we're giving the UK the fingers up.Selling UK property before UK goes to the dogs

Sorry but my lappy is playing up message went before i finished it lol!

The message should read good luck in all you decide to do.

Cheersevery one

Jeanie

Pat,

I read on another forum that the Spanish authorities are looking at over 60 days stays as a step towards residencia with all it's taxation implications. Also the usual maximum cover on an annual travel insurance policy is 60 days.

I may be wrong on the residencia issue but it's worth checking out.

Life always appears to be better on the other side.  We have a lovely apartment on the CDS and I always thought that   I would love to live there  permenantly .    Yes in the summer but the winter is another aspect.   At Xmas our apartment block was empty - absolutly no-one about , weather cold and dingy, apartment so cold that we  had to go out and buy a heater .   The food prices are so expensive as is eating out .   Although we have family living nearby I must admit I was glad to get home .   This was the worst time I experienced Spain - cold, no sunny days and the empty apartment block made me realise what a good life I have here.  I can go to Spain when I want and return to my own home with its nice new kitchen and warm central heating.

Don't get me wrong  I love Spain but is very expensive - everything except the furnture I have broght from the UK and the quality is so much better for the price.  We bought a TV in Spain at about 200-300 Euros more than we would have bought in the UK . We are looking at video equipment and seeing how much it would be to ship it over .   No free banking, and huge electricity bills .  I agree the UK is going to the dogs but is Spain any better???  I  definately would not choose to move to Spain in this economic climate.  If things get really bad there is always the £ shop ( no such shop in Spain )  - where else can you get a jar of  Nescafe for a £ .

well I have had another eye opener today, looking for flights to/from murcia outside summer, and basically there are none.

Looks like you can only go there (MJV)  between March & October, which is another hassle as that means the kids can only visit in the summer. I can't beleive it that if you have a place in Murcia you can only get there for 6 months of the year with Bmi,Monach,Ryan,  am I wrong ?  Saw BA flights going indirect via other places at £2161 - yes 2 grand.

Does anyone fly there October- March if so from which airports and with whom.

Does make your blood boil when they want to extend heathrow, why does everyone have to go via LHR/LGW why can't they expand other airports like Stanstead/Bristol/Birmingham/East Midlands. At least they are midway in the UK. I cant expect my kids to have to go BA at those prices to see us.

That was one of the reasons I mentioned about when we dismissed Faro for Costa de Luz, its not flying to where you want to be when you want to go.

We have had an offer on the house too which has also caused discord in the house, think the kids (as did we) didnt expect it this soon. Now we arent sure what to do, we were hoping to get back out there again just to make sure we had no regrets, now we are being pushed by the estate agent to accept the offer as it was on the nose.

any suggestions - people want to move by easter - help !

Hi

Try Easy jet Bristol - Murcia.

BMI baby from Cardiff stops through the winter too so is a bit of a faff so we have to go Bristol

Sorry, I can't remember where you live gravitatingsouth, however as you were talking about Murcia, I thought I would mention that there are plenty of flights to Alicante, including Ryanair and Easyjet, all year round.  My kids flew from Stansted for Christmas and considering the time of year prices were reasonable.

We don't have pound shops here but there are lots of cheap Chinese shops, plus the supermarkets do some good deals.  If you buy ground coffee, it's just over 1.20 for a packet (the brand John likes), plus their own brand is just under 1 euro.  If you drink wine, you can get a reasonable bottle for 1 euro, 12 x 50cl cans of San Migeul beer for 1 euro, 3kg potatoes for 1 euro and many other 1 euro deals.

Sue

Gravitatingsouth!

We are flying to murcia next week,

Its the same up here we have to go  with monarch, which is new all year, blackpool only start in April which would be good for us.

Regards

Jeanie.

Gravitating South

Murcia airport is limited by the number of flights, mostly summer although a few fly there in Winter.  (there is a forum in here somewhere about the airport and developments) Alicante is very close, in fact there aint much difference in time between Alicante Airport and Murcia City (1 hour) and Murcia San Javier Airport to Murcia City (45min).  A new Airport is being built at Corvera, they have allegedly started, this is only 15 mins from Murcia City.  I would say that at present your best bet is Alicante which seems to be well served all year round. The motorway links from the airport are good also.  If you were stuck for getting to Murcia, Almeria is some 2 hours motorway drive from Murcia and Valencia is about 3 hours.

Regards

Stephen

Hi GravitatingSouth,

Well you are one of the lucky ones that can sell their house in UK, I know of a few people in Spain that would give their eye teeth to be able to sell theirs. That puts you in a dilema now does it not?   But you was going to sell up originally dont let what myself and other's have said put you off.  I do have my reasons for not selling up here.  Roy has health problems, so I am looking forward when I might need help with him, which I know I will receive in the UK, also family here that will help out.

But what I would say if you do need more time to think about it then the purchaser's will have to wait.  If the house is what they want, they might be willing to wait for your decision.

 Good Luck with what you decide. 

                                                                                 Pat            

Hi we fly into Murcia every month no problems whatsoever:

Jet2.com

Ryanair

Monarch

Spent Xmas & New Year in Murcia returning 5th Feb.

Roddy & Tracie

Hi roddy1

which airport do you fly out of ?

midland ones only seem to fly 2 days a week = march to october, thats no good for family/ friends if they cant visit oct to march. midlands was airport choice as its central -people can drive to midlands easier than north down  to london or south up to manchester if you follow.

Pat wrote:

But what I would say if you do need more time to think about it then the purchaser's will have to wait.  If the house is what they want, they might be willing to wait for your decision.With the trend in house prices falling, it may be that the purchasers will then want a reduction in the price. Unless they are cash buyers or no chain involved  it could cause a problem for others involved. There are no easy choices. Congratulations though on such a quick sale  G'south. As Pat says, you are in an enviable position as far as selling goes.

Tish

you would think so wouldnt you, especially as we got the advertised price, though we did  say to the agent, price it to sell, it was tempting to use another agent who came in higher, but we thought if we went with that we would eventually end up dropping it but then thats a way an agent merely secures you as a client - greed.

i digress, i hear what you're saying, and now we have an offer things get more complicated family wise. now its caused discord with the boys as they reckon we arent giving them time to decide what they want to do. I know what others have said - general terms not directed personally - that they need to get off their butts,move out and stop drifting from mum and dads to wherever they can find a bed for the night, and get jobs and cut the chains.

however, now i find that Monach only fly from midlands (central location for familyfriends to meet up and fly as a group) for 6 months of the year only, Bmi stop between 5/1 and 31/3 so midlands airports are looking bleak to say the least..

i am slowly coming round to what someone said earlier about rather than selling and going out of the uk for good, it might be an option to :GET THE KIDS OUT TO WORK - GET THEM ACCOUNTING FOR THEMSELVES  - EG IN THEIR OWN FLATS (Renting or starter purchase eg £99 deposit 1st time buyers) -  "DOWN SIZE"   YES I DID ACKOWLEDGE THE SUGGESTION -  "DOWNSIZE"  so we can still have a uk place to fall back on, though we would be able to not have a 4/5 bed around our necks - which we could swap to a 3 bed (detached/semi/bungalow).

I shall let you know what we decide, but for now we are accepting the offer, we were realistically priced , new to the market after xmas, so in this climate we are lucky.

G'south,

We've been where you are coming from.  Children's umbilical cord remains steadfast. It means they have a very comfy lifestyle with Mum & Dad. Our two own their own places  but hate the thought of us moving away. We take it as a compliment.

Downsizing is another thing altogether!!! I found myself saying" How are we going to fit everything in???  Where will the family sleep???????  We're still in our large family house....just as well...we have a grandaughter and another one due soon!! I told my husband .."we need a bigger house!!"

There are sooooooooooooo many places to rent in Spain, when/if the pound bounces back, we've decided to rent for however long. That way we can just close the door and fly back to the UK with no worries about the place in Spain. Also you have choice of different locations. Just another viewpoint.

Dear All,

where will it all end?

Great feedback but does the hesitation and concern for visitors suggest some weakening of resolve?

The kids seem to be in an increasingly powerful bargaining position.

Was there an element of "wind-up" in the post after all??????????

But where did this come from?

Germans are now refusing to accept euros not printed in Germany, what does that tell you? Spain is hiding in a single currency bubble that will eventually burst and expose the rot inside.

This is serious stuff, can it be true about the Germans? Not printed here - not legal tender?

Surely if this is happening, the bubble has already burst?

 Is there hope for the £ after all?

The mind, at least mine does, boggles. Wow!

How can this be corroborated?

More information please.

Regards

Norman

norman,

have no idea on the german euro, though your mentioning it quite frightened me, what with talk of the uk also thinking of printing money.

you have to follow this through i think everyone would want to know whats happening to value/legal tender etc re euro. where ever you got that info from - its pricelss and good for you having the insight to share it. well done!

would appreciate you not referring to my earlier post as a "wind up" - not very fair comment, we want to go, its that simple, have unconditional love and obligation to kids yet dont want to miss opportunities because its 'too safe at home' rather than them have the courage to break free (like our generation had to, or were driven to by instinct of getting married etc).so please dont discredit me by saying 'wind up' i would appreciate that as all these decisions are very delicate as it is, for once we go - we go.

Tish,

i hear where you're coming from, my eldest said that on the weekend after we were watching  -place in the sun reruns - if you get fed up where you are you can just move further down the road etc. or just leave. he has a good point but again another point that goes in the 'issue box', it seems selling was the easy bit, now we are hitting cutting hurdles, some of which are upsetting friends and family.

gravitatingsomewhere

have you considered telling the kids you are moving to commune in Cornwall where you wish to indulge in 'free' love.  That should put them off, then you can sneak away to Spain!!!

Hi GravitatingSouth,

I can understand your predicament, but its normal in spanish families for their children to stay under the same roof until they are at least in a position of having held a job for a few years, some money in their pockets. This can mean that some children don't move out until they are 28 plus. If your kids are younger then why be concerned that they are living off your backs - thats what parents try and aim for - a better life for their kids without the difficulties that the parents had to go through eh?

Of course, we need our children to understand values as well, but its not an easy art to accomplish. Btw, I'm saying all this as a 35 year old with only a 1 year old daughter but hey thats my view on things. I'm sure your kids are very lovable and you're making them out to be worse than they really are.

I'm getting the ball rolling now to going to spain with my wife this year as I've had enough of this current set of powerful incompetents in govt. running the show, sending the uk to the dogs, prioritising on those who were blase with their spending by allowing them to borrow even more to get out of debt. Thus penalising us folk who were prudent and saved for the rainy day(s) to perish under this regime. Rant over!

Well, my current savings and grafted cash was all I was clinging on to in order to make a move out to spain - my wife's spanish and hankers a return to run a business. What with the euro being too strong for the sterling I guess its a touche situation or role reversal so to speak. Ho hum. Might as well spend my savings on something while its still worth +0.00.

Btw, I was in Media Mart in Alicante the other week looking at their DSLR cameras. A Nikon D300 was costing 1600 euros - here in UK the average is 900 quid rrp. My wife was disappointed with the cost of the food and drink out there, but also the quality. A typical bar lunch where I was served some re-heated squid, given bread, three canas beers, and a entrecote steak, two cortado coffees came to 48 euros - she nearly fell off her chair! From memory this would have cost less than 18 euros two years ago.

Sigh, my wife is spanish and she really has had enough of her company downsizing to a point where she survives, but is made to do what 4 staff would have covered in the past. In my job I am having to dig my own grave in a way - I am training up and passing on work to an Indian company so my days will be over once they are up to speed. Alas, the writing is on the wall and those clever directors seem to think I will take the bait of a nother year on a 'above inflation' 3% salary increase.

I look forward to my resignation on my terms and conditions.

Hasta pronto peeps!

Steve

Hi Gravitatingsouth

I'm in similiar position as yourself with offspring & relations but need to stay in UK for next 2 - 3 years through business commitments. I believed this to better solution in my case, buying out in Spain prior to retirement & downsizing to an appartment later on!

By going down this road gives a better insight on what to expect when living in Spain plus in the mean time I have a retreat to escape too!

All the wheels are now in motion for my escape, furnished house in Spain, spanish car, direct debits set up etc.

Regarding travelling to Muria I fly every month using:

Jet 2 .com from Leeds & Bradford/Manchester

Monarch/ Manchester, Ryanair/ East Midlands. 

Like l said I'm flying back out on the 5th Feb from LBA, also my brother is flying out on 6th Feb from EMA, so it is possible you just have to be a bit more flexable.

Good luck with the move to Spain

Roddy

. 

Germans are now refusing to accept euros not printed in Germany, what does that tell you?

Well, IMHO, this is probably anti-euro propaganda and completely untrue, but you can read about it here

Although euro notes do have a letter in the serial number denoting where they were printed, it doesn't necessarily mean that they were originally issued by that country anyway.

Steve (welcome to EOS!), you're absolutely right about electrical goods etc. being expensive now compared to the UK, as well as cars, in particular, but I think this is mainly due to the ex-rate. However, your example of a bar meal for €48 which would have cost €18 a couple of years ago I think is a bit extreme. Apart from certain products, such as sunflower oil for example, I can't say I've noticed quite such rampant inflation as that anywhere! In fact, I've noticed many restaurants reducing the price of their menu del dia lately to try to attract custom during these tough times. Around here (which is by no means the cheapest part of the country) you can expect to pay around €6 - €7 per person. Of course, a la carte / evenings / more upmarket joints, you can expect to pay more, but value can still be found.

As for those of you "perishing under the present regime" in Blighty, I read today of yet another Andalucian mayor (Alhaurin El Grande this time) accused of bribery / corruption / laundering etc. etc.