BBC TV Programme 31st March 2015 Shows How Tough Life is for Many Brits in Spain.

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Please keep posts relevant and keep the thread on track without insulting the places where people live. Everyone has there own preference and no one has the right to insult their choices. Limit yourself to sharing your opinion in a civil manner please and avoid antagonising comments.

thanks!

I have been involved with Spain for many years living there and in business. I have also travelled the world and stayed in many different places. The one factor that always surprises me is how expats are easily persuaded that where they live is a wonderful earthly paradise. I look around and wonder why they could believe that to be true. There is an old saying ‘that beauty is in the eye of the beholder’. There again it also depends on their own life experience, from where they have originated and their own personal value system. All of us have differing multi coloured views of the world. There is also a view that because the move they made has committed them to a certain way of life the coping mechanism kicks in.

So in reading or listening to particular praise of any particular Spanish urbanization or region you need to take that into account. Their conclusions ‘aint necessarily true for you and because of that it’s a pointless argument.

I think the TV programe tried to illustrate that dreams of paradise are not necessarily real.

Despite agents and those with vested interest desperately talking the market up again I doubt if there will ever be such a large scale calamitous property crash as the one Spain had. (Cyprus was a similar disaster but a smaller market and buyers there are also house trapped in the sun.) They destroyed green areas, cut off hill-tops, got rid of avocado farms, all for greed, building what is probably the largest continuous housing estate in Europe. They spoilt their own coastline for good. As a result so many expats were ripped off especially those buying at the top of the market and they are the ones finding life tough. A lawyer we know (Brit) who lives near Malaga says the truth is so many had mortgages which are now far more than the value of their properties, many handing the keys back and unable to buy again in the UK, it's 10's of 1000's of expats in this situation across Spain. The programme was a timely reminder to balance some of the current hype.

It's surely in the interest of commonsense that this never happens again, and, what Spain cannot get right is that buying and selling costs of 20% is no way to revive a property market, plus it really needs to regulate agents and developers and speed up it's ridiculously slow legal redress system. Pigs might fly in Spain before they take proper action on what they did wrong. 

Good luck to those stoical Brits who may be affected and who best get on with life.

Someone's downfall can be someone else's opportunity, I saw an add for a 2 bed property on the Southern Costa Blanca, it was on for under €40,000, there were plenty for just a bit more and a detached for just under €100,000. Now if someone/a couple coming up to drawing their state pensions, find themselves living on a sink UK council estate in what used to be their pride and joy 'Right to Buy' property, this could be just the job for them. A sensibly priced ex council house should sell to a first time buyer/buyers who have managed to scrape together a deposit. Their joint state pensions should be a minimum of €15,000 p/a, by what I've read they could manage quite well in Spain on that.

Now where would they be best served, on a UK sink council estate with chavs running riot, spaced out druggies and burnt out cars, or in their own place in Spain? OK it might not be right for some, but these current prices give people a choice that they never thought they would have.   

I have looked at the type of property you would get for 40,000eu the type of property you are refering to of 40,000eu or less are plentifull on the Costa,s .so if you are in good health go for it.

Hi windtalker,

I reckon that the best bargains are further up the market, that's why I'm about to look at an American style house with all the mod cons, I'd be content to spend up to £200K on something that impresses me, I will report back after seeing it.

Hi Hephaestus l bought a lovely 3 double beds 3 bathroom Neptuno delux with a 9mtr x 4mtr pool on Camposol well under 200,000eu it is worth a look good luck.

Well, I think you all, or most of you (apart from Mickyfinn), have missed the point of the programme, which seemed to be pointing out parallels with Brits attitudes to immigrants.  The fears of mis use of the state health system, the failure to integrate, the disgraceful behaviours......the slum living...all very familiar comments Brits apply to others.    And of course they pick the most colourful characters to manipulate - why wouldn't they?  It's a TV show - as someone pointed out.    

Thanks for that windtalker, I'm just going to check something out in an area that I know well, with all respect I have never set foot in Camposol, so wouldn't have a scooby on areas, prices etc. We will be in Calahonda in a couple of weeks time, so no great shakes on finding the property, I just fancy having a look at something that appears to be everything that would suit our needs.