WHY WE MOVED TO THE COSTA DEL SOL – PART 1, USA EDITION

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TWO SIMPLE QUESTIONS 

Periodically, not haphazardly mind you, we catch up with our clients to check in and see that all is well and to see if we can help further their Spanish and new property experience.  In most cases, it’s nice to just “catch up”, to “hang out” with folk with whom we have jointly enjoyed each other’s company for upwards of 2 years or so.  By the way, the majority of Spanish dreams average 12 months from the light bulb moment to keys in hand.   

In some instances, we find the conversation runs riot with “Did you know” “We did this” or “Why didn’t you tell us”? Then the perennial, “When are you playing golf with us” – more the latter folks, when and if, and how.  

These last few months this writer’s inquisitive mind has expressed an interest in answering two questions, which most of us know, the right questions, can lead to a whole host of avenues to explore.  So, good web-reading folk, over the coming updates we will ask and seek answers from an interesting cohort of clients hailing from the USA, The Netherlands, and the UK.   Those waiting patiently for each of our updates will be well served, four episodes – ooh goody.  The skinny so to speak is as simple as:

Why did you move to the Costa del Sol?  Followed by: Has reality lived up to the hype?

Well, that’s that, two simple questions to ask and hopefully receive answers from our super clients from differing walks of life and hailing from different locations.    Here’s to it.  

PART 1 – WHY WE MOVED TO THE COSTA DEL SOL

USA EDITION 

Our USA group, is very much a mixed bag, sorry US clients, but that’s what you are.  This should come as no surprise as there are close to 300 million US inhabitants from all manner of backgrounds, with different financial status, religious beliefs, and social standings.  Mixed bag then it is.  

Putting aside the ins and outs and myriad number of personal reasons to move from a country you have spent all of your life living in, let alone to the Costa del Sol, there is a list of requirements our US clients have in common, which are:

 

AGE Our clients for your information, are north of 65 and without falling on my sword, I’d guess, please help me here, the average is, slow drum roll please, 71ish.  Treading softly on this one.   

 

CLIMATE Every one of our group placed their wish for a warmer or consistent climate above ALL reasons to move.  Not unexpected when you live in areas where weather is so specific, that you have very specific requirements.

 

GUN SAFETY What we Europeans take for granted is not necessarily so in the USA.  Thankfully, what gun crimes we did see in Spain were limited and we learned from them, irradicating access or supply of guns to the general population in an instant.  This is not so in the US where it’s a given right to bear arms.  Let me stop here.  

 

SIMILARITY Looking for similarities to the USA in terms of food, shopping, and banking.  While the climate, beaches, great roads, and hard-hitting stand on crime are all good, our American group were in search of a soft landing whereby some spoken English and the fundamental day-to-day look and feel were different and interesting, not alien.  

 

VALUE PROPOSITION We all want our money to go further and to have better, more enjoyable experiences, more of the time. Our group all agreed that a lower cost of living without feeling they had been downgraded was a big driver.  

 

USA SUMMARY

There, you have in a nutshell a series of conversations with long-standing clients who have lived a good chunk of their lives and have so in the United States of America.  The Costa del Sol has certainly answered their immediate needs and wants.  

The question of whether the Costa del Sol has delivered to those needs and wants.  Is it up to the hype? Until we jump a few episodes, who knows.  In the meantime, await episodes two and three when we ask the Dutchies and the Brits what they wanted prior to making the decision to move to the Costa del Sol.

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