AMA: Living in Spain

[davidI]

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You are simply an uncultured N. Americano. El Bulli, Arzak, El celler de Can Roca, Azurmendi, etc.
https://www.businessinsider.com/worl...ts-2015-2015-6

lol, k. I've spent the last 15 years living and traveling overseas but remain "uncultured".

Yes, there are lots of Michelin Starred Spanish Restaurants IN SPAIN which is exactly my point.

While the gastronomy here is amazing, you don't find many Spanish restaurants (other than tapas bars, which aren't really considered Restaurants in Spain) or Spanish food products (cheeses, jamon, chorizo, salchichon, lomo, pate, etc.) whereas French / Italian / Greek products are much more common.

How many French and Italian Restaurants are in NYC, Chicago, LA, Hong Kong, Singapore, Toronto, Vancouver, etc. How many Spanish restaurants are there?

That's my whole point - it's underrated.

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Sounds like a capitalist's nightmare.

Yep. Big part of why I quit my job to 'retire' early.

Why work my ass off for the corrupt government to take half - although it seems Trudeau is on a mission to take Canada in the same direction.

[killramos]

I think saying that Spanish Cuisine is underrated relative to Italian here in Canada is a fair statement.

[Buster]

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I think saying that Spanish Cuisine is underrated relative to Italian here in Canada is a fair statement.

How does it compare to Ukrainian?

[ExtraSlow]

Spanish cuisine is great, Spanish wine is great. Both are ExtraSlow approved.

[killramos]

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How does it compare to Ukrainian?

I think I have already stated my opinion on that one. Spanish Food > boiled beets and potatoes.

[The_Rural_Juror]

Jamon Iberico

[killramos]

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Jamon Iberico

The real Tendies

[shakalaka]

Where is a good place in Spain to have a holiday property? Somewhere that is not completely isolated so that you have no services or have to drive a lot for shopping/amenities etc., but also not super-busy like in the middle of Barcelona.

EDIT: Also, how essential is it to know Spanish if you want to spend a few weeks to a month or so over there relatively frequently?

[Buster]

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Where is a good place in Spain to have a holiday property? Somewhere that is not completely isolated so that you have no services or have to drive a lot for shopping/amenities etc., but also not super-busy like in the middle of Barcelona.

Just charter a yacht.

[shakalaka]

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Just charter a yacht.

I hear that's for popstars like Drake - not for us common folk.

[Buster]

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I hear that's for popstars like Drake - not for us common folk.

Also popular in Aspen

[killramos]

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Where is a good place in Spain to have a holiday property? Somewhere that is not completely isolated so that you have no services or have to drive a lot for shopping/amenities etc., but also not super-busy like in the middle of Barcelona.

EDIT: Also, how essential is it to know Spanish if you want to spend a few weeks to a month or so over there relatively frequently?

How bad is your Spanish? If you want English to be available to you then you are pretty stuck with the British tourist destinations along the med coast. But that’s probably where you want to be anyway.

My uncle has a place in Gandia which is a pretty tight spot. But that entire coast is littered with towns and beaches.

[Buster]

I was surprised at how difficult it was to get around spain without spanish.

[sexualbanana]

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How bad is your Spanish? If you want English to be available to you then you are pretty stuck with the British tourist destinations along the med coast. But that’s probably where you want to be anyway.

My uncle has a place in Gandia which is a pretty tight spot. But that entire coast is littered with towns and beaches.

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I was surprised at how difficult it was to get around spain without spanish.

I think it can be tough depending on the time of year. From what I gathered, the english-speakers are sort of nomadic and go where the tourists are at any given time of the year. I went under the impression that a lot of people, especially in Barcelona, speak english, because that's what a lot of people told me.

If you go to Spain during a down period like I did (January), then you're not likely to run into a lot of english speakers, even in a big place like Barcelona, I had a hard time talking to people. I'm guessing it's more commonplace during the summer months.

[shakalaka]

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How bad is your Spanish? If you want English to be available to you then you are pretty stuck with the British tourist destinations along the med coast. But that’s probably where you want to be anyway.

My uncle has a place in Gandia which is a pretty tight spot. But that entire coast is littered with towns and beaches.

Yea I think it would better to be around other holiday properties and tourist sort of crowd. My Spanish is limited but I've always wanted to learn anyway.

I have been to Barcelona and you didn't need Spanish to get around there, but I imagine things are different outside the main city - which I never got the opportunity to do yet. But if having a holiday home there ever becomes a real possibility then I would definitely do a trip or two beforehand to explore everything more intimately.

[Buster]

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I think it can be tough depending on the time of year. From what I gathered, the english-speakers are sort of nomadic and go where the tourists are at any given time of the year. I went under the impression that a lot of people, especially in Barcelona, speak english, because that's what a lot of people told me.

If you go to Spain during a down period like I did (January), then you're not likely to run into a lot of english speakers, even in a big place like Barcelona, I had a hard time talking to people. I'm guessing it's more commonplace during the summer months.

They also looked at me weird when I pronounced "J" properly. If you want to fuck it all up and pronounce your J like an H, then win more wars.

[davidI]

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Where is a good place in Spain to have a holiday property? Somewhere that is not completely isolated so that you have no services or have to drive a lot for shopping/amenities etc., but also not super-busy like in the middle of Barcelona.

EDIT: Also, how essential is it to know Spanish if you want to spend a few weeks to a month or so over there relatively frequently?

You can get by with English on most of the Med Coast but it will vary from town to town. Some towns cater more to Russian, Germans, Dutch, French, and Spanish and others more to British.

Areas in Catalunya speak Catalan and Valencia is Valenciano so they're not necessarily great places to learn Spanish (though most people will speak both - think Quebec City with French/English).

I like the area around Malaga/Marbella/Manilva but everywhere has something different to offer.



As far as buying a holiday property goes, I probably wouldn't bother unless you're really fixed on returning to the same town for several months a year every year and the rentals are too expensive when you'd want to go. I don't think I'll ever buy a place in Spain due to all of the tax and regulation.

If you rent out the property, then you need to submit quarterly tax returns. If you're non-eu, you pay 24% tax on any rental income. Even if you don't rent it out, there is a deemed income tax which is 25% of 1.1% of the whatever the council deems the value of the property (due to all of the under-the-table renting). There's an ~8% tax for transferring used property so that takes out a lot of the hope of making money on appreciation on the property. Finally, a lot of properties on the coast were built illegally, so unless you have a competent lawyer who really checks all the details, you could buy a property that the municipality later deems needs to be renovated or torn down completely. There was a lot of corruption in the 70s/80s (and later) when they were built so a lot of dumb Brits have found themselves on the losing end of bad investments.

All that said, my buddy is selling a property in Manilva, if you're interested.

[killramos]

Another one is if you buy a place thinking you can rent it out when your aren’t there, my understanding is the tenant rights laws are so draconian it becomes essentially impossible to evict someone if they don’t want to leave. Think you rent it to someone on a 6 month lease for cheap, thinking it’s the smart thing to do to cover some costs, and they end up deciding they like the cheap rent and never leave.

[ExtraSlow]

Owning rental property in another country sounds like about 2x the hassle of being a landlord in your own country. Fuck no. Rent places for 1-2 months each trip.

[davidI]

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Another one is if you buy a place thinking you can rent it out when your aren’t there, my understanding is the tenant rights laws are so draconian it becomes essentially impossible to evict someone if they don’t want to leave. Think you rent it to someone on a 6 month lease for cheap, thinking it’s the smart thing to do to cover some costs, and they end up deciding they like the cheap rent and never leave.

Yea, another great point. The squatters rights are an absolute mess due to the constitution - again I think a fault from Franco's dictatorship. COVID was a mess as squatters knew people couldn't come back to their properties so they broke in and took over a lot of second homes. There are full-on communities of squatters that help keep their hands on places - there is a 5-star hotel that went out of business which was taken over by squatters in Valladolid and they're claiming that it's now a "community center". Basically just a bunch of young hippies abusing the laws and social system here.

I think they're working on changing the laws but given how left-leaning this country is, it will take time.