Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain • Hacker News Board

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#11

Post by dalbasal » Sat, Mar 30, 2019, 12:59 PM UTC

y4mi wrote: post #3

MordodeMaru wrote: post #2

It's a pity Spain country side is becoming a vacuum.

It's not unique to Spain though... And neither surprising, tbh. Who in their right mind would even want to live without stable electricity, good waste management and all the other things you take for granted in even small villages ( There is literally nothing there besides some houses. That's enough to take a break on some holiday... But very few people would be willing to suffer through that long term

No access to grid power is a pretty rare circumstance in most of the west, but even so, "off grid" (as long as you're not also "off road") is not so difficult or expensive to solve these days, on the scale of construction/real-estate costs.

"Mod cons" aren't generally the problem. What's missing is people who want to be there.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#12

Post by reidrac » Sat, Mar 30, 2019, 12:59 PM UTC

rdl wrote: post #9

I'm sure there are plenty of people who can work remotely who would love to live in a place like this, if it were either turnkey or at least if there were some collective action organization. Makes even more sense in Portugal, though -- you could live in a place for 182 days/yr, after putting 350k euros investment into it, with a grant of portugese citizenship. I'm sure there are similar villages/properties in rural…

It may be tricky to do remote work from one of these places. In Spain, rural areas may not have broadband at all. You may have phone line, but the quality is so bad that not even ASDL is usable.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#13

Post by jxub » Sat, Mar 30, 2019, 1:01 PM UTC

ben_w wrote: post #7

y4mi wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not unique to Spain though... And neither surprising, tbh. Who in their right mind would even want to live without stable electricity, good waste management and all the other things you take for granted in even small villages ( There is literally nothing there besides some houses. That's enough to take a break on some holiday... But very few people would be willing to suffer through that long term

My siblings were interested in buying an old place in the Spanish countryside as a BTL holiday home, but heard some worrying things about the Spanish legal attitude to inheritance that put them off second hand places. (I won’t repeat what they said; they are neither lawyers nor speakers of Spanish so I give their fears no more than 50% credence).

An "interesting" fact of Spain is that all unwritten inheritance goes to the state, and this includes foreigners. Therefore, makes sense to lay down 200 bucks or so in lawyer fee and write the inheritance asap.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#14

Post by ez7r6i » Sat, Mar 30, 2019, 1:02 PM UTC

reidrac wrote: post #12

rdl wrote: post #9

I'm sure there are plenty of people who can work remotely who would love to live in a place like this, if it were either turnkey or at least if there were some collective action organization. Makes even more sense in Portugal, though -- you could live in a place for 182 days/yr, after putting 350k euros investment into it, with a grant of portugese citizenship. I'm sure there are similar villages/properties in rural…

It may be tricky to do remote work from one of these places. In Spain, rural areas may not have broadband at all. You may have phone line, but the quality is so bad that not even ASDL is usable.

Rural areas of Spain usually have decent 4G service.

Good luck getting hired for remote work in Spain, though.

Edit for the guys below: obviously I meant working for a Spanish company.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#15

Post by ez7r6i » Sat, Mar 30, 2019, 1:03 PM UTC

ben_w wrote: post #7

y4mi wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not unique to Spain though... And neither surprising, tbh. Who in their right mind would even want to live without stable electricity, good waste management and all the other things you take for granted in even small villages ( There is literally nothing there besides some houses. That's enough to take a break on some holiday... But very few people would be willing to suffer through that long term

My siblings were interested in buying an old place in the Spanish countryside as a BTL holiday home, but heard some worrying things about the Spanish legal attitude to inheritance that put them off second hand places. (I won’t repeat what they said; they are neither lawyers nor speakers of Spanish so I give their fears no more than 50% credence).

In some areas of Spain, the state gets to keep a high percent of the inheritance, they go up to 50% or maybe more in some places.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#16

Post by atomical » Sat, Mar 30, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

ez7r6i wrote: post #14

reidrac wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be tricky to do remote work from one of these places. In Spain, rural areas may not have broadband at all. You may have phone line, but the quality is so bad that not even ASDL is usable.

Rural areas of Spain usually have decent 4G service. Good luck getting hired for remote work in Spain, though. Edit for the guys below: obviously I meant working for a Spanish company.

I think parent comment was referring to foreigners buying a place and working remotely.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#17

Post by reidrac » Sat, Mar 30, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

ez7r6i wrote: post #14

reidrac wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be tricky to do remote work from one of these places. In Spain, rural areas may not have broadband at all. You may have phone line, but the quality is so bad that not even ASDL is usable.

Rural areas of Spain usually have decent 4G service. Good luck getting hired for remote work in Spain, though. Edit for the guys below: obviously I meant working for a Spanish company.

It would be matter of not working for a Spanish company. It makes taxes a bit more complicated though.

(Ironically, I did some remote work for a Spanish company when I was living in the UK)

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#18

Post by ez7r6i » Sat, Mar 30, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

y4mi wrote: post #3

MordodeMaru wrote: post #2

It's a pity Spain country side is becoming a vacuum.

It's not unique to Spain though... And neither surprising, tbh. Who in their right mind would even want to live without stable electricity, good waste management and all the other things you take for granted in even small villages ( There is literally nothing there besides some houses. That's enough to take a break on some holiday... But very few people would be willing to suffer through that long term

No healthcare, no chemists, no good Internet access, have to literally travel to buy clothes or go to the supermarket, and especially no jobs. Even in big towns jobs are scarce. Hence the asphyxiating housing bubble in big cities. It just makes no sense to live in any of those ghost villages. Unless you're some wealthy screwhead who can't stand the smallest amount of street noise.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#19

Post by misterhtmlcss » Sat, Mar 30, 2019, 1:05 PM UTC

ez7r6i wrote: post #14

reidrac wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be tricky to do remote work from one of these places. In Spain, rural areas may not have broadband at all. You may have phone line, but the quality is so bad that not even ASDL is usable.

Rural areas of Spain usually have decent 4G service. Good luck getting hired for remote work in Spain, though. Edit for the guys below: obviously I meant working for a Spanish company.

Why do you say that? Remote is remote, is I'm hiring remote, why would I care if the person is in Spain, Portugal or anywhere else? I'm sure you have context behind your comment and it would be great if you shared it.

Re: Ghost Villages for Sale in Spain

#20

Post by reidrac » Sat, Mar 30, 2019, 1:10 PM UTC

misterhtmlcss wrote: post #19

ez7r6i wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rural areas of Spain usually have decent 4G service. Good luck getting hired for remote work in Spain, though. Edit for the guys below: obviously I meant working for a Spanish company.

Why do you say that? Remote is remote, is I'm hiring remote, why would I care if the person is in Spain, Portugal or anywhere else? I'm sure you have context behind your comment and it would be great if you shared it.

I think the comment was referring to work remotely for a Spanish company. In Spain, remote work culture is almost nonexistent.