Is this reality? rental prices
- Thread starter ameyer
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For that money I'd live In Paris, or Manhattan, or... you know, some place REALLY worth that price tag.
Man, the midwest is so huge there's all types of areas. And I'm not just talking about deep deep country here. This also includes suburbs of big cities in the midwest. I grew up on a burb of Chicago to which many people commuted. Cost of living was very low, standard of living was very high. People were 50/50 liberal-conservative. Hell, Texas is one big burb i hear. But too far south for my tastes.
But sure there are more socially conservative religious areas out here than on the coasts. But it's not fucking Deliverance out here lol. I love that shit.. how Hollywood portrays the rust belt in horror movies, etc. Neocons, and bible thumpers are actually some nice people as long as you don't tell them they're fucking idiots for believing in a fairy tale. Even then, you're not likely to get killed by them for telling them you're opinion.
We have got to get over there and check this out. This is going to be like the third time I've shown the wife one of your Spain posts.
Fatbat how about a devil's advocate on Spain? If you had to find something wrong what would it be? How's taxes, crime, business climate for American's etc.?
Been there over 20 times extremely safe place.
"Statistics show Spain is one of the European countries with the lowest crime rate, according to a 2005 Gallop Europe research study."
Crime in Spain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Statistics show Spain is one of the European countries with the lowest crime rate, according to a 2005 Gallop Europe research study."
Crime in Spain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2005- Oh you mean before their current depression, 25+% unemployment, and social unrest?
Not that I know what it's actually like on the ground, Fatbat would know better.
The economy is in the shitter big time, with massive unemployment, which has driven petty crime up a bit but it's not out of control. There's less crime here than most US cities.
The Spanish are a resilient lot and there's a strong underground economy here. These people have family ties and tend to look after one another, so even though tons of people are out of work, people are still getting by, eating out, partying and on the surface you wouldn't know anything was wrong.
People can be lazy though and it can be difficult to get some basic things done here. It seems sometimes that there's no urgency in getting things done to earn money. Getting phone and internet is usually a bit of a pain and takes a few days. I've got 10mb down and 1mb up with 60ms pings which is totally acceptable for me.
There's a huge expat community here, and a fairly strong tourist scene, so you can go the whole time here socializing and getting by fine, without necessarily integrating into Spanish society or learning Spanish. Quite a few Spaniards around these parts speak English, especially those in the service industries, but to really integrate and be accepted here, you would want to speak Spanish.
Business here is fine for me. I do work for a few people locally who aren't from here, the rest are abroad in the US or other places. If your business is online then you won't have any problems. If you think you're going to go out and pound the pavement and look for web development jobs or SEO work or something, then I think you'd have issues. It's modern here but it's difficult to convince people they should be spending a lot of money developing their internet properties. This is compounded by the current economic climate.
I really like it here and have made some fantastic friends and business relationships. There's 300+ days of sunshine every year and the climate is great. Cost of living is cheap and the people are nice. There's not much else I need.
Yeah, 40% unemployment in parts of this region of Spain. Yeah, some protest in the big cities. Some shops are closed and you see gypsies panhandling in grocery store parking lots, but generally it's business as usual here.
Even though that's from 2005, I think the bit about being low crime still holds true. There's a lot of corruption and back handers in business and politics here, but you won't find nearly the same levels of street crime as you do elsewhere in the world. There is some gang activity here on the Costa, mostly drug related, but you just don't see it unless you're involved in it. There have been some high profile shootings over the years here, mostly drug dealers, and it's a big deal when something like that happens, simply because it doesn't happen very often. As I said before, some petty crime is up, purse snatchings, pick pocketing, breaking into cars, etc. but it's usually gypsies engaged in such activities and not the Spanish. With the downturn in the economy, prostitution is up. Crime is higher in places like Barcelona and Madrid than it is in places like the Costa del Sol too.
Thanks Fatbat. I will do some research but in the off chance do you know anything about dockage there? Any idea what the per foot cost is long term in a nice marina?
As long as I'm asking dumb questions do you have any type of seasonal extreme weather there? i.e. like the shock and awe of hurricanes kind of action here.
As long as I'm asking dumb questions do you have any type of seasonal extreme weather there? i.e. like the shock and awe of hurricanes kind of action here.
To be honest, no I don't know about berths here, but I do know people in the yachting business and can certainly find out easy enough. I'll ask and get back to ya.
Here on the Costa temperatures are a bit less extreme than if you go inland. It's warmer in the winter (mid teens/20s) and cooler in the summer (mid 20s/70s). It can get quite hot in July and August though (upper 30s/80s).
http://www.holiday-weather.com/costa_del_sol/averages/
We get a few thunder and lightning storms every winter but nothing like a hurricane. It can be quite dry in the summer which leads to brush fires. There was one in my town and although the scenery was blackend, no houses were lost and no one was hurt. There was a much worse fire around Marbella this summer and some houses burned and a few people died. A couple weeks later brought torrential rains and floods and a few people died. Usually it's pretty mild and nice though.
First glance looks like depending on the time of year 12 to 20f cooler than the keys. More so on the water temp. Interesting mild though compared to going 10 degrees north in latitude here in the states.
If you could hook me up with a contact on the dockage would be cool. Would probably need end of dock. 48' cat but almost 30' beam doesn't fit in a lot of slips.
Pardon op for the off-topic.
Why are you surprised at property prices? Both Singapore & HK have a very limited amount of space, with lots of people living there. They also have a wealthy community of foreigners pushing prices up, especially as Europe and the US keep upping their taxes, causing rich people to leave for somewhere more accommodating.
This, this, this.
I go to town (12k people) once a week, and after an hour, I want to go back home.
Just down the road from me
The general area
