The toll on our time travelling along the Coast has meant that we are now due to move in the next month or so to the East of Marbella nearer to the school and the stables.

Lesson Six – Let someone with current experience of the market place help you to minimise the risk of you making mistakes!

I spent 23 years in the UK as a lawyer in industry, the last 12 in private practice, before moving to Spain, and had a fairly keen understanding of being a client and an advisor.  My confreres in the Spanish market didn’t habitually appreciate the notion of “the client being King”.  It struck me that there was a gap in the market for an English style operator.  As a result I created – what I am told -is the first relocation focused business to operate in this part of Spain. 

It’s called The Rights Group SL (TRG) and it assists clients who have a limited amount of experience of Spain to short circuit the process of deciding with whom to work.  Through its one stop shop - the TRG Network – it helps clients to determine who’s best to represent their interests in Spain – not just their legal interests but also their accounting and tax, their mortgage, insurance, currency, wealth planning and house building issues. 

We have noticed over the last few months a significant growth in its business, which we suspect, is as a direct result of UK TV and media pieces which have focused on those unlucky individuals who had been misinformed, ill advised or have become the victims of conflicted interests.

TRG’s second but equally important role is to project manage clients dealings in Spain and to “drive” the clients chosen professional advisors, as necessary.  A TRG representative effectively becomes the client’s eyes and ears in Spain.  They ask the right questions, get the required answers and, in tandem with the chosen advisors, keep the client fully informed at all stages,  using electronic communication where possible. 

What kind of “relocator” are you?
We have identified that most people who choose Spain as their first home fall into one of three categories:

1. The retired or semi-retired couple looking for a greater quality of life and a being able to offer their family a great vacation opportunity.  Let me tell you your grandchildren,–and the rest of the people with whom you had only a nodding acquaintance with back in you home town, will want to come and visit you when you live in the Sun. 

2. The “Nomad” Expat whose work takes him/her to far flung corners of the Globe.  They have usually lived an expat life in the Middle or Far East for a number of years and home base is less important but the UK is not an option.  They do want a foothold in Europe, and for some reason France and Italy do not really appeal.  They tend to spend perhaps three plus months a year “at home” in Spain and often buy homes for cash earned in tax free zones overseas.  Sometimes these relocators may also be a blend of 1. and 2.

3. The Family lifestyle relocation, where the breadwinner works either in the Spain, UK or overseas and the location of the family home can be a question of choice – the quality option.  Typical amongst this group are airline pilots and petro-chemical engineers. 

Whilst the Spanish Costas were once the privilege of the self made millionaires and dubious characters, they are fast becoming very welcoming to those seeking to improve their lives whilst not severing their routes to income in their home market.  This means that a business person can locate themselves as well in Marbella as they can Maidstone.

As the economy develops on the Costa del Sol so does the jobs market.  A barometer of this is the number of recruitment companies establishing roots here and the variety of publications and websites dedicated to ensuring that those who want to work can.

The local market is still property, golf and tourism based.  We have noticed businesses starting to emerge that serve the Expat markets in the printing, restaurant, magazine publishing and motor vehicles sectors.  Above all there is a sense of “frontier” about activities here, it encourages an entrepreneurial spirit and unlike the UK the barriers to entry are not as prohibitive.

With the cost of many properties on the desired Costa del Sol reaching the heights equivalent to many a metropolitan home in the UK, this glorious coast has become a “first home“ market where those who relocate regularly do so on a year round basis.  The market is entering a reality phase where prices are stabilising and real value for money is starting to be obtained. 

With an increasingly sophisticated mortgage market where, although self certification is not yet possible, many can buy their dream villa, Finca or Cortijo with a chunk of equity from the sale of a UK property plus a mortgage from a Spanish lender at an annual rate in the region of 3.25%.  Loans of up to 80% Loan to Value are common and these come with defined periods of interest only payments.

Unlike more recently discovered areas in the former Eastern Bloc, Malaga, Almeria, Jerez and Granada airports all remain within the magical three hours from the UK – perfect for combining a couple of meetings in London, Manchester or Glasgow and catching the midweek game at Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford or Ibrox Park before catching the morning flight back home. 

The infrastructure is exceptional, the roads, the broadband – with many newer hotels and restaurants installing WiFi capability and the simple variety of life from skiing in Sierra Nevada to lounging by the Urbanisation’s ‘ crystal blue gurgling water', to walking the dogs along the many kilometres of beautiful beaches – with a handy poo bag – of course. 

This is a new coast - it doesn't have the "age" of the Côte D'Azur and some of the developments have questionable architecture but where else can my kids be on the beach in the morning, skiing in the afternoon and riding into the country at dusk.  Unlike the Côte D’Azur we do genuinely have over 300 days per year of swun and the temperature never dips below 5C!

Whatever your life stage, I am confident that you and your family will experience a new lease of life, often out of doors, and you’ll wonder for ever more why you didn’t do it ten years ago.

Mark FR Wilkins, The Rights Group SL 0034 600 343 917
mark@therightsgroup.com www.therightsgroup.com