30 Aug 2015 7:44 AM:

What would we do differently? So much, we knew large areas of Spain previously, travelling 25 yrs in mitorhome, we should have rented t least 6 months, then spent time finding ideal solution, but bought a plot, prices to build, via Brit developers, swapped for plot outside village, then the law changed, land not urban, can't build! Stuck! Through good Spanish friends we swapped for hill with huge cave - spent last ten years creating huge cavehouse - should have 1) waited, 2) got an Abogado, 3) had an architect, 4) had a total budget/ price of build, 5) found out about AVE route ( straight through! Without compensation!) 6) learnt Spanish from beginning .  

We did downsize keeping place in UK, now spending more time for grandkids, but feel priviledged to have such a fantastic project, not in the Brit ghettos, not worried about communities, we know many Spanish, enjoy our chats with them, love the a la brasa food, this experience has been a frustrating, challenging but amazing, exhausting costly 13 years.

btw, agree that Spanish admin, data systems, banking, legal practices and planning laws are wide open to corruption which is rife, part of the culture, but will never change. 

Thread: What would you do differently?

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