I am beginning my search in earnest for a home in Spain. I am hoping to find a home on or near the coast.Anywhere from Bilboa and upward. I am maybe even open to France near the boarder of Spain. My grand parents were originally from Spain but moved to Las Angles, California for a better life. Which they did acquire from hard work. sadly I do not remember my Grandparents very well and I never learned Spanish because they were dead set to only speak English when they came to America.

I am researching g everything because that is how I am before I take on any task, I want to know all the ins and outs and the pros and cons. That helps to make thing transition much smoother.

I will be moving to Spain with my nearly Adult son, other than his father whom, I am divorced from and my mother. we do not have any other living family in America So when I said I was going to look into moving, he said he would rather stay close to me since he does not have a relationship with his father.My boyfriend will also be coming along with us.

I have about 90 thousand in American Dollars, So I am looking into buying a home. I intend to stay for the duration of my life. I am hoping to find a property with some land so I can grow vegetables, and maybe have so chickens. I am not afraid of hard work my Aunt who is no longer alive had a ranch so I loved going there for the summers and working all vacation long.

I need to find out how costly it would be and if it would be worth it to buy a fixer up( Like a old Stone house) they look so lovely to me even when in decrepit shape. So please help me out and let me know should I buy a already done home(move in ready) or could it be do able(cost effective) to restore a home either by doing it ourselves or better yet hiring locals to get the job done.

Oh yes and the internet do they have Fiios there or high speed internet ? Please say yes:)

Thank you all very much in advance for any and all advice.

Sincerely
~Rachael

Rachael Hi

Firstly…What is Fiios?

High speed Internet availability; definitely depends on where you are. Best you can reasonably expect is around 10Mbps download. Far more typically is 3Mbps in rural areas via fixed telephone land line from Telefonica.

90K USD is probably borderline; the Euro / USD exchange rate is crap at the moment and has been getting steadily worse for about 6 months. Right now that’s about 64K euros and if this is the total amount available to purchase and restore a property and to provide sufficient running capital for three people to live on for a while then you are definitely going to be pushing it. You also need to take in the expense of shipping stuff over from the States.

The Northern coastline of Spain between Bilbao and the French border is not overpopulated with English Speaking people; you will find it a struggle without a working knowledge of Spanish.

Spanish healthcare is another matter for consideration. You will almost certainly need Private Health Insurance.

That’ll do for starters I think…

If you can be a little more specific, I’ll do my best to answer any questions you may have. please feel free to pm me on this forum.

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Rachel:
Sounds like a big decision, a big life change. I hope we can help a bit here and know that there’s a ton more info about moving to Spain out there. Have you looked into getting your passport through heritage yet? You’ll need to dig up your grandparents’ birth certificates and more. Talk to the embassy/consulate there in LA.

Foxbat is right - $90k isn’t a lot to work from if you’re expecting to buy a place that needs restoration and set up a farm (your knowledge of California food marketing from having lived in the age of Whole Foods, etc might come in handy!). You might be able to buy a small plot with a house on it in the country but it could be a bit lonely for an expat with son. If you’re very frugal and take out a mortgage I’m sure it can be done, just not very easily. Finding the right property with take time and you’ll blow through some savings while you look for it.

Foxbat: FiOS is Verizon’s Internet service running directly on fibre. Rachael - you won’t find that at consumer prices. Try ADSL services instead, or as Foxbat mentions, the fixed line DSL services from Telefonica. You’ll learn to hate them too but there aren’t so many rural Internet options. Our site has a lot more info about it however so search around. 😊

I don’t agree that you’d need private health insurance. I find the public system just fine (but I speak Spanish fluently so…).

Have you considered the Costa Brava? A few more expats and English-speakers, closer to Barcelona for flights and transportation and a bigger market for selling locally grown products.

I don?t agree that you?d need private health insurance.

I only mentioned this because Spain’s Health System being contributory for three adults and a nearly adult dependent could be expensive…

Expatriator, can you throw any light on what the contributions might be?

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If you’re autonomo then it’s included in the social security payments; if you’re employed then it’s covered by your employer.

OK Thanks for that…

However…

Rachel makes no mention of seeking work with an employer; one must assume therefore that she will be working from home as an autonomo. (The need for high speed internet tends to confirm this…)

Given that she would be the breadwinner under such circumstances, her social security payment would be I think somewhere in the region of ?250 per month. Would that single contribution cover her dependents ie., her mother, her son and her boyfriend, or would all four persons be required to contribute?

I envisage a situation where she could be paying out about ?1000 per month…which is pretty damn steep in anyone’s book!

Which Is why I mentioned private health insurance in the first place…

Be interesting to see if she actually responds to any of this!

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Ah, good point Foxbat, however I believe that SS contributions are incremental after the first 250?, since a large part of that is for taxes. I believe it might come to somewhere closer to 300?, taxes, health care, pension, etc all included (if I’m not mistaken…) for a family of three.