 20, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> Unless you have a job lined up you will find it very difficult if not impossible to find work.


hiya mrypg9 

i just realised you live in marbella please can you advise me on area's to live as i really liked the look of marbella but a lot of people are saying its very expensive or would you recommend somewhere not to far away 
thank you 
lily


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

lily-grace said:


> hiya jo
> 
> i think your right we'll have to rent somewhere and have a good look around different area's , the plan was to rent for awhile before we buy, not worried about living close to the airport but would be nice to have a shopping centre near
> by
> ...


There are lots of shopping centres around. La Cañada, miramar in fuengirola, plaza mayor in málaga..... to name but a few, altho they tend to be dearer than the shops in the towns - well certainly than in my town!!

Marbella/puerto banus is expensive, I'm not sure why, I wasnt overly impressed with it. But there are lots of places nearby and theres a motorway that joins up the costa, so everythings fairly easily accessible.

You need to come over and do a fact finding trip!!

Jo xxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

lily-grace said:


> hiya mrypg9
> 
> i just realised you live in marbella please can you advise me on area's to live as i really liked the look of marbella but a lot of people are saying its very expensive or would you recommend somewhere not to far away
> thank you
> lily


We live just outside Marbella - we didn't want to be in the town as we wanted a 'proper' house with large garden, pool, not in a community and in a non-British area. 
You can expect to pay at least 1500 euros a month to the sky's the limit for a decent property here but it's a renter's market and you can negotiate down.
There's a lovely villa near us going for 3500 euros a month - I'm sure you could knock quite a lot off that.
At the cheaper end: there are apartments for 600 euros upwards in large blocks usually built around a communal pool. Some look like Alcatraz, others have constant comings and goings as many are used for holiday lets. We stayed in a place like that for a few months and it wasn't for us but that's just us, we're rather anti-social and don't like other people's noise. I'm sure there are some very nice communities which are more settled.
In my experience, you get what you pay for. We could get a house like the one we live in for half the price if we moved inland a few km -but then we'd lose the very pleasant factors that make it worth our while to pay more.
It depends on your priorities...and of course your budget.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

lily-grace said:


> hiya
> ive read other posts about the work situation in spain and realise it would be hard to find work, luckily we have a well established spray tan business here in the uk, so the plan is not to work but run the businesses from spain and maybe open something in spain in the future


Then go for it!!

Wish I had done it when I had a young family,

Hepa


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## Classified (May 9, 2010)

Hi,

I live inland say 40 minutes from Malaga, rental properties here for 3 and 4 bedrooms are going for 300 to 400 euros per month, great schools, cheaper than living on the coast, try googling Antequera and the surrounding areas.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Classified said:


> Hi,
> 
> I live inland say 40 minutes from Malaga, rental properties here for 3 and 4 bedrooms are going for 300 to 400 euros per month, great schools, cheaper than living on the coast, try googling Antequera and the surrounding areas.


Yes, I pointed that out
But as I also pointed out, some people prefer to pay for the privilege of living five minutes from the sea.
There are some beautiful areas around Antequera, though. We stayed a couple of nights in a tiny hamlet near Rio Gordo. Breathtakingly beautiful scenery.
Rental properties were a lot cheaper there, it's true.
At the end of the day your tastes will be dictated largely by your financial circumstances.
Whilst we're currently enjoying -and paying a premium for -living in a quiet area on the coast I must say that the prospect of living in one of the smaller towns in the area is quite appealing.
We saw large houses like ours in the Rio Gordo/Comares area for a quarter of what we're paying here.
Certainly worth thinking about.


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## lily-grace (Aug 20, 2010)

Classified said:


> Hi,
> 
> I live inland say 40 minutes from Malaga, rental properties here for 3 and 4 bedrooms are going for 300 to 400 euros per month, great schools, cheaper than living on the coast, try googling Antequera and the surrounding areas.


hiya thank you for the info i will have a look today


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## lily-grace (Aug 20, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> We live just outside Marbella - we didn't want to be in the town as we wanted a 'proper' house with large garden, pool, not in a community and in a non-British area.
> You can expect to pay at least 1500 euros a month to the sky's the limit for a decent property here but it's a renter's market and you can negotiate down.
> There's a lovely villa near us going for 3500 euros a month - I'm sure you could knock quite a lot off that.
> At the cheaper end: there are apartments for 600 euros upwards in large blocks usually built around a communal pool. Some look like Alcatraz, others have constant comings and goings as many are used for holiday lets. We stayed in a place like that for a few months and it wasn't for us but that's just us, we're rather anti-social and don't like other people's noise. I'm sure there are some very nice communities which are more settled.
> ...


hiya 
i 'm the same want a villa with garden and a pool for the children ,
if you dont mind what is the name of the area you live so can have a look online also the villa you said about who would i need to contact to arrange a viewing 

thank you 
lily


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

lily-grace said:


> hiya
> i 'm the same want a villa with garden and a pool for the children ,
> if you dont mind what is the name of the area you live so can have a look online also the villa you said about who would i need to contact to arrange a viewing
> 
> ...


Have pm ed you.


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## JBODEN (Jul 10, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> We saw large houses like ours in the Rio Gordo/Comares area for a quarter of what we're paying here.
> Certainly worth thinking about.


... and, in all probability, they would take an offer ( minus 40% in my case).


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

JBODEN said:


> ... and, in all probability, they would take an offer ( minus 40% in my case).


We only got 25%......we should have been bolder


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