Relocation to Spain Experience

[mattyfez]

If there's a decent size Consum supermarket nearby, they may stock Mahou IPA... The one near me does.

Best Spanish Beer of 2021: Mahou Cinco Estrellas Session IPA

The iconic Cinco Estrellas’s new addition by Mahou triumphs as 2021’s best Spanish beer at the London Beer Competition.

londondrinksguide.com

 

[Martynt74]

If there's a decent size Consum supermarket nearby, they may stock Mahou IPA... The one near me does.

Best Spanish Beer of 2021: Mahou Cinco Estrellas Session IPA

The iconic Cinco Estrellas’s new addition by Mahou triumphs as 2021’s best Spanish beer at the London Beer Competition.

londondrinksguide.com

Yeah. Iyes pretty much my go-to. Along with their 0% stuff.

Would still like to get my hands on some decent stuff though at a reasonable location.

 

[Rroff]

What's annoying is that in these smaller towns there never seems to be any advertising for these kind of get togethers so you only hit on them by luck.

Dunno about Spain but around where I live it tends to be on the local Facebook page(s) now and/or a poster up in whatever passes for a community centre, village shop or whatever.

 

[mattyfez]

There does seem to be a bit of a craft beer scene growing in Spain over the last few years although it's much more niche than in the UK..

This opened recently but I don't think it's near you

Home | De Tap Room

www.detaproommojacar.com

Might be worth joining some expat local facebook groups if there are any and asking around... Very useful for other local knowledge too.

 

[Martynt74]

There does seem to be a bit of a craft beer scene growing in Spain over the last few years although it's much more niche than in the UK..

This opened recently but I don't think it's near you

Home | De Tap Room

www.detaproommojacar.com

Might be worth joining some expat local facebook groups if there are any and asking around... Very useful for other local knowledge too.

Yeah we’re in both. I think it’s generally the much smaller local get together where they just pull out tables and beer and chat. Maybe just need to make friends with people for invites.

Mojacar is around 4hrs south. We actually looked around there but not familiar enough with that whole area so felt higher risk.

I think there’s a bar in Elche which is only 20 mins away. I might engineer a visit. Theres also Althaeia in Altea around an hour away.

Also apparently “New Rum Wednesday” isn’t a new thing and not a reason to drink.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Yeah. Iyes pretty much my go-to. Along with their 0% stuff.

Would still like to get my hands on some decent stuff though at a reasonable location.

Reverse booze cruise

 

[Concrete]

Another step done, we've registered on the local Empadriemento, which is similar to the voting register/polling in the UK so they know who lives in the area.

Have sent off some forms for the wifes residency so will see how we get on with that.

Came close to running out of petrol on the way home (3 hours on a motorway in a Jeep Wrangler isn't pleasant!), but found a petrol station.

Still on a make shift desk, but got an offcut from my dad which i can use with my standing desk legs. Am hoping to book some time off before the temperature drops too much, possibly the week after next.

More importantly, i also found booze. Found my favourite rum (Diplomatico Exclusiva) for €34 so i'm happy

Just remember they only last 3 month, absolutely infuriating.

I must have 100 of them across all family members as you need a new one for pretty much anything.

 

[Martynt74]

Reverse booze cruise

Great idea!

Just remember they only last 3 month, absolutely infuriating.

I must have 100 of them across all family members as you need a new one for pretty much anything.

Yeah, it is a bit stupid, not sure why you can't just renew online, such a backwards place!

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Just a thought but maybe if there is a real shortage, try getting a group going to see if there is interest.
You could easily organise a group buy if there is local demand.

Hell it may even be a small business opportunity! (reserving my idea commission now free holiday will be fine )

 

[Martynt74]

Just a thought but maybe if there is a real shortage, try getting a group going to see if there is interest.
You could easily organise a group buy if there is local demand.

Hell it may even be a small business opportunity! (reserving my idea commission now free holiday will be fine )

My wife has actually suggested similar, it's very difficult to get hold of a lot of Non Spanish alcohol, some supermarkets stock the odd thing like Guiness (possibly even Punk IPA), but nothing craft wise. There are a few Spanish breweries, mainly based up near Barcelona so i might check for an online presence.

However the same for wines, trying to get something Italian for example is very tricky, all supermarkets and Bodegas tend to stock Spanish wine only. I got luckily yesterday with the Bodega having a decent Rum selection and even a reasonable Whisky selection (albeit mostly Islay ones and nothing Speyside based )

She suggested i try and setup a small business from home, however i'm not sure i could be trusted to not drink my stock! I believe shipping is also expensive here. Perhaps something to look into when i have more spare time. I guess the main demographic here are either retired Expats who are unlikely to want it, or locals who are happy drinking their cold refreshing lagers out in the sun.

For now though i'm gonna check out the Spanish craft breweries and look to order online i think. It's just a shame that you're then up to the €6/7 per can mark for the really good stuff like https://basquebeer.com/en/, whereas it's be great to have that midrange level you can get in Supermarkets for £3-£4, like Northern Monk, not quite at the best stuff they do, but made to a medium price point.

 

[Concrete]

My wife has actually suggested similar, it's very difficult to get hold of a lot of Non Spanish alcohol, some supermarkets stock the odd thing like Guiness (possibly even Punk IPA), but nothing craft wise. There are a few Spanish breweries, mainly based up near Barcelona so i might check for an online presence.

However the same for wines, trying to get something Italian for example is very tricky, all supermarkets and Bodegas tend to stock Spanish wine only. I got luckily yesterday with the Bodega having a decent Rum selection and even a reasonable Whisky selection (albeit mostly Islay ones and nothing Speyside based )

She suggested i try and setup a small business from home, however i'm not sure i could be trusted to not drink my stock! I believe shipping is also expensive here. Perhaps something to look into when i have more spare time. I guess the main demographic here are either retired Expats who are unlikely to want it, or locals who are happy drinking their cold refreshing lagers out in the sun.

For now though i'm gonna check out the Spanish craft breweries and look to order online i think. It's just a shame that you're then up to the €6/7 per can mark for the really good stuff like https://basquebeer.com/en/, whereas it's be great to have that midrange level you can get in Supermarkets for £3-£4, like Northern Monk, not quite at the best stuff they do, but made to a medium price point.

Lidl / Aldi - Run promotions periodically where they stock English beers and always have a selection of IPAs etc.
Consum / Condis - Always have a few UK speciality beers in rotation and usually stock craft beers as well.

 

[Martynt74]

Lidl / Aldi - Run promotions periodically where they stock English beers and always have a selection of IPAs etc.
Consum / Condis - Always have a few UK speciality beers in rotation and usually stock craft beers as well.

Cheers, i'll sign up for their newsletters and grab them as they pop up. I guess i'm more aiming for the higher end craft stuff generally. Otherwise Mahou IPA is good enough for an everyday beer.

 

[Martynt74]

So, we spent the weekend driving around a lot. I've worked out i picked up the Jeep last Saturday and have spent €270 in petrol so far....

Including this map for reference so people can see where i'm talking about. Blue dot where i'm currently staying.

Saturday we drove up to a place called Sax. Someone had recommended it because it's right on a motorway which then makes accessing other places much better. Our current place is ~20 mins from the motorway. We drove through Sax on the journey down when it was pitch black and the castle is lit up which looks stunning

Sadly the town itself was a massive let down. Just seemed a sprawling centre which not much of anything and not really any visual appeal. A shame as property was dirt cheap. I was eyeing up a massive 6 bedroom house, however this is now ruled out

We then headed to a place called Monovar. This place was better, a bigger town than we'd expected but had some super architecture. Really unusual old buildings you don't often get in Spanish towns. The bars/restaurants all seemed decent too. So this gets to stay on our list. No property options just yet though.

After that we headed the other side of the mountains towards the beach. These were always long shots as it hits a massive flat plain between Alicante and Murcia. Property again gets a little cheaper here in towns of Crevillente and Albatera. Driving through the towns they were "ok", however just never really got a good feel for them. If we saw a super special house we might consider it as a compromise, but it's not thrilling us given other options. Again the benefits are proximity to the beach and being right on an "N" road which is like a big A road in the UK.

I'd also been badgering my wife about a house near to where we're staying. This place was the front runner for me. It had everything i wanted, a decent sized house, big pool, decent plot of land and a separate casita for guests

We worked out where it was via the photos and google and went for a nosey from the outside, the woman clocked us (was obviously we were looking as there's not much else about!). Then waved us over and gave us a tour. It was a great place, but the bedrooms were all slightly too small and the cost to change that would be stupid. Given it's fairly top end of our budget we've moved it to the back burner.



Sunday we headed North of Alicante slightly closer to my parents. There's a place we've never heard of called Busot which kept coming up on house searches. We started off at a place called Agost which was pretty small, it wasn't spectacular by any stretch but was perfectly fine if we found a house we liked.

We then drove north east towards Tibi. This place was a classic Spanish mountain town, i scared my wife on some narrow ass streets. The place was ok, but there are no houses on the outskirts. We passed through towards Jijona which has a fair few houses on the outskirts. This place was off the scale scary for my wife, really narrow streets and some massively steep bits which felt around 30degree descents. Again the Jeep was spectacular (i'm ignoring the fact other regular cars obviously use this road)
We explored some of the outskirts and the houses dotted around. I think it would depend a lot on the location. The town was again "fine" without being special, but the centre was very steep and i think the wife would struggle walking around it.

We finally hit Busot. This place was next level. A tiny little place with one of the nicest little centres we'd seem, everything superbly maintained and even a mural combining most of my favourite things! (Ignore the randoms in the centre, i stole the image from Google)

We had lunch and looked at each other as if we knew we'd found our future home. Pulled up our Idealista account of houses and checked through them. Sadly it then dawned on us that they were all on residential estates and mainly lacked and views of feeling of open ness. We live in home that we can find something that fits the bill. The main benefit of Busot is that it's <1hr to my parents and only 15 minutes from the beaches despite being in the middle of the mountains and you'd never know it.

The owners turned up Saturday night with another family for their weekly holiday for picking the olives. I didn't join in as we were out, but they only made it through 1/3 yesterday so may get a chance to join them this week. They're a nice family and really respectful of the fact we're here. They had agreed not to use the pool, but we said they could use it, which the kids were very thankful for and jumped straight in! It felt really hard on 13yr old kids to have a massive pool and yet be unable to use it!

I'm making the most of work not being too busy and enjoying the place a little today and obviously writing this post. Also got out for a run and reminded myself that this is much better than running around the roads of Preston

Tomorrow we go to see a house that's in the process of being built and meet the developer so will see what happens there.

 

[jpaul]

temperature is now crashing in the UK - you need a, you may find this upsetting warning, on your photos

Do you have to get a full structural survey on houses -
fairly scandalous but about 15 years ago south of France, large drought where their was subsidence on quite a few villas with inadequate foundations,
requiring some partially state aided repairs of additional drilled foundations - one of villa designs, and small building firms don't necessarily deliver good practices.

 

[Martynt74]

temperature is now crashing in the UK - you need a, you may find this upsetting warning, on your photos

Do you have to get a full structural survey on houses -
fairly scandalous but about 15 years ago south of France, large drought where their was subsidence on quite a few villas with inadequate foundations,
requiring some partially state aided repairs of additional drilled foundations - one of villa designs, and small building firms don't necessarily deliver good practices.

No, i think it's optional but a lot of solicitors try and talk you out of it. Our agent seems decent on that kind of thing, we've sent him a few houses that he's immediately shot down due to issues he's aware of and advised he was approached to list it but refused. The benefit being that by using him as our agent, he is purely on our side as he's not the person actually selling the house. They just tend to split the fee from the sellers.

I think it's also where having a really good Gestor/Lawyer is key, there's so many issues that could be caused if something is missed. Same with buying a car. If someone has 20 speeding fines before selling a car, then as the new owner you become liable for them. Loads of other crazy things like that too. Houses being key if there are big outstanding tax/utility bills, no holding up a piece of paper saying you only bought on X data and that's from before. It all transfers with the property.

The agent also mentioned that our "dream house" we loved had no/little foundations like you mention and so would never have been mortgageable, so that's made us feel better. It's definitely something we need to be aware of, also have found since the current owners are here that the walls in this particular house are very thin. You can head a lot through walls (nothing sexual yet!) but things like a coffee machine buzzing and general moving around. Given my wife goes to bed early it's something we need to try and test when viewing.

 

[potatolord]

... If someone has 20 speeding fines before selling a car, then as the new owner you become liable for them. Loads of other crazy things like that too. Houses being key if there are big outstanding tax/utility bills, no holding up a piece of paper saying you only bought on X data and that's from before. It all transfers with the property.

That is bonkers.

 

[Martynt74]

Got to meet the developer today. The house was literally just a shell at the moment so hard to really visualise. Things always look smaller when they're like that. The developer has a big plot of 22,000m2 that he's split into two. Is building one house and then moving onto the second rather than jumping between the two.

Impressions were good, the views were stunning and would never be spoilt. There were a few downsides. It had a kitchen/lounge, and we can't decide if we like that or if we'd prefer separate. His idea is to have everything flowing though with outside tiles being the same as indoor tiles and having bifold doors to really keep inside/outside as one with a good covered area leading through the doors.

It's not connected to mains electric. So he's specced up a 9kw solar array with battery storage priced at €25k, we could connect to the mains for possibly €20k but i like the idea of solar. We could also add a small windmill which could generate 1-2kw. He spent a few years in the US working for solar companies and so is passionate about being self supported and eco friendly. It's a little nervy being that reliant on the sun, but if there's a country to use it, then it's Spain!

He's also including landscaping the remainder of the plot and planting almond/olive trees. He said he knows a local farmer who would harvest and based on that plot would bring in up to €5k/yr. The second plot would also be available if we wanted. He said he's waiting to relocate to Madrid so the idea of just selling the plot is there. I would love to and if we planted more trees then the yield could be ~10% and we could potentially also add some holiday rentals.

I also chatted about the cost to add a double garage as that'd be important to me, and he's going to price up a few options as a prefab structure would likely be best value. The only real negative was the master bedroom. It was probably around 3x5m but would've been nice to be a little bigger. He's going to let us know a price to move the external wall out a bit. If we could make it 5x5 it'd be perfect.

This is the sales advert for the one we'd be interested in. Price is complete including flooring/pool/bathrooms/kitchen. Just excluding appliances and anything we decide to add/change.

New Build » Villa » Hondón de las Nieves » Hondón de las Nieves

New Build » Villa » Hondón de las Nieves » Hondón de las Nieves. Alicante Sales & Lettings are delighted to present this new build 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom

alicante-sl.com

Got 4 more viewings tomorrow.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

In regards solar and Spain. I would get a simple diesel genny added as well if off grid.
Your right its going to be pretty self sufficient but even in Spain they get dodgy weather spells.

Something like a 6kw type range, won't be that big and should your batteries start to get low your can charge them up.
Ideally you would want it built in so that it cannot just be made to disappear

Something like this would be all you needed

Hyundai DHY8000SELR 6kw Long Run Diesel Generator

Equipped with a 30L fuel tank for an increased running time of up to 30 hours. Powered by a 4-stroke, air-cooled D452 Hyundai diesel engine. Produces a maximum power out of 6kW. Uses ATS capabilities to automatically start and shutdown during a power cut. Housed in a silenced case with a sound...

www.justgenerators.co.uk

 

[Martynt74]

In regards solar and Spain. I would get a simple diesel genny added as well if off grid.
Your right its going to be pretty self sufficient but even in Spain they get dodgy weather spells.

Something like a 6kw type range, won't be that big and should your batteries start to get low your can charge them up.
Ideally you would want it built in so that it cannot just be made to disappear

Something like this would be all you needed

Hyundai DHY8000SELR 6kw Long Run Diesel Generator

Equipped with a 30L fuel tank for an increased running time of up to 30 hours. Powered by a 4-stroke, air-cooled D452 Hyundai diesel engine. Produces a maximum power out of 6kW. Uses ATS capabilities to automatically start and shutdown during a power cut. Housed in a silenced case with a sound...

www.justgenerators.co.uk

Good shout, that does indeed look like a handy backup.

Been doing some sums, and with the reduced 60% LTV it limits us a little due to the adjustments we would want. Some could easily wait (like the garage) although it would be best to do initially so it's all officially documented. On the plus side, the mortgage broker i spoke to hinted that due to my employment situation, i may be classed as Fiscally Spanish Tax Resident once i have 3 months payslips which pushes us up to the 70% Rustic property mortgage. That would be ideal and would let me offer a decent upfront payment for the second plot of land

Potentially a risk though as i'd be throwing a €100k downpayment on a house on the basis that they would approve the mortgage at some point in the future. Would need some kind of assurance on that!

 

[jpaul]

Do you get to speak to owners of other houses from this developer as a reference ?

Is the single storey layout largely a planning permission requirement, agree that if the land cost/area permits can create a nicer place, maybe lower cost -
thermal losses are less of an issue, for minimising external surfaces too;
roof is not tiled then, still maintenance free ?