Why are so many of you moving back - Page 4

Clearly there are some people embittered by the property system and the marketplace because of bad experience but this is not my experience. I have bought and sold property on the Costa Blanca since 1984 and have never lost money, mostly coming out well ahead, but it depends what you buy, how much you PAID for it and where you buy it. My experience is on the Costa Blanca North as opposed to the South. It is perfectly possible to turn a profit if you buy the right thing, but I never understand why Brits expect the property market in Spain to operate the same way it does at "home" in the UK. It's a foreign country!! Some expats seem to forget this. If you don't like how Spain operates and find yourself moaning about it all the time maybe that's when it's time to head "home"! Enjoy the overcrowding, expensive cost of living, the high cost of public transport, the stretched NHS, the rising levels of violent crime, hurry up get there asap! 

Steve

I've also been here since 1985. The fact remains that you must see a capital gain of 19% just to break even. If you can by a bargain really cheap and sell at a "normal" price, what you say may be possible. No, I have always regarded English overheads as incredibly low. I have bought and sold in South Africa also and though costs are higher than England, they are much lower than here. The system is also much more transparent and secure than here. No I would never return to England for some of the reasons you state.

My earlier reply wasn't aimed at you personally Ancient Printer, it was aimed at all the Brits who move to Spain and then moan incessantly about how Spain does things. They do my head in!  If they don't like the way Spain does things then maybe head home is what I say, leave Spain to the expats who settled here because they love the country, the culture and the people, and don't want things to be like they are in the UK. 

Saturday - a great day for a rant :)

What buying costs,?

You only pay that sort of tax if he sold for more money than he paid,meaning if he made a profit of say 50,000, then he would pay a certain percentage of that in capital gains taxes.

Yes your friend probably only paid 150 k for it,that’s why.

Well said Steve,make you right.

Dave, they are  (correctly) referring to the agents fees for selling which are high here compared to the UK, plus the buying cost of 10% property tax and other fees which equate typically to around 13% of the property value. 

He’s not buying,he’s selling, and you don’t pay 10% selling.

There's an owner in my block who paid €145.000 off plan for his one bedroom penthouse in 2007. It's currently worth €98.000, and that's improved from €76.000 two years ago. Some people make bad decisions, find that the markets are not working for them in particular and then blame "Spain". 

We may have crossed wires Dave as Carpetman and Ancient Printer were discussing the costs of both buying and selling.