Spain - 35% writedowns suggest carnage ahead

seven-day-weekend

If the £1 falls much further against the Euro, we will not have enough to live on, even with our really frugal lifestyle and no mortgage.

We're better off than most though, we have a UK house and can just lock up and leave our Spanish one.

If we have to return to the UK to sit out the recession, at least our small income will not suffer from the exchange rate, my husband will be sixty and entitled to things like heating allowance, we can do some eBay trading again and I can try to get some sort of paid work here and there.

I do not know how people with huge mortgages on their Spanish places (espevcially if they are in sterling), manage.

Yes I do actually - there is a young family who came here to rural Spain to 'run a business' who are in this position and they are living apart because the husband has had to go back to the UK to earn enough money to pay his £750 a month mortgage. The business never got off the ground.

They are trapped because they cannot sell their Spanish house for the amount that would cover the mortgage (or for any amount actually, at the moment).

NOT what most aspiring expats see.

dopester

baby_boomer wrote: »

Falling £ puts the squeeze on the Costa dream.

I'll have to check previous posts on this thread, but papers were reporting today your average pensioner living over there is £220 per month less well off after the recent big falls in £ to € exchange rate.

seven-day-weekend

dopester wrote: »

I'll have to check previous posts on this thread, but papers were reporting today your average pensioner living over there is £220 per month less well off after the recent big falls in £ to € exchange rate.

See my post above.......

As well as the exchange rate falling, the cost of living in Spain (which used to be considerably cheaper than the UK), has gone up.

Pobby

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

If the £1 falls much further against the Euro, we will not have enough to live on, even with our really frugal lifestyle and no mortgage.

We're better off than most though, we have a UK house and can just lock up and leave our Spanish one.

If we have to return to the UK to sit out the recession, at least our small income will not suffer from the exchange rate, my husband will be sixty and entitled to things like heating allowance, we can do some eBay trading again and I can try to get some sort of paid work here and there.

I do not know how people with huge mortgages on their Spanish places (espevcially if they are in sterling), manage.

Yes I do actually - there is a young family who came here to rural Spain to 'run a business' who are in this position and they are living apart because the husband has had to go back to the UK to earn enough money to pay his £750 a month mortgage. The business never got off the ground.

They are trapped because they cannot sell their Spanish house for the amount that would cover the mortgage (or for any amount actually, at the moment).

NOT what most aspiring expats see.

You must be witnessing some scary stuff there right now.I am honestly pleased that you have options and will be OK.:T

During my travels there it was pretty clear that you really did need to think out the whole business of becoming an ex pat. I couldn`t get my head around the couples with young kids out there with no visible means of support. Seems so irresponsible. I did witness a few UK businesses outside of running a bar but all of them were based in highly populated areas. The busiest seemed to be the ex pat food shops selling highly expensive gravy granules!

Lots of computer repair and tv install businesses.

Would you agree that many were tempted by the low cost of living there, or as it was say 5 years ago? That`s one thing that did it for me. It seemed like I would be able to live there in style in retirement. Oh well. I could have done it and found myself caught out.

seven-day-weekend

Pobby wrote: »

You must be witnessing some scary stuff there right now.I am honestly pleased that you have options and will be OK.:T

During my travels there it was pretty clear that you really did need to think out the whole business of becoming an ex pat. I couldn`t get my head around the couples with young kids out there with no visible means of support. Seems so irresponsible. I did witness a few UK businesses outside of running a bar but all of them were based in highly populated areas. The busiest seemed to be the ex pat food shops selling highly expensive gravy granules!

Lots of computer repair and tv install businesses.

Would you agree that many were tempted by the low cost of living there, or as it was say 5 years ago? That`s one thing that did it for me. It seemed like I would be able to live there in style in retirement. Oh well. I could have done it and found myself caught out.

One of the things that made us decide to come here was the low cost of living that enabled us to live on my husband's reduced Teachers' pension, seeing as neither of us are old enough yet for State Pensions (roll on January 2010!:rotfl:)

However, we would not have come had we have not had this income. We would not have done as many expats our age (and younger) did, which was selling up in the UK, buying a cheap house in Spain, and then living on the rest of the capital. Without exception, everyone we know who has done this, their capital has run out (or is running out). And because they have sold their house in the UK to come here, they can no longer go back easily. Most of them are not entitled to Spanish State Benefits and there is virtually no work for expats in this rural area (nor for Spaniards either for that matter) - my friend who is in this position has luckily managed to get some work for herself and her husband through the company she worked for in the UK , but most are not this fortunate.

We also would not have come if it had meant selling up completely in the UK - even if we just had a studio flat we'd have kept something. Luckily our UK house was already paid for, and we worked out that if our son lived in it with a lodger or two, their would pay the bills and expenses on that house and provide our son with a home.

With combination of savings, the lump sum from my husband's Pension and the proceeds of the sale of an investment property that we'd bought on a mortgage when we were both working, we were able to afford this little cheap house, and then later the little 'wreck' next door - total cost £47000. If we could not have got what we wanted for our budget, we'd have given up on the idea.

So, we have a mortgage-free house and a modest income and a UK bolt-hole so we are in a better position than many.

Some things are still cheaper here (notably the 'Council tax', the yearly cost of which is the same as the monthly instalment in the UK - however in cities it is about the same as the UK.

So, Spain is no longer the cheap option it was, even rural, and also in rural Spain there is no work, so anyone thinking of relocating please be aware of all these things

RecoveringAlcoholic

Primary cause of death for UK Expats living in Spain is alcoholism.

Source:

Members of Alcoholics Anonymous who have returned to the UK from Spain..

mr.broderick

RecoveringAlcoholic wrote: »

Primary cause of death for UK Expats living in Spain is alcoholism.

Really? In the uk it is rare for that to be stated as the reason for death on the certificate.

mr.broderick

RecoveringAlcoholic wrote: »

Primary cause of death for UK Expats living in Spain is alcoholism.

Can i also ask are you really a recovering alcoholic or is it just a made up name? As far as i was aware you never actually recovered from being an alcoholic.

seven-day-weekend

Yes, unfortunately there are many alcoholics amongst the expat community, particularly on the coast (although I know of none amongst the dozen expat families in our mountain village).

I think the combination of sun, sea and cheap sangria, coupled with having nothing to do, has helped this up until recently, although of course the expats on the coast have suffered from the same rise in cost of living and falling exchange rate as the rest of us recently, and so some at least will be returning to the UK.

treliac

Although, as I understand, acute medical care is available to ex-pats under reciprocal EU rules, the Spanish will not take responsibility for the long term care of Brits living in Spain.

So more worry lies ahead for those living there into old age who lose their independence. Some are already known to have had to suffer the distress of being brought back to the UK, in a very frail state.