living in fuerteventura

Started by kev1744, May 22, 2014, 18:41:46 PM

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kev1744

hi all,
ive always loved visiting the island for holidays over the years. im now wondering about actually living there. i finish working in 6 years and was thinking of buying a place to live on the island then.
i know this is a long way off but thought i would just ask the people living there what adjustments they had to make?
whats the pros and cons of living there, and how difficult is it to actually buy and move over?

kev

SheilaW

Buying will be a doddle, Kev - plenty to choose from at some highly interesting prices. A bit sad buying repossessions though as you're buying someone else's dream-turned-nightmare. It's a straightforward process here if you have a good lawyer.

The paperwork can be harrowing, especially trying to find out what has to be done in what order, as there are very tight deadlines for some things. Mind you, I have to say that some or all of those deadlines are probably a bit more flexible than you'd think and it pays to bear in mind that, although we're supposed to get residency papers etc all sorted out at the end of our three-month stay, there's actually no way they can chuck EU citizens out of the country, nor is it easy to prove that you didn't leave the country for a while so that your arrival date was later than the date on the only tickets you've thought to keep. We're very conscientious people so I think we gave ourselves a few sleepless nights when we could have slept easily. You can get "experts" to handle some or all of it and that's particularly useful if you have little Spanish, but we found that our "expert" couldn't actually handle importing and re-registering the car so we ended up doing it ourselves.

That's one of the major cons; then there are the usual disadvantages of living on a small island, compounded by the fact that Customs make it expensive to get stuff shipped in. Another major disadvantage for some is that you're breaking so many links - family, friends, neighbours, working life, hobbies, clubs, shops, food... you name it, it's gone. If you're not careful you'll replace an active social life, a life with a sense of purpose, with a life that's nothing but an endless round of drinking, sunbathing, chatting to the same few people about drinking and sunbathing...  The pros are mainly obvious if you've been here on holiday.

I wish we'd had six years to plan it. We didn't set foot on the island until Jan 2012 and we'd moved permanently by May 2012. Not much time to:
1) learn Spanish
2) sort out all the red tape in both countries
3) decide what to bring and actually get rid of all the rest (most people jettison about 75% of their worldly goods prior to moving here).

I'd advise you to start on (1) right now as it can't be stressed enough how important it is to speak the language. If you don't, you'll be restricted to the expat community and have to get help for every minor administrative process. Remember that even if you can get a GP here who speaks English, there may be times when you need to see specialists or be hospitalised, and you can't expect English to suffice.

kev1744

Hi Sheila,
Thanks for the reply. Lots of good info!.
Learning the language is something I would definitely want to do. i know 6 years is still a long way off, but I would rather plan it all out and minimize problems than jump in and regret it.
Another option I have thought of is keeping my uk home, renting it out and using this money to finance me in renting a property on the island rather than buying.
any views on that?

isleswing

Absolutely no question as far as I'm concerened.

Lease out your place and then rent a property on the Island.

Depending on where in the UK you live, the income could well leave you a bit of extra cash each month. (which could pay for storing your stuff)
More importantly, it gives you more flexibility in choosing where to live, so you can try short leases in different areas before settling.
Even more importantly - vitally, even - you keep your place on the UK proprty ladder.

A great many people move over, and have a long and happy life on the Island, while, unfortunately, and for many reasons, a great many don't, so it's not a good idea to burn all your bridges.

The ease of finding a property to buy on the Island is in inverse proportion to the ease of finding a buyer for a property if you want to change.

I wish you well. (and start your Spanish lessons now)