London - A Place To Leave Valencia - A Place To Live

£780,000 1 bedroom studio, 410 square feet, third floor walk up in the best part of Covent Garden... Pardon me I will just translate that ad into English should I? "How much! Rabbit hutch of 40m2, no lift, and who on earth decides what the best part of Covent Garden is?" Now I could be wrong on the facts of this advert but it is something like what I saw when I was in London in December. And after reading a couple of excellent articles about why people are leaving London (see links http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/29/goodbye-london-moving-to-brighton-house-prices http://boingboing.net/2015/06/29/why-im-leaving-london.html) I thought how lucky we are here in Valencia to actually be in a place where the quality of life isn't totally dependent on your wallet but much more on your network and your imagination. Let's just look at my weekend. But before we do that a little confession, it has been a hard week of work punctuated by siestas, great food and visits from friends. We are not slackers here, we work and we make sure that when we aren't working that we actually make use of our time. I think I have worked about 50 something hours in the last week but today was for family and friends and as always the weather accompanied us. This morning was a good breakfast with a smoothie made from fresh ingredients and plenty of coconut water. Eggs, avocado and turkey on the plate and coffee. After that a trek around some shops to buy a coolbag (picnic for late beach lunch sorted) Liverpool match on tv then the beach with the family after filling the car tank up with diesel at 83.7 cents a liter. Some cricket catching practice on the beach in a T-Shirt in the 20 degree warmth and chats with friends while eating the picnic, back home and make a decent tea with loads more fresh vegetables. A quiet Saturday night in watching films with the kids and bed. Sunday there is no plan yet. The morning will be spent mooching around and then in the afternoon we will phone around a few friends and spend time with them while chatting, maybe quaffing some wine and snacking. The kids will play and probably argue and we won't be worrying about traffic, stranger danger, the cold, or anything really. Did you notice how much money we spent doing all that? Yes, we are lucky, very lucky. We live in a place where the sun shines, the light is spectacular, the warmth is almost a given and people are friendly and approachable. We speak Spanish, the kids grow up bilingual, we don't have to commute for hours to get to work, communications are great, the food is good and healthy and other people envy us and always say "I wish we could do that”. A lot of people are actually dong it. In the last year alone we have had more clients from London than anywhere else. The one good thing about the extraordinary bubble in London prices is that if you get out now you have money to spend in a Mediterranean city full of culture, sport (Valencia tickets were from 5 euros in the Spanish cup last week and ten Euros the cheapest for the league game this weekend) music, art and gastronomy. We also have seen an uptick in Americans looking for a more European lifestyle and less me, me, me. People coming out of the oil industry as it collapses in on itself and buying to semi retire (often while in their mid forties), digital nomads taking advantage of the low prices and brilliant internet speeds in the city and a whole lot of non-eu buyers looking for their Golden Visa residencies. All in all a very positive picture What do the Valencians think about it though? All of these foreigners coming into their city and enjoying what they have always enjoyed themselves? As far as I know, they love it. The crisis was hard on Spain and Valencia was hit very hard too and the Spanish appreciate those who come to their country to live, work and enjoy themselves as they help to get the economy moving again. As the saying goes, every little helps. So as usual the question is, when are you coming to join us? Valencia is the third biggest city in Spain of course and possibly one of the cheapest large cities in Europe. The quality of life is excellent and the work life balance just functions well. We look forward to seeing you here. And finally, let’s just do that same advert for Valencia shall we 800 foot, three bedroom apartment just 500 yards from the Mediterranean with two bathrooms, fifth floor with a lift and even some sea views. 97,000 euros. (About £72,000) If you are coming from London just buy ten of them. You can live in one, double your living space and live off the rent of the other nine. Check out the properties on the website at www.valencia-property.com to see that one and many other places of course for a better quality of life.