Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2021 11:01am
I’ve lived in Spain since 1988, first working in Barcelona and since 2017 near Calpe. There are worse places in the world to live than Spain. But Spain is not all sun and sangria. The Spanish systems regarding medical care, taxation and property ownership are not like the UK. If you don’t speak Spanish get good reliable advice in advance.
When looking for a location decide your priorities, near to shops, beach, golf course, sea, mountains?
Presuming you will stay in Spain, ready access to public transport and medical care must be considered for later years when your mobility is impaired.
A property with stairs may be fine now but later?
Although both my wife and I are fit, we choose a property with next to no stairs and easy access for a wheelchair if necessary. If you want to avoid carrying all those heavy bottles of wine up stairs look for car access near to the kitchen.
Look seriously at property maintenance costs, as well as the annual cost of utilities and taxes.
The garden may look great, but do you want to be slave to gardening or enjoy yourselves?
Whichever direction your property faces there are up and down sides. North facing - cool in summer but humid in winter, south facing - hot in summer but makes the most of the winter sunshine. Is the propery protected from wind, flooding ?
Get a reliable architect to evaluate the property for possible faults in structure, damp, leaking rooves, plumbing, wiring etc.
If the property has a septic tank, get that checked too.
These are just a few points that spring to mind when retiring to Spain.
My advice is to make a list of things you want and don’t want and use it as a checklist when you search for a property. You will never tick all the boxes on your list but it should help you to find what you want.