Over the years I’ve been one of those advocates about the whole “you must rent before you buy” advice for anyone moving to Spain.
It always seemed to make sense; giving people the flexibility to try different places to live before they decide where to settle down.
But recently I’ve been wondering if that really has been such great advice.
Many people won’t like what I’m about to say, although estate agents will love it!
We’ve been in Spain for nearly 8 years. We rented at the beginning as we were buying off plan and the apartment we were buying wasn’t ready by the time we moved over.
The first house we rented was a disaster. The area was horrible, the house was full of damp and we couldn’t get a phone line there. So we moved to another rented property which although it was much better (and ironically cheaper) we had problems with a DJ neighbour.
Finally we moved into our purchased apartment and although it was small, it was our home and we made it homely.
After a while we felt it was a little too small and moved out to rent a lovely house by the beach.
This didn’t feel like home at all, despite being a nice house in a great location.
We moved back to the apartment and felt at home again.
We recently moved again to try another area and type of property but yet again, it wasn’t “home”. Back we go!
In our experience, renting proved to be very unsettling, particularly in the early days.
Just think about it…
You’re moving to a different country. You’re in a foreign environment. You probably don’t speak the language. You probably don’t have any friends or family nearby. You may even be setting up a business, which is another blog post altogether!
It’s easy to forget but upping sticks and moving to a foreign country is a big brave move, a massive step into the unknown, because no matter how prepared you are, there will be new challenges to face. Guaranteed.
You need a home
There is nothing more important than your home and family. You are trying to establish a new life in a new country that you want to call home, so you need a home as your base. Everything else then branches off from this….your new network of friends, your local bar, your kids’ school, your business contacts and everything else you need to begin to feel settled.
It’s difficult to do this in rented accommodation, especially if it’s furnished. You don’t have your things around you, you may not be able to paint your kids’ room the colour that they want, you cannot be sure that the landlord doesn’t want to sell the property or move back to it himself, etc.
All of this can be very unsettling and it’s not just me that thinks it. From some people I know, it tends to be the women that suffer the most with this as much of the time the decision to move to Spain came from the men.
I think women need a home more than men. Women have different needs at home and in their social circles.
OK, I’m no expert on women by any stretch of the imagination, but I don’t think I’m too far off with what I’m saying here (happy for any women to correct me on this!).
Establishing a home in your new host country is a big part of the whole acclimatisation process, which can take some time.
I know, not everyone can afford to buy, especially as moving abroad can be expensive anyway and even those that can afford it may not be able to get a mortgage. This is particularly true if you are moving to Spain and then don’t have a job, in which case no bank would give you a mortgage anyway. (So if you do want to buy, make sure you do it before you leave your job!)
I’ve seen so many people return to the UK and most of those were renting at the time. They didn’t really feel the bond to stay here; they still called UK “home”.
I really think that those who took the plunge and made a home in Spain, buying a property here, they are more likely to stay for the long term.
I’m not saying don’t rent, it suits many people and rents are quite cheap now. All I’m saying is that I probably won’t be going all out there telling people not to buy and that they must rent first like I used to do.
I think it’s important for people looking to settle permanently in Spain to consider the pros and cons of both options.
What’s your own experience been? I’d be interested to hear about it so please leave a comment below and am I right or wrong about women ;)?