Planning on Where to Live in Spain

If you’ve holidayed on the Costas or visited Spain regularly and decided that it really is the one country that you could call home, chances are you have a basic but not deep understanding of the country.  Unless you’ve committed to living in Spain for at least a few months, you won’t be able to say for sure that this is the country that you really can settle into.

Yes holidays are perfect for giving you a taster of a country, but to really get to know it well enough to commit to living in it, you need to spend an extended period of time living there.  In our collective opinion at Shelter Offshore it really is essential to spend time living in a nation before you commit to moving there lock, stock and barrel – no matter how familiar it is to you on the surface.  So, when planning on where to live in Spain, go and spend time there getting to know the different regions and areas.

What’s more, maybe you’ve holidayed before in a remote farmhouse or rural villa, an apartment on the coast or even a hotel – so you probably won’t have experienced the full range of property types that there are available for sale or rent in Spain.  During your research stay it will therefore be important to spend time looking at the housing options available to you as well.

When it comes to planning your research visit to Spain there are two schools of thought – one is that you spend a handful of extended periods visiting the parts of the nation that you’re interested in and that you do so at different times of the year.  The other is that you commit to living in Spain in rental accommodation for a single intensive period of a few months or even a few years.  Both methods are valuable in their own right – and whichever approach you choose may have more to do with your own personal circumstances.

The main ‘rules’ of a research visit are as follows: -

• Don’t just spend time getting to know one area of Spain.  The nation is vast and varied, diverse and wonderful – if you only commit to examining one small part, you could well miss discovering the part of the nation that actually suits you better.
• Don’t just visit in the spring and summer when the weather is lovely and the towns more lively.
• Spend time in Spain out of season and in the winter when the weather can be foul even on the coast so that you can determine whether you can cope with the climate extremes.
• Get to know favourite areas out of season – see how different the experience of living in such an area would be when your favourite bars, restaurants and shops are shut.
• Start learning Spanish when you’re on your research visit – you will certainly need it out of season and what’s more, it is far easier to learn a language a) when you’re living in the country in which it is spoken and b) when there is not such intense pressure on you to get it right.  I.e., before you actually commit to moving to Spain permanently!
• Visit towns and villages, rural communities, urbanisations and Costa resorts to get an idea of where you would feel most at home.
• Towards the end of your research visit, if you have decided that Spain really is for you, begin looking more closely at the part of Spain you’re strongly attracted to.  Find out all about the amenities and facilities available, think carefully about how accessible the given community is and think ahead.  Whilst a given location is ideal for you today, will it still be ideal in twenty year’s time?

The final major task on your research visit will be considering property in Spain.  Having lived in Spain now for an extended period of time and learned all about the rental market, you may feel that you’re ready to buy.  An additional advantage of having got to know Spain and the Spanish people is that you may well have met people who will be useful to you in your search for a home.  You are less likely to be taken for naïve tourists and more likely to be taken under the wing of local people and told about properties that others may not be aware of!

Think carefully about the property type that would suit you – if this is going to be your permanent home in Spain you need to make sure the construction of the property is up to scratch.  Many holiday villas and apartments are sold without any form of heating and many are on complexes that are all but abandoned out of season.  Homes such as these are less likely to suit you.  You will need something that is built well, would appeal to the local market and that’s within or within reach of a year round community.

You will find that a research trip to Spain is invaluable.  It will save you from making the false assumptions and mistakes that many make when they just sell up in the UK with hardly a second thought and transfer all their worldly goods to some villa somewhere in Spain!  Take your time, after all, expatriating is a massive undertaking, and it is not one that should be taken lightly.