I WANT TO MOVE TO SPAIN - ANY ADVICE?

[littlesister]

Thought I'd start up a separate thread on this.

My family are considering moving to Spain. Any advice?

My questions:

1. Whats a good place to look at?
2. What is schooling like over there?
3. What is the job situation like? Is it easy to get a job?
4. Is it better to buy or rent?
5. How would you rate the standard of living over there - how much monthly income do you need to realistically live on?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

littlesister - you don't live in Bristol by any chance do you? Only wondering because both my little sister (who is Bristol based) and I are having similar thoughts.

hi littlesister

feel free to get my email address from mumsnet about this (not sure how you do that though...)

suggested answers:

1. Do you speak Spanish? if so then anywhere! if not then the Costa del Sol and the Costa Blanca have large UK populations and therefore jobs etc for English speakers. On the Costa del Sol it depends how much you want to pay. Personally I'd steer clear of Torremolinos and Benalmadena (although apparently Benalmadena Pueblo is nice). Also if you go a little inland you'll pay much less!

2. (as I said on the other thread) good and there's special provision in ex-pat areas for non-Spanish speaking children. Or there are international schools but they can be expensive.

3. If you have a car then it's easyish to get a job - the economy on the coast is strong. If you don't drive (or don't want to buy a car in Spain) then make sure you move to a fairly sizeable town as that is where the jobs are. In general English-speaking professionals can get jobs serving the ex-pat community and there is plenty of bar work / cleaning etc etc.

4. Rent first. The prices are going up fast on the Costa del Sol but in general the property sale taxes mean that you may lose money if you don't keep your house for at least 5 years (but as the prices are going up so fast it's not so long here). Also you can get to know the area first if you rent and find a good Spanish solicitor.

5. Depends where you live. If you live in Fuengirola (med-sized town near the sea - largish UK population, fairly major resort) then you're looking at E700 (or less) per month rent for a two bed flat [not sure how much they are to buy as there are only sea-front ones in this week's paper]. Food is much cheaper - especially eating out. Booze is cheaper obviously and generally services are cheaper. Petrol and transport is much cheaper (about 60c a litre at the moment - 40p). Water is always metered though and is more expensive and anything electrical is more expensive. It's the eating out bit I like best - even with dd we eat out once a week at least in posh restaurants and I still spend in total on food what I did in the UK (but we didn't do the restaurants there!) I don't know about nursery fees yet I'm afraid, but our total food and bills budget for the 3 of us (dd is 3mths) is about E400 - E500 a month. Taxes are about the same as UK unless you earn more than about £35k for the employed, but the self employed have to pay full social security payments (E200 per month), business license (depends on the type of business) and IVA (Spanish VAT - this means you can also claim IVA though and you don't have to charge it to British VAT registered clients).

Again, I strongly suggest you get the David Hampshire book for more advice.

I have just returned from Barcelona having been there for 6y. We loved it but did find that financially it wasnt easy to make ends meet. There are loads of English speakers, and several good private schools, if you want your children to learn in English. I also found the health service very good particularly for children.
We were teaching and so the money was awful. What do you and your partner do? If you can get a job before you leave England that offers a good package - health cover, relocation costs etc. it would be a big help. Rent in Barcelona is extremely high compared to the salaries, but of course you neednt choose a city to be in.
I think there are other Mumsnetters in Andalucia and \valencia who may be able to help you more.

Good luck anyway

Willow2

Not near Bristol I'm afraid, about 3ish hours from it (Cambridge). Have you and your sister got any ideas on areas you would like to move to? How far have you got with the idea, or is it only early days.

Still v early days. EG: ME: Wouldn't it be nice to move to Spain? Little Sister: Yes, if you go I'll come.

Have started looking up a few web sites though.