We would love to be part of the relaxed spanish culture, and wonderful mild climate, altho we’d be better off in more northern climes! Anyone like to give me some advice on things like renting property protocol? we dont have a property to sell in the UK. we are not the traditional Brit family, we are much more laidback, almost traveller-type, with 6 kids. we need to know about the school system. any advice on work would be welcome. we dont have ‘trades’ but have done a good variety of jobs in the UK. how easy is it for Brits to find work? we are not frivolous with money, we live quite simply and would be happy on a low budget but need an idea of how much it would cost in rent, food, utilities for a month so we can work out how much we would need until we can find work. Lastly if anyone knows of accomodation that we could rent for 6 months until we got on our feet that would be most welcome! thanx!

Have a scout round this site there are loads and loads of opinions already on there.My only answer is the grass is not always greener in Spain.

Hi nickinoos,

Unless you are determined to go to Spain, then I would stay put at present, work for the Spanish is tough and for those who do not speak Spanish fluently, then it is almost impossible.

For a property that would cater for eight people would cost anything from 500 euro per month plus bills, but the further inland you go the cheaper it will be, though things like shops, schools buses, trains and other English people a few and far between. Until the ecomonic situation improves, I would stay in the UK, but if you are ready to move, then start to learn Spanish NOW and in 12 months when things may be better, you will know a good bit of Spanish and it may be easier to get work. The average wage in Spain is only around 14000 euro per year.

Good luck with what ever you end up doing.

Dave

Well, I hate to agree with anyone warning of the difficulties of moving to Spain, but it does sound like you might want to wait a year or two until the employment situation in Spain improves a bit. You have six kids you say? And no specific trade?  What did you have in mind? What kinds of things have you landed in before?

In the 15yrs I’ve been married to a Spaniard and previous yrs spent looking into moving to Spain there has never really been a good labour market in Spain.

Yes many expats managed it, but that was mainly down to Expat migration and the thousands of integrator’s who realised the Spanish don’t really integrate, so set up mini brit ghettos using british goods and services.

The Guardian reported a response to claims that Spain was about to enter the same situation faced in Greece, the report on the 5th of February dismissed this as unlikely, although many of the experts dismissing it agreed that the debt was reaching 75% of GDP.

Even if Spain was to enter a sharp growth period the previous boom was based on a rapid growth in the construction industry, most experts believe that this boom was never goin to last and will never repeat itself, they so far have been proved right.

Spain has always, even in boom times been bottom of the growth charts within the EU, there economy has struggled since Franco days and will probably continue for many yrs to play catch up.

If you add that many of the +4 million unemployed are in sectors unlikely to recover very quickly you may be in for a long wait.

I could be writing a load of bo888cks, I was once told that on another site 12 months before I predicted the ? dropping to 1.05 and the crisis in the EU, I got my info from a friend of the OH who works as an economist in the Junta De Andalucia, but I was told I was a doom monger and full of crap, so no doubt some will continue to tell me that.

I’m not bothered to state I moved to Spain, found it horrendous and moved back, I may not be in Spain but I and my OH speak to friends, relatives in Spain everyday, so my info is not out dated or without substance, in fact we speak to more Spaniards in Spain daily than most Expats in Spain do in a Yr.

I don’t charge for my advice and it could be wrong, do with it as you please, it makes no difference to me.

Hola nickinoos (curious name!!)

With 6 kids I guess you’ll need to rent a place with at least 4 bedrooms then ? Luckily the rental prices have dropped in the lat year or so. You cna now get a noce 4-bed house a bit inland for about 700? a month. My sister rents a really nice place with a private swimming pool for that kind of money and it’s only 20 mins from the coast, in the Lake Vi?uela area.

You mention about renting a property about have you any idea about what part of Spain you would like to move to? Costa del Sol ? Benidorm? Valencia? Alicante? Almeria? Granada? Murcia? Madrid? Barcelona? All these are popular with expats and each have a different feel, so it’s important to be clear about what kind of place you are hoping to live in.

Jobs aren’t so easy to come by at the moment, but that’s not to say they don’t exist.  What kind of jobs / work have you and your husband had in the past?

Hope to help further if I can

Keidi