Wish you were here?

[katy]

They are all looking for cave houses, wooden ones and caravans.

[jpinks]

Tell that to the TV programme makers, they seem to think *everyone* wants to move to Spain and live in Utopia (Andalucia) There's a small downturn in the selling market over the last 6 months - but I saw in the news that UK house-prices are on their way up again - so that will boost sales here too.

[Lorraine - Mijas]

Hi Jpinks,
"A small downturn" your having a laugh surely!!! and it's been going on a lot longer than six months.
Lorraine

[JJ]

I don't mean to be incendiary but don't you think that Kevin has his opinion and we have ours? Why don't we just leave it at that?

[Guest]

the binge drinking and excesses that follow, the drug abuse and the failure of the judiciary to contain

Interestingly, at the moment I've been reading the following, "El Observatorio Europeo de Drogas y Toxicomanía ha certificado las tendencias alcistas en el consumo de droga en España. Proporcionalmente, es el país con más consumidores de cocaína de la Unión Europea y forma parte del trío de cabeza de consumidores de cannabis, junto a Reino Unido y Dinamarca" Also a letter in the national paper yesterday from someone living in Madrid complaining about the "botellones" and drug taking that go on in all the local parks by underage drinkers, with all the resulting mess, aggro etc. So whilst I would not want to defend the scumbags we have here nowadays, by no means do we have the monopoly, Spain leads the field when it comes to drugs, and can more than hold it´s own in the cities, when it comes to drinking. Time you cleaned those rose coloured glasses!

PS, my adopted country is Finland (a truly green AND pleasant land)

If it's so pleasant, why does Finland has one of the highest rates of suicide mortality in the world?

Frank, your above quotation has nothing to do with me, true, people in Finland DO top themselves, regularly, but that's just a state of mind, my point is that, statistiically (if that word exists) Finland is one of the cleanest and safest places to live in the world, and we don't have cricket bores here, OK we have ice hockey bores!

[Guest]

You didnt answer the question about climate, Topper and you are just reinforcing my view.
You are going back to Spain in January? But not in August? I can guess why, I dont blame you - it is hot isnt it ?. Staying in the North of Europe for summer sounds like a good idea. I suspect many contributors to this forum would or do do the same.

Why are you referring to me as topper?

[silver]

A small downturn

Downturn is a funny word, and perhaps should be slowdown on the sale of 2nd hand property ( a lot of which are up for sale to speculate and not to move back)..there is a limit to the amount of people who wish/CAN make the move to Spain...and those who can, no long limit the area of residence to the Costa del Sol. Brits are not the only ones that buy property. According to the latest study (bank)The price of new property is still rising, by 16% this year with 708.000 new homes being built.. It is much easier to obtain a mortgage on a new property, so it is not surprising that other properties are on the market for a long time.

climate

If you want to talk climate, world climate is changing..was it Manchester that had a tornado? If you do a research on world climate you will find predictions as to where England will be in the future..I always thought that was the reason for Exodus.

[jpinks]

Well - it's a small downturn where I am in the deep campo. The resellers are frequently just moving up a step in the ladder, buying a larger place that they have had their eye on for a while. It does take time to negotiate for a larger property at a sensible price.

And the climate is changing - of course. we have *such* short memories. A human lifetime is a blink of an eye in the life of our climate. Look at the archives showing deeply cold winters in London in *beep*'s time around 1800, and many other examples. There is little point in chasing the weather - it will have changed by the time you get there

[jpinks]

I can't believe that the auto censor deleted the famous victorian author's name Charles *beep*

[frank]

Reading an article in the paper today, it says that now, one in every 13 persons in UK is an immigrant! And Wembley, 52% of the population are immigrants. Looking at the list, I see there are 54,000 Spanish here, an increase of 40% since 1991. Must be you Brits driving them out! And Pitypannu's favourite country, Finland, 11,000, an increase of 108% since 1991. Seems those that aren't committing suicide, are flocking to UK!
I attended a meeting of a Spanish group last night, and speaking to 3 Spanish people there, they all told me they are here working in UK, because a. they can't get a job in Spain, and b. the wages here are so much higher than in Spain. One works in the chemical industry, one a vet, and one a translator. Seems there is a big surplus in vets, doctors, nurses etc, the universities are churning them out, but no jobs for them. And they were all from the more prosperous north, from Barcelona.

[kevin77]

UK has more immigrants than emigrants thats obvious. The country must have something going for it even if its not our winter weather! Not that some contributors to this forum would recognize that. They have made their decision to leave and now wont say a good word about their homeland.

[silver]

Yeh..for work England is great.

[Guest]

Where are all these people who are queueing up to buy here.??????
Try telling that to the thousands of people trying to sell their properties, I bet they wouldn't be too quick to agree!!
Lorraine

Lorraine, people would sell their houses in Spain, no problem, if they weren't so greedy, the problem is that the, so called, real estate agents (most of whom don't have a single academic or technical credit to their name) insist on taking huge commissions, sadly the sellers go along with it, the result is that some idiot comes along, buys it at an obscenely inflated prices then moans when they realise they can't sell for what they believe is the market price.
Most of the coastal properties built in the last 25 years are now overpriced by 20-30%, I bought a 70 square metre apartment, 2 beds, 2 baths, 2 balconies and fully fitted kitchen in Calahonda, La Siesta 1 (a very nice property) in 1992 for £40000 I sold it in 94 for £55000, It has recently sold for €230000, for this price you can buy a 3 bed house on the outskirts of Mãlaga (10mins to town) with a decent plot of land.
There are thousands of people willing to invest in property in Spain or other sunny climes, but they're not daft enough to buy at silly prices when they know that they can buy cheaper elsewhere, surf the net, you can find new apartments in Turkey and Bulgaria for less than €60000, no matter what you think about the political regimes or infrastructures of these countries ther'es no doubt that as holiday home destinations they are becoming very popular, it's also possible to buy a 3 bed cottage in Provence for less €200000, drop the prices and the properties will sell!

[kevin77]

Yeh..for work England is great.

Careful you are saying something good about England.

[silver]

Careful you are saying something good about England.

There are many things good in England, but life is better here..unless you need to work.
You would feel more at home if you frequented British forums where you could perhaps find a friend.

[kevin77]

but life is better here..unless you need to work.

Exactly what I think - unfortunately everybody is not in your position. People sell up and go to Spain and then cant find work. Maybe we should tell them about it.

You would feel more at home if you frequented British forums

I thought this was a British forum? All postings are in English, practically none by Spanish people. Shall we all start posting in Spanish?- we would soon see a drastic fall in the number of messages.

[hillybilly]

world climate is changing..was it Manchester that had a tornado?

Barcelona too this morning I saw on the news - badly affected the airport.

[jenna m]

A lovely dry and sunny day here - just sitting down to watch the cricket.
Spain I will leave until about November this time.
Some of you are sounding tetchy , take a break come to the U.K.
You will return to Spain all the better for the change of scene.
Major problem though - you will find that you can no longer AFFORD to move back to the U.K.

[kevin77]

My thoughts exactly Jenna, in fact ive started planning my next trip to Spain in October when its a bit cooler. Hope I dont run into some of these grumpey old gits.

[Guest]

A lovely dry and sunny day here - just sitting down to watch the cricket.
Spain I will leave until about November this time.
Some of you are sounding tetchy , take a break come to the U.K.
You will return to Spain all the better for the change of scene.
Major problem though - you will find that you can no longer AFFORD to move back to the U.K.

As you can see jenna, from this forum many of us have no intention of returning to the UK!