15 Aug 2012 12:30 PM:

 Hi All.  I personally can't spend all year round at my Finca due to work commitments in the UK.  However, I do spend a few months a year spread over the seasons out there, and love every season for different reasons.  I love the warm sunny weather in the summer, but I also love the cool (very often cold up the mountains where I am) winter days to go off walking or just a cosy time in front of the log burner.

Question is, would I live there all year round if is wasn't for the usually warm climate..........certainly, but within reason.  The cold winter evenings are balanced by the warm summers. 

Thread: BE HONEST...Would you stay in Spain if it wasn't for the weather?

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15 Aug 2012 11:38 AM:

Wow this is a varied post; from property prices/valuations to the world-wide economy, and from structural calculations to property insulation lol.

Hello all.  I'm not a surveyor, nor am I a permanent resident in Spain, although I do own a finca in Yunqeura and spend a few months each year there.  I've loved reading these posts, and think it's great that there are clearly some very well informed (and it seems well educated) people here who are happy to share their knowledge, which I am also happy to soak up.  I'm really enjoying the posts relating to structural issues as I am a fully qualified mechanical and electrical engineer.  I am currently doing my MSc at Northampton University (very very mature student) so find it fascinating to see the levels of expertise and experience which is clearly evident in numerous posts.  Please keep them coming.

When I bought my finca in 2004 the prices were fairly high, maybe even peaked, so I guess I paid well above what it would be worth now, even with the improvements made over the years.  However, as I have absolutely no intention of selling I sit comfortable with knowledge that how much I paid is how much it's worth, to me.  With this said, one of my friends recently managed to sell their property, and from an asking price of e130,000 accepted an offer of e57,000.   Now that's a pretty big hit in anyone's books.

I'd be interested to see other views on an earlier post which stated " a property is only worth what someone is prepared to pay for it".  Is this not the case with everything we buy? Perhaps I could use a car as an analogy, whereby I saw a Top Gear programme some time ago with the Lexus LFA being reviewed, and at £300,000 the sentiment of the presenters was unanimously "I wouldn't pay that for a Lexus".  However, as they have sold some, it seems some people would.

Anyway, great site, wonderful forum and some fantastic posts.......Thanks.

 

Thread: Another Nail in the Spanish Property Coffin

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20 Jan 2008 10:55 PM:

Hi everbody.  I'm new on here and this is post 1.

We have owned our finca near Yunquera for 3 years and looked at lots of different ways to make transfers.  We have a friend who has several properties near us so he gave us a few pointers.

When we looked at the banks, their commercial rates were reasonable, but really not too far away from the tourist rates.  However, most crucially they were fixed, and not negotiable.  After many other routes we finally got a privately owned local FX company who were, and are, really friendly.  The way we get the best deals is the fact that we get on really well with our trader.  If we are in no hurry to make a transfer, or we plan ahead, she will wait and tag our transfer on to a bigger deal (generally over 2 million euro), where she can negotiate far higher rates than she can get for my £10k or so.  We then benefit from the higher rate.  You do need to plan ahead, but in most cases it is only a matter of one or two weeks or so.

If you have a good FX company and a good relationship with your trader, could be worth a try, there's big savings to be made.  Sometimes the smaller companies can be a bit more flexible.

Regards

Ray

Thread: The best way to transfer money to Spain (Seriously)!

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