Culture Spain – for all things Spanish

Recently, I have seen a flock of articles about buying Spanish property – many of which, frankly, look like barely concealed press releases from parties with vested interests in ‘talking’ the Spanish property market ‘up’. Meanwhile, there have been continued reports about the considerable problems of the debt laden Spanish banks, who are deeply troubled, not lending and now the [...]

I suppose I have to raise the awful spectre that I have seen mentioned nowhere else – the future of the Euro and its affect upon Spanish property.  I do this with some reluctance as the Spanish property market hardly needs another knock, let alone just as foreign buyers appear to be returning to Spain to pick up the stunning [...]

I am delighted to report that my book ‘How to Buy Spanish Property and Move to Spain – Safely’ has just been published in print form, as well as being now available on Kindle and as an e-book.  In fact, I received my first copies yesterday, which is always a nerve wracking moment for an author (does the cover look [...]

I had an interesting conversation today about living in Spain – with a removals professional who lives here but who works for one of the biggest removal companies in the UK.  What this man had to say was enlightening and (rather gratifyingly!) confirmed what I have written in my book about buying Spanish property and moving to Spain. Worryingly, my [...]

So, the Spanish government is finally on a major push to get foreigners to buy Spanish property! I keep reading about the ‘road show’ that is currently in the UK before it goes off to tour the rest of Europe to publicise the benefits of buying property in Spain. Clearly the Spanish government’s PR machine is working hard to publicise [...]

The Spanish property crash, sadly, continues – as shown by the huge drop in Spanish property valuations over the past year. These valuations (tasaciones) are required if someone needs a mortgage and therefore are the necessary prelude to most property purchases. Needless to say, valuations during the Spanish property boom were notorious for being often wildly over-optimistic and many times [...]

 Buy Now! Print version from Amazon - only £14.99 Buy Now! Kindle version from Amazon - only £7.99 Buy E-Book Version - only £7.99 80,000 words – 327 pages! 26 sections! plus over 160 vital Spanish Terms and Definitions plus Useful Contacts 9 highly qualified, professional contributors (Spanish and British) Written by a Spanish industry ‘insider’ and professional author “…required reading…”     Martin Dell, Kyero.com “…it’s like [...]

So, Beatriz Corredor – the Spanish housing minister is appealing for British buyers to return to Spain! Gosh! And there are going to be changes to the planning laws to make buying property in Spain clearer for us poor, stupid foreigners. Gosh, gosh – I am impressed! Indeed, Beatriz is urging us Britons (according to the UK Telegraph) to: “Come [...]

I found a recent article by El Pais interesting.  This relates to the Spanish savings banks called ‘Cajas’.  These are usually quite small, local institutions  with only a few branches, a bit like the UK’s old building societies.  That said, not all Cajas comprise only a branch or two.  la Caixa (the biggest Caja) is enormous and has about 4,700 [...]

Last weekend was interesting as I was helping the ITV programme ‘Homes from Hell’ as an expert, following an article that I wrote some time ago called ‘Meltdown in Marbella’.  The latter was about the rampant corruption in Marbella that was (hopefully) brought to an end by Operation Malaya, the dissolution of Marbella town hall in 2006 and the on-going [...]

After the smoking ban in Spain furore, I thought that it was worth touching on brighter matters.  However, before doing so, I noticed some breaking news about the Spanish economy that I felt was worth passing on.  Unfortunately, it is not too good – although it will be interesting how it compares with this time next year. Currently, inflation in [...]

I was struck recently by an article in the New York Times entitled ‘Newly Built Ghost Towns Haunt Banks in Spain’ which, I think, nicely encapsulated, in an extreme, the problems that beset the economy in Spain.  Certainly, the Spanish economy faces massive problems that revolve almost entirely around property – or at least the vast debts that accumulated during [...]

The Spanish economy, Spanish debt, Spanish banks  and further potential austerity measures! Part 2 While public sector debt (not the deficit) in Spain is actually relatively low as a percentage of GDP versus other countries such as Italy, Ireland, Greece and Portugal, Spain’s public sector deficit for 2010 will be around 11.3%.  So, the Spanish government has announced several austerity [...]

Spanish economy – meltdown or all well? So, what is going to happen to the Spanish economy?  This is, obviously, something that concerns anyone living here but also the rest of Europe – who could suffer from any meltdown in the Spanish economy. Who do we believe about the current situation – the Spanish government, the bond markets or economists? [...]

“So, having asked him for his Escritura (property deeds), he handed me,” my Spanish lawyer friend said, despairingly, “a receipt for 140,000 Euros…” “A receipt?” I queried. “Yes. The type of numbered receipt that you would get from your plumber for fixing your washing machine. The sort which has a carbonated copy within the invoice book.” “And that was all [...]