# Forum Forum Help Desk Introduce Yourself  An Aussie in Spain

## SolHa

Hola all, 
With an impending house purchase with tonnes of DIY potential  this forum looks like a good resource for information and experience which is just what I am after considering I have neither but both my wife and I a really keen to get stuck in and make our new house our own. Plus seeing that most of my experience is from living in Australia at least might stand a chance  understanding something. 
As mentioned in the title we are in Spain, a little bit away from Alicante city which makes getting clear information in English  a bit harder and this looks like a great place to help us along the way.
I'm pretty sure we will be after all sorts of info covering various different areas and the correct tools and methods to get the job done.
Of course we have plenty of grand ideas of what we would like to do but in reality we would be happy to just get a bathroom done(Spanish bathroom taste is terrible) first and are also aware that there will be limitations on just what we can manage by ourselves.
Still the list grows every day.  :Biggrin:  
Also I know that Spanish building methods differ from elsewhere so that will be a challenge in itself however the climate is comparable and there are quite a number of familiar plant species around like wattles & eucalyptus so hopefully I can bring a touch of home to the garden area instead of having it paved or covered in stones as seems to be the fashion here. 
Anyway just thought I'd say Hi and if there are any questions then fire away.

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## phild01

G'day. British TV has shown some horror stories of their people buying and building in Spain.  Hope all is well with what you do  :Smilie:

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## SolHa

Hi Phil.
That is true, it's  absolute minefield out here and great care has to be taken when purchasing a house but we are trying to do things the right way. In fact that is why it's taking so long to dot the I's and cross the t's. The best thing to do here is to get a good lawyer and we have a great one, sadly those who don't are often the ones who run into nightmares at a later date.

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## ChocDog

Mate, what are you guys doing living in Spain? Company moved you, or was it a personal choice? You dont need to give specific figures but, comparatively, how 'cheap' is a suitable home over there? I every so often try to convince my wife to pack every thing up and live in Spain (probably near Barcelona) for a year or 2. We'd both love to, but its the jobs and family bonds in Aus that make it a no-starter.  
Very envious and hopefully you guys start a go-to-whoa thread so we can see whats going on over there. 
Oh and as Phil said, check out the Grand Designs Abroad series - there's some classic moments of pommies struggling against the more laid back attitude of the south euro tradies!

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## SolHa

Hey Chocdog, it's a bit of tale I suppose but I'll try and give a quick run down. I married a French girl so with that came the decision to move to Europe which made getting the required visa's easy enough and after a few years and a couple of kids later in Belgium she got a job offer in Spain that was too good to turn down so last year we made the move to Spain, we have been renting for a year and are now going through the paperwork to buy a house. 
As for how cheap things are here well because of the fact Spain is in a pretty huge financial crisis due in part to the collapse of the housing industry bubble property prices are extremely low, or at least they are when compared to the rest of Europe. There are estimates that there are 3-4 million empty homes in the country so prices are at rock bottom here. It was definitely a consideration in coming here because we could pay off a mortgage in less than 10 years here as opposed to 20 or 30 in France or elsewhere.
For a rough idea on housing prices well we set a target that was around the equivilant of $250,000 AUD for a 3 to 4 bed with around 1500 to 2000msq of property. And that will get us a nice plot no more than 30 minutes from Alicante for work. 
You can of course find cheaper with much more work required or you can up the budget and find some stunning properties, I wish our budget was just a bit higher and we could be a couple of streets back from the beach. 
All in all at the moment Spain is very affordable if you have a good income but that is mainly because the country is in crisis as they call it. I wouldn't want to try and have to make a go of it on my own though, it's tough at nearly 30% unemployment but if you can make the finances happen then it's a lovely place to be. 
I was browsing the go-to-whoa section earlier, hopefully we can add our own as we get under way. 
I remember watching Grand Designs abroad a while back, just found them on youtube so I think we'll pop a few on and watch with my wife in the evenings.
The Spaniards certainly do have their own pace and ideas that can clash with the more northern attitudes and the rules and regs are often baffling, best just to go with the flow I say.

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## ChocDog

Sounds like a pretty awesome opportunity/adventure there mate. If you ever want to do a 6 monthly rotation in Aus and Spain, just let me know. But you will be getting the 6months of Melbourne winter though!

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## Ricardito

Well I can give you a hand if I can I am Argentine by birth and been living here for thirty years.

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