buying an apartment in spain

[GT03ROB]

It's great when a plan comes together!

[Phil.]

Birdster said:

Thanks Phil. Will take you up on that in the future. Thank you very much.

I think we might need to increase the budget a little for a bit more space. Thinking we could justify that it we rented it out as holiday home. I’m sure having someone to manage it would add costs too. I’ve started reading from the beginning to get an idea of what it’s like etc.

I don’t think we could afford a villa and it’s just the two of us.

Edited by Birdster on Sunday 21st June 16:41

Considered La Manga Club? This is a lovely community.

https://www.marenamurrayproperty.com/search.html?s...

[Simon-k41v9]

Phil. said:

Simon, whereabouts are you in the Mar Menor area? How long have you been visiting? Any interesting things you can share?

I’ll begin, the Indian Restaurant/Take-a-way (Bollywood) in Los Belones serves the best Indian food I have ever tried. Really fresh ingredients and very consistent. I’m hoping it has survived the lockdown!

House is on the mar menor golf course, its 5mins into Los Alcazares in car. You are almost on the la manga strip, Ive still not ventured over there!!!
I have to say, we have been pretty unadventurous during our time, we still only use it as a holiday house really, and the kids just love the pool and the beach, so no need to do much else yet (other than me playing golf)

My parents have spent far longer periods over there than we have, as they have both retired. We have 2 weeks booked in August, it does now look like we will be able to go with spain declaring English are welcome.

Ive tried to convince the wife we should go down from 1st July, but shes not having any of it, yet.

[Simon-k41v9]

Shnozz said:

Ha ha. Sadly the taxis from that area are few and far between and definitely a phone call. Aside from down by Don Carlos where the rank is, there’s little chance of a taxi anywhere without putting a call in and then it’s anyone’s guess whether it turns up at all or what time it does.

The walk home is best done in stages, with plenty of alcohol.

Shame that the access road that ran alongside the golf course finally fell away as that was a nice flat walk from near your new place without having to go up and down the mountain. There wasn’t much left of it when I was using it last year but the Gota frias of last winter finished it off properly.

whats the course in the background please, is it Marquesa?

[Shnozz]

Simon-k41v9 said:

Shnozz said:

Ha ha. Sadly the taxis from that area are few and far between and definitely a phone call. Aside from down by Don Carlos where the rank is, there’s little chance of a taxi anywhere without putting a call in and then it’s anyone’s guess whether it turns up at all or what time it does.

The walk home is best done in stages, with plenty of alcohol.

Shame that the access road that ran alongside the golf course finally fell away as that was a nice flat walk from near your new place without having to go up and down the mountain. There wasn’t much left of it when I was using it last year but the Gota frias of last winter finished it off properly.

whats the course in the background please, is it Marquesa?

Sorry - only just seen this. It is indeed La Marquesa.

[Shnozz]

Well in a rather odd turn of events, I arrived back last week after 4 months of being locked in the UK, and due to WFH policies and a combination of other factors including no longer having a UK property, we are here indefinitely for now.

[mart 63]

Our property in the UK went on the market today. So hope to to be in the same boat, in a few months.

[Chris Stott]

Shnozz said:

Well in a rather odd turn of events, I arrived back last week after 4 months of being locked in the UK, and due to WFH policies and a combination of other factors including no longer having a UK property, we are here indefinitely for now.

Nice and hot over here, isn't it?

[Phil.]

Shnozz said:

Well in a rather odd turn of events, I arrived back last week after 4 months of being locked in the UK, and due to WFH policies and a combination of other factors including no longer having a UK property, we are here indefinitely for now.

Thanks for the update. I was thinking about you guys this weekend. Now relax and enjoy Hopefully we will join you in early Aug.

[Shnozz]

Chris Stott said:

Shnozz said:

Well in a rather odd turn of events, I arrived back last week after 4 months of being locked in the UK, and due to WFH policies and a combination of other factors including no longer having a UK property, we are here indefinitely for now.

Nice and hot over here, isn't it?

Bloody lovely. And not as hot as this time last year where we saw it nudging 40. Not sure about further South but we are around 30 here which is not unpleasant.

[Shnozz]

Phil. said:

Shnozz said:

Well in a rather odd turn of events, I arrived back last week after 4 months of being locked in the UK, and due to WFH policies and a combination of other factors including no longer having a UK property, we are here indefinitely for now.

Thanks for the update. I was thinking about you guys this weekend. Now relax and enjoy Hopefully we will join you in early Aug.

Bet you cannot wait Phil. We will have to go for a beer once you arrive - happy to pop down for an evening. Will be having a pint also with Mart 63 now he has bought a lovely house 30 seconds from my front door.

[Simon-k41v9]

Shnozz said:

Well in a rather odd turn of events, I arrived back last week after 4 months of being locked in the UK, and due to WFH policies and a combination of other factors including no longer having a UK property, we are here indefinitely for now.

good for you.

my parents put their UK house up for sale last Monday, and accepted offer last night, so I think they will go to Spain indefinitely later this year.

I would be interested to know peoples thoughts of retaining a residence in UK - I feel they should have some type of property back here, even if an apartment or small 2 bed house.

[mart 63]

Shnozz said:

Phil. said:

Shnozz said:

Well in a rather odd turn of events, I arrived back last week after 4 months of being locked in the UK, and due to WFH policies and a combination of other factors including no longer having a UK property, we are here indefinitely for now.

Thanks for the update. I was thinking about you guys this weekend. Now relax and enjoy Hopefully we will join you in early Aug.

Bet you cannot wait Phil. We will have to go for a beer once you arrive - happy to pop down for an evening. Will be having a pint also with Mart 63 now he has bought a lovely house 30 seconds from my front door.

I hope its a nice villa, having not seen it in the flesh. But for what we paid for it, we think it was worth a punt.
The only thing not on the tick list is a palm tree. Can't wait to see it in a fortnight and have a few beers.

[Shnozz]

Simon-k41v9 said:

good for you.

my parents put their UK house up for sale last Monday, and accepted offer last night, so I think they will go to Spain indefinitely later this year.

I would be interested to know peoples thoughts of retaining a residence in UK - I feel they should have some type of property back here, even if an apartment or small 2 bed house.

Personally I think where possible its a good idea. Whilst it might be seen as a one-way move at the outset, a fair proportion show a desire to return to the UK at the very elderly stage if only for medical care. You then see they cannot afford to return and realistically Spanish property prices are often glacial in appreciation (although they seem to enjoy some crazy spells at times only to then decline). UK property certainly seems more stable price wise and if you were to look at growth over the past 30 years or so I suspect would have well outpaced Spanish prices - albeit you have to factor in exchange rate fluctuations which themselves show why it is perhaps useful to hedge your bets in owning assets underpinned by different currencies.

I am arguing against my own actions at the present time as I do not now currently own a UK house but then I am well short of retirement age so have more options going forward.

Of course it depends on your financial situation. Running a "second" home in Spain costs me about £200 PCM at a guess, taking into account the fixed costs, community fees, taxes, internet, water and electric. Of course that is before whatever I spend on the property in terms of upkeep and upgrades. That wasn't far off my council tax alone in the UK. I would think the monthly cost would be closer to £400 PCM in terms of monthly costs on a UK equivalent home. This of course depends on whether you retain that home but rent it out, releasing an income in addition. If not, paying £400PCM for it to be sat empty as you enjoy the sun would be a bit of a bug bear to me. But then for many, especially of retirement age, renting a property out is a pain in the arse and doing so from another country no doubt even more so.

[Shnozz]

mart 63 said:

I hope its a nice villa, having not seen it in the flesh. But for what we paid for it, we think it was worth a punt.
The only thing not on the tick list is a palm tree. Can't wait to see it in a fortnight and have a few beers.

It looks great mate. Nice quiet spot too. Just get those leg muscles warmed up ha ha.

As for the palms, first job I had to attack was getting rid of ours as access to the front door wasn’t overly easy.

[Simon-k41v9]

Shnozz said:

Personally I think where possible its a good idea. Whilst it might be seen as a one-way move at the outset, a fair proportion show a desire to return to the UK at the very elderly stage if only for medical care. You then see they cannot afford to return and realistically Spanish property prices are often glacial in appreciation (although they seem to enjoy some crazy spells at times only to then decline). UK property certainly seems more stable price wise and if you were to look at growth over the past 30 years or so I suspect would have well outpaced Spanish prices - albeit you have to factor in exchange rate fluctuations which themselves show why it is perhaps useful to hedge your bets in owning assets underpinned by different currencies.

I am arguing against my own actions at the present time as I do not now currently own a UK house but then I am well short of retirement age so have more options going forward.

Of course it depends on your financial situation. Running a "second" home in Spain costs me about £200 PCM at a guess, taking into account the fixed costs, community fees, taxes, internet, water and electric. Of course that is before whatever I spend on the property in terms of upkeep and upgrades. That wasn't far off my council tax alone in the UK. I would think the monthly cost would be closer to £400 PCM in terms of monthly costs on a UK equivalent home. This of course depends on whether you retain that home but rent it out, releasing an income in addition. If not, paying £400PCM for it to be sat empty as you enjoy the sun would be a bit of a bug bear to me. But then for many, especially of retirement age, renting a property out is a pain in the arse and doing so from another country no doubt even more so.

your views are identical to mine.
luckily they are in a great financial position where neither properties are mortgaged, we don't rent out the Spanish property and it was never in the plan, and they wouldn't want to do that with a UK property either.
I just think they will miss us, grandkids, friends etc if they up and move out the permanently but I guess at 65yrs of age they are able to make their own choices now! We don't have the space to put them up for a prolonged period if they want to come back.

worse case, they have sold UK at what I think is pretty much peak for their property, and they can wait for market to dip a little and then buy back in albeit at a lower/smaller level.

[Chris Stott]

Shnozz said:

Bloody lovely. And not as hot as this time last year where we saw it nudging 40. Not sure about further South but we are around 30 here which is not unpleasant.

High 20’s to 39 here. Had a couple of days last week in the high 30’s with a wind off the Sahara... Bloody hot!! Still, the pool is nice and refreshing.

[Birdster]

Phil. said:

Birdster said:

Thanks Phil. Will take you up on that in the future. Thank you very much.

I think we might need to increase the budget a little for a bit more space. Thinking we could justify that it we rented it out as holiday home. I’m sure having someone to manage it would add costs too. I’ve started reading from the beginning to get an idea of what it’s like etc.

I don’t think we could afford a villa and it’s just the two of us.

Edited by Birdster on Sunday 21st June 16:41

Considered La Manga Club? This is a lovely community.

https://www.marenamurrayproperty.com/search.html?s...

Thanks Phil. That does look a good option and some nice apartments. Sorry for the late reply. Things have taken an unexpected turn of late with regards to our current situation so anything like this will be a while off now, but will hopefully be pm’ing you in the future and will keep an eye on the thread.

[Phil.]

Birdster said:

Thanks Phil. That does look a good option and some nice apartments. Sorry for the late reply. Things have taken an unexpected turn of late with regards to our current situation so anything like this will be a while off now, but will hopefully be pm’ing you in the future and will keep an eye on the thread.

Feel free to pm me anytime.

Because of this fking useless government (in every sense of being a fking useless lying bunch of self-centred wkers), who randomly decided to change the FCO advice in regard to travel to Spain at 10pm last night with immediate affect, I have had to cancel my trip to Spain in August. Without FCO approval your travel (medical) insurance is invalid unless you are already at your destination, and the EHIC card isn't sufficient (as far as I am concerned) to cover a bad case of COVID. This is the same fking crap government who 4 months on from the start of COVID decide to randomly require the use of face masks when shopping, but are happy to allow large groups of people to socialise in pubs without masks! I note that the Transport Secretary arrived in Spain for his family holiday yesterday before the FCO advice came in to affect meaning his travel insurance will be valid! How fking convenient was that! If they had applied only the 'quarantine on return' requirement and not changed the FCO advice, then I and others would still be travelling. What's most frustrating is that I have been denied the opportunity to make the decision as to whether to travel or not by set of fking useless wkers. As soon as the FCO advise changes I will be on a plane to Spain. Rant over.

[Chris Stott]

Agree, Phil.

My wife was due to fly in this lunchtime for 2 weeks with our 2 nephews... I've not seen her since mid Feb.

Bit of discussion yesterday afternoon when they announced the 14 day quarantine on return, but wife and kids parents said they'd manage that. I go to bed looking forward to seeing them, only to wake this morning to a whasapp with a link to the FO news and a 'call me' message. All off due to the insurance stuff.

Ridiculous decision given issues in Spain are pretty much confined to Madrid and Barcelona.... very little down here in the South.