winkie Posted February 12, 2005 Share Posted February 12, 2005 London Living is stressful. Or for that matter most parts of uk especially if your journey to and from work takes more than 1 hour each way due to unaffordable property prices. The only thing keeping me going is the thought of my inland sanctuary in Spain. Peace, mountians with wonderful views (can even see the sea at a distance) Walks, lakes, it's like being in another world, going back in time, a simpler, slower, healther & less materialistic way of life. Great for kids, education on par with our own and health service far superior than the uk. Watch this space Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesus Posted February 15, 2005 Share Posted February 15, 2005 The only thing keeping me going is the thought of my inland sanctuary in Spain. Peace, mountians with wonderful views (can even see the sea at a distance) Walks, lakes... Yep, keep buying over there and you will see what's left of the views for the time you move there. and health service far superior than the uk. In your dreams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pod Posted March 12, 2005 Share Posted March 12, 2005 and health service far superior than the uk.In your dreams <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Why do you say "in your dreams"? The World Health Organisation "W.H.O." ranked the Spanish health service in the top ten best in the world. I think it was around 7th or 8th place. France was ranked best in the world. The Uk was ranked 18th. The US was ranked about 35th. Though the W.H.O. was looking at not just how good the provided treatment was, but how likely it was that someone could actually access it. This was a couple of years ago, so things could have changed since then... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfie Moon Posted March 12, 2005 Share Posted March 12, 2005 Buying property in Spain is very high risk. Moving to Spain in the hope of making a living is also very high risk. I have posted previously about the the 'Land Grab Laws' (and its replacement LUV; and other similar regional laws) and the potential for a very severe crash in property prices. See the thread below: http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/ind...?showtopic=3645 Check out the specific links of: http://www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/2004_2...36/536421EN.pdf http://www.abusos-no.org/ Anyone moving to Spain in the hope of finding employment should also note that Spain has the third highest unemployment rate in the EU (10.5 per cent of the active work-seeking population) only behind Poland (18.4 per cent) and Slovenia (17.3 per cent). Spain is not a great place to find work, certainly not work that comes with any security. I say all of the above as someone who has been involved in Spain for nearly 35 years. I went to school in Spain. People thinking of buying and/or moving to Spain should also be aware that there is growing resentment within Spain about the high price of property. Many cities, towns and villages have graffitti expressing resentment and indeed hatred towards property developers, speculators and non-Spaniards who are pushing up the price of property. The current house price/average income ratio is close to 11. Do you really think that is sustainable and won't crash? Spanish people have the reputation of being warm and friendly towards visitors to their country. Unfortunately this is changing very rapidly as they see property priced out of their reach and the destruction of their environment. In a previous post about LRAU, winkie, you suggested that people will be safe if they don't buy lots of land, or live on protected land, or buy within built-up areas. Unfortunately this is not true. In Calpe, on the Costa Blanca, British people have had their homes, including blocks of flats knocked down as a consequence of LRAU. This example was broadcast on UK TV last year. In regard to 'protected' land you only need to look at the examples of Pego, on the Costa Blanca, and Murcia where local town halls have given the go ahead for developers to build on 'protected' land. Nothing and nowhere is completely safe. I hope the situation will change for the better. But, as the situation stands anyone buying is Spain at present is taking a very high risk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted March 12, 2005 Author Share Posted March 12, 2005 Buying now in the UK can be high risk - Life can be risky whatever you do. I have no regrets about buying in Spain. Do your homework, spend time in the area you are considering purchasing in, and most importantly learn the language, you will then be more accepted into the spanish community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redwine Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 Buying now in the UK can be high risk - Life can be risky whatever you do. I have no regrets about buying in Spain. Do your homework, spend time in the area you are considering purchasing in, and most importantly learn the language, you will then be more accepted into the spanish community. Its election day today in Spain in 2011 Its nice to see how things have changed since 2005 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tankus Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 what is your right hand doing ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trampa501 Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Prices have fallen sharply in many parts of Spain (outside big cities and plush resorts like Marbella and Mallorca). Looks like the banks will be selling off their stock at heavy discounts so bargains can certainly be found. Today Banco Sabadell has told its branches to sell off 1300 apartments in 2 months - Sell Off flats (spanish article) As always do your research before buying - a rundown crime-ridden estate is a bad buy, regardless of whether it's in the sun or not. At the same time, there must be folk in Hackney, Clapham or Acton etc who must be considering selling their 2/3 bedroom place for 300-400k and buying a 45-90k place in Murcia? Thinking of Camposol here - which had a tv special pointing out that some of the properties had structural problems. However this only affects a small proportion of the properties, and if you make sure to have a structural engineer give it a once over before buying, you can have a property in the sun at very low prices Camposol prices Visit Camposol Not the type of place I'd normally consider - I prefer the cities, but at those prices starting at 45k worth a look. I'm thinking that for a lot of people, especially in London and the south-east, it must be very tempting to sell up their overpriced British property and move south (Portugal, Spain Greece ?) A real chance to retire early, especially if they get a good redundancy payout. However they must make sure to take good financial advice on their cash - currency fluctuations can destroy the value of their savings/pension. Can anyone really predict with accuracy what the pound will be worth in 5 years time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padington Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Buying now in the UK can be high risk - Life can be risky whatever you do. I have no regrets about buying in Spain. Do your homework, spend time in the area you are considering purchasing in, and most importantly learn the language, you will then be more accepted into the spanish community. So 8 years on- Bet you wished you bought in the uk and not spain now though huh ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swissy_fit Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 So 8 years on- Bet you wished you bought in the uk and not spain now though huh ? 8 years is a lot of your life, maybe winkie has had a lot of pleasure from her spanish property in that time. Provided Spain holds together, I reckon it's prospects longterm are better than the UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padington Posted March 5, 2013 Share Posted March 5, 2013 8 years is a lot of your life, maybe winkie has had a lot of pleasure from her spanish property in that time. Provided Spain holds together, I reckon it's prospects longterm are better than the UK. Massive financial austerity ? Mainland Europe ? Spain unable to print money ? Rather you than me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cozza Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Massive financial austerity ? Mainland Europe ? Spain unable to print money ? Rather you than me. Long term, the prospects for the UK are worse than dire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swissy_fit Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 Long term, the prospects for the UK are worse than dire. Agreed. When they bailed out the banks and postponed the bust while shifting all the pain onto the poor and middle-classes, the die was cast. Spain will go down further first as the deflation hits harder, but when we follow with an inflationary bust, it's going to be ugly. They will come out of it sooner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padington Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 Agreed. When they bailed out the banks and postponed the bust while shifting all the pain onto the poor and middle-classes, the die was cast. Spain will go down further first as the deflation hits harder, but when we follow with an inflationary bust, it's going to be ugly. They will come out of it sooner. The Spanish property market is already ugly, feel free to surmise away but the argument in this thread has been lost already. If you bought in London 8 years ago vrs anywhere in Spain you would be laughing. If on the other hand you listened to the 'wisdom' of this thread and bought in Spain you would be probably be quite lonely because of serious expat exodus with a load of negative equity and a fair amount of worry to boot. Lastly anyone that thinks rural Spain is going to be a better investment than London, needs to stay off the funny fags. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padington Posted April 13, 2013 Share Posted April 13, 2013 The Spanish property market is already ugly, feel free to surmise away but the argument in this thread has been lost already. If you bought in London 8 years ago vrs anywhere in Spain you would be laughing. If on the other hand you listened to the 'wisdom' of this thread and bought in Spain you would be probably be quite lonely because of serious expat exodus with a load of negative equity and a fair amount of worry to boot. Lastly anyone that thinks rural Spain is going to be a better investment than London, needs to stay off the funny fags. Getting worse ... http://www.knightfrankblog.com/global-briefing/files/2013/04/pm.png Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted April 14, 2013 Author Share Posted April 14, 2013 Buying now in the UK can be high risk - Life can be risky whatever you do. I have no regrets about buying in Spain. Do your homework, spend time in the area you are considering purchasing in, and most importantly learn the language, you will then be more accepted into the spanish community. For those who are interested......no regrets about still having a bolt hole in Spain, very small modest place with minimal outgoings,.....nothing is selling in Spain at the moment because there is an excess of supply and little demand, but I would say that prices need and will have to come down, when they do the Spanish people can then afford to buy to house their families.....many properties in purpose built complexes, built for the tourists and expats have been left empty and unused, the infrastructure that was promised didn't materialise, some have abandoned and gone back to the UK unable to sell, others have stopped paying maintenance for things like communal pools etc, so it is left to the rest to do the best they can. Buying in an established community not that far from a major airport and bus service was a better move I would say, there are a few English that live there and almost all of them have integrated well into the local community and can speak Spanish well......businesses are being set up such as trekking holidays and sanctuaries for stressed out workers, horse riding, photography, olive picking, lots of nature to see etc ......all is not dire, money is tight for the people but the are very resilient and resourceful and I am sure things will improve for them......at least they have got a wonderful climate and the sun shines a lot......that must help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motch Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 good for you winkie. South of Spain was one area I was looking at before regarding altitude training, ie living above 1200m, pref above 1500m for sporting benefits. Place would need to be cheap and I could look after it quite a bit with a few other mates into running/bicycling/hiking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swissy_fit Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 good for you winkie. South of Spain was one area I was looking at before regarding altitude training, ie living above 1200m, pref above 1500m for sporting benefits. Place would need to be cheap and I could look after it quite a bit with a few other mates into running/bicycling/hiking. I saw some cheapish properties near Cuzco last time I was there, and the shanties around La Paz are even cheaper. Watch your pockets though! :-) A bloke I spoke to from La Paz got accused of blood doping when he tried pro cycling in Europe because his haemoglobin count was so high, he was born and had lived all his life at 4000m or above..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motch Posted April 19, 2013 Share Posted April 19, 2013 I saw some cheapish properties near Cuzco last time I was there, and the shanties around La Paz are even cheaper. Watch your pockets though! :-) A bloke I spoke to from La Paz got accused of blood doping when he tried pro cycling in Europe because his haemoglobin count was so high, he was born and had lived all his life at 4000m or above..... I was thinking more of a cheap ryan air style flight for a couple of hours or so to get there. Took me a while to figure out where you meant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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