Looking at Valencia Spain

@njadwriter

Hello and welcome on board !

Anything in particular that you would like to know ?

Regards

Bhavna

If we do this, we're planning on spending about six months in Valencia. Is it difficult to get the long stay Visa?

When buying a property I assume we would need a local attorney and perhaps accountant. Could you provide referrals?

We're beach people--I've seen refiews that say the beaches are good and bad? Could you provide your impression?

Could we get by for a while, as we try to learn Spanish?

I'kk leave it at that for now.

Many thanks

Bob Kramer

@njadwriter

Valencia is very nice, as is the 200km of the Costa Blanca. Nearby Alicante is a good option too. Spain is famous for its beaches, so I don't think you need to worry, especially as there are more Blue Flag beaches here than anywhere else in the world!

https://www.blueflag.global/all-bf-sites

6 months is an awkward period. You can do visa-free for 3 months (90 in 180) so I'd be tempted to do that. Over 90 days requires a long-stay visa (e.g. NLV). Most visa applications have a level of bureaucracy that requires time and expense to navigate. If you want to relocate permanently then it's worth doing (and necessary), but for an extra 90 days it might fail the cost/benefit analysis. :-)

The 90 days is Schengen Zone, so you can't pop over to Portugal for the other 90 days. It would have to be a non-Schengen / non-EU country instead.

Property purchase is not difficult and does not require either an attorney or accountant. Instead, buyer and seller go to the local notary. However, you can engage an attorney/gestor if you'd like a bit of hand-holding. While property can be purchased by non-residents, you must have your NIE. This is something you should do at a Spanish consulate before you come over to buy.

For an idea of what you can get for your money, Idealista is a very large property site with listings all over Spain.