Rent or Buy

We have spent the last 10 years exploring both CDS and CB staying different seasons we have found the ideal place to suit our needs Rojales.We can't decide whether to find a rental and rent our place in the uk or sell up,What do other forum members think? My Husband is 70 I am 60 no pension for me until I'm 66. My husband has his pension and a small army pension,realise you always need  enough funds left in the bank.Any advise would be most welcome. If we were to rent would be looking for a  2 bed villa with some space outside we have a Dog.

It would, obviously, depend on what you actually want to do. At your ages, it might not be a good idea to sell up in UK. You can get rentals very cheap in the area you want and, possibly, the rent you get from your home in UK would more than cover it. You will both get health care based on your husband's age so that shouldn't be a problem.

If you buy and sell up in UK, you may feel you wish to return to UK because of family, health care or whatever sometime in the future. House prices in UK are going up and up all the time. Buying a house here for around €150k (about £120k) whilst getting a couple of hundred for your place in UK might sound a good idea but the costs of buying and selling in Spain are quite high so you would be lucky to get a similar place back in UK if you wanted to move back in about 5 years or so.

On the other hand, if you've been looking around for 10 years you might decide you want to stay here so it doesn't really matter. I think you have to look at the fact that your husband is quite a lot older than you so would you want to stay here by yourself when the end (eventually) comes?

Personally, in your circumstances, I would rent. Even a very good property that meets your needs shouldn't come to more than about €700 a month including utilities. That's only around the £6,000 a year mark. I';m sure you could get at least that for your UK house to cover it and you'd still have somewhere to go back to..

If you did buy for €150k, your initial expenses would be around €20,000 or so plus, when selling, pushing the 10k mark so 5 years of renting would cover those costs. I doubt if Spanish property is going to rise that much in the next 5 years.

At the end of 5 years you would break even (except that your UK rental would exceed that amount) and still have a house in UK to go back to if you really wanted.

Normally ,renting is wasted money. In Spain, I don't think it is as prices do not rise on a daily basis like they do in UK and buying and selling prices are so much higher here.

Find somewhere in Rojales/Quesada to rent. Become a resident and live without the problems of price changes and currency fluctuations.

Here we go again......!!!!

You know how much money you have  and what your liabilites are....you decide how to spend it!

Attach your tax returns for the last 7 years  ( with list of dependents, assets, etc.) - then I will be able to advise !

Otherwise..... dream away!

Here we go again......!!!!

You know how much money you have  and what your liabilites are....you decide how to spend it!

Attach your tax returns for the last 7 years  ( with list of dependents, assets, etc.) - then I will be able to advise !

Otherwise..... dream away!

(Or are you fishing for an offer/ bargain???????)

As the original poster only you will be able to answer you're own question ,start with finance yes it is true 2 people should be able to get by on about 300eu PW  if you own you're own place  ,but all that will pay for is a window seat watching the world walk by you're front door if you want to join the world that you are looking at it will cost you the same as the next tourist to sit down and party.

Sylvia:   We have spent the last 10 years exploring both CDS and CB 

In that case you should have more knowledge, especially as to what suits you, than most who post here.

Just on one point, you say you will not get your pension until you are 66.  As your husband is 70 surely he is claiming for you as a dependant  ?  

My wife is 43 and non EU.   For the past 9 years I have been getting an allowance for her added to my OAP..

Should you move here ?  

  Only if you have practically no assets anywhere in the world, as the inheritance law in Spain can be very draconian.

You say you have property in UK. If you become tax resident in Spain, either by moving here or just being here a total of 182  days, or more in a year,  that will be subject to inheritance tax in Spain.

This message was last edited by johnzx on 20/06/2015.

Thanks for all your replies We are not fishing for a bargain just wanted views on whether it's best to rent or buy because of our age if it was possible i would have a place in the uk and something in Spain,We have spent enough time in Spain to know where we want to be. Renting is the best option because of our ages so will start searching again.