Key Post The case for buying a property in France, Spain or Portugal

On a good day in Spain you will see quite beautifull scantily clad young ladies relaxing on armchairs especially in the centre of 5 road roundabouts [high catchment areas]. When i enquired about this phenomenon i was informed that they sell oranges and make an above average living out of it!.
 
I’m genuinely stumped as well. Let’s not beat around the bush (an unfortunate choice of words perhaps); are you talking about smoking joints, taking cocaine, or hanging out with hookers?

I’m starting to feel innocent with my dream of Hendricks, rioja, filet mignon, and birdies of a different kind.
 
You think you are confused, I'm having a whole PM going on it. LOL

In all his years of posting about Spain Leper never mentioned any of this. What I wouldn't give to be in Spain with a glass of Rioja, some Tapas and a bit of d'other.
 
Cervelo,

Thanks for putting me out of my misery.........

Its legal status in Spain was what had me stumped!
 
Cervelo said:
Google 420
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Damn, and here was I hoping for some interesting stories of buying and squeezing oranges with the scantily clad, but very accommodating, young ladies that Cervelo came across on his mountainous jaunts.

In the words of "On the riverbank" "But that's another story".
 
Funny I have heard of these ladies even seen one on Inspector Montalbano once and IIRC she was a beauty to be hold.
But unfortunately where I ride in Spain is full of old hilltop villages where all the young people have left for the big cities
and all I'm left to view is the little old lady dress from head to toe in black usually hunched over a walking stick pulling one of
those old person wheelie shopping bags while having a conversation with their imaginary companion
 
Most of these elderly ladies dressed in black in Andalucía are widows made during the Spanish Civil War. The whole area was largely against Francisco Franco. The memories live on as if the SCW was last week.

The young people of Andalucía left the nest asap seeking employment elsewhere. Most of them probably have forgotten that Franco existed and miss him like they will miss Covid-19.

But, to be fair to Cervelo he pointed out the beautiful white hilltop villages for which the area is famous.
 
Janey Mac Leper,

These ladies must be getting on a bit!

Apart from all the attributes listed in your initial post, is the place some sort of Tír na nÓg also?
 
Yea, sure the Spanish civil war was 1936 or there abouts, they be doing very well to be still around in 2020 after spending 80 years a widow, probably another one of those urban legends, we have invented quite a few of them ourselves regarding our own history
 
I believe it's down to the Mediterranean diet and the lack of a partner that leads to a longer and happier life

I don't know if other people are like me when I travel to other places but I somehow find myself visiting churches
Not for religious services as I'm a non practicing catholic not even sure why I go in but some how there I am
and usually I also end up doing tours of all sorts of graveyards as well
Anyhow as would be the norm I visited the cemetery in Lubrin and while I was walking around I noticed a fair few headstones of couples
who would have 40, 50 and 60 years between their dates of passing and I'm sorry to say that I didn't click to why this was until Lep's post
even though I'm well aware of Franco dislike for the Andalusians and the many that were brought up the local mountains never to return
 
Cervelo said:
believe it's down to the Mediterranean diet and the lack of a partner that leads to a longer and happier life
Click to expand...
Don't believe everything you see in advertisements or holiday programs. They probably live somewhat longer than us, yes, but Spain was a poor country for much of 20th century, those widows dressed in black, while definitely not civil war widows probably led impoverished younger lives. Big age gaps between spouses are a feature of poor rural societies, we had the same ourselves for much of 20th century. Usually old husband and young bride.
 
Cervelo pointed out he retired 10 years ago and cycling is his main source of enjoyment. The Spanish Civil War ended in 1939. People got married much younger back then too (even in Ireland). Therefore in 2011 and for a few years since it would not be improbable to have had survivors who lost spouses in the Spanish Civil War.

While I believe the Mediterranean Diet to be largely the work of television sales ads the climate in Andalucia is conducive to people living longer lives.

Joe Sod's post above is also correct. The poverty in some parts Andalucia even today is inexcusable. And you have only to travel a few miles inland to experience such.
 
Its funny.
I love the idea of a holiday home. Preferably Spain or Portugal, but even one in Ireland would be lovely.
We looked into it but the sums didnt work out.

We figured we would use it for maybe 40 days per year at the moment. Then in a few years we would either get sick of it or use it more.

We worked out that if we bought a €200k property with a €120K mortgage that the payments would be about €9K a year plus and €80k deposit from savings. Then there would be property taxes, maintenance fees, block policy payments, utilities etc.
Then upfront costs like solicitor fees.

Instead if we kept the €80k invested in equities we could make some money from it.
But we could get an Airbnb for about €120 a night when we needed.
So that would be a straight up €5000 per year for 40 days, with no other costs.

If you were using it more than that it would be lovely, but I couldnt see us doing that in the one place.
So we decided to stick to hotels and Airbnb for now.
 
Nevermind the Spanish Civil War, it is amazing that Irene Triplett, who died last year, was in receipt of an American Civil War Pension. The American Civil War started in 1861!

Her father enlisted at 16...from memory he fought for the Confederate States and then defected to the North. He was in his early 80s when Irene was born and she died last year at age 90.

She was in receipt of around $100 a month from the Department of Veteran Affairs.
 
I think OMG_OMG is one of the few taking my advice. In one sentence I'll translate his post into English:- Why buy property in Spain for holidays when you can rent a good well located modern 2 bedroom apartment @ €750* per month (inclusive of utilities) in the off season?

*You can get cheaper prices, but you will sacrifice location, condition etc.
 
Leper said:
Why buy property in Spain for holidays when you can rent a good well located modern 2 bedroom apartment @ €750* per month (inclusive of utilities) in the off season?
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We had thought that if we were to buy an apartment it would be nice for us and for our three children with their families. They would only have to pay for their flights. Each could take it in turns to visit......Then the thought occurred that, we might buy a bigger place, maybe a bigger apartment or even a villa type property. This way we could all have a holiday together.

Of course that's the dream but reality can be different. Some of us might not be able to take our holidays at the same time. Some of us might want a change of scenery rather than going to the same place. Schools, exams, teenage tantrums etc.

So we returned to the idea of just renting a place for ourselves, if our children wanted to come along we would just rent a larger place with extra bedrooms. This could be the same place every year or a different location.

We owned a mobile home in Wicklow for about 5 years. It didn't work out, mainly due to the fact that we had teenagers who wanted to spend time in Dublin with their friends rather than stuck in Brittas Bay. Our children now have young families and now would be an ideal time to buy in Ireland. However Ireland is not quite the same as an overseas second home.
 
We were talking about this thread last night and another thing came up.
We thought of all the people who we know who own holiday homes abroad and in Ireland and it surprised us just how many we know.

Anyway when we thought about it we realized that all those people we know pay for their holiday homes, yet their relatives (children, in-laws, brothers and sisters) and friends all get more or less free use of it.

So the main beneficiary of a holiday home seems to be not the person who buys it, but their relatives and friends.

Now the relatives might throw them the odd hundred or a bottle of whiskey, but they are getting the better part of the deal

It reminded me of the time when I had 3 weeks off unexpectedly that i had to take at short notice. We called the owner of a holiday home we rented a few times asked could we rent that for the 3 weeks. She said her sister was going to be in it that week and she would go check. She rang me back later, very annoyed at her sister and said her sister wanted it for the week in the middle. So we had to look elsewhere. I doubt she was going to the the €2k she was going to get off us from her sister
 

I was thinking it would be nice to own a mobile in Wicklow too
What kid of costs do you have with that do you mind me asking?
 
My parents used to decamp down to Brittas Bay every summer during the seventies
They started first by renting the Country club before it became the country club and then a caravan in McDaniels
And this is when it really was caravans in a field with big holes in the ground behind each caravan for the blue toilet waste
No electricity and a single water tap shared between numerous family's and no facilities like you have now
and the only phone that I remember was either outside Stauntons shop or in McDaniels pub
I remember those days with great fondness, getting up and spending the whole day running around outside and playing with new friends that I hadn't known the day before and probably wouldn't see again next day
But I have to say once I turned a teenager that type of holiday or any holiday with my parents would have been the worst way to spend my teenage summer years
 
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