Moving to Spain

[scottmitchell74]

I have little-to-nothing to add just that I'm jealous and this sounds awesome. Of course, the practical details might damper some of the awesomeness, but still...sounds exciting.

[Adam1701D]

Good for you. Hopefully, B****t will grind away for long enough not to affect us. 

[cornish yorkie]

Well, we're off on our holidays to the Coasta Blanca on Sunday and armed with a large amount of "Favourited" properties from Alcoi to Denia. Should be interesting.

Ole.

Hola & Best of luck Adam, I`m sure you will enjoy your time in Spain 
     regards Derek.

[AJP]

Hi Adam, I moved to Spain about 24 years ago, it has got a bit blurry now.
I think as others have said the further inland you go the cheaper it gets (don't go as far as Teruel though!!), some people prefer the Brit areas others not so, in my case due to my work and other factors I stayed well away ( I live in Castellon, and we have a flat in my wife's village Morella, 100km from coast, 1000m altitude)
For me the most important thing is to try and learn some Spanish ( in my case I was advised to get a Spanish girlfriend, which I did and then ended up marrying her!), at some point or other you will need it, and if you can trade your car in for a Spanish one, and change your UK licence for a Spanish licence.
I believe the living is cheaper here, especially further inland, and away from tourist areas, but in Spain it is definitely a case of quality over quantity.
Remember the further south you go the hotter it will get, and with global warming temperature are going up in Spain  - I believe where Zwilnik is it touched 50 Deg C last year, that is not funny.
If I think of anything else in the next few days I will add it here.

Regards Tony

[AJP]

Hi Adam, just been for a walk and remembered more things, some quite important:

Electrical incomer, all Spanish properties have the incomer limited to 3.5Kw, 5.5Kw, 7.5 and 10. or 10.5Kw, this is normally done by a MCB and a smart meter - the problem is they charge a line rental for all the year on which ever tariff you have, so in the south you may want it high for the summer (i.e.A.C.) but in the winter when you don't need so much you still pay a high line rental, something you will have to work out when you find a property.
Electrical voltage: here in Spain it is 220 volts, two pin plugs, any moulded transformer type plug you will have to find an adapter.
Health care: there is a very good system here in Spain, but most people I know have private medical insurance also, it can be very useful, plus you can always go private, which I did last year as I had an eye problem and got it operated privately because the social security was going to take too long (again speaking Spanish helps also, local people always like to help)
Red Tape: the Spain is full of red tape, every thing has to be stamped, signed and stamped again - I think it goes back to Franco's days - it is a good idea to ask around about things and get professional help - for example in my wifes village I wanted to put a solar powered water heater on the roof, but the builder told me if we fitted it, next week we would be taking it down again as they are not allowed in the village due to visual reasons of the village overall.
Post, it can be slow, most things from Hattons and Rails take 10 days to reach me, if there is no Fiestas, and they have alot of them, local and national.
Working hours - a lot of places only work/ or are open in the morning in summer, and a lot close for the whole of August, this may affect you -the further south you go the worse it gets, the hotter it gets also - as one who has to work all hours and months I am Jealous.

Regards Tony

[David Asquith]

Have a good holiday and property search Adam.  We came over for a week and looked at loads of properties but didn´t find anything to our liking.  We went home and whilst I was at work my wife found a property on line we liked so we went over and bought it and set on builders to reform it within 5 working days.  The house was very secluded and very small so we decided we would extend it once I had retired.  On retiring we discovered that the rules had changed and we couldn´t extend because you needed 20,000 square metres to build on not the 10,000 it was.  The rules have now changed again to 10,000.  We had another bigger plot of land so decided to have a house built.  We got a quote for the building of 150 square metre bungalow which was 70,000 euros (2010) but this was just the shell and everything else was extra and very expensive.  We gave up on that idea and bought a ready built bungalow just outside the village at a good price because the english owners had already returned to the UK.  We sold the original house after a few years.  It has been sold again since and is on the market at the present time.  We find that the main reasons expats return to the UK from here is the death of a partner or missing family. Usually it is the females wanting to go back.
A couple of points to be aware of.  Make sure any property you buy is fully legal.  At the present time in Valencia there is a sort of amnesty and illegal properties can be made legal.  Don´t get involved with any ´black´ money.  It could come back and bite you.

Hope this is of use or interest to you.

[AJP]

Another thing I thought off which may affect you is nobody will post paints or flammable substances (i.e. Blackening Fluid  )outside the UK, has to be dedicated transport (non-air) or you get it yourself! even acrylics can not be sent, which to my knowledge are not flammable.

Tony

[joe cassidy]

Vallejo sounds spanish ?

[AJP]

Hi Joe, dos'nt just sound Spanish, it is Spanish, made just outside Barcelona, same place as all the Cava comes from - the problem is specific rail colours, i.e. Br crimson, LNER Garter Blue etc, these are made as acrylics also, but they still wont ship them - I incidentally own quite a few Vallejo paints, and some of the excellent weathering sets they do (more for military modellers).
For spraying I prefer enamels if possible, but is possible with acrylics also.

Tony

[Adam1701D]

Following my redundancy from Thomas Cook, we've decided to take the plunge and have made an offer on a property in Benissa. It's a beautiful penthouse apartment, all on one level which will be great for Andrea. There is a dog park nearby and he have a big outside terrace.

I'll have to suspend model railway activities for a while but will continue Electra Rail as usual. Watch out for some serious downsizing hitting the Nporium soon.

Ole 🇪🇸😀

[emjaybee]

Following my redundancy from Thomas Cook, we've decided to take the plunge and have made an offer on a property in Benissa. It's a beautiful penthouse apartment, all on one level which will be great for Andrea. There is a dog park nearby and he have a big outside terrace.

I'll have to suspend model railway activities for a while but will continue Electra Rail as usual. Watch out for some serious downsizing hitting the Nporium soon.

Ole 🇪🇸😀

Good for you.

I'm assuming there will be the usual 'products are available for collection in person' option?

[Philip.]

Following my redundancy from Thomas Cook, we've decided to take the plunge and have made an offer on a property in Benissa. It's a beautiful penthouse apartment, all on one level which will be great for Andrea. There is a dog park nearby and he have a big outside terrace.

I'll have to suspend model railway activities for a while but will continue Electra Rail as usual. Watch out for some serious downsizing hitting the Nporium soon.

Ole 🇪🇸😀

That's great news, I wish you both happiness in your new life.

[David Asquith]

Great news Adam.  Hope all goes well with the move and setting up and living in your new home.  Keep us informed and don´t hesitate to ask for any more information.

Dave

[guest311]

Following my redundancy from Thomas Cook, we've decided to take the plunge and have made an offer on a property in Benissa. It's a beautiful penthouse apartment, all on one level which will be great for Andrea. There is a dog park nearby and he have a big outside terrace.

I'll have to suspend model railway activities for a while but will continue Electra Rail as usual. Watch out for some serious downsizing hitting the Nporium soon.

Ole 🇪🇸😀

all the best to you and yours in the new chapter of your lives.

[Newportnobby]

I wish you all a smooth transition to Spain and will envy you the weather just for starters.
All the best, Adam