# the best time to move to spain



## jojo789 (Apr 6, 2008)

Hello my partner and i will be moving to spain in about a year and a half, the time it will take to save up and seriously take spanish lessons.

As i have already said in earlier posts we would like to move to the costa del sol area (inland) and in september we will be checking out Alhaurin de la Torre, Coin and Alhaurin el Grande. 

Do you know of any other good areas near those towns ?

We are in our twenties, we aren't property owners and we have no children. so we don't have anything to lose but we are concerned about employement. My partner is a builder and i'm a secretary which i doubt i will be doing in spain unless i'm fluent in year and a half which i doubt very much... i've read some posts concerning employement and it's left me quite worried.

are there any other young couples in our situation?


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## EmmaLouUK (Aug 4, 2008)

hi jojo789,
although I am not in your exact situation I am moving to Benidorm in November I am 18 and to be honest am not fluent in Spanish nor have I had the oppertunity of taking Spanish lessons in my area. I would say this would be a great advantage I am lucky in many ways I am moving to an area where I am very familiar with and I have quite a few Spanish friends along with expats. I am going to be heading to Benidorm as a ESL Teacher and soo won't be able to work in a Spanish school unless I can learn Spanish pretty quick after my arrival but holding the TEFL certificate will allow me to get some income by offering private lessons. I know this isnt a great deal of help to you but I would look into the TEFL courses as this could help you if you choose to go to a more inland area of Spain and if you are able to get on that all important Spanish course.
Good Luck for your future plans
Emma


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## chris(madrid) (Mar 23, 2008)

jojo789 said:


> Hello my partner and i will be moving to spain in about a year and a half, the time it will take to save up and seriously take spanish lessons....... we are concerned about employement. My partner is a builder and i'm a secretary which i doubt i will be doing in spain unless i'm fluent in year and a half which i doubt very much... i've read some posts concerning employement and it's left me quite worried.


The employment situation here is DIRE right now. Especially the building trade. And yes - to be a secretary you'll NEED to be bilingual (Spanish anyway). But in 18months the world could be entirely different.

Important to realise that the REAL jobs areas are NOT where tourists go.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Hi Jojo789. 

I live in a village (El Romeral) near Alhaurin de la torre, so I can answer any questions about the area - which in my opinion is the perfect mix of everything: we're near the coast, but not too close about a 10 min drive, we're near the airport a 15 minute drive and we're near the mountains, the Towns are busy and have good amentities, but are close to the beautiful countryside.

Out of the three towns you mention El Grande is the most British and looks the most traditional (whitewash buildings, narrow streets etc) but is very busy, Coin is also very British and in my opinion not attractive, but it has good amenities and La Torre which although has a few Brits it seems to have a higher ratio of Spanish than the other two, its very modern and to me it seems very neat and manufactured - lots of equally spaced palm trees and interesting water feature round abouts along the main road.

As for work, yes its bad in Spain at the mo, you may be really lucky and get some secretarial work in El Grande as there are quite a few British companies there (but dont hold your breath!!!) and Malaga Ariport is undergoing major expansion which may mean theres some building work, but I think the Eastern Europeans are flooding that as they are a good, but cheap workforce and of course the construction industry in Spain is on its knees, so there are Spanish builders desperate for work 

You need to come here with enough money to carry you for a year if possible, you may be able to pick up bits and pieces of work, but I doubt you'd get anything permenant or reliable. It seems to me that most Brits here who are trying to work are living very much "hand to mouth" and scratching around for the next job

Jo


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## chris(madrid) (Mar 23, 2008)

jojo said:


> you may be really lucky and get some secretarial work in El Grande as there are quite a few British companies there (but don't hold your breath!!!)


Jo - My experience up here of "non-Spanish employee heavy" companies is that they depend HEAVILY on their local Secretarial staff being able to translate and correct Spanish. I'm basically tri-lingual but I'd not be up to translating.

Where I was working when I came here in 1999 we had problems with a secretary who was bilingual on paper (she was from Mexico) but her Spanish turned out to be unacceptable. Eventually they moved her somewhere else - but smaller companies would probably have dismissed her. My wife was a HR director for a reasonably sized Spanish seafood group before we went to Germany, and she said that this girl would simply not have lasted 2 weeks when she was running things.


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## dan yeates (Sep 1, 2008)

Hi Jojo,

My girlfriend and I are in our twenties too and we plan to move to Spain, all being well, in about a year to 18 months. Where are you based in the UK? 

Dan


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## jojo789 (Apr 6, 2008)

EmmaLouUK said:


> hi jojo789,
> although I am not in your exact situation I am moving to Benidorm in November I am 18 and to be honest am not fluent in Spanish nor have I had the oppertunity of taking Spanish lessons in my area. I would say this would be a great advantage I am lucky in many ways I am moving to an area where I am very familiar with and I have quite a few Spanish friends along with expats. I am going to be heading to Benidorm as a ESL Teacher and soo won't be able to work in a Spanish school unless I can learn Spanish pretty quick after my arrival but holding the TEFL certificate will allow me to get some income by offering private lessons. I know this isnt a great deal of help to you but I would look into the TEFL courses as this could help you if you choose to go to a more inland area of Spain and if you are able to get on that all important Spanish course.
> Good Luck for your future plans
> Emma


Hi EmmaLouUK

thank you for your reply, i forgot to tell you i don't live in england, i live in france, so i don't know if this course the TELF takes place just in England or will i be able to take it when i'm in spain. i already have a 3 year university degree in english (french university) and i am bilingual in french and english which is my native language.
could you give me some more info on the TELF could i do take it through correspondance here in France?

thanks for your advice

jojo


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## chris(madrid) (Mar 23, 2008)

jojo789 said:


> nd i am bilingual in french and english which is my native language. jojo


Look at the French Liceo here then! - these must be linked to from France!


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## jojo789 (Apr 6, 2008)

dan yeates said:


> Hi Jojo,
> 
> My girlfriend and I are in our twenties too and we plan to move to Spain, all being well, in about a year to 18 months. Where are you based in the UK?
> 
> Dan


Hi Dan

I don't live in the uk i live in france,i came out here with my parents when i was 10.

hope everything goes ok for you and your girlfriend good luck for the future.

jojo


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## EmmaLouUK (Aug 4, 2008)

jojo789 said:


> Hi EmmaLouUK
> 
> thank you for your reply, i forgot to tell you i don't live in england, i live in france, so i don't know if this course the TELF takes place just in England or will i be able to take it when i'm in spain. i already have a 3 year university degree in english (french university) and i am bilingual in french and english which is my native language.
> could you give me some more info on the TELF could i do take it through correspondance here in France?
> ...


Hi jojo,
I don't see why you cannot do the TEFL course in France here is a website i found that may help you TEFL courses in France , TESOL courses in France they can work out costly but again in time maybe the difference between a job and no job.
Emma


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## jojo789 (Apr 6, 2008)

jojo said:


> Hi Jojo789.
> 
> I live in a village (El Romeral) near Alhaurin de la torre, so I can answer any questions about the area - which in my opinion is the perfect mix of everything: we're near the coast, but not too close about a 10 min drive, we're near the airport a 15 minute drive and we're near the mountains, the Towns are busy and have good amentities, but are close to the beautiful countryside.
> 
> ...


Hi jo thanks for your advice, we can't wait to visit the area. do you know of any good estate agencies for long term rentals in alhaurin de la torre and el grande? i have seen on the internet"Property directors."

i just hope that the job situation picks up. We should have enough to pay 6 or7 months rent up front and we will also have our french unemployment benefit every month (because we live in france) and that should be nearly 2000e per month. How much is cost of living cost in the costa del sol area?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

jojo789 said:


> Hi jo thanks for your advice, we can't wait to visit the area. do you know of any good estate agencies for long term rentals in alhaurin de la torre and el grande? i have seen on the internet"Property directors."
> 
> i just hope that the job situation picks up. We should have enough to pay 6 or7 months rent up front and we will also have our french unemployment benefit every month (because we live in france) and that should be nearly 2000e per month. How much is cost of living cost in the costa del sol area?


Property Directors are good, a husband and wife team, Carmen and john. Carmen is spanish but lived in the UK most of her life so she's completely bilingual and lovely, they deal mainly with El Grande. I would also recommend you give WVS http://www.wvsrealestatespain.com/  a call - Hayley knows her stuff and we use them, they deal mainly with La Torre. 

There is no need to pay your rent up front, its safer to keep your money in your bank and just do a standing order and most rentals here are for 11 months. For just the two of you 2000e should be enough I would think - you wouldnt be "rolling in it", but you should get by ok!

Good luck

Jo


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

.... coincidently, I have some friends staying with me at the mo who live in France (near Narbonne) and they say that the cost of living here is a little bit cheaper on the whole, than in France

Jo


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## jojo789 (Apr 6, 2008)

jojo said:


> .... coincidently, I have some friends staying with me at the mo who live in France (near Narbonne) and they say that the cost of living here is a little bit cheaper on the whole, than in France
> 
> Jo


yes the cost of living in france is high, electricity, water , food and petrol have gone up really high. and unfortunately the minium wage in france is 1 037,53 euros per month. and income tax is high. So it can't be worse and jobs are quite scarce with unreliable contracts too. so we might even be better off


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## chris(madrid) (Mar 23, 2008)

jojo789 said:


> unfortunately the minium wage in france is 1 037,53 euros per month.


Here it's considerably less.



> Spain govt approves hike in minimum wage to 600 eur/mth in 2008 vs 570.6 in 2007
> 12.28.07, 7:52 AM ET
> 
> MADRID - The government has today approved a hike in the minimum wage to 600 eur per month in 2008 from 570.6 eur currently, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said.
> ...


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## jojo789 (Apr 6, 2008)

chris(madrid) said:


> Here it's considerably less.


i realise it is less, but It should be noted that the proportion of employees receiving the minimum wage also differs greatly ranging from less than 1% in Spain to 17% in France. 

...and taxes are very high in france


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## chris(madrid) (Mar 23, 2008)

jojo789 said:


> i realise it is less, but It should be noted that the proportion of employees receiving the minimum wage also differs greatly ranging from less than 1% in Spain to 17% in France.
> 
> ...and taxes are very high in france


I'm surprised at less than 1%. Does that include temporary contracts? - I'm aware of many folk on min-wage, who, what's more only earn 3-4 months a year. Loads of folk in the building trade as labourers are on hour rates which are just as bad. 

17% is horrendous though. Maybe the French are just more honest about it.


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