Hi
I am a newbie to this forum and to be honest far from being an expat.
We are hoping to buy a place in spain later this year, initially it will be a holiday home, going out every school holiday etc but then once the kids are old enough to decide what they are doing we plan to spend more and more time there. I would move out there lock stock and barrell tomorow but the wife prefers to wait.
I do have some questions that I hope somone can help with, most sites I have found are all commercial so give biased opinions hence me coming here.
1. We hope to buy without a mortgage, but I have read on another site that getting a mortgage and keeping our savings in a UK bank is more beneficial due to inheritance tax and the allowance levels are better in the UK. I do not expect that to become an issue for another 30 or so years at least but you never know.
2. We would like the Costa brava area, basically because I have been holidaying there for the past 30 years on and off and I can drive there in a day, however our searches show that you can get far more for your money by going further south, Valencia, Aliacante etc. This appeals to us as we do not have masses of money to spend. On the other hand I have heard that these area’s are over developed with ‘urbanizations’ going up everywhere. We would most welcome independant opinions on this.
3. I am self employed in the UK, earning most of my income from US companies, would there be any problems with me getting a spanish bank account and having some of my US earnings paid straight into the spanish bank?
Thanks
Greg