EX-Pats and Owners Abroad

Discussions for EX-Pats and owners abroad or those who are considering this idea.
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The Spanish property market is no more sluggish than elsewhere at the moment, but it is true that British people over here are having trouble shifting their properties, and of course, it is the stories circulated by Brits that people on this forum base their opinion on.

This is a problem which they themselves have contributed to. They have narrowed their market, and they have become victims of an ongoing crisis in the UK.

One of the effects of isolating themselves in urbanizations is that they have made their houses unattractive to all but British buyers. It is extremely unlikely that a Spanish buyer would even look at a house on a British urbanization, and the eastern and northern Europeans who represent the majority of buyers at this particular time, are also put off by the prospect of living in ‘Little England'.

People who live in the sprawling and characterless urban jungles which urbanizations are will have to hold onto their houses until things improve in the UK.

The matter has not been made any better by the so called ‘Property Companies' that used to flourish here. Most of these have now gone bust because they too relied almost exclusively on the UK market. They advertised only in the UK and as soon as things started going wrong they were completely out of their depth. Things were too easy for them for too long and as such they never had the opportunity to develop any real professionalism.

In hindsight, if they had advertised to a wider market and employed staff that could speak the languages that would have been necessary to deal with those clients they would have survived. Also, if they would have started targeting cash buyers from the UK, then for the reasons stated above they would still be in business. Unfortunately for them, they lacked the marketing skills required.

Contrary to popular belief, banks here are not that eager to repossess houses. Sensible schemes have been introduced including the bank renting your own house to you over several years at a much reduced rate, with the option to buy back, and remortgage packages which incorporate all the usual taxes and fees.

Unless you are truly skint it is unlikely that you would lose your home to a bank, and if you are truly skint, then you probably would have lost it regardless.
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Property hasn't dropped very much in relation to the drop in sterling. To get a good deal now there would have to be a drop of 50% as the prices were over inflated a few years ago. Sterling was about 148euro to the pound...today 1.07 :yikes Do the Math!

I live in Spain and contrary to rumours there doesn't seem many bargains around, unless you think 120,000 euro is a snip for a 2 bedroomed concrete box in an urbanisation.
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Yes you are right Jacky the drop in sterling exchange rate must be affecting sales. The OP asked what if you could buy an appartment somewhere for £150,000 and the thread became a discussion on the ins and outs of the property market abroad. So returning to the original question if deciding on Spain . Would spending another £30,000 make any difference to the £120,000 you quoted for a concrete box?
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Yes, it has drifted off-topic! Adding on the high cost of buying in Europe (around10% taxes and legal fees) it would still be the same. I think France is now better value than Spain. Everyday item prices are lower, notice when we drive through. (except petrol!). Some places are cheap for a reason, Egypt, Turkey etc. No use having a nice villa if you are in a place you don't want to be. Some friends bought in inland Spain, nice cheap house. What they didn't know is most of the people living nearby are druggies and Gypsies.

If you are not sure where you want to buy, don't do it. Try different places, rent and get to know the areas/countries.
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I dont think the housing market in most of Europe has really 'bottomed out' yet.

Although saying wait 10 years for things seems a bit unrealistic if its a retirement home. If you are already 55 for example it seems a bit impractical to wait till you are 65 to get your 'bargain' as you may have missed ten years of your retirement (should anyone still be lucky enough to retire at 55 that is ). Same argument if you are 65, you cant really wait till you are 75, just not practical :que there comes a point when you have just got to get on with it.

You really need to think about where you want to be though, perhaps rent for 6 months as has been said, if not certain rent somewhere else for six months. Why buy in somewhere like Turkey just because it is affordable but not really where you want to be ? Even if cheap it can still be an expensive mistake if you loathe it there and have to sell up. Most places there is more supply than demand.

If you have a bit of flexibility money-wise surely better to spend extra, after all you are hopefully going to be living there a long time. Good Luck in finding somewhere.
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Here in Germany prices haven't really fluctuated at all over the past few years. Of course it's a different market , people are mostly here because of their jobs, certainly not because of the weather, (winters with temps of -10° to -20° would only attract the most avid winter sports fan)so there hasn't been the big building boom that happened in Spain. The property I owned in the UK quadrupled it's value in the few years that I owned it, but the cost of houses here have only doubled over the last 30yrs, and we haven't seen a drop in prices such as happened in the UK last year.
We are sort of considering moving somewhere with a better climate now we are in retirement and of course the drop in the pound doesn't really affect us as we are already living in Euro land but I am finding this topic quite interesting especially as people who are experiencing owning/living abroad are contributing to the topic.
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Hi Judith

It's really interesting isn't it. I stayed in a 3 bedroomed detached villa in Frigiliana in Southern Spain in the summer, it was lovely and DH and I were thinking somewhere like this would be nice when we retired (but we would keep somewhere small in the UK as well), so we looked in some estate agents and most of the places that seemed of a similar size and standard were approx 300,000 Euros. I'm not sure how that compares to Germany, but it seemed quite expensive to me, and I am used to high UK prices.

I think as Jacky says that in desirable places the prices are still holding up and that is why she says that 120,000 Euros for a 2 bed concrete box on a complex isn't all that attracive a deal. In a bizzare kind of way the Villa although more expensive is a better value deal taking into account the size of the property, private pool, views, mini orchard etc.
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I think France is now better value than Spain. Everyday item prices are lower, notice when we drive through.


Please be aware of the sting in the tail when you eventually part with your property as the government takes 33% off your sale price straight away as it was not your principal residence!!

Luxembourg and Switzerland are currently the cheapest places in which to fill up.
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Please be aware of the sting in the tail when you eventually part with your property as the government takes 33% off your sale price straight away as it was not your principal residence!!


I will not pretend to be an expert on French CGT but I think you may be wrong as well as looking at the worst case scenario of having the property as a second residence, being a resident of a non EU country and selling up within the first 5 years of owning the French place. Either way, are you sure that any deduction is from the sale price and not the profit?

But there again, as these things tend to change from time to time, it may be best to check out the current purchase taxes and not look upon a purchase as a short term investment (as has been previously mentioned).
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I will not pretend to be an expert on French CGT but I think you may be wrong as well as looking at the worst case scenario of having the property as a second residence, being a resident of a non EU country and selling up within the first 5 years of owning the French place. Either way, are you sure that any deduction is from the sale price and not the profit?


I could be wrong as you suggest Oly, but having lived here now for 17 years, and having had first hand experience of seeing other Brits leaving what is in effect their secondary residence, I have seen this to be the case, and that the tax is off the sale price and not the profit.

These are domestic/national tax regulations that apply to all secondary home owners who are not French nationals with their principal residence in France, or foreigners paying French income tax whose prinicipal residence is here in France. One's country of origin is not taken into account, simply where one's prinicipal residence is. Should the law have changed and I was not aware of it, I stand corrected ....
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I find that very disturbing and not a little confusing.

So, if I, as a Spanish citizen brought a property in France for 220,000 Euro, and held on to it for 11 years (for instance). When I come to sell it for 300,000 Euro I would have to pay 100,000 Euro in tax?

My amateur estimation would be closer to 5,000.

I think your advice needs to be clarified.

However, I would have thought that when buying a property for retirement purposes, capital gains tax would be a secondary concern to inheritance tax. And when dealing with countries such as France, the inheritance rights of children from all previous relationships as well as the present partnership should be seriously considered.
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Just before 2002 and the introduction of the Euro to Spain, we had seriously been considering moving permanently to Spain, working on the peseta currency.
When the euro notes were put into circulation, a lot of people had to get rid of the undisclosed amounts of Pesetas that they had kept under the mattress, so, the best way was in property"¦buy in pesetas during the transition period, hang onto it for a while and sell it in Euros"¦.no questions asked and the start of the building boom.

The prices went through the roof and most people were saying that "give it time for the euro currency to be fully adopted and the Pesetas dropped completely, that this would bring the market back into the world of reality".
The landlords also got greedy, the average price of renting escalated and most rental contracts are for 11 months only, because if you get a rental contract for 12 months, you as a tenant have "rights".

I live in Yorkshire and my house is worth between £155,00/ £160,000 and we couldn't buy anything remotely decent in Spain for that, not in the area where we wanted to live"¦.buying a concrete box on a British urbanisation was totally out of the question and buying a derelict farmhouse or villa miles from anywhere, was also a no option.
If my house had been built somewhere else, it could have been valued double the price of £160,000 and maybe we could have had a realistic chance of buying in Spain.

There have been some good points raised by Jacky and Oly Daze, a lot of people who have bought in Spain cannot sell their property because of where it is, and also because they are up to their necks in mortgages and cannot afford to drop the price.

We were never going to buy straight away, we would have done when we found the "right place" and the immediate plan was to put the money from the sale of my house into a UK bank (we have no mortgage) and (at the time) the interest made from the capital in the bank would go a long way towards paying the rent in Spain"¦.and if it "all went wrong" and we did decide to come back before we bought any property, we would always have some capital to buy another house in the UK, and although we wouldn't get the same house today for the £155,000, we would be able to buy A house.

Wind forward a few years, we put the house on the market, started getting rid of stuff and arranged for transfer of personal things to be taken by van to Spain.
We had pressure from the Spanish guy who wanted confirmation about this apartment we were going to rent, and well into the sale procedure, out of the blue we got a phone call to say the buyer had dropped out and retracted the offer.
My hubby got cold feet and it all became too much for him, so, in a fit of temper he rang the estate agents and told them to take the house off the market, and now we are still here in the UK.

Wind forward a few more years, and today the capital in the bank would be making peanuts, the property market in Spain is saturated and I read recently that if another brick was never laid, it will take over 2 years to clear/sell the empty built properties.

There's also another scenario for those people who bought villas away from the nearby coast, because the increase of crime in the coastal resorts which attract thieves targeting the tourists, which they are slowly trying to eradicate the organised gangs out of the resorts, for the sake of protecting Spain's tourist industry, now these low life's are targeting the remote villas.

I have a Spanish friend who lived in an urbanisation just outside Benidorm"¦..
She had a beautiful villa that was designed like a miniature castle and 5 years ago, she wouldn't bother to lock the door while she popped into the next village to pick up her teenage son from music college.
Now, she has iron bars on the windows, several security measures and she got herself a dog"¦..a big one.!
Why? because when you drive the low life out of the resorts, they don't all become law abiding citizens the next day, and they turn their attentions to the people inland.

She has since moved to Polop and she had problems selling her villa, and it wasn't because of the price or the location of her particular villa"¦..
She told me that in today's climate, even the Spanish are feeling more safe in numbers and that fantastic villa you might have bought, is no longer appealing to anyone.

There are some days when I feel angry that we never went to live in Spain (that's where my heart is) and I sometimes resent my hubby, I couldn't afford to go on my own and live on my income, and at the same time, I didn't want to destroy his life here in the UK"¦.it messed up my brain/marriage for quite a while, but now even though in my heart I still want to live in Spain, things have changed and Spain is not the same Spain I fell in love with"¦..
With failing health, living on a British state pension and not worth keeping your money in the bank"¦
For me, if I'm realistic, I know the chance has gone forever.

Sanji
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And when dealing with countries such as France, the inheritance rights of children from all previous relationships as well as the present partnership should be seriously considered.


Don't even go there Oly!! It's even hell for the French!!
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Your post reminded me Sanji, the lovely villa I mentioned I stayed in during the summer in Frigiliana had massive Patio doors that went on to a huge balcony that looked down into the beautiful valley. After I had opened the patio doors of a morning I then had to open even huger (is that a word?) metal security grids :( The sort of gates you get inside old fashioned lifts.

Also all the windows had the same metal security grids over them. Presumably Hulio knows that if he can't let the property all season, it is at risk of break-ins. There are plenty of villas in this area, but they aren't all on top of each other and I would imagine they are a burglars dream as you can probably operate unnoticed for hours without being intrupted if you get wind of the fact that a place is empty. :(
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Good post Sanji! I think things have probably worked out the best for you. As you say Spain isn't what it was. Best to keep your image of Spain as a tourist and you get the best of both worlds, I know you have lots of holidays :tup

I don't find crime a problem and I live on the coast. The worst places are where there are lots of tourist rentals as thieves are drawn to them. They are not so bothered about household items they want cash and credit cards, something that tourists have lots of. Where I live it is all residential more spanish than British. The iron bars on the windows are called rejas. Usually they are not like the lift ones described above but patterned. They are useful as you can leave all the windows open and pop in the pool without worrying. We leave a window open all night in the kitchen so our two cats can come and go.
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Thanks Jacky, like you say, the prices haven't dropped, I was in Spain last month and I still look in the inmobiliario (estate agent) windows....yes, some have dropped a couple of thousand, but it was probably way over priced anyway and dropping from €250,000 to €245,000 still isn't a bargain.

The OP asked what would you do ?......
I did have (or would have) £150,000,(even today) and knowing where I wanted to spend that money was never a problem.
It would have taken all the capital from the sale of my house, plus the money we have saved and inherited to buy anything decent....and despite the credit crunch and the bottom falling out of the Spanish property market....that still remains today.

It would have left us with no leeway for unexpected events and logically that would have been a stupid scenario to put ourselves in because the property market is no longer a "safe" investment....Today, add onto that the problem of the exchange rate and living on a British state pension, and you can see why some Brits in Spain are in the poo.

There are a lot of people who have done exactly as above, they bought when the pound was a lot stronger, but never considered what would happen when or if the pound sterling dropped, or what would happen when the Spanish property market bubble burst...and anybody could forecast that it was only a matter of time before the bubble would eventually burst because they were building at a rate that outstripped demand.

The only good thing about the Spanish property market is, that if you put an offer in for property, you have pay money up front (10%) and if you change your mind and drop out of the sale procedure, you lose that money, which is a kind of "deposit".
It also works the other way, if the seller drops out and takes the property off the market, he/she has to pay you DOUBLE the 10% deposit.

My Spanish friend just couldn't believe that we have a system in the UK, where you can drop out of the sale procedure and have no monetary penalties....she was absolutely flabbergasted"¦.
If we adopted that system, I would have stood to make a few thousands from the :swear that lead me up the garden path and then pulled the rug from under my feet. :evil:
Sanji
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I'M off topic but I believe that not everywhere in the UK has the same rules when buying property, I think in Scotland once an offer has been accepted you have entered into a legally binding agreement and dropping out may incur penalties. I'm sure one of our Scottish members will correct me if I am wrong.

Judith
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Hi jacky

I probably did the rejas a diservice calling them like the ones in lifts as it was the only way I could think of describing them :oops: , they were not unattractive. Didn't meant to sound too negative as I thought they were a good idea, and as you say mean you can leave your windows open while around the pool and in the garden. Perhaps if villa owners don't have them it might affect their Insurance Premiums as well. Im sure you are right and that it is much more productive to go for cards and cash in areas of high rental capacity, making residential areas less at risk.

Doe
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