[Anonymous]

hello all,

I would like to know for the people living in Spain, what does all these budget cuts mean for their daily life, will these motivate more expats to depart from Spain as the conditions may be to hard to live with?, I would like the opinion of people living full time in Spain, (I am planning my move to Spain later this year or maybe not!!!! 😯 )

[Anonymous]

It won’t be long before there are 2.5 million people living in Spain with no jobs, no income, and no benefits whatsoever. I don’t know what happens then but I doubt it will be very pleasant.

There are already beggars on every corner in Barcelona.

[Chopera]

@Jaime wrote:

hello all,

I would like to know for the people living in Spain, what does all these budget cuts mean for their daily life, will these motivate more expats to depart from Spain as the conditions may be to hard to live with?, I would like the opinion of people living full time in Spain, (I am planning my move to Spain later this year or maybe not!!!! 😯 )

It depends. Spain is trying to deflate internally (absolute madness) so if you have a steady pension or other income stream it might be a great time to move – things are getting cheaper. Also in the 8 years I’ve been in Madrid, the English teachers have never had it so good. There’s still plenty of work and rents have come down. On the other hand taxes and transport costs have gone up. As with any recession, if you can keep the money flowing in then opportunities will arise.

[Anonymous]

Agreed Mark, who knows what will happen? I heard the other day that 50,000 ? live in their cars in Barcelona?

We are surviving with two young children thanks to our parents, something we in our mid 30’s are very ashamed about. My Dad came here to live near us but now wants to sell the land and return to Ireland.

Things will never be the same here again I fear. We’ll probably have to pack our bags and leave, but to where when we have to send back 500 euros plus for the mortgage and monthly outgoings on a flat we can’t hand back to the bank. How much will we need to earn to pay rent somewhere else, live and send money back here? I guess we’ll have to live with my Dad and I wonder how many other families are going to have to do the same thing, live together because otherwise they can’t afford to live at all.

How are we going to do it? Who knows but we’ll have to as there aren’t any charities knocking at our door.

(previous long message deleted, incase anyone had seen it, as I thought best not to publish so much personal information online. It’s painful but probably best not to share with everyone in the world…. short version is husband on the dole which has now run out so we get nothing apart from 5 euros an hour when I can do an english lesson for local spanish children. I guess others are charging more in Madrid for english but here not. Very sad and I really hope things pick up because we are too young to be so down about life!)

Jaime, are you Spanish yourself? I hope you aren’t an estate agent trying to test the reactions of people suffering here for opportunites?

[Anonymous]

hi itsme, sorry to hear about your problems, this are hard times for all, no I am not an agent and your sufferings break my heart, we reside in Canada and plan to retire at the end of the year perhaps in Spain, so I am trying to find all I can to see if it is feasible for us to move or not, actually I am looking for a tax gestor or someone that can advice me about taxation in Spain as we will be in May in Granada, does anyone know a good gestor or adviser that I can see in Granada area?

itsme, I hope all your challenges get better and that you will be able to achieve your goals.

take care
Jaime

[Anonymous]

Thanks Jaime, ‘we will survive’ as the song goes…

What I would say is RENT first and get to know different places first before you buy anywhere. Try at least a year (the cold of winter and heat of the summer). Then you’ll know for yourselves if it’s right for you or not? Then if renting you can go off and try out the south of France as well ?

[Anonymous]

Itsme, don’t lose heart. You never know what’s around the corner.

Mark

[Chopera]

@Itsme – I’m sorry to hear about your economic situation. All too familiar I’m afraid. I have Spanish friends with 3 children trying to survive on very little, and their respective families are helping them out as well. I personally think there is nothing to be ashamed about – your generation was heavily conned into buying over priced property by the banks and the government (not your fault), while the previous generation benefited greatly (not their fault either, it’s just how it panned out). This happened in Ireland, the UK, Spain and the US.

In Madrid English teachers get paid between €15/hour and €35/hr I’ve been told. The problem is its difficult to do more than 25 hrs a week, and more than 40 weeks a year. Considering that Madrid is still relatively expensive it ain’t that great – but it’s better than nothing.

[Chopera]

@Jaime wrote:

hi itsme, sorry to hear about your problems, this are hard times for all, no I am not an agent and your sufferings break my heart, we reside in Canada and plan to retire at the end of the year perhaps in Spain, so I am trying to find all I can to see if it is feasible for us to move or not, actually I am looking for a tax gestor or someone that can advice me about taxation in Spain as we will be in May in Granada, does anyone know a good gestor or adviser that I can see in Granada area?

itsme, I hope all your challenges get better and that you will be able to achieve your goals.

take care
Jaime

As itsme has already said, it is vital to rent first and at least spend a winter in your target area. Not only can things get cold (as a Canadian you won’t need telling of course) but many areas become ghost towns, with shops and bars closing down for the winter, etc. You also need to develop a feel for your target market, so you get to understand what is a decent price (it probably won’t be the asking price) and any other issues (maybe some houses weren’t built legally, do they get broken into, have all the services been connected, etc, etc).

[DBMarcos99]

@Chopera wrote:

@Itsme – I’m sorry to hear about your economic situation. All too familiar I’m afraid. I have Spanish friends with 3 children trying to survive on very little, and their respective families are helping them out as well. I personally think there is nothing to be ashamed about – your generation was heavily conned into buying over priced property by the banks and the government (not your fault), while the previous generation benefited greatly (not their fault either, it’s just how it panned out). This happened in Ireland, the UK, Spain and the US.

In Madrid English teachers get paid between €15/hour and €35/hr I’ve been told. The problem is its difficult to do more than 25 hrs a week, and more than 40 weeks a year. Considering that Madrid is still relatively expensive it ain’t that great – but it’s better than nothing.

Yes, I know English teachers based in Madrid, and 25-35 a hour for business classes is fairly common. Drawback is that the work dies away in the summer (Madrid virtually shuts down in August). I know a lot of teachers take the opportunity to either take a holiday, or to work for a language school in the UK or Ireland for 4-8 weeks. But it isn’t ideal, and the UK earnings don’t amount to much, especially taking into account the cost of living, flights etc.

[Author]

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