Moving and living in Spain - Page 2

Hello .. I am near Denia and now hold an Irish passport too after Brexit which has devastated me ... as I am not near retirement age as yet I am aware that it is highly unlikely that reciprocal health care will apply to me and private health care will be far too expensive for me .. thankfully my husband is German and we have found a way to resolve this issue.  If you are in receipt of a state pension now from UK or Southern Ireland: I suggest you  register as a resident  and get in Spanish health system asap .. that in my opinion is the most crucial element of your move. Do not be afraid of the move .. I have been in the area for almost 21 years .. a wonderful life and Denia is wonderful .. so much to do.  The hospital and services are great and if you need a good inexpensive gestor who can guide you through all of the red tape to become a resident, I can send her name and number.  Good luck and believe you me, you shall not regret it once you get yourself settled in.

Hi Pam,

You sound very similar to me and my husband.

I also am a bit worried about giving up my job as l enjoy going out to work. As l work with children l will miss the interaction with them but l won't miss all the demands that are put on you now in that profession.

Looks like we will are ready to exchange contracts now so will be over there beginning of September.

Thankyou so much for taking the time to reply to my message it has helped a lot.

Maggie

Hi Maggie 

We are moving over at the moment to La Hoya (myself and two of my children: 16 and 18) - our belongings left today and we go over next Tuesday. It's been hard work figuring out cars, insurance, NIE, pet passports, travelling down etc and I would be lying if I haven't thought "what the hell am I doing" . However, I've been going here for nearly 3yrs and love it - the weather, the slower way of life, eating out, walking on the beach and then I come back to the UK and complain about the weather, traffic, crowds etc.   I KNOW I'm doing the right thing but still worry. What's the worse than can happen though - it doesn't work, we move back to the UK. Better to regret doing it than regret not doing it. Go for it!!! 

Thanks Nikki for your reply.

I know what you mean, thinking about the process is easy but going through is a whole different thing.

Do you already have a place over there?.

We are trying to sort out storage for our furniture at the moment as we will be renting for a while, do we send it to Spain or leave it here.

Feeling very anxious about the exchange rate as well.

Our buyers are hot on our heels now so we may possibly be over there beginning of September.

Good luck to you and your children, would love to hear how it is all going.

Maggie

We used Advanced Movers and they included six weeks free storage. I exchange on my UK property tomorrow and complete on my house in Spain on 11th September.  I gave a solicitor my power of attorney and she is doing my NIE which is due on 1st September. And then she'll open up a bank account and I'll transfer the money to complete on the house. Furniture is arriving on 12th. Staying with a friend until then. 

How lucky you are to have a friend to stay with that really helps, where about is La Hoya?.

What a great opportunity for your children, can they speak Spanish?.

I take it that you have a dog as you mentioned dog passports, we have a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who will be coming with us, he is very energetic and loves running around the open countryside where we live so l am wondering how he will cope over there.

How are you travelling to Spain, we are going to drive?.

We have viewed a few houses that we like but are not sure where we want to end up living so thought it would be sensible to rent although we have never rented before.

Woke up again this morning thinking shall we back out my husband is so worried about the exchange rate.

The trouble with us is that this is the third time our house sale has gone through, long story but the first buyers both lost their jobs 5 days before we were due to move, the second we actually agreed to exchange when the people at the end of the chain pulled out, luckily our buyers still wanted to buy our house and sold their house again very quickly. During the process we lost a lot of money in one way or another so you can understand how nervous it has made us feel and again the exchange rate has gone down again since then.

Just need to get over this hurdle and l am sure we will be ok hopefully.

Have very little to stay for with no family here.

All the best to you and your family.

Maggie

Hi, we did exactly this in March this year. We, like you, have no UK ties, apart from friends. Do not underestimate the difficulties to be encountered when dealing with bureaucracy - it has taken us since moving into our house at the end of March until now, to begin to feel even remotely sane. We have negotiated the padron, the residencia, the medical bit as well as dealing with the water company - who think our house does not exist - and various other utilities. On the whole, we like it, but we are not in Denia as such, but a lovely house outside Lliber. Doing this again, I would've liked to be nearer to 'civilisation' as we are too far out to do things easily in the evening or to take advantage of the many groups and clubs, many of which are located a considerable distance from us. 

I do speak fairly good Spanish, having learnt it at a young age, having lived here when I was still at school - (in England) - which is an advantage and really does help, especially with any form of officialdom.

As others have said, it is an adventure and you must be prepared for many things not to operate in the way you think they should!!! But come with no preconceptions and be prepared to learn the language and you should be fine.

Hi Maggie, We sold our home in West Yorkshire 2 weeks  ago after living there for 25 happy years. We've been back and forwards to the area we are living now for the last year just to make sure it was the right place for us to move too.  My husband has been very ill will cancer, twice and has gone through a lot of treatment and a bone marrow and stem cell transplant.  We were sitting at home in the UK in June and it was pouring down with rain we had the heating on and the fire and we just said lets sell up and go live in the sun..I was cabin crew for 25 years and have always worked, my husband hasn't worked for the last 8 years due to illness, but is in remission now. As like yourself I was a bit worried about the move and leaving our home and lots of friends, but we have now bought a place in Spain mortgage free and I must say loving the life here.  All I can say is you only get on chance at life, do what you feel is right, it is a bit scary, but we feel we've done the right thing.  Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Melanie

Hello there like you we decided to move to Spain with our 4 year old granddaughter my husband has a good pension  ... make sure you have a good lawyer or estate agent because there is a bit of red tape to get through and it really is worth every penny ... also check out schools .... if unsure rent first ... we didn't came over last September looked around and decided there and then ... sold up and found our dream house great price ...concentrated on security we move in 2 weeks ( living in an apartment here until the legalities are finished )... we honestly have never looked back because like you we had no family to leave behind .... anything else please feel free this is a terrific forum and has helped us loads

But if you sold at the right time as we did then it balances out