My Spanish Property Quest

Well for the past 23 years we have been talking about buying and living in Spain and it has always been our intention to do so. However now as retirement is only a few years away the planning is getting much more intense.

We have several options to choose from:

• Our friends live in Mallorca and it would be nice to move to an area that we know so well and with people around that we have known for most of the 23 years.

• Our friends come from Cordoba and we love Andalucia so that is another option.

• We can wait until we retire and then sell our house in the UK and purchase in Spain at that time or

• We can use the few years left before we retire to finance buying an older property inland and modernise it ourselves and then rent out our UK house when we retire and enable us to have a little bit extra per month to live on.

Whatever we decide to do we knew that there was no way that we could move to Spain prior to retiring because we knew there would not be work available.

But as 2011 approaches so does my desire to move to the country I love.

Viva España

Why dont you look into renting your property in the UK and getting something in Spain for a few months. That way you can see how things treat you overseas and not burn your bridges in the UK? Just an idea!

Hi petrapetal,

I have thought about it but the main thing at the moment is still earning an income. I still have a while to go before I can retire but we can't manage without a wage of some description.

I'm still trying to find a way out of the rat race and I will get there sometime but renting out our property when we do move is a good possibility as I would like to have a 'safety net' and also the rental income would help as well. I've got no problem with renting in Spain as it would give me a chance to really see what it is like to live in the areas I'm interested in before making a commitment like purchasing a property.

At the moment, failing a lottery win, I've got to keep on working!