Author Topic: Permanent Move to Spain (Read 4228 times)

Lea · « **on:** March 03, 2003, 11:50:00 PM »

Hi, I am currently researching a permanent move to Spain with my family - husband and children aged 5 and 7. I have so much info it is coming out of my ears, but still I need more!!! My husband has been wanting to move for 9 years and we have decided to stop talking (and dreaming about it) and do something about it.

We have queries on what areas in Spain to choose, North or South, East or West or maybe the Costas where lots of Brits (like us) have chosen to reside. (My husband\'s auntie lives in Alicante). Also Spanish schools vs International schools? Anyone out there who has sent their kids to the local Spanish school, did they fit in or feel alienated by the language barrier? (we do not know Spanish, but are definitely intending to learn!) Also do we choose a new build property or resale? We have all the info, but do not know what to do for the best. We need first hand experience from families who have "been there, done that....and bought the T-shirt!)

All comments (good and bad) would be gratefully received!

Many thanks....

[IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_kiss.gif\"] [addsig]

Tracy · « **Reply #1 on:** March 05, 2003, 01:30:00 AM »

Hi Lea,

Sounds like an exciting move! I\'m jealous! GO SOUTH! OK...but seriously. I just want to make one quick comment and then refer you to a more appropriate site. YES. Your kids will feel alienated at first, but they will adapt tramendously! I would seek out a bilingual or Spanish school, but not a British/English only one (they\'ll be even more alienated from the all the wonderful Spaniards whose country you\'ve just moved to). That\'s strickly my opinion, and now for the re-direct: BritsCentral, I think, has a website for people just like YOU!. Check my links section. I may have it there under "general" something.

GOOD LUCK!

Tracy[addsig]

Lea · « **Reply #2 on:** March 05, 2003, 11:22:00 AM »

Hi Tracy,

Thank you very much for your comments and encouraging advice. Most people including family and friends, have given us negative responses, like what do you want to do that for? or where are you going to live and what job are you going to get when you get there? Obviously these are all important areas that were are trying to obtain information on, so it is very nice to have a positive comment. It makes us want to do it even more! So Thank You.

Also Tracy, can I just ask you another question? What do you think of these inspection trips offered by property companies? We have been to a couple Spanish Property Exhibitions held at hotels in our area of the UK. They seem to offer a complete package from arranging solicitors, mortgages and removal services! Whilst this is very convenient, I\'m worried about the hard sale when we get to Spain. Does this happen do you know?

Many thanks for your time in helping me with my queries!

Lea

Al [IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_nod.gif\"] [addsig]

Sibsie · « **Reply #3 on:** March 07, 2003, 12:21:00 AM »

[!-- BBCode Quote Start --][TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%][TR][TD][font class=\"pn-sub\"]Quote:[/font]

[/TD][/TR][TR][TD][FONT class=\"pn-sub\"][BLOCKQUOTE]Also Tracy, can I just ask you another question? What do you think of these inspection trips offered by property companies? We have been to a couple Spanish Property Exhibitions held at hotels in our area of the UK. They seem to offer a complete package from arranging solicitors, mortgages and removal services! Whilst this is very convenient, I\'m worried about the hard sale when we get to Spain. Does this happen do you know?

[/BLOCKQUOTE][/FONT][/TD][/TR][TR][TD]

[/TD][/TR][/TABLE][!-- BBCode Quote End --]Avoid them like the plague. Spanish estate agents, regardless of where they operate from put on at least 15% comission on the sale of a house. As a result property can be incredibly expensive when you\'re going through an agent. They don\'t have sole agency like in England so 10 different agents could have the same property at vastly differing prices. For example. I bought my place from one agent and the one over the road had it at 40k Euros more.

The agents that do inspection trips do a real hard sell. You won\'t have a minute from dawn to dusk. You\'ll mainly be shown new builds that have a lead time of up to two years. You\'ll be pressured to sign and paying a holding deposit. The holding deposit isn\'t a legal requirement, nor is it legally recognised here. If you walk away from the deal you\'ll usually lose the money which is generally 2k.

As for schools, my sister recently moved here. Her little girl is 6 and in Spanish school with no probs at all. The 14 year old is in the International one so she can follow the GCSE system.

I live in Northern Costa Blanca which I love. Not too built up and not over run with Brits though there\'s a few knocking around as there are all over Spain.

Good luck.[addsig]

sarahalbrighton · « **Reply #4 on:** March 07, 2003, 11:33:00 AM »

hi, it seems we are in the same boat, we too are looking to down roots in spain, have one daughter, 6, and one on the way....

have you been able to find any info re schools, the only thing we can find is [!-- BBCode auto-link start --][a href=\"http://www.nabss.org\" target=\"_blank\"]www.nabss.org[/a][!-- BBCode auto-link end --], but seems to only have private schools on the site, do you know of any others?

In lite of the advice you have been given by that nice lady, tracy, what do you think the best thing to do is re viewing properties, cause we were going to do one of those £99 view things for 2/3 days and try and see loads properties.....but thought maybe later in the season, tis cooler, less busy, CHEAPER?

?

I cant believe everyone you know is negative towards your plans....all our friends and family think is such a fantastic plan, they all want to come with us!!!!!

we too have loads of other q\'s eg healthcare, rates, tax paying, etc etc etc if you have any info of particular use, pleeeeeease pass it on!!!

thanks and \'go for it!\'

Just out of nosiness, where do you come from? and when do you plan on making the move?

sarah[addsig]

Lea · « **Reply #5 on:** March 07, 2003, 12:35:00 PM »

Hello Sarah,

First, can I just thank Tracy for her valuable advice! Your help is gratefully received!

Anyway Sarah, it was nice to read your message and that you are contemplating the same move! It is scary, but something we really want to do! I have been collecting info from various websites, mainly the property ones like Atlas, PHI etc. They are the companies that include everything in their services! I have now slightly been put off by Tracy\'s comments regarding the inspection trips, as I wouldn\'t like to be pressured into buying a home that was wrong for us! I have also bought a few books from WH Smith - one is called Living and Working in Spain and the other is Buying a Property Abroad! The author for both books is David Hampshire and they have all the info in them that you need!! I read them all the time! Regarding the school question, I am going towards putting my two children into a Spanish school. At the moment we are not sure what area in Spain to go for! We\'re not sure on the time scales, but it may be looking like our move may happen either late this year or Spring/Summer next! The biggest worry we have at the moment is employment. So I\'m going to enroll in a Teaching English as a Second Language course at my local college, and also a Spanish course I think!! Anyway if you want any more info, perhaps we can exchange, and if you are interested you can email me on [!-- BBcode auto-mailto start --][a href=\"mailto:Leanne@brooklynroad.freeserve.co.uk.\"]Leanne@brooklynroad.freeserve.co.uk.[/a][!-- BBCode auto-mailto end --] It would be nice to keep in contact!!! Good Luck with your fact finding mission!!

[IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_nod.gif\"] [addsig]

Sibsie · « **Reply #6 on:** March 07, 2003, 01:51:00 PM »

Buying property in Spain is actually a lot more straighfroward than it is in England. Don\'t pay too much attention to those books. They could put you off for life!

A word again about the companies you mentioned... be v careful and PM me if you want more info on house buying trips.

For Spanish schools you have to register at your town hall. The local police work out where you live in relation to schools and decide on the one for you. Believe it or not, your local policeman will actually go out on his moped and get the mileage that way. You have to make sure you\'re not enrolling in a nationalist school that speaks only the local dialect, but people in your area will advise you on the ones to avoid. The child will also have a medical to show fitness to attend school.

You can use your E111 for three months when you first arrive and thereafter either pay the Spanish equivilant of NI contributions or take out private health care. Depending on your source of income you can pay tax in Spain or in England, but it has to be paid somewhere. Unless of course you\'re working on the "black" like so many people do.

August is the month to avoid as that\'s when the Spaniards holiday so everywhere is packed.[addsig]

m00nman2002 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 11, 2003, 10:08:00 PM »

hello

ive been reading the postings and ,surprisingly,going to move out within the next 10-12 months.ive got a wife and 1 little girl (9).there are plenty of websites for property and you can do what were doing wait till oct time when its quieter and get a £99 deal from your local travel agent and then hire a car.you should get transfers from the hotel-airport etc and then you can hire a car in your own time and plan the travelling.im going to email estate agents before i go and hopefully get some properties to look at to start me off.

ive just been typing in to google \'property in spain\' and then spending time going through them and making note of the good ones.you can email me for other help or chat [!-- BBcode auto-mailto start --][a href=\"mailto:fasteruk@msn.com\"]fasteruk@msn.com[/a][!-- BBCode auto-mailto end --][addsig]

m00nman2002 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 14, 2003, 11:45:00 AM »

hello

here is some good info websites if you didnt know them;

tuspain.com

idealspain.com

spainalive.com

britcentral.com

nabss.org

the last two i havent checked out much but the other three are a good source of information.as for property search google for \'property in spain\' and go through the results for an idea and some good estate agents.dont forget to buy a map of spain to check areas or you could end up with a bit of a drive when you get over to spain.

no i dont like the property trips because i was talking to some people at an exhibition and they said they will push you into a sale from their company as opposed to different estate agents.when i told them what we are going to do they thought that was a good idea.youll have to let me know where in england you are and where in spain you wanna go.

[addsig]

sarahalbrighton · « **Reply #9 on:** March 16, 2003, 11:18:00 AM »

moonman, hi!

have only found 2 of those web pages you posted, will try the others...

bought david hampshire\'s "living and working in spain", the other day from amazon.com, all our local book shops had sold out! is very informative, but get the feeling is out of date, all monies are mentioned in pts...?

a little girl from my daughters school are going to torromilinos(spelling?) in about two weeks, so spent half an hour firing questions at her mum, poor woman doen\'t even know me... but she had a few bits of info I found useful, eg said estate agents over there can help with the location of schools etc, she had a quick look while over there, but couldn\'t go in till were residents....

what was the exhibition you went to? there is an atlas one today in my town, have the brochure, but found them to be more expensive than some of the others....still, will go and see what they have to say...

sarah [IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_beer.gif\"] [addsig]

Lea · « **Reply #10 on:** March 16, 2003, 03:52:00 PM »

Hi Sarah

Unfortunately I missed a recent property exhibition in my area by Atlas and was waiting for the next one! Can you let me know how it went if you decided to go! I must admit I think the properties in their brochure are quite expensive! I have been to an exhibition by Bravo, and although they had loads of property, I wasn\'t very keen on them. Regarding previous comments about employment and the Teaching English as a Foreign Language, in fact, you need two A Levels to enroll on this course (well, that\'s what my local college tells me!) I have however, enrolled on a Spanish course, so at least I am starting to make small steps to achieving my goal! I like the idea of moonman\'s comments regarding searching for property yourself and not going for the inspection trips! You can at least search at your own pace and not be worried about any pressure!

Do you know if it is it true that if you purchase a resale you need to buy within 30 days? If this is the case, we would have to sell our UK property before even thinking about purchasing a Spanish property! What are you intending to do?

Leanne

[IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_cool.gif\"] [addsig]

Sibsie · « **Reply #11 on:** March 18, 2003, 02:14:00 AM »

If you\'re buying a resale it\'s really no different to buying a new place. Once you\'ve found your house you have to pay a 10% deposit. This takes the house off the market and you sign a legally binding contract. If you pull out you lose your money. If the seller pulls out he has to refund your deposit along with compensation.

Until you are in a position to hand over the cash then don\'t set your heart on a place as an intention to buy will not take the house off the market. DO NOT PAY THE 2k Euros DEPOSIT that some agents ask for. It\'s not legally binding and means absoluletly nothing.

Once you\'ve paid your deposit you set a mutally agreeable date to take possession. This will be in your contract and is legally binding so make sure you give yourself enough time and have a lawyer look over it. The time limit can be whatever works for you within a reasonable time frame.

Once you\'ve done all that you get the pleasure of going to the Notary\'s Office to complete the deal. Scarily a lot of vendors ask for cash so you could well end up going to the office with a bucket load of cash. After you\'ve handed over the money, paid your tax, you get the keys and you\'re good to go.

Really don\'t bother with property exhibitions and bear in mind that lots of property is sold here privately to avoid the hefty agent commission so you\'ll have to do a lot of legwork. All the agents deal with the same houses so pick one that you can deal with and isn\'t too pushy. And don\'t worry about them panicking you into buying immediately. It\'s actually quite a sluggish market over here at the moment.[addsig]

sarahalbrighton · « **Reply #12 on:** March 24, 2003, 03:26:00 PM »

well, everybody that atlas exb was CRAP.

eveything they had to show us, we had seen b4, in their brochure.

however, a couple of interesting thimgs we found out are that .....

*you can only go on these trips twice - after that they don\'t take you!

*they want you to be in an immediate position to hand over the 10% deposit on the trip, and if you\'re not, and you want to go back for another look, that property you liked in the first instance may be gone, so you starting looking again, but then, as mentioned above, if you find one on your 2nd visit, the deposit has to be paid or it will be gone, and as they only take you twice - you cant go back for another look..........

no, no, no, shan\'t be going down that road!

oh yeah, (although this may be the norm in spain i dont know) once you have handed over the 10%, thirty days later you pay 40%, the x amount of time 25%, then short time after that the final 25%, so youve paid for the whole thing b4 youve seen the finished thing because,.....

*some of the houses are taking up to 2 years to complete, so am not sure what you are supposed to do in the meantime.

* they don\'t take you on 1 2 1 viewing trips, there are apparently 3 - 4 couples all looking at roughly the same price range, area, specifications etc.

(if i have any of this info wrong, i apologise upfront, this is how it was explained to me by the atlas man)

SO, the answer is no, shan\'t be going on any inspection trips, plan is now to wait till baby\'s born and go over for few days and look around ourselves, visiting estate agents/sites as we want to......probably the long winded way to do things, but then when was anything easy?

p.s those atlas ones did appear more expensive.

all advice gladly received!!!!

sarah

[IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_beer.gif\"] [IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_beer.gif\"] [addsig]

Sibsie · « **Reply #13 on:** March 24, 2003, 11:40:00 PM »

I hate to say I told you so. But.... [IMG SRC=\"modules/phpBB_14/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif\"]

Buying a home in Spain isn\'t as scary as you may think. There\'s no point whatsoever in looking until you\'re in a position to actually buy.

Like I said before, I wouldn\'t bother with the exhibitions in the UK. The best thing and the way to move forward, is to settle on an area you want to move to and then contact the local agents. Everyone in Spain wants to sell you a house so you won\'t have any problems finding a place.

As far as new builds go, yes you do have to pay a hefty deposit up front, pay more normally when the roof goes on, and then pay until balance at various stages. It can often take a lot longer than the builder states. You then have to pay for connection to electricity etc., and it can end up being quite expensive.

There are plenty of resales around and good luck.

[addsig]

Molly · « **Reply #14 on:** May 05, 2003, 12:39:00 PM »

I found this site to be really helpful -- check out this directory of information

[!-- BBCode auto-link start --][a href=\"http://www.spanishpropertyco.com/700.htm\" target=\"_blank\"]http://www.spanishpropertyco.com/700.htm[/a][!-- BBCode auto-link end --]

best of luck, Molly[addsig]

airesflora · « **Reply #15 on:** June 01, 2003, 02:21:00 AM »

Wow, my fiance and I are moving to Spain permanently as well. I have put in for a transfer to our Barcelona office and he is trying to obtain a work visa right now. We have no other choice, as he is from El Salvador and I am an American. In his youth, he was deported from my country permanently because of his poor decision making. He has grown up since then and all we want is to live in a country that accepts us both on equal terms and allows us to be a productive part of the community. We are living in Mexico and I\'ve been commuting across the border to work for 5 years. We\'ve decided enough is enough. While Mexico has been nice, we miss the elegance of more developed areas and the wages here are for paupers.

My company will process all the documents for me and I am also going to be in the market for a house. However since we are not married, they are not doing so for my fiance. I\'m wondering how difficult it will be for him to find a place to sponsor him with a work visa. My fiance speaks five languages, including English, Spanish (Castillian and Local) German, Portuguese, Persian and will be speaking Catalan fluently by the time we move there. Things will be tougher for me, because while I read Catalan and Spanish fluently, Spanish has been difficult for me in Mexico to assimilate due to the slang of Mexicans and even my Salvadoran fiance. I usually do better with Castillian Spanish so I assume I will be fluent within six months with my current comprehension level. I want to time it so we move together rather than separately, so his paperwork concerns me. We can\'t marry to alleviate this because Mexico takes forever to process documents for foreigners to marry.

I\'m looking forward to the move and the change. With this move, we have the chance to be a couple that can move forward with our lives together. I\'m so glad I found this site. It\'s nice to know that others want to change and feel the same adventurism we do. I\'ve been told I\'m crazy too. Well I\'ve lived in Jamaica, Germany, Mexico and the U.S., so I\'m not new at this. I know from living in Germany that Europe is the place for us, and since my own country is so unenlightened as to realize people change and allow me to bring my fiance there and live, or even run some psychological tests to ensure he\'s changed, then it\'s time for me to abandon them and start anew. I certainly don\'t want to spend the rest of my life crossing borders everyday with a two hour wait each way to simply exist in a normal fashion.

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Mel328 · « **Reply #16 on:** June 02, 2003, 08:23:00 AM »

I wish you both the best of luck and hope you\'re able to get the paperwork done. I know it\'s hard for latinos to get visas to Spain without already having a job but maybe if you go there first alone you\'ll be able to find something for him.

I have a question... is it possible to go to HIS country and get married?

Melinda[addsig]

Molly · « **Reply #17 on:** June 05, 2003, 11:18:00 AM »

I would keep your expectations low... I think anyone with a criminal history, especially one that warranted being kicked out of the U.S. ... will not be very welcome here (for residency or any type of official status, criminal background checks are made...), and you may end up having difficulties. Does he have a passport?

Wages here are not much higher than in Mexico...

I hope all goes well for you, but I would hope your fiance has made reparations to his ´victim´ or ´victims´. Are they OK?

[addsig]

airesflora · « **Reply #18 on:** June 11, 2003, 11:53:00 AM »

Well, I found out that I\'ll be making the same as I do here for the company in Barcelona. They told me that the parent company pays pretty standard for all Marketing Communications/PR positions, so I\'ve got that down. That means we should be coming out ahead.

My fiancee shouldn\'t have problems with any background check, because he doesn\'t have anything major on his record. He was deported for being involved in a gang and being arrested for activities associated with that. After speaking with an attorney for our company, we found out this shouldn\'t be too prohibitive to his entering Spain, and the background checks will probably yield nothing since it should be expunged from his records after he turned 18. His "victims" were other gang members who for the most part remained in the gang and died eventually from that poor decision. I don\'t think reparation is an issue. While I don\'t agree with gang involvement, I think the U.S. tends to create a scenario with institutionalized racism that causes some kids to take that route and for those kids it is sad, because it limits their future.

We\'ve decided to apply for a business Visa for him. His job options will probably be limited in Spain and he has an idea for business that will be received well, especially with his business associations in Mexico. We realize this will require a great deal of money, but the time we are waiting for the approval process we should be able to save this. So far, everything looks good. I thought it would be tougher than this after reading the posts here. Maybe it\'s because I already have a job there waiting, in a company that has multinational reach.[addsig]

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Author Topic: Permanent Move to Spain (Read 4228 times)