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Originally Posted by Cblueberry1
I have been thinking of moving out of the US to go to Spain. One question is, can US citizens buy property in Spain? I heard that you have to know someone who knows the town officials? Is that true?
Another thing I can't figure out is the crime rates in Spain. I read online that there is a lot of tourist crime in big cities, but what about rural areas? The area I am looking at is Catalonia. I was thinking of either buying a small farm, or apartment in a more populated area. Are Spaniards friendly to Americans? I would obviously need to learn Spanish. Thanks.
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Where did you read that? Can you send me a link please?
Spain is the 3rd safest country in the EU, even counting the micronations or small nations like Latvia, Estonia or Luxembourg. From all the EU is the 3rd:
Fernández DÃaz destaca que España es el tercer paÃs más seguro de la UE | PolÃtica | Agencia EFE
España, uno de los paÃses más seguros del mundo - ABC.es Spain is among the safest in the entire world and the crime rate is 17 points under EU's average.
The only "crimes" on tourists are on drunk british tourists on the Ramblas of Barcelona which suffer pickpocketing by some north african immigrants and some eastern european immigrants.
And maybe the scam commited by some kind of migrants (various nationalities) which suffer drunk german and british tourists on Majorca. Or the fights that they start by themselves. That's all.
Ah yes, and there were a criminal group from eastern europe which was scamming tourists with fake police ids which all of them are now between bars.
Also the Spanish police is the most prepared in Europe between Jihadism. That's because they have previous experience with terrorists (ETA) from 15-20 years ago.
And regarding your question... Of course it's a good idea. The crime rate is almost unexistent, and it happens between local families. Anyways, on the countryside, as in any other country, there are persons which suffer from mental illness, so be careful with those ones and don't have very much contact with them. Anyways, if you come from the countryside from the US you should be familiar with this.
Almost all of people from the countryside are very gentle and familiar with you, even if you're a foreigner they will be very nice and kind to you. Specially if you go to a small town, as they're becoming empty.
Spain is also a hunter's paradise and you can apply for various hunter permits to have legally weapons in your home. Most of Spanish countrymens have at least a rifle or a shotgun in their homes and the crime rate for 2015 was 310 homicides. In a country of 47 million... And 95% of homicides were between latin and south american gangs which were nothing more than vengeance between themselves.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cblueberry1
Ok great. Is Catalonia a good area? What are the people like? Is the economy stable, or is poverty rampant? This is just a whole new idea, but one that I want to pursue for the longer term. I want to live in a small town in Spain. Thank you.
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Nah, I won't go to Catalonia. They're many closed minds people in the countryside. Most independence supporters are on the countryside, 75% of them. On the cities the independence thing is infrequent.
I would go to Valencian Community, I live in Altea:
An astonishingly beautiful small city on the Mediterranean. You can buy beautiful country homes with big terrains 30-40km inland from me with just 100-120.000€. The quality of life from the Valencian Community is among the biggest on all Europe. The life expectancy in Spain is also the 2nd on Europe after Switzerland, so you can't choose better!
The summers are not very hot and the winters are ok in the Valencian countryside. If you like all green and oceanic environment you can try in Cantabria or Asturias, which are green paradises. Anyways, they have oceanic climates, while here in Alicante you can grow almost anything you want, from all of citrus to all kinds of fruits and vegetables like loquats, grapes, cherries or olives, tomatoes...
If you choose a countryhouse which is not at more than 200-300m of altitude and less than 15-20km from the sea you could also grow persimmons, avocados and even mangos. Those ones are of very, very high profit. What you will see from Castellón to Alicante (most are on Valencia province) is all green and green fields of thousands of km2 of citrus. They're not protected from stealers, I mean, they're sooooooo much fields than it's not a problem if someone goes with a bag to have oranges for it's home. Even the camp keempers would let you leave 1 or 2 bags for you.
Anyways, most spaniards I know don't even go to gather oranges from the fields. They buy them on the supermarkets. I personally don't do that. And my dad knows persons with fields which give him crates and crates of A quality oranges and tangerines for free. The most profitable cultivar is the Avocado, but they will grow only 15-20km near the sea, as they need climates with 0 or very few freezes.
The economy of Spain is thriving like a flower in the spring:
http://www.eleconomista.es/economia/...-politico.html Spain is the leader of the economy growth in the Eurozone. In 2016 Spain has grown almost twice as Germany, for example. The economy of Spain has grown 3.2% in 2016, being growing in the last 3 years, and they had their 2nd biggest unemployment fall in their history in 2016.
This is the best moment to do something in Spain. The economy is thriving like a field of oranges in Valencia. For 2017 the predictions are even better, and now the prices are OK to invest or to buy estates. Because, in a couple of years, they will be expensive again like they were 10 years ago. Also on 2016 lots of people created small businesses and most succeeded. Same for retail sales.
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