# Looking to move to Spain



## GeoffP2 (Jun 3, 2015)

Hello all

I'm Geoff and together with my wife Gill we lived in Johannesburg for over thirty years and now I'm 65 and Gill is 59 we are looking to move for our retirement and value any comments or ideas you may have. I like Spain, it has decent weather and property is affordable, unlike places like Oz or NZ.

I have in mind buying for cash a small town house or apartment for a maximum of Euro 70k. We're not quite ready to move yet so if we could get something that's already rented out for holidays or short term basis that would provide funds to cover the expenses. Somewhere fairly near beaches and with shops etc within walking distance would be good.

We're visiting Alicante from 14th to 20th of June to have an initial look round and perhaps lay a bit of a foundation. We like cities as there is plenty of things going on, rather than the country which is a bit boring.

I will have a half UK pension, and we have funds from inheritance, as well as funds in various places offshore, so should be able to satisfy the authorities of our ability to sustain ourselves although I haven't seen a specific figure for this in my research. The South African Rand is losing value at an increasing rate at present so we need to move funds from here sooner rather than later.

Any input and advice you would like to put our way would be welcome. There'll be more ideas and questions to follow I'm sure.

Regards
Geoff and Gill Pethick
Johannesburg
South Africa


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

GeoffP2 said:


> Hello all
> 
> I'm Geoff and together with my wife Gill we lived in Johannesburg for over thirty years and now I'm 65 and Gill is 59 we are looking to move for our retirement and value any comments or ideas you may have. I like Spain, it has decent weather and property is affordable, unlike places like Oz or NZ.
> 
> ...


Hi there,
Have you looked at the FAQ's on the main Spain page? You'll have to sift through to find the stuff that interests you, but there will be something useful. Also use the search facility (advanced better) to look for places that have caught your eye


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## stevesainty (Jan 7, 2011)

Torrevieja or one of its suburbs would suit you ideally. Torrevieja has 7 blue flag beaches, a very good town council and is mainly Spanish. There a lot of northern European ex pats live there also. It gets a bit crowded in July and August with the influx of Madrilanos.
Torrevieja will be given a bit of a bad press from some people, that is what put us off at first. Comments like "British bubble", crime, graffitti, etc will be heard.
However it is a lovely city with theatres, museums, brilliant public transport (free for residents) with two airports within 40 minutes drive.


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

stevesainty said:


> Torrevieja or one of its suburbs would suit you ideally. Torrevieja has 7 blue flag beaches, a very good town council and is mainly Spanish. There a lot of northern European ex pats live there also. It gets a bit crowded in July and August with the influx of Madrilanos.
> Torrevieja will be given a bit of a bad press from some people, that is what put us off at first. Comments like "British bubble", crime, graffitti, etc will be heard.
> However it is a lovely city with theatres, museums, brilliant public transport (free for residents) with two airports within 40 minutes drive.


I am surprised that you describe Torrevieja as 'mainly Spanish'


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

DunWorkin said:


> I am surprised that you describe Torrevieja as 'mainly Spanish'


Me too!
After a quick Google I found the 2015 census. It actually says June 2015 so it must be hot off the presses. According to this Torrevieja has a population of just over 100,000 of which 51,121 are Spanish...
http://torrevieja.es/sal/ayuntamien...15-06-01; Distribución por nacionalidades.pdf

Reading this it's difficult to say which nationality doesn't have representation in Torre


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## stevesainty (Jan 7, 2011)

DunWorkin said:


> I am surprised that you describe Torrevieja as 'mainly Spanish'


¿Por que?

Please clarify what you mean, away from the promenade everything is totally Spanish.


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## stevesainty (Jan 7, 2011)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Me too!
> After a quick Google I found the 2015 census. It actually says June 2015 so it must be hot off the presses. According to this Torrevieja has a population of just over 100,000 of which 51,121 are Spanish...
> http://torrevieja.es/sal/ayuntamien...15-06-01; Distribución por nacionalidades.pdf
> 
> Reading this it's difficult to say which nationality doesn't have representation in Torre


Does not more than 50% mean mainly?

Most of the non Spanish people live away from the town in the outlying suburbs on urbanisations. Torrevieja itself, imho, is about 80% Spanish.


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

Pesky Wesky said:


> Me too!
> After a quick Google I found the 2015 census. It actually says June 2015 so it must be hot off the presses. According to this Torrevieja has a population of just over 100,000 of which 51,121 are Spanish...
> http://torrevieja.es/sal/ayuntamien...15-06-01; Distribución por nacionalidades.pdf
> 
> Reading this it's difficult to say which nationality doesn't have representation in Torre


According to these figures Spaniards account for 51% of the population BUT as we have seen in other threads a lot of 'expats' do not register where the Spanish usually do. I am sure if you added all the unregistered people the Spanish would be well below the 50%.


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## DunWorkin (Sep 2, 2010)

Based on these criteria you could argue that Benidorm is mainly Spanish .

The figures in 2010 were 65.2% Spanish, 7.4% from the UK and 27.4% other. Have you ever been to Benidorm? I go there several times a week and would hardly call it 'mainly Spanish'


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## stevesainty (Jan 7, 2011)

I don´t want to get into an argument about semantics. I was trying to give the OP an idea of where he can live, in a town, for the money he has quoted.

We did not look at Torrevieja at all, as a place to live, for a long time. This was because during our research it was given a bad press, including on this forum. However we have discovered that it is a lovely place to live. The council looks after its citizens very well, with full cultural programs, refurbishments of run down areas are at last being tackled, the streets are regularly swept, dog poop cleared, chewing gum removed and weeds cleared. The numerous state health care centres and the state hospital here are very well run, friendly, expedient treatment and appointments.
The town itself is thriving and you will only find a few non Spanish establishments. You can barely get by if you only speak English, unless you just want to frequent the shore side.
The town has two large salt lakes, one of which still has a thriving salt industry, surrounded by protected natural parkland. These lakes have lots of birds including flamingos living on them.

We obviously love the place, and so obviously do the other 49.000 other non Spanish residents, not to mention the influx of Spaniards from Orihuela and Madrid during the summer.

Unless you have first hand knowledge it is unfair to dis a place, you may put people off coming.


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

stevesainty said:


> I don´t want to get into an argument about semantics. I was trying to give the OP an idea of where he can live, in a town, for the money he has quoted.
> 
> We did not look at Torrevieja at all, as a place to live, for a long time. This was because during our research it was given a bad press, including on this forum. However we have discovered that it is a lovely place to live. The council looks after its citizens very well, with full cultural programs, refurbishments of run down areas are at last being tackled, the streets are regularly swept, dog poop cleared, chewing gum removed and weeds cleared. The numerous state health care centres and the state hospital here are very well run, friendly, expedient treatment and appointments.
> The town itself is thriving and you will only find a few non Spanish establishments. You can barely get by if you only speak English, unless you just want to frequent the shore side.
> ...


Not dissing it, just saying...
You live there, or at least I think you do, so you know better than me. All I know is that when I went there poor Spanish OH couldn't find a Spanish newspaper (we did find Dutch and English though) and couldn't watch Spanish football on the TV. We went to several restaurants/bars where they were hard pushed to put three words of Spanish together. 
But if you've found areas that are not like that and you're happy, then that's good! 
But just to confirm, there is a very high foreign population, and yes, 51% is more Spanish, but only just. I suppose this is more noticiable in some areas than others.


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## stevesainty (Jan 7, 2011)

DunWorkin said:


> Based on these criteria you could argue that Benidorm is mainly Spanish .
> 
> The figures in 2010 were 65.2% Spanish, 7.4% from the UK and 27.4% other. Have you ever been to Benidorm? I go there several times a week and would hardly call it 'mainly Spanish'


Yes, we have been to Benidorm and go there often. I would agree that it does not seem to be mainly Spanish. The thing is though, I do not live there and mainly frequent the touristy areas. There are also thousands of holiday makers from northern Europe who only visit for a couple of weeks at a time, another reason for it not seeming mainly Spanish.

El Campello, your home town according to your profile, is another mainly Spanish town that we visit often. My sister lives there and we think it is a wonderful place to visit and live. However if you only visit the shore side you would get the idea that it is another Brit enclave which would be far from the truth.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

I dont think the OP asked for a mainly Spanish area ????

Jo xxx


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

The OP said they were going to start looking in Alicante which seems like a good idea, Maybe Malaga too or Cadiz and going in a completely different direction there's Barcelona. But it's the old needle in a haystack scenario. Until they know more about what they want and what they don't want real suggestions can't be made.
My advice is always find out where the local fiestas are held and don't live anywhere near them!


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Being fairly near to a good airport and transport lines is usually a good idea when you're travelling back and forth IMO - so thats something worth loooking at

Jo xxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Fact is, it matters very little to a lot of people whether an area is 'Spanish' or not. After all, Alicante, Torrevieja, Benidorm are geographically in Spain and the climate, scenery etc. won't resemble Blackpool or Skegness so the UK it ain't.

When a critical mass of people looking for 'the real Spain' arrive in a town or village, the ambience will subtly change. The smaller the town, the fewer the number of immigrants required to effect that change. But the changes won't always go deep.

People come to live in Spain or any country for a variety of reasons. When I lived in Prague I didn't get absorbed into Czech culture and ways of life -dumplings, sauerkraut, heavy beers and infrequent attention to personal and public hygiene aren't my thing. I enjoyed the experience from the outside, as a foreigner, an immigrant which is what I'm doing in Spain and no matter how many friends I have, how well I speak Spanish, how 'integrated' I think I am, that won't change.

Some people like Blackpool, some Benidorm. Neither are to my taste but sobre los gustos..... If the population of Torrevieja one day becomes 60% Martian, it will still be seen as 'Spanish' which is why that 60% upped sticks and relocated there.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

GeoffP2 said:


> Hello all
> 
> I'm Geoff and together with my wife Gill we lived in Johannesburg for over thirty years and now I'm 65 and Gill is 59 we are looking to move for our retirement and value any comments or ideas you may have. I like Spain, it has decent weather and property is affordable, unlike places like Oz or NZ.
> 
> ...


Hi and welcome

for 70k, you are not likely to get much if you want to be near beaches and amenities. Inland you will have a better choice but you will probably have to drive to get to a beach, unless it is a lakeside beach:

Cheap rural Spanish property for sale Andalucia Spain Negratin Lake and Jabalcon Mount

Properties (requiring renovation) €20k and up including cave houses internal temperature around 10°C all year even in the depth of winter and height of summer when it may be over 30°C outside.


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## AllHeart (Nov 22, 2013)

Geoff & Gill, here's some information by the UK government on buying a house in Spain that you may find helpful:

https://www.gov.uk/how-to-buy-property-in-spain


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## skip o (Aug 1, 2011)

Mrypg9 (or anyone else), what does "sobre los gustos" mean?


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## stevesainty (Jan 7, 2011)

baldilocks said:


> Hi and welcome
> 
> for 70k, you are not likely to get much if you want to be near beaches and amenities.


There are pages and pages of two bed one bath properties for sale from 22.200€ up to 100.000 on kyero.com. I know that quite a lot of these properties will already be sold as kyero is slow to catch up, but still a lot of scope for the OP.

Given the quoted ages of the OP and his wife, I suspect that having infrastructure and public transport would be a high priority. Torrevieja has all that you need to enjoy a happy retirement.


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## stevesainty (Jan 7, 2011)

skip o said:


> Mrypg9 (or anyone else), what does "sobre los gustos" mean?


Literally it means on the tastes, but it has the meaning "depending on your taste" .


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

skip o said:


> Mrypg9 (or anyone else), what does "sobre los gustos" mean?


It's the beginning of a saying that mrypg9 likes to use
Sobre los gustos no hay disputa...
sobre gustos no hay disputa translation English | Spanish dictionary | Reverso


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Pesky Wesky said:


> It's the beginning of a saying that mrypg9 likes to use
> Sobre los gustos no hay disputa...
> sobre gustos no hay disputa translation English | Spanish dictionary | Reverso


Yes, it's a favourite of mine, because it's so true..
My Gran used to say ''twouldn't do for us to be all alike' which is the same expressed in a different way.
Or'Variety is the spice of life'......


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## GeoffP2 (Jun 3, 2015)

Hello all

Many thanks for your thoughts and advice relating to my query, this really is a very friendly and informative forum.

I don't have much in the way of preconceived ideas about location, except steering clear of Benidorm. Yes, we are interested in facilities and transportation although we expect to have a car, but it depends on where we can get a nice place within budget. There's a huge number of available properties spread over a large area, so plenty to choose from. We'll also have to get an idea of running costs for the property. Having said that the house we currently live in was the only one we looked at before purchase, and the previous house was one of four, so it's perhaps not as difficult as it seems on the surface.

The question of health provision is interesting as I haven't paid into the UK services since 1982 so cannot get some of the mentioned routes. However, I'll have some UK pension so will have to find out what I qualify for as a pensioner. Private medical care which we have in South Africa is expensive, so we are used to paying.

So we'll have a week in Spain, staying in Alicante, and get a feel for the place and possibly look at a few potential purchases, but it will need another visit to really get things started.

Regards from sunny and winter warm Johannesburg.
Gill and Geoff Pethick


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