Checklist to Spain

The morning after we got back from our vacation I started to make a roadmap and a checklist of all the things we needed to do to organize our move to Spain. I am a very organized person and this has always been very useful for projects and events for work. But this time it felt really good to make a checklist and to plan and organize not for work but for our emigration to Spain. 

Steps to take to move abroad

“I wanted to be prepared and know what I can expect”

So in a chronological order I put down the steps to take to move abroad. One of the first things I made was a calculation of the monthly (indicative) costs we would have in Spain. Because I wanted to be prepared and know what I can expect. I put everything in the calculation, from mortgage, water, electricity to groceries and netflix. I knew I had to quit my job, but moving to Spain felt so right and I had a strong faith that I never worried about financial obstacles or any other obstacles for that matter. 

What steps do we need to take first to put this in motion? We need the means to buy a new house in Spain. Therefore we need to sell our house. And of course we need to find a new house in Spain. 

Selling our lovely authentic house and doing the right thing

I contacted a realtor from my previous work to sell our house in Holland. She was very enthusiastic about selling our house. We had a lovely authentic house from the 1930s which we renovated. And we had a home office built in our garden less than a year ago.

Our cozy home office and of course we were always accompanied by our cats

Our lovely house in Holland, with many moments in front of the fireplace with a cat and a book

As mentioned before, the house market was madness. It was very good for people who were selling their house, but not so good for people who were looking to buy a house. A lot of people viewed our house, there was even a waiting list, because so many people were interested.

And then the bids came, with personal notes and stories and photos. Oh I found that so hard. I read every letter and I truly hoped they all would find their perfect home. There was one couple that just spoke to us. They were not the highest bidder, but it felt right. So that evening we informed our realtor that we accepted their bid. The next morning our realtor called us that the highest bidder was so surprised that we didn’t accept their bid, so they raised their bid with another €5.000. WHAT?!?! My first feeling was to stay with our original choice, but the realtor told us to think about it . ‘Okay, we will think about it’. My husband and I talked about it and the extra €5.000 did not change our decision. We want to do the right thing. Later the couple that we sold our house to told us they were so thankful that we stayed with them. 

Applying for a mortgage in Spain

“I’d rather get advice from an expert than trying to become an expert”

Another important thing on the checklist was applying for a mortgage. I knew that in Spain you can not get a mortgage for the full price of the house. You need a minimum of 30% of the price of the house to pay for yourself, of your own money. The rest you can put in a mortgage. There are people who do thorough research on how to apply for a mortgage and get to know all the ins and outs. I’m not one of those people. I’d rather get advice from an expert than trying to become an expert. We had a very good advisor who arranged everything for us from beginning to end. This time was already very intensive and time consuming, so I didn’t want to get caught up in the details. For me it was important to know what the monthly cost would be and for how long (In Spain your mortgage needs to be paid off before the age of 65).  We were very lucky with the low interest and we chose a fixed interest.

Being thankful and getting ready for a new book

Because of the covid measurements, working from home was already integrated. My husband could keep working for the same company, but from Spain. It was also very convenient that during that time there was a merger coming up at the company my husband works for. Now he visits the office in Barcelona when he goes to the office.

“But I’m just grateful for the time I spent there, the things I learned, the people I met”

I had to quit my job and I was okay with that. I knew that this was something I had to do to be able to move to Spain. I enjoyed being around colleagues that were truly helpful and just fun to work with. So I felt emotional when closing that chapter. But I’m just grateful for the time I spent there, the things I learned, the people I met and with that thought in my mind I could close that chapter and get ready for a new chapter, or a whole new book :). But first we needed to work our way further down the checklist.