Answers To Common Questions About Spain

 I received the following question from Marty O:

"We paid our final payment to our advisors back in December 08 but cannot sign for our property because there is an embargo on all the builders properties. The builder is Promobys. Do you know anything about this? Is our money safe with the advisors - Aldea Advisors or should we ask for it to be returned to our bank account? Thank You."

I think the first thing you need to do is understand what the embargo is on the developer.  I am not familiar with this developer so cannot comment on that.

Is the developer in financial trouble?  Are they in "concurso"(administration)?  If this is the case then I would certainly advise you to get your money returned.  If not then you really need to understand why the property has been embargoed.  I assume it's a legal dispute which means if it's going through the Spanish courts it could take years.

Aldea Advisors should have your money in a private client account.  Can they confirm this true?  Have you asked them if you can have your money back just to see what they say?  What about the rest of the money you paid?  Do they have this or did they hand this over to the developer already?  And do you have a bank guarantee?

I would just advise that you fully understand exactly what your position is and whether you can jump out if, or when, you start feeling uncomfortable with the whole thing.

Best of luck.

If you would like me to answer a question for you then please leave it in the comments below.

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This post is brought to you in association with Livingstone Estate who specialise in overseas property including off plan property in Bulgaria and off plan property in Turkey.

Until very recently Father Christmas was just a big fat man in a red suit that children in other parts of the world fantasised about.  Father Christmas (Santa Claus) has never been important in Spain although this is now changing with more and more Spanish families putting Santa decorations around their homes.

The Spanish have always, and still do, celebrate the Epiphany, when the Three Kings visited Jesus bringing him presents.  The 6th of January is therefore when Spanish children receive their "Christmas" (Navidad) presents.

One of the surprising things is that unless it lands on a weekend, the 7th of January is not a holiday, so children have to go to school the day after opening their presents.  I'm sure most are never too chuffed about that.

You can read these articles for more information about Christmas in Spain and if you want to spend some money, Christmas shopping in Spain.

¡Feiz Navidad!

Going by the 2008 census, the population of Spain currently stands at 46,063,000. 

In January 2008 the immigrant population accounted for 5,220,000 of that total, around 11% of the total population.

350,000 British are legally resident in Spain with around 134,000 Germans.  The majority of the other immigrants come from Romania, Ecuador, Columbia, China and several African countries.

48% of the population are males, with 52% females.

Spain actually suffers from one of the lowest birth rates in Europe, currently standing at 1.37 children per female in Spain.   This has been linked to lack of a real family planning policy.

I wonder if with the current economic climate in Spain we will see the population reduce as more immigrants leave Spain and the birth rate will reduce even further as families start to feel the pinch.

It will be interesting to compare this year's with next year's statistics.