Moving to Spain

Are you out of your mind?  That was the reaction my wife and I received from relatives and friends when we laid it on them that a move to Spain was in the works.  Questions were immediately tossed at us.  “Will you loose your American citizenship?”  “No.”  “What will you do with your house and possessions?”  “Sell them.”  “How long will it take for you to come to your senses and return home?”  “Good question.” (Has been 6½ years so far.)

Confessions of a Non-Blogging Blogger

OK, before we go any further I have to be honest with you.  This may appear to be a run-of-the-mill blog but in all truth I hijacked the blog format.  What you will see below is a very brief sampling of researched information about moving to Spain.  Far more in-depth explanations can be found on these and other subjects at www.spaincallsme.com. 

And even if you are already living in Spain you may find what I have put to print is different and of interest as well.

Some of what you will find here and or on the site about moving to Spain:

• Description for obtaining a Spanish driver's license (can secure through the web site a free English translation of all 32 Dirección General de Tráfico's online practice tests relating to passenger car licenses - comes in handy if your language skills are not yet stellar)
• Building a house in Spain (follow a 4½ year odyssey)
• Buying real estate (from a reality standpoint)
• Driving in Spain (dealing with future Fernando Alonzos)
• Where and how to get American comfort food (even hardcore Mediterranean dieters backslide after awhile)

What you won’t find from this non-blogging blogger:

• No Tarragona travelogue trip pics from my last weekend get-a-way
• No snapshots inside tapas bars of drunk people you don't know
• No cheesy cartoon characters from www.cheapoclipart.com/
• No cluttered sidebar links to Myspace, Yourspace, or Anybodysspace
• No personal soapbox rants about the fate of the world

(And No I'm not knocking other bloggers.  I'm just taking a different approach.)

Some people may already be anxious and saying, yea yea Bob, just cut to the chase and give me the Top Ten Tips for moving to Spain.  Well, that is like saying how high is the sky.

If you are like most people you did not just wakeup one morning and say, I think I'll move to Spain today.  The seed of an idea probably took at least a day or two to germinate.  But hold on tiger.  Before you hop on one of those silver birds you need to ask yourself two critical questions.

• Why do I want to move to Spain?  (marriage, employment, wanderlust spirit of adventure) 
• How serious am I? 

The answers to these soul searching questions will dictate how best to put your plan into action because you will face challenges you had not expected.

Many who come to Spain are footloose and fancy free so they live under the legal radar.  Living on the fringe will be easier in the short-term but could cause problems down the line.  Others go the official route and obtain Residencia.  In the beginning it is a pain but it pays benefits as time goes along.

Here are some additional questions to ponder.

• How will I support myself?
• How will I deal with the language?
• Will I get homesick?
• Can I adapt to living in a different culture?
• How will I handle the take it for granted subjects like health insurance, driver's license, and financial matters?

These may seem like somber questions to contemplate, but truthful answers can make your life far more enjoyable when you make your move.

OK, enough of the heavy talking time for today.

Most people moving to Spain would think that it in itself would be a big enough challenge.  You need to learn the lingo, way things are done, and find a place to live.  And forget about the Quixote level challenge of battling the bureaucracy.  Build a house?  Are you nuts!

My wife and I originally intended to purchase a casa soon after our arrival in Spain. However, after spending a few months beating the bushes and viewing what was on the market we decided to buy land and build a new home. We had performed considerable research and weighed the pros and cons.  We thought we were reasonably well prepared.  Ignorance is bliss isn’t it.

On the plus side was a house built in a location we liked and the design would be of our choice.  The negative was it would be fourteen to twenty-four months before move in allowing for land purchase, and construction.

When you seek to acquire real estate, be it land, apartment or house in Spain it is similar to tiptoeing through a mine field.  With luck you will cross the terrain without so much as a hitch.  But put your foot down wrong and things can blow-up in your face.  This is because there are not the checks and balances you may be accustomed to in other parts of the world.  It is more a buyer beware situation. 

Understandably, with buying an existing place the whole process from start to finish normally takes but a few months.  But marching down the new build path is both more complicated and lengthy.  You will need to buy the land, hire an architect, and find a builder to turn the pencil drawings into bricks and mortar.  There are some shortcuts you can take to speedup the process, but they may also come at a cost.

The whole process of building a house in Spain is far too involved to explain here but I will mention a few key points.

• Purchasing real estate – MLS (multiple listing services) do not exist here like in the States so you may need to pound the pavement more.  Also, an attorney will be needed to complete the paperwork.  One may be offered to you by the real estate company but pay the money and get your own recommended independent legal eagle.
• Selecting an architect – You want one who can listen to what you want and then convert these ideas to paper.  This person should also be familiar with ins and outs of working with the local building department.
• Choosing a builder – You need to be very careful when making this choice.  There are a number, both big as well as small, who understand foreign clients are unfamiliar with the lay of the land.  They figure the ignorance of language + building methods + customs = sucker.  Are there competent contractors out there?  Of course.  You just need one who is reputable and will keep your best interests in mind.

For a detailed description of building a house in Spain visit: www.spaincallsme.com/spainsitewbook/pages/thehouse.htm.

If you own a car in Spain sooner or later you will receive in the mail a notice stating it is time for you to tootle on down to your local Inspecion Tecnica de Vehiculos facility, better known as the ITV, to have your vehicle inspected.  The purpose of this check is to see if your auto is gassing the world with excessive amounts of funky smelling emissions.  And while the ITV is at it they will eyeball it to see if your car meets current safety regulations.

So, the first question that comes to mind is when will you need to have your car inspected?  That depends on how old it is.

• first inspection after it is four years old
• every two years after fourth year until its 10 years old
• once a year when it is more than 10 years old

The notice you receive will have the location of nearby ITV inspection stations.  It will also have a number you can call to make an appointment.

Before leaving for the ITV make sure you have the following:

• Permiso de circulación/permís de circulació
• Tarjeta inspección técnica de vehículos
• 38.49 € to pay for the inspection

When you arrive, park your car and go into the office.  Here they will confirm you have the proper documentation and give you an additional form.  You will then hop in your car and get queued up with the others who are waiting to be tested.

When it is your turn in line an inspector will take your paperwork and begin asking you to turn on your turn signals, brake lights, headlights (low and high beams) hazard lights and parking lights. 

The inspector will next check to see if your windshield wipers are in good condition and that they operate properly.  He will look at your tires and pop the hood to briefly give it a once over.  At some point he will also check to see if all the original seatbelts are still in place and that they operate as designed.

Next the inspector will instruct you to enter the garage and drive your car onto a parallel set of long steel rollers.  He will ask you to accelerate the engine of your car at one point and later have you apply your brakes.

You will then be asked to pull your car ahead where they will stick a tube up your car’s tailpipe to check the emissions.

Moving along, you will be instructed to pull around to another bay of the garage containing a long narrow pit.  A mechanic will be in it and instruct you when to apply the brakes during tests of the suspension.

Finally, the test will be over and you will be told to pull your car outside, park it and wait for an inspector to come and see you.  If your buggy passes the test, he will return your paperwork, scrape off your old window sticker inspection tag and slap on a new one.

In the event that you do not pass, the tester will explain the reasons why.  You will then need to have the correction made and return to prove that the cause of the failure has been rectified.

So that wraps it up for today’s lecture on going to the ITV. 

If you would like an expanded version of this discussion with more detail on how to avoid problems visit the ITV vehicle inspection page under the moving to Spain tips section at Spain Calls Me. www.spaincallsme.com/spainsitewbook/pages/tips/itv.htm 

At times you may find the need to use the Spanish postal service (Correos) to send off or receive snail mail. Thus, it won’t hurt to know a few tips to save time and make sure your mail does go through.

It will be advantageous for you to smile and say hola when your delivery person comes around.  This is especially true if you relocate within the same small town.  When my wife and I moved from one place to another we went down to the post office and filed a change of address form.  Unlike in the U.S., we learned that this is not free and you must pay more than a nominal fee to do so.  The longer you want them to redirect your mail, the more it will cost you.

Fortunately for us, even though the allotted time expired, our mail carrier has continued to transfer some of the mail from our prior address to our current one.  This redirecting of mail has continued for over two years which obviously is a benefit to us.

And a simple wave to our mail carrier has benefited us in another way.  When we first moved into our house she would leave a notice when packages had been sent to us.  We would then need to drive down to the post office and retrieve them.  But not anymore.  Now, if they are small enough, she will drop them off at our doorstep.  Nice of her to go the extra mile…er… kilometer.

Mail at our urbanization is delivered to boxes in a central location. When the mail carrier cannot find the appropriate address the letter is not stamped "return to sender". Instead, she deposits it in a unique spot. She sticks it under a rock above the boxes. Eventually, the wind blows the envelope onto the ground and from there it is delivered to the occupant living at 111, Intheweeds Drive, Goneforever, España. Is this form of delivery due to Correos cost cutting measures? I must confess and say it's a mystery to me.

I know most people now who send Christmas greetings download one of those free whizzy bang animated versions but call me old fashion.  I know it costs more and takes some effort but I like to buy the paper kind.  This way I can write a little note rather than using a boilerplate change the name message.

If you have a stack of identical envelopes going to the same country here is a tip that will save you time.  Several expats I know have found that when they visit the oficina de correos the clerk will go into slow motion mode and weigh each one, even if they are all the same size and even color, to determine the cost of postage.  Friends have told me the average time per piece was around :20 to :30 seconds.

If you face the same situation here are a couple of suggestions.  One, bring a copy of War and Peace to read while you wait.

Two, give the clerk one envelope and find out the cost.  Then purchase additional stamps in that denomination, apply them to your envelopes, and drop them in the mail slot at the post office.  Not exactly rocket science.

The practice of using a return address is not as prevalent in Spain as it is in the U.S.   This can cause some confusion.  A few times it has occurred where I have mailed a letter only to find it was delivered to of all people, me.  In one instance it was my ballot for voting in a Federal U.S. election.  Most often this has occurred when the clerk at the post office did not put a stamp on the envelope when I was at the window.  Instead, they dropped it in a stack with others and intended to affix the postage later when it was more convenient.  Guess which side of my envelopes the stamps usually got stuck to…the back side with my address in small print.

Databases and addresses may seem like boring and unlikely topics to mention when moving to Spain but it does have some importance.  I will though keep the discussion brief.   

Several times I have notified Spanish government offices at the federal and local levels that I have changed my mailing address.  Similarly, I have also informed commercial businesses such as banks, phone company, etc., when I have moved.  Too often I later found that the notification either got lost in cyberspace or that the change was only noted in one department database but was not disseminated to others connected with it.

For example, I have communicated to my bank three times that my address has changed.  Still, some of their databases show I live at my prior residence and some at my current one.

I experienced an almost identical situation when I obtained my Spanish Driver’s License and dealing with the electric company.

This type of event can cause concern when it involves bank records, credit cards, pin numbers and Residencia documentation to name just a few.  So try and confirm that everyone you are relying on really knows where you are.

I did some checking and according to the CIA World Factbook every country in the world uses the International System of Units (metric system) but three.  Those exceptions using the Customary Units of Measurement System (inch, pound, gallon, etc.) are Liberia, Burma, and the United States.

If you plan to move to Spain you will have a choice when it comes to weights, measurements, and distances.  Get familiar with meters, kilograms, and kilometers or prepare to do mathematical gymnastics every time you go to the market, plan a trip, or check the temperature outside. 

For instance, let’s say you are flying off to Dubrovnik for a romantic get-a-way weekend and the airline will allow up to two checked bags with a maximum weight of 15 kilos per bag.  Hmm, that would be 15 kilos x 2.2046 pounds equals…equals…tic tock tick tock (buzzzz).  “Thanks for playing!”

Actually, if you stop and think about it the metric system makes a lot of sense over what we use in the U.S.  It is based on multiples of 10 which are much easier to compute than fractions.

Let’s see.  Today it is 20 Celsius which is 20x2+30 minus a couple which makes it about 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

St. Augustine