Buy in spain?

Tsmith3

Myself and my husband are considering selling our house in the UK. We have around 250 000 equity and looking to have more enjoyment in our lives instead of working and paying bills and not really getting anywhere or enjoying time with our three children. We are not looking to make lots of money but just want new opportunities. So we are thinking we will pay off debt of around 20 000. Rent a house. Buy a villa in spain for around 80-100.000 which we will use for holidays and also rent it out to make a small Income. We also want to buy a holiday home in the UK for around 30 000. There will be money left over and we hope to start property developing (As my husband is a builder). I feel doing this will open doors and give us new opportunities. If anyone can offer any advice/ pros/ cons etc. We would be very grateful of any feed back or experience.
Thanks
Tracey

melanzana

Why are you asking here?

Get thee to the expat Spanish forums now.

And get independent advice. Hope it works out for you.

csgohan4

been a lot of scams in the Spanish housing area for expats, houses unfinished, developer's running away with the money, good luck

AnotherJoe

Buying abroad is fraught with difficulties (=cost) especially in Spain.
It's also not cheap managing a foreign holiday rental. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a better financial option to put that money into a house in the U.K. instead of paying rent and just rent a villa when you want to go to Spain . Realistically with hubby running a new property development company and with three kids, how often would you be able to go away to this villa ?

Also, just what sort of holiday home can you buy for £30k ??? Is that for your family or trying to make an income ? If it's for you, that takes time away from going to Spain.

Have you actually worked though the numbers ? And even if so, is it wise, if hubby is starting a brand new business, to put so much of your capital into an asset that will be hard to make use of and will add to workload?

I'd suggest you start getting the business established first rather than doing everything at once. You say you don't get much time with the kids but then are looking at buying two properties that need managing at the same time as a new business start up! That's a lot on your plate. Don't take this personally but I don't think you've thought this through.

Davesnave

To be honest, I was too lazy to say the sort of things Joe has; I just muttered "Huh, car crash!" and moved on.

Being honest with yourself is important too. The first very obvious question to ask is why are you in debt now if you are working too much to enjoy the kids?

I live out in the sticks, but even here, builders have plenty of work and actually turn some jobs away, so why complicate a business venture in the UK, which offers enough to skilled people who can follow through and deliver?

Also, God knows what will happen with Brexit; certainly nobody else does yet!

sal_III

So you plan to sell 1 property in the UK, and with the proceeds buy 1 property in Spain, 1 property in the UK, rent in the UK and have capital left to start a property development/house flipping business...

Sounds a bit optimistic to me.

Why do you think it will be financially viable to buy and rent out a property in Spain part time, while paying rent in UK yourselves full time, instead of the other way around?

Holiday home in the UK for £30k? Where?

If you are unhappy with where you currently live, why don't you just sell and move to the area where you will be happy (presumably where you plan to rent)? £250k equity should be enough for any part of the UK. Then take your holiday in Spain, renting a holiday property similar to what you are looking to buy. I guarantee you it will end up cheaper and produce the same non-financial result.

00ec25

Tsmith3 wrote: »

Myself and my husband are considering selling our house in the UK. We have around 250 000 equity and looking to have more enjoyment in our lives instead of working and paying bills and not really getting anywhere or enjoying time with our three children.

so you need to work less, how is starting a new business going to achieve that?

Tsmith3 wrote: »

We are not looking to make lots of money but just want new opportunities. So we are thinking we will pay off debt of around 20 000. Rent a house.

so you will remain wage slaves depending on an income to keep a roof over your head

Tsmith3 wrote: »

Buy a villa in spain for around 80-100.000 which we will use for holidays and also rent it out to make a small Income.

idealistic. How many Spanish ex pat forums have you read?
Do you have any knowledge of what it means to own an overseas holiday home. You pay someone to look after it. You go there and spend your own holiday time doing maintenance on it, or you pay someone to do that for you and thus don't make money. You fall out of love with the location and try to sell at which point you find out that under Spanish law you were never an owner and you now owe shedloads of "property" taxes

Tsmith3 wrote: »

We also want to buy a holiday home in the UK for around 30 000. There will be money left over and we hope to start property developing (As my husband is a builder). I feel doing this will open doors and give us new opportunities. If anyone can offer any advice/ pros/ cons etc. We would be very grateful of any feed back or experience.

so the left over money and most of your husband's time will be spent on refurbishing the ruin you purchased for 30k somewhere in the UK. factored into that money pit will be the cost of travelling to and from the location every time and the feeling that you can't relax when there as there is always one more job to be done.

Nebulous2

00ec25 wrote: »

so the left over money and most of your husband's time will be spent on refurbishing the ruin you purchased for 30k somewhere in the UK. factored into that money pit will be the cost of travelling to and from the location every time and the feeling that you can't relax when there as there is always one more job to be done.

Is this from bitter experience?

I've just bought a holiday home - listed building over 270 years old. We usually spend our holidays touring in France / Spain. This year I'm spending it breaking up cement flowerbeds and carrying rubble to the council skip. Two days in and I'm beginning to get the message that I've underestimated the size of the task.

00ec25

Nebulous2 wrote: »

Is this from bitter experience?

a mix, it is from
- reading about the mistakes made by other people
- knowing from personal experience what it requires to run multiple (rental, but not FHL) properties
- seeing family members maintaining a holiday home in Kent which we got to use for holidays, whilst they got to go there to do maintenance tasks (for which i got pocket money to help out on as a kid)