# Moving to spain, havnt a clue were to start?!



## collettebeckett (Aug 2, 2012)

Hi all,

Here goes, 

Me and my partner would love to move to Spain, despite the current hard times in Spain!
I'm 23 and have my own house, once sold I should have around £140,000!
So my question is,

Is this enough money to cover buying a property in costa del sol, fees, and the cost of actually moving? 

What do you recommend the first steps I should take? Sell my house step one, etc?

Thanks for any help provided 

Xx


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

The best thing to do is to rent your house out in the UK and then rent in Spain until you know where you want to be. You will need to prove income and health insurance cover before you can become a resident in Spain. So you need to have some kind of employment or pension. The employment situation in Spain is horrendous, so you need to make certain that you have an income that will cover your costs before you give anything up in the UK

Jo xxx


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## collettebeckett (Aug 2, 2012)

Thankyou Jo, 
it's all so confusing for me, I havnt a clue where to begin!
Is finding a reliable estate agent and solicitor easy, that speak English too?
Not finding a job is my biggest worry, iv read its really bad at the moment, so that will hold me back!
I suppose you need the job, before even leaving the UK? 
Such a big decision :/!

X


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

collettebeckett said:


> Thankyou Jo,
> it's all so confusing for me, I havnt a clue where to begin!
> Is finding a reliable estate agent and solicitor easy, that speak English too?
> Not finding a job is my biggest worry, iv read its really bad at the moment, so that will hold me back!
> ...


 The first thing to do is to find an estate agent and look at houses. You then need to find an abogado/solicitor NEVER use the one the agent recommends. They usually charge around 1% of the property price. I cant remember what other costs are involved, but it usually costs 10% of the house price to get it all done. 

If you havent got work lined up WITH a contract, then you shouldnt even be thinking of doing this. House prices are falling and difficult to sell. If it all goes wrong and you have to return to the UK, where would you return to and what would become of your spanish house and the money tied up in it?????? How much would you lose??? 

Now isnt the time. at best you should go over and do some fact finding missions to see about employment, where you want to be and whats around. 

Jo xxx


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

If you are employed in the U.K. stay there, visit Spain for holidays. 

If you have an income,or specialist skills and are fluent in languages, then you may succeed, otherwise you will be competing for jobs with the Spanish unemployed, which here are now at 33%.


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## V-Dog (May 10, 2012)

An idea would be for you to see if the rental of your UK property could support you living in Spain.

Look at the numbers: rental income minus costs = X - then look at living costs in Spain and see how far X goes in terms of rent, utilities, food etc

If the sums add up you could have an income producing asset (with 140k equity) which could support you in your 'new life'

Selling would take away the asset and leave you needing to buy a liability (new home) and / or using the 140k equity to rent & live off of, should you not find suitable source of income / work

It would also be wise to have a contingency / buffer in place were you to go down this route as you should give consideration to void periods, maintenance costs etc when renting property


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

V-Dog said:


> An idea would be for you to see if the rental of your UK property could support you living in Spain.
> 
> Look at the numbers: rental income minus costs = X - then look at living costs in Spain and see how far X goes in terms of rent, utilities, food etc
> 
> ...


I would consider it very imprudent to plan to live in Spain off rental income. A house valued at £140k would provide a rental income of less than £1k a month depending on the area and no way is this sufficient to provide an adequate income to cover the costs of renting in the CdS.

It's not just rent and food etc. You need to plan for health insurance, travel, repair/renewal of the usual small domestic items, car insurance -and in most parts of the CdS a car is essential - new clothing, entertainment, utilities....and the odd unforeseen but expensive occurrence.

At this time the exchange rate is good...but it may not stay like that. When we planned to come here four years ago the rate was £1 =1.23 euros. When we arrived five months later it was almost parity.

We rented properties in the UK. There is tax to pay on the rental income, provision for repairs, unreliable tenants.....it would be imprudent to rely 100% on the rental income.

Then there is the employment situation. Around here the jobless rate exceeds 34%. Unless you have a profession or skill in demand and speak good Spanish your chances of getting a secure job are virtually nil. In any case you need to prove you can support yourself and have medical insurance before coming to Spain now the new regulations are in place.

Some time ago we had a debate on this forum -a rather pointless one imo - about so-called 'negativity' when telling would-be immigrants about life in Spain.
The sad fact is that right now Spain is in crisis. Things are bad and will undoubtedly get worse before they get better. It's very hard to be positive when almost six million Spaniards are looking for work and the Government ispursuing a harsh austerity programme which will see prices rise steeply next month when the 3% IVA increase takes effect.

I actually think that it is kinder to tell mature adults the truth especially when they are considering such a drastic step as selling their UK home or hoping to relocate without having contracted employment. You really can't know what it's like to live in a place until you have lived there - I know that sounds daft but I had visited Prague regularly several times a year for thirty years before moving to live there and I found I actually knew very little about everyday life in the Czech Republic. Holidays in no way resemble everyday life.

So I hope you don't find this 'negative', whatever that means. It is the truth as experienced by most of us who live here. It seems that the only people who can live well in Spain are those with secure employment or those who like myself don't need to work.

I'm sure things will change -eventually - but now really isn't the time for such a drastic change in your life.


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## Guest (Aug 22, 2012)

I don't want to come across as rude or unhelpful but I wouldn't dream of moving here if I were you.

Ok. That's a tad harsh. First of all you REALLY need to be able to speak Spanish. If not then you need to be taking classes or willing to put in the effort to learn when you get here.

I've been here 2 months now and I'm really questioning my decision. It was 'easy' for me as my partner was offered a job before moving here. We have found the locals to be very unhelpful and I'd nearly go so far as to say a tad racist. If you're not Spanish then what ya doing here kinda thing.

Getting ANYTHING done is a real hassle. I mean difficult as. For such a "manana" country i find the paperwork and red tape a huge contradiction. I have yet to deal with anybody that holds an official capacity not to look at me or treat me like a dog turd. That's me being nice about it.

I'm sorry if this is so negative but that's been my experience. I'm sure others will tell you about their more positive experience so I hope that will bring balance.

What line of work are you in ?

If I were you I'd be off to Oz in a heartbeat. You are under 30 so qualify for a working/holiday/travelling visa. You could go there and check it out without committing. 

If you have your heart set on Spain then I'd suggest you try and rent your property out for 6-12 months in the UK (should be easy with strong rental market currently) and come and rent here for 6-12 months and in that way you can make an informed choice within the year.

I hope it works out for you whatever your choice.

Maybe you've caught me on a bad day but I'm just not into sugar coating it.


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## V-Dog (May 10, 2012)

mrypg9 said:


> I would consider it very imprudent to plan to live in Spain off rental income. A house valued at £140k would provide a rental income of less than £1k a month depending on the area and no way is this sufficient to provide an adequate income to cover the costs of renting in the CdS.


Good post mrypg9t - some very good advice imo

As for the '140k' - I believed the house would be worth more than 140k when commenting. I thought it more likely there would be 140k equity as opposed to 140k left over after sale (jnc costs) with no mortgage

Imprudent for some, not so for others, it all comes down to the numbers

A number of people are living in Spain off their rental income, albeit many who are will have downsized, cut back on spending etc

Initially I myself planned to make the move to live off rental income . The numbers stacked up for me, although admittedly I had more than 1 property playing a part in my numbers and I had savings to fall back on if needed


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Danny&Claire said:


> I don't want to come across as rude or unhelpful but I wouldn't dream of moving here if I were you.
> 
> Ok. That's a tad harsh. First of all you REALLY need to be able to speak Spanish. If not then you need to be taking classes or willing to put in the effort to learn when you get here.
> 
> ...


thank you for posting that - it's not just us 'old regulars' saying this at last - it really _isn't_ a good time to come without some sort of guaranteed income


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

V-Dog said:


> Good post mrypg9t - some very good advice imo
> 
> As for the '140k' - I believed the house would be worth more than 140k when commenting. I thought it more likely there would be 140k equity as opposed to 140k left over after sale (jnc costs) with no mortgage
> 
> ...




I'm very risk-adverse...when we planned our move from Prague to Spain we did a worst-case scenario and did our calculations on a £1=1 euro basis. So we have a reasonable 'cushion' should we need it. Rental income is by nature subject to fluctuations. One bad tenant who defaults on the rent, trashes your property and has to be taken to Court to be evicted can wipe out your whole year's profits if you have other rental properties or set you back £000s if you have only the one house.

We actually sold up everything we owned in the UK and Canada...business premises, houses...everything but our furniture etc. which we've carted around Europe...in fact a friend pointed out that our furniture had travelled around Europe more than he had..

I never want to own property again....My son and dil have property here so if we are destitute mummy, partner and large dog will turn up on their doorstep - they live in the UK and rent to friends in July/August....


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## collettebeckett (Aug 2, 2012)

Thank you everyone for you advice and opinions!!

I do love to take a risk, but it sounds like iv met my match on this dream!! 

Xx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

collettebeckett said:


> Thank you everyone for you advice and opinions!!
> 
> I do love to take a risk, but it sounds like iv met my match on this dream!!
> 
> Xx


You need to see for yourself...no substitute for that!

And dreams can so easily turn into nightmares....

Things will improve but not for a few years yet...in fact I think they'll get much worse!


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