Buying in Spain
We were in Mazzaron when the Spanish lockdown began and were very fortunate to get the last (alleged) flight out of Spain 17th March, the last 4 days of our holiday were under lockdown and were told by the police to get back indoors even though we were only emptying the bins, we did however manage to get to the supermarkets a couple of times and were fortunate to have a balcony at our apartment we rented.
We were on a fact finding trip of the region with thoughts of buying in the region, we even looked at a static site neat Totana which we liked.
Now after all this we are obviously doing nothing positive for the foreseeable future, but I assume it will have a massive effect on the Spanish tourist trade as well as house prices which may well drop significantly, obviously good if you're buying and could well get a bargain, but, when to go back and start looking again !!
I do wonder what happened to the people on the static site, does anyone know if they would have been allowed to stay as it is open 12 months of the year ?
Just to say, when we visited on the 12th March, they asked us at the barriers if we had been to Madrid in the previous 2 weeks, if we had they wouldn't let us in, which was the case at another static site at Mazzaron itself.
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Thanks for that David, my friends elderly parents have a little villa in the Alicante region and they are more than happy over there as apart from getting to the supermarket once every while they have no need to be in contact with others at all.
From what I can gather residential sites have remained open for residents who are sitting it out but obviously noone else can come and go and the facilities are closed.
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Hi Andy
I know of quite a few sites like La Manga are still partially open because they have a large Brit population/residents.
Out walking in our village this morning and some of the new builds have got big reductions on them by 25% in some instants and going forward if you have a spare bit of cash you might find yourselves a bargain.
Like you when we first came to live in Spain looked at residential parks and some of the outfits were on a different level and were better then some of the houses we viewed, the only issue we had was the ground rent for some of them which were extortionate nearing 2,000e a month.
So we worked out the cost over the first ten years of our House V Static including inflation and there wasn't a lot in it so we choose the house, find a good estate agent and enjoy.
Phil
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Yes thanks for the info there Phil, we've been wondering about things like that, i.e., house v static , then ground rent v council tax etc, we're also considering renting initially and seeing how things go from there.
When things do open up again and we're more confident with the situation we might come across in the caravan for a couple of months and drive around areas we would like to be long term and see what bargains there are.
Maybe pick your brain for a little info sometime in the future Phil regards estate agents, solicitors etc.
Cheers and stay safe.
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Hmmm,,,It's really a case of 'your choice' .Bearing in mind that property purchase fees/costs etc can be quite steep ,if you take into account Notario/solicitors fees translators fees ,local & government tax. Then ,,if the property is on a complex ,you will have 'urbanisation 'costs for maintenance & repairs to the complex.THEN ,,if the property has been already occupied ,make sure ALL the services fees IE electric/water/sewerage/empty gas bottles etc etc are ALL up to date !! On the other hand,,,a caravan/motorhome on a site can achieve some good low site rates for longish stays !! AND ,,you're free to relocate to other sites or areas too !! Needs a lot of thought ,,good luck
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I was just checking back through my spreadsheets. My 2 bed apartment on an urbanisation just south of Alicante cost about £2K pa in 2016, all in. That equates to a pitch fee of £5.50 per night. Downside is that you can't have a change of scenery.
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Evening
We've over wintered in Spain for the last ten years since we've worked for the club. Like many others we fell in love with the country, it's people and of course the sunshine.
We have an American fifth wheel trailer on a site in southern Murcia on an annual basis. Apart from the purchase price it's cheaper long term than renting somewhere you're not 100% happy with. When we get through this plague we will make the move there permanently. We thought that best as while we search for a property we have somewhere to live in comfort and as mentioned upthread we can always move somewhere else. We happened to do that in January as the site we were on the standards dropped and we felt it was turning into a bit of a shanty town!
Anyway, at this time I've looked at (virtually) hundreds of places in the area we want to live in but there's no rush.
I'd agree to take your caravan and stay somewhere for a couple of months. Be sure before you commit as Spanish beaurocracy is a bit of an experience
and mistakes are very costly.Buenos Tardes
JK
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De Nada
My calculation included all my fees over the ten year period which did include initial Notaría fee and all tax's.
Which for us are
SUMA 320 euros a year, Local and Valenciana govt tax
Community 210 euros a year
Rubbish is paid in our electricity bill monthly
We plumped for the area we live in after living/touring in our motorhome for ten years and found this is one of the cheapest place's to live in Spain, we used the local site at crevillente Costa Blanca to view the area and to choose were we now live. There really are some beautiful village's around us and if we didn't live where we do the next village to us Algorfa is a nice place to live and i would certainly move there in another life. The bar/cafes/restaurants were allowed to open today for the first time which was a strange experience
Phil
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We have friends who have owned a place in southern Spain for many years. They still have their house in England. Following Brexit they seem convinced that they will have to give up their Spanish house in a year or two. They think they won't be allowed to stay for long enough to make it worthwhile.
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All really good replies and a lot to take in, thankfully we have time to consider our next step with many options, most probably take the caravan for a few months and drive around to suss places / sites out.
As it will be mostly out door living the caravan with awning seems the perfect place to start.
Any other tips & advice will be greatly received.
Mucho gracias.
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