# Moving to Madrid



## Patisu80 (Apr 5, 2019)

Hi. I’m new here. I’m actually Spanish but Fromm Asturias and I have lived in the UK since 2001 so I’m really lost about this. My job allows me to move to Madrid either this summer or next. I’m hoping for 2020 so I have time to plan. 

I’m thinking of either Las Rozas, San Sebastián de Los Reyes or Alcalá de Henares. Very different options, I know. Any views on them?

My kids are 4 and 7 already so we will have to get whatever school is available. Any experience of this? Any easier ways around it?

House prices: is there a standard difference to expect between the prices advertised and the prices paid? Anywhere that I can find sold prices? 

Thank you

Patricia


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## Salonica (Feb 28, 2014)

Las Rozas is a lovely place to live, I’ve lived there for over 30 years. But it’s expensive. The public schools are excellent and there are also many private and “concertados” if you prefer. As far as the difference in the asking price and the sold price, I can’t help you there. I imagine that the longer that the place has been on the market, the easier it would be to get the price down a bit.


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## Patisu80 (Apr 5, 2019)

Thank you Salonica. I think Las Rozas is my preferred location out of the three I mentioned so that’s great to know.

Re house prices, it’s just so easy to find out what the neighbours sold by in the UK! I don’t think it is in Spain unless the values of the catastro are available somewhere.

I think I’ll go with one of the concertados if there is space. It’s the issue with not living there that we will have to go and see what is available.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Alcala is very nice town and really has its own identity, history, etc. It's much bigger and more established than the others, and probably cheaper. I don't know San Sebastian de Los Reyes that well, but get the impression there's been quite a lot of new development there. As mentioned, Las Rozas is the most upmarket and I've met plenty of people who enjoy living there. It probably has the nicest countryside of the 3 options. The same could be said for anywhere along the A6.

Pretty much all the Spanish schools around Madrid are "bilingual" these days. However the level of English won't be up to that of your children and you might find it hard to maintain the native level of English of the 4 year old in particular. If that's important to you, there might be some benefit in delaying the move until 2020 so the 4 year old has another year to develop their native English skills. I've met a few Spanish people who have made similar moves back to Spain and they've found that if the child is 8 or over the native English is "baked in", but if the child is younger their English drops back to the level of the rest of the class, unless the parents make an extra effort at home.


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## Patisu80 (Apr 5, 2019)

Thank you. That is really helpful. And it makes sense as the speech and language therapists have always told be language gets established in the brain at around 7. So there goes another reason to delay the move til 2020 and I’m lucky that is a possibility. He will be about to turn 6 then and I guess we could have an English speaking au pair for a couple of years. Thanks!


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Another option could be to send them into a British school for a year or two. Which would also give you time to find an appropriate Spanish school for them. Of course British schools tend to be expensive, but if you want to have that option there'll probably be more schools to choose from near Las Rozas and San Sebastian de los Reyes. I'm not aware of any in Alcala.


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## Patisu80 (Apr 5, 2019)

Thank you Chopera. I hadn’t thought about that option actually. I had looked into British schools around Las Rozas and Majadahonda but as they are £1K per month per child I can’t sustain that in the long run. Ideally I wouldn’t want them changing schools over and over but it may be worth considering if it is worth it for a short while.


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

Patisu80 said:


> Re house prices, it’s just so easy to find out what the neighbours sold by in the UK! I don’t think it is in Spain unless the values of the catastro are available somewhere.


The property website Fotocasa does detailed analyses of selling prices by region.

https://www.fotocasa.es/indice/#/filter/eyJpZCI6MjgwNzksInR5cGUiOjMsInRyYW5zYWN0aW9uIjoiYnV5In0=


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Alcalaina said:


> The property website Fotocasa does detailed analyses of selling prices by region.
> 
> https://www.fotocasa.es/indice/#/filter/eyJpZCI6MjgwNzksInR5cGUiOjMsInRyYW5zYWN0aW9uIjoiYnV5In0=


I think the problem is those are asking prices, which often bear little relation to the actual selling price. In Spain information on actual selling prices is difficult to get hold of compared to the UK. I think you can write to the council to get the nota simple for a particular property, which should have the previous selling prices on it. But it's not like you can just search a website (like in the UK). 

Also I think the association of notaries (I can't remember it's official Spanish name) publish house price data based on actual sold prices, but t think it's quite general data and based on regions, rather than specific properties.

In my experience the best source of information on a property often comes from the concierge, if there is one. They tend to know what prices properties have been selling for in an urbanisation, and also any other gossip that might be useful to know.


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## alpinist (Feb 8, 2009)

Over in Leon our local paper carries stories about how much a square metre costs in various parts of the region, and not too long ago had one on the most expensive streets in town. I never paid attention to where they get the data (it might just be fotocasa!) but the press local to areas you're interested in might be a place to start (they all have websites).


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## Patisu80 (Apr 5, 2019)

I didn’t know that about fotocasa. Not quite the same as what I’m after but it does help.
And if the newspaper gets it then there should be a place where one can access the information. I know lots of people who work in newspapers as I worked in one when I was 18, right before I left Spain so I will ask them. Thanks.
This is all very helpful.
It seems bizarre that I need to ask so much about moving to the country where I was born but two decades away, leaving when you’re quite young has this effect.


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