We have decided on March or April next year for our move to Spain. How easy is it to rent. Is it just a simple ( I like that house and here is the money). If I found a property I liked how long from viewing to renting?????
We want long term rental in Valencia region. Inland but within a hour of Alicante airport.

1. Also could someone tell me what else you have to pay for outside Rent, Electricty. And

2.How easy is it to get online from laptop.???

3. The cost of living. To feed a family of 4 for a week? just a rough guess and not eating out I mean normal groceries.

4. Do you get pay as you go phones easy

MARK

Come on someone . Dont be shy talk to me

Ok I will be honest with you… I am an estate agent in the Inland Andalucia so I will tell you how much things cost here.

You can rent a 3 bed house with pool here from about 400 euros a month
Electricity is quite expensive, ours with a pool averages about 80 to 100 euros a month
Water is about30 to 50 euros a month
Rubbish varies about 35 euros a year
Council tax also varies ours is 300 euros a year
Telephone and Internet can be hard to get if you are in the country, you may have to get a radio phone. Pay as you go mobile is easy as long as you have an NIE, but mobile internet is expensive. Landline internet is also expensive
Groceries are quite expensive, probably about 100 euros a week.

This is in our area, I’m not sure about Alicante.

If I can be of any further help, please ask

Caz

Well thanks for that it was a great help to me. I am coming over to Spain to make life easier for my wife. We will have enough money put aside for renting house and bills for three years. I also will have a income of 300 euros per week from back home. I am bringing my two older kids 19 and 20 who want to work and contribute to house and bills.
I will look for work on part time basis but my wife wont work. We are also bringing three dogs and one cat. We are driving with a van and two private cars.
We are very excited about it and are looking between Valencia and Alicante but inland.

Can anyone see anything wrong with this picture.????? I have rattled my brain and can see no down side at all

NEW START, NEW LIFE, NEW HOPES AND DREAMS

Scotsman - 06 May 2011 04:43 PM

I will look for work on part time basis but my wife wont work. We are also bringing three dogs and one cat. We are driving with a van and two private cars.

Can anyone see anything wrong with this picture.????? I have rattled my brain and can see no down side at all

Three vehicles - three running costs - right hand drive?

How do you intend to dispose of them after you settle in?

Is your wife unable to work because of health reasons or simply just won’t?

Giving that you state you have provisions for three years rent and have an income together with kids who are willing to contribute then you seem to have covered most bases but what if the kids cant find work - will that begin to put strain on your 300 euros a week?

Why don’t you cash up the vehicles and the lot of you get cheap one way flights?

Sorry I should explain. We are taking a van one way rental for our posseions. My daughter is taking her car with her and my son taking his. I will buy a moped. The 300 Euros a week is income from a Taxi i own and will be forever (I hope). My son and daughter will do any kind of work and if it gets to hard they will try seasonal work. Do you think it will be better to sell the right hand drives and buy left hand drives in spain .??????/
We will also have some savings but for emergency only

Sorry forgot. My wife does not want to work and after 30 married and 29 years of raising kids and grandkids I agree.

I would sell the right hand drives, it will make things a lot easier, are you sure about area? Work is very hard to come buy at the moment and the pay is terrible. We came to Spain with the idea of not working, but now do various bits and pieces.

Caz

I don’t want to sound negative, but take the employment situation seriously. 21% unemployment overall, cannot remember if it’s 1 in 3 or 2out of every 5 unemployed in the under 35’s (youth unemployment).  If you don’t speak Spanish it’ll be difficult. Mini-cabs don’t exist here, cab licenses here are expensive to buy (prices are going down but I read in a newspaper here that a few years ago were changing hands for around the same price as a 2 bedroom flat). Commercial vehicle as in courier driving may be an option with your own vehicle though.

Generally, renting a place you’ll need two months rent as deposit, 1 month up frontin rent. Some Spanish landlords are also asking for an ‘aval bancario’ -  a written bank guarantee for a sum equivalent to six months rent. Gas, electric, water you can generally leave the existing contract in place and just get the direct debit changed over to your account, this has the advantage that you don’t have to have the full inspection done again, in older properties, especially with electrics, they may not pass.

Well I will have two years rent in bank so getting a house rent should be easy I hope.? As far as unemployment goes I know it will be tough but they are taking Spanish lessons and I am hoping something will turn up. We are determand and we will have some breathing time to settle in and get a feel of the land. We have been in touch with people who have moved to this region and have been able to get work, so we will try to do the same.
To be honest my daughter has great qualifications and cant get work here in Scotland and has taken a shop assistant job to pay her way. We are ready to take the good with the bad and I am sure we will get there in the end.

How do you go about getting a Spanish Bank Account. Do you have to be living there first.?

Oh and my wife wants me to ask, what is the crime rate. Are there any problems to worry about.?

Thanks for the replies every one helps.