Buying and renovating a rural property on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees

konabunny – Member

imvho there’s no real short cut.

do you have enough stuff to fill a 20 foot or 40 foot container?

Basically, we an chose to ship anywhere between “a whole house full of stuff” and “a suitcase of clothes each”. It really is up to us. we could certainly fill a 6m (20ft) shipping container easy enough.

We’ve been looking at a company that ship what they call a “move cube” but they don’t do direct to Spain. Only the UK.

http://www.sevenseasworldwide.com/en-za/

The equivalent cubic volume in “cardboard boxes” is the next option. But that won’t suit any small (special) furniture or bikes etc.

It’s a minefield but I will have to weave my way through it.

How much is worth bringing back – ie cost of shipping vs cost of replacement?

I’ve been relocated a few times, last time I paid. I recall the packing was £1.5k and the shipping and delivery/unpack £3k. This was from Singapore to London. Stuff all packed professionally and put into a container. That’s the easiest way. Shipping costs depend on the route, Singapore / New York to UK are main routes so relatively cheap. Personally I’d say if you don’t need the stuff in UK don’t send it there.

I have an idea that when we start looking at the actual cost of shipping, a lot of our stuff won’t be as important to us as we thought it was.

Maybe its “clean break” time . . . .

Depends how much stuff you’ve got. We went through the “shall we chuck it and start again” conversation but once we worked out that we definitely wanted to keep a fair amount (eg several bikes/tandems), the costs of shipping everything were not that much more. You don’t really get much furniture, clothing, housewares for £5k. Ended up bringing back some stuff that was completely unwanted and workthless, cos it was easier than throwing it out!

We should have some big news by Monday regarding the offer we put in for a property.

Gonna be a long weekend!

So, we have put in an offer on a property in Guaso, 5kms outside the town of Ainsa in a beautiful area in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains, and it has been accepted.

Today we spoke with the architect in Spain regarding the 10% deposit for the property – until it is made the acceptance of our offer could, in theory, be retracted in favor of a higher offer from another interested party. We also spoke with the Spanish solicitor at “Asesoria-Morlan” Solicitors in Huesca and right now they should be talking to each other about us! I will phone them both back later to see how things are going. Spanish office hours are 9:30am to 8pm with two or three hours lunch!

Nice, fantastic riding round there.

A couple of friends out in Spain both bought ruined farmhouses but went about the renovations in different ways.
One chucked a load of money at a builder while the other tried to do it themselves bit by bit.
The builder did a good job but never registered the renovation or got the certificate of habitation from the local council even though my friends had paid for this. This meant a new escritura ( deeds) to be drawn up.£7000 for this.Getting mains electric has been a time consuming,around 5 years,and expensive time.Internet that worked would be a luxury.
The other farmhouse is not even 10% renovated,no mains water or electric and so far has swallowed around £120K over the space of 13 years.
If you feel confident then go for it as i’d set off back to Spain tomorrow.Just be prepared for the Spanish paperwork trail.

We have services in the street going past the house so connection shouldn’t be too difficult. We also have an architect keeping an eye on things and an English speaking solicitor checking things as we go, so hopefully everything will go smoothly and within budget.

I appreciate the warnings though – I’ve heard so many horror stories.

Nice spot there. We guide there a lot and I have ridden through it many, many times. Hope it all goes well.

Expecting an email today from our Spanish solicitor telling us when is the earliest and when is the latest date we can complete the purchase of our Casa España.

There’s a 90 day window.

Once we have those dates we can plan our next step which will probably involve me going back over there from South Africa to sign papers, pay the balance an then start working on the project with the architect . . . .

On shipping, you just need to talk with one of the very many shipping agents in South Africa. I would guess that SA is a net importer and that there are many containers going back empty. There is a container hub in Mallorca where deep sea cargo is trans-shipped for “local” delivery so I expect a FCL would go there and thence to your nearest port then onwards by road.

Cheers globalti – we are speaking to a few companies now. Its not cheap though.

May end up taking the bare minimum and replacing.

I’ve got an ultra just down the road from there at the beginning of October, might coincide with your sale going through!

Update 8) ? We love an update

Struggling to post pics. Most forums I use allow you to load a pic straight from the laptop.

Update . . . .

We’ve sold our house in SA. We’ve had shipping companies quote us on a container to Spain and we’ve chosen the company we will use.

Now we’re packing up our house and getting ready to leave.

Container will be packed third week of Jan. I will fly to the UK and then drive to Spain after that to start work. Mrs Spekkie will stay on here in SA with friends until all the finances are sorted out and then follow me. Maybe 6 weeks later.

Meanwhile we’re cycling every day and enjoying the heatwave we’re having at the moment!

Our exchange rate took a beating recently due to reasons I won’t go into on here. Hopefully it will recover a bit in the next 6 weeks.

I wanted to post pics from my Google Photos album by “getting Link” but it doesn’t seem to work?

Good luck. Photos still not working – are they public, also just try posting the url / link

Picture Here
And Here

I wish you all the best. Hope it all works out well.

Not that you will have a lot of reading time but ‘Driving Over Lemons‘ is a great book that walks through a similar experience to yours.

Cheers Stoner!

MTB-Idle – I’ll look for the book. Evenings get dark early so there’s some time to kill.

I MTBed through there a few weeks back, we were staying with Pierre and Marjorie in Arcusa for the enduro weekend. Good for a weekend but a little lonely in Winter. I prefer Spain’s north coast. Hope you’re happy there.

If anyone wants somewhere that’s really cheap and on the Compostelle route our neighbour’s ex will soon be selling his place, or his kids will as he has terminal cancer. No mains water though so whatever ever the price it will be too high.

Oh, and thanks for the global view tip, Stoner, it’s making some financial arranging easier.

After four days of wrapping, packing and boxing our belongings, the shipping company are finally finished. The house is empty apart from the camping matress we’re sleeping on and our suitcases.

This weekend we will visit my dad to say good-bye, next Saturday I leave SA for the UK and then a week or so later for Spain.

Exciting times ahead.

Keep pics coming to the thread when you get there

Stoner – for sure.

(Although last time I tried to post pics I ballsed it up a bit and you had to “fix it for me”)

Hmmm, I’m jealous.

Good luck!

Currently in the UK and feeling the cold!

Next week I’m heading down to Spain to get our project going. I’m not sure it’s much warmer in Spain right now though . . .

Update . . . After 18 odd hours of driving, 931 miles (1489km) travelled, one sleep-over in a bed & several 30min kips in the car, 2 packets of biscuits and three bars of chocolate, I arrived at our solicitors offices in Huesca last Wednesday afternoon for a 4pm meeting with our conveyancing solicitor, our translator and our new “tax and business advisor”.

All went well and then it was an hours drive from Huesca, via Macdonalds and their free internet, to the apartment we’ve rented in Ainsa, 4km from our village of Guaso.

Since then I’ve been to our bank and activated our Spanish bank account cards – happy to see we still have some money in the bank – and had a good meeting with our architect, who has come up with a really good design plan for our house 🙂

Sweet!

who has come up with a really good design plan for our house

post images so we can all pile in!

Yes post images so us arm chair architects and builders can hide our jealousy with sharp remarks.

In all seriousness its always inspiring to see people take a leap like like this. Good luck.

There are certain rules that you have to comply with if you move to Spain to live and you are not actually moving to a job (and therefore paying tax to the Spanish government).

The first rule is that you have to prove that you can support yourself financially. This means obtaining a “balance certificate” from your Spanish bank proving that you have at least 5000 Euros (for a single person) or 8000 Euros (for a couple) in the bank. The second rule requires you to take out a private medical insurance policy so that you will be taken care of in the event of injury or illness and not be a burden on the Spanish “Seguridad Social”. These proofs have to be taken together to the police station where they will be officially noted and logged. Then you can be given “Spanish residence”.

We took an hour’s drive through to the town of Huesca yesterday to visit our “legal team” at the offices of Asesoría Morlán. They are taking care of all of our legal matters here in Spain. (and I can’t recommend them enough. They have been fantastic with us!) They provided the conveyancing solicitor for our property purchase back in September and the Tax Advisor I spoke to about registering ourselves as a business when I visited them upon arriving in Spain nearly a month ago. They also found us our rental apartment in Ainsa and did all the communicating and arranging with the Spanish landlady!

Yesterday we met with an Insurance Advisor who, with the help of our friend and translator Sole, talked us through the private medical insurance we need to take out.

Everything is looking good. Everything is being done correctly and legally. (not my normal modus operandi I must admit – I tend to just do what I like and see what happens).

So, from today we should have full medical insurance. Now finally I can climb up on the roof and start taking off the old roof tiles . . . !

LIKE ^^

This means obtaining a “balance certificate” from your Spanish bank proving that you have at least 5000 Euros (for a single person) or 8000 Euros (for a couple) in the bank. The second rule requires you to take out a private medical insurance policy so that you will be taken care of in the event of injury or illness and not be a burden on the Spanish “Seguridad Social”

do we do the same in the UK?

good to hear all moving along nicely.

Why can’t you get a European health card? You’ve said you’re moving from Africa but if you have a passport from a European country you should be able to get a card from that country which is valid for a couple of years. The Euro card is all you need to get the all-important Spanish “number”. The cash-in-bank rule seems odd too.

IME the best help comes from your consulate and saves paying anyone less competent for advice which may or may not apply to someone in your situation. The British and French consulates are very helpful, they deal with thousands of people in your situation and if the information you need isn’t on their websites will respond positively to phone calls and e-mail.

I would love to do this…

Please keep posting spekkie and good luck…

Thanks Clobber – and will do. Exciting times for us 🙂