# How long before you moved?



## GraemeA (Feb 3, 2016)

My wife and I discussed moving to Spain about 10+ years ago, at the time we couldn't really afford to buy what we wanted. 

About a month or so ago, we decided now is the right time to move, however we can't go due to work commitments until the middle of next year and it's driving us nuts! We're constantly looking at villas to buy, researching so much and discussing it every day. We know where we want to go and will be visiting the area a few more times this year to get more info.

Just curious, how long did you take from when you decided to move and when you actually moved?

Graeme


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## TippyToes (Feb 3, 2016)

Hi
I'm new to this site. My husband and I are hoping to find a long term rental from April onwards until we find where we want to settle. Our main focus is the settle around Torrevieja so we are mid between Alicante and Murcia as hubbie will need to visit the UK frequently. 
How have you found the move? Is it easy to integrate?


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## GraemeA (Feb 3, 2016)

Hi TippyToes, we haven't moved yet, we are in the early days of arranging and researching everything. We plan to move during the summer of next year. #wish it was this year though


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## TippyToes (Feb 3, 2016)

Hi
We've decided we can't wait any longer. Andrew luckily can work based from home and will have to visit the UK every 3 or so weeks but it seems easier to commute from Murcia or Alicante than to crawl along the M1 on a cold winters day.
We're looking to rent for 6 months or so while we get our bearings. Therein lies the problem: finding a let over the summer is almost impossible but hopefully something will turn up.
I wish you well in your venture. What areas are you considering?


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## GraemeA (Feb 3, 2016)

We're looking at the Alicante area


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## Rockpea (Sep 11, 2015)

We were planning to wait and buy somewhere in about 10 years when we could hopefully take early retirement. But then we decided why wait, and bought somewhere last year - the idea being we get to enjoy it for those 10 years...albeit only a few times a year. It means we'll know the area really well by the time we decide to move their permanently. I'm so pleased we took the plunge - we absolutely did the right thing and have already built lots of happy Spanish memories  oh, and even in that time the exchange rate has dropped and meant we probably wouldn't have been able to afford our place now.

We are in Murcia region  we looked all around there - and around Torrevieja - let me know if you want any info or have any questions!


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## GraemeA (Feb 3, 2016)

Many thanks Rockpea


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## TippyToes (Feb 3, 2016)

Hi Rockpea
Many thanks for your reply.
We are no strangers to Spain and know the Murcia region reasonably well. We're hoping to rent around Torrevieja for six months or so whilst we get our bearings. We need to be mid way between Alicante and Murcia airports so Andrew can commute to the UK when necessary. 
Flights are booked for mid March to view potential lets, unfortunately we've only found two so far and neither seem to be what we are really looking for. Most properties appear to have long-term lets over the winter and take weekly/fortnightly holiday bookings over the summer. It obviously makes sense to cash in on the holiday market if you own a property but just makes it slightly difficult for us.


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## CharlieMCFC (Jan 27, 2016)

GraemeA said:


> Just curious, how long did you take from when you decided to move and when you actually moved?
> Graeme


For me, it took 2 years. But most of that centred around the decision to sell my house first + the need to repaint it from top to bottom, inside and out.


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## Swerve (Jun 29, 2011)

Have a look on kyero.com and idealista they have property's to buy and rent. Best of luck. Not sure about torrevieca though. Had a very bad reputation and don't know whether that's changed. I'm sure there'll be members that can keep you right.


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## Maureen47 (Mar 27, 2014)

We planned for a long time , it took us 18 months to find and buy the right house for us and we moved Nov 2015 and loving it !


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## TippyToes (Feb 3, 2016)

Thanks for the information. Any opinions gratefully received. We've mainly stayed around the Mar Menor and Javea but as proximity to both airports is vital initially thought Torrevieja might hit the spot. Also for the first month I won't have a car so would like to be within walking distance of activities so I can forge a social life for when Andrew is back in the UK.


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## TippyToes (Feb 3, 2016)

So pleased it's worked out for you. We intend keeping our house on back in the UK so initially want to rent. We've also been bitten once in Spain, costalotta and lostalotta!! Ouch.


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## EdofWigan (Jun 28, 2015)

Things are falling nicely in to place, depending on the results and effects of the referendum, I could be residing in Spain by the year end, or if the new contract is signed, then it will be three years but the interim will be 50% work here and 50% relaxing there. 

It is a mere 2 hour 50 minute flight but a trifling traffic jam on the Manchester scale!

Loads more evenings researching and developing my plan but each night has me smiling and takes me closer to those evenings of Tapas and a nice glass of wine, beer, fruit based drink for the ladies....


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

About 2 months. I had an interview for a job at the end of June and moved at the end of August. It was an easy decision. I knew I didn't want to go back to the UK after living abroad for 2 years, I had n othing in the UK ( no money, no property, no job, no family problems) and I was 26.
No Problem


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

We came for a longish recce in 1999 not long after our second daughter was born, & at the time decided that it would be a long term plan to retire here.

In the August of 2003 we came for yet another holiday, decided that we'd try a year while the kids were still little & moved in the November. We're still here. 

So it either took 4 years or 3 months  

Or we came to live here 20 years earlier than originally planned!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

September 2005 decided to leave the UK for good, December 2005 arrived to live in Prague.
August 2008 decided to relocate to Spain, December 2008 arrived in Spain.
In each move had family/ friends to help with finding somewhere to live.
We sold properties in the UK and Canada by phone/ internet/mail.


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## Trubrit (Nov 24, 2010)

My daughter moved to Madrid in September 2010 and I visited her in December that year and decided that this wonderful city was also what I wanted and moved 3 weeks later. I am a great believer in "He who hesitates is lost" I just stuffed my personal stuff, including my dog, into the car and drove. All my furniture etc was sold very quickly as it was just "stuff" I now live in the countryside south of Toledo with my daughter, 6 dogs, 2 cats, 2 rabbits, 2 turtles 10 birds and 200 fish. Luckily, my house has 5 bedrooms and a 1000 square metre garden. I love my life in this fantastic, frustrating, crazy country !!


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

It took too long! Having paid off my mortgage and downshifted to working 3 days a week, when we decided we'd like to buy a place in Spain to retire to eventually, first I had to find another full time job and put in at least 12 months' service so I could get a new mortgage to buy another house. With that out of the way, and having used the intervening time to do as much thinking and research as possible about where we'd like to live and what kind of property we'd like to live in, we made two trips over to look for houses in our chosen town, and found our house on the second trip in March 2003. We just came over for holidays for the next 3.5 years then found ourselves unexpectedly in the position of being able to move rather sooner than we'd anticipated as we inherited some money from parents and discovered that the value of our UK house had gone up a surprising amount in the intervening 3 years. So we thought, why wait any longer, put the UK house up for sale which took an annoying 7 months to sell, then finally in October 2006 we could quit our jobs and board our flight to Spain on a one way ticket, which felt so good. We lived off our capital until late last year when my OH started to receive his state and occupational pensions, and I received one of my occupational pensions from the start of this year so we now feel better off than when there was no money coming in, and have no regrets at all.


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## haynesbob (Oct 9, 2012)

Hi,

We bought our property on the 12/12/12 and as the world didn't end that day we have been waiting patiently for the last 3 years for me to reach that magical age of 55 for my pensions to kick in.

We now have our house on the market and will retire as soon as it sells.

We have used our property in Ontinyent as much as possible in the mean time and have found the local people to be warm and welcoming and that the cost of living is so cheap.

Good luck with your decision.


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## AllHeart (Nov 22, 2013)

I'd been thinking about moving to Spain since I was a kid, but didn't actually decide to do it until November 2013, which is when I joined this forum. Ten months later, I was here. 

Here's a really good site for rentals. It's good because you can use a lot of filters. You have filters on the first page, then others on the next page by hitting the button on the top right "mas filtros."

Pisos en alquiler en España, Madrid y Barcelona - Enalquiler.com


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## Catzoooo (Mar 31, 2015)

We talked about moving to Spain and put our uk house up for sale in June last year. We had a buyer in a week and completed the sale in 6 week. Found and bought a mobile home in uk and moved there, plan to keep this as a uk base. Bought an old transit van and loaded up the dogs, cat and drove down to Spain in August to a rental villa I found on Internet. 
A crazy mad hectic few months. But We are now settled and taking our time looking for a house to buy. 
Go for it, no regrets


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

We decided we both wanted to retire to Spain at the beginning of 2005. We would buy a house here and use it as a holiday home until 2014 when we got our main pensions. We did a whole load of financial and location planning, came over in June 2005 to do a bit of house hunting, found what we wanted almost straight away and completed in August.

By the end of 2007 we found it so hard to pack up and go home each time, we did some more planning and decided to retire early. We sold the UK house in Feb 2008 jut before the credit crash and moved here permanently in May. We only had a tiny income for six years but it wasn't a problem. It's easy to live on very little money where we are, yet still maintain a hgh quality of life. We have absolutely no regrets about that decision.


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## therese1 (Jan 28, 2016)

Pesky Wesky said:


> About 2 months. I had an interview for a job at the end of June and moved at the end of August. It was an easy decision. I knew I didn't want to go back to the UK after living abroad for 2 years, I had n othing in the UK ( no money, no property, no job, no family problems) and I was 26.
> No Problem


I gave you a like because it must be great to be 26 with no ties.

To the OP, would just say there's aways going to be something which helps to put the move off. Think I've pretty much run the whole gamut. But even though I now have commitments with elderly/illness etc. I've decided I'm at least going to buy if not yet able to move permanently. So squeezing in visits whenever possible and must say I wish my actual research time matched my hours of trawling the net. Latter is good for general stuff and discounting areas you know won't be to your taste.
Actual properties and places need to be seen, and seen again.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

therese1 said:


> I gave you a like because it must be great to be 26 with no ties.
> 
> To the OP, would just say there's aways going to be something which helps to put the move off. Think I've pretty much run the whole gamut. But even though I now have commitments with elderly/illness etc. I've decided I'm at least going to buy if not yet able to move permanently. So squeezing in visits whenever possible and must say I wish my actual research time matched my hours of trawling the net. Latter is good for general stuff and discounting areas you know won't be to your taste.
> Actual properties and places need to be seen, and seen again.


Yes, it was a good time in my life. I obviously made some good decisions because here I am 30 years later and still more or less happy It was never my intention to stay here and many other others say the same.
I think seeing a property several times is the best way, if at all possible.


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## EdofWigan (Jun 28, 2015)

Alcalaina said:


> We decided we both wanted to retire to Spain at the beginning of 2005. We would buy a house here and use it as a holiday home until 2014 when we got our main pensions. We did a whole load of financial and location planning, came over in June 2005 to do a bit of house hunting, found what we wanted almost straight away and completed in August.
> 
> By the end of 2007 we found it so hard to pack up and go home each time, we did some more planning and decided to retire early. We sold the UK house in Feb 2008 jut before the credit crash and moved here permanently in May. We only had a tiny income for six years but it wasn't a problem. It's easy to live on very little money where we are, yet still maintain a hgh quality of life. We have absolutely no regrets about that decision.


I genuinely loved reading this. 

Those who constantly drop in to chat about money or spend their lives chasing a bigger this, or a larger that, should read this simple post.

Thank you for making me smile at teh end of a long day 

_
Life is for Living, Live It!_


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