Live in Spain

How I did it: I moved to Spain very quickly,I decided (I say I when I really mean we) to move to Spain and 5 weeks later we were here.

Me, my fiance and our three children sold all of our belongings (except the essentials) on ebay and booked the flights to Malaga.

We now had a four week countdown, nowhere to live, no jobs and not a great deal of money.

I looked on www.surinenglish.com

(an absolute godsend for the wannabe expat) and managed to secure a two bedroomed apartment in Mijas Costa.

One thing that you should know is that due to the economy in Spain, property most certainly relies on the rental market, therefore you can barter with landlords to get a good deal...that is unless your potential landlord is Spanish.

I have yet to find a single Spanish property owner who will bring down the price for the sake of securing tenants. They would sooner see the property empty than take less than what they "think" it's worth.

If you are thinking of getting a mortgage here then forget it, at least until "la crisis" subsides. My friend approached one of the largest banks on the costa with a £30,000 deposit, 3 years solid work history from both herself & her partner and she was laughed out of the bank.

Anyway back to the story! So we had our apartment, we didn't have jobs but as it was during the start of the tourist season we were sure we'd find bar work pretty easily.

We said some painful goodbye's and left for the airport. A word of advice to parents tavelling with children:

Do book the extra seat for the baby
You'll kick yourself if you don't!

As we landed in Malaga we waited for the arrival of our landlords friend. He had agreed (for a fee) to take us to our new home. Of course he was about 45 minutes late-it is a well known fact that absolutely nothing in Spain is ever rushed-I don't care if you're Elton John, you'll still wait.

As he guided us to his delapidated ford fiesta, probably more suited to the Beverly hillbillies-he advised us that the owner had sold the apartment and we would have to find somewhere else to live.

Great. Thanks a lot. So we were stood in Malaga airport with 3 kids and nowhere to live.

You'll be reassured to know that pretty much everything in Spain is either down to being in the right place at the right time, or simple word of mouth.

If you ever find yourself in a pickle, ask someone to help. Someone will always know of "a friend" who has a job going, or a property to rent.

Everyone is different here, people are happier and for that reason I don't know anyone here who wouldn't bend over backwards to help you.

Asking around was what got us our current apartment. Granted it's overpriced and under maintained but under the circumstanes I wasn't going to be picky!

So the next thing on the list was getting the kids into school. I have to add that we still don't have the kids in school. If you want to move to Spain I would familiarise yourself with red tape-quick!

Here is the process for integrating your children into local schooling:

1. Get yourself an NIE number, needed to do everything from buying a car or property etc to actually working here. It's basically what separates the tourists from the residents. You are in luck as the majority of Spanish provinces have recently updated the process & you can now book an appointment at the local "comisaria" (police station) rather than queueing from 5am to possibly get seen before 12pm. You will need to obtain the paperwork before your appointment and duplicate any documentation that you have been asked to provide. It is worth noting that mum or dad need their NIE before they will issue childrens. You will need to take a form to any bank and pay a nominal fee of 10 euros per application. Note that I said local police, not Guardia civil.
If like me, you are lucky enough to go to Fuengirola to do this, you will benefit from the luxury of a nice old English chap to explain everything for you.

2. Register at your local "ayunamiento" (town hall) for your "empadronamiento". You need this to vote and put the kids in School. You'll need your passports, birth certificates and tenancy agreement/property deeds. This is a relatively easy process.

3. TRY to find a place in a local school. Good luck-oh and take someone to translate for you.

So the next thing we had to do was find work. There's something you should no about Spain, pretty much all of the work here is telesales and seldom do they have a basic wage.

Living here is very hard at times but if like me you can't resist the smell of garlic and olive oil every morning, love to spend your siesta's under the olive trees and are prepared to do whatever it takes to live here then go for it!

The people are amazing, the food is phenomenal and the atmosphere is forever relaxed...I wouldn't swap my struggles for anything.

Lessons & tips:

1. Go to www.surinenglish.com
2. DO book the extra seat for the baby!
   
3. Ask people for help, even if you don't know them
   
4. Expect everything to take months

Resources:

Jul 26, 08:05AM PDT | 0 comments | 5 cheers