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Preparing to live in Tossa de mar

Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2023 10:38pm
12 replies221 views5 members subscribed
JJ Jeffries

Posts: 10

Location: Tossa de Mar

Joined: 19 Feb 2023

We are wanting to buy in the area to retire but wanted to be prepared for what to expect. If anyone could be so kind as to answer some questions we would be forever grateful.

How is the Internet and cell phone service in that area?. 

 we are noticing many the places do not come with heat. how do people keep warm in the winter? And are utilities very expensive there if there is no heat in the house such as using an electric heater or wood.

Can anyone recommend a solicitor and a real estate agent and maybe also someone familiar with the tax system.

 And please let us know if there is anything I have not mentioned that we should know as new arrivals. We are learning the languages now but we probably will still need help translating. We want to fit in and be of service to the community.

We are coming to look for property in September 2023. Something with an ocean view if possible around 250,000 to 400,000 euros.

 thank you all for your time and attention. We look forward to getting to know you all soon. 

JJ and Camille

TnD

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2023 11:35am

TnD

Posts: 20

8 helpful points

Location: Tossa de Mar

Joined: 29 Apr 2019

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2023 11:35am

Hola JJ and Camille,

We are an English retired couple that bought our property overlooking the castle and bay around ten years ago. We stay at various times throughout the year up to a total of around three-four months.

We used Finques Soms as our agent and can’t recommend them highly enough. They sorted everything for us from the Notary, to electric and water accounts. They also removed the need for a separate solicitor as they included it in there service, however, totally understand if you do your own thing.

You will definitely need to consider heating as it’s very cold during winter nights. We have electric wall heaters and they wouldn’t be suitable if we lived permanently.

Happy to answer any further questions. We love Tossa and you will too!

Kenroberge

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2023 2:12pm

Posts: 3

Location: Tossa de Mar

Joined: 21 Jun 2022

Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2023 2:12pm

We are an American couple who purchased an apartment in Tossa last fall. We have spent long vacations in several costal towns near Barcelona and fell in love with Tossa. We could recommend Cristina Freixa from the firm Sales and Rental Spain as an agent.We could also recommend Cristian Balcells Group in Barcelona for your legal and tax services. We plan on staying in Tossa about six months each year.  To answer your questions: yes you will need heat during the the winter months especially at night, wood burning fire places are nice. Electrical costs are reasonable but we don’t have enough experience yet to give you data. Cellphone service in town is fine, but cellphone data is relatively slow (around 20Mbytes). None of the larger providers could provide fiber-optical cable to our 1975 apartment building. Consider an alarm service to protect your investment as squatters do exist and are difficult to remove. 

JJ Jeffries

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:35pm

JJ Jeffries

Original Poster

Posts: 10

Location: Tossa de Mar

Joined: 19 Feb 2023

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:35pm

TnD wrote on Sun Feb 26, 2023 11:35am:

Hola JJ and Camille,

We are an English retired couple that bought our property overlooking the castle and bay around ten years ago. We stay at various times throughout the year up to a total of around three-four months.

We used Finques Soms as our agent and can’t recommend them highly enough. They sorted everything for us from the Notary, to electric and water accounts. They also removed the need for a separate solicitor as they included it in there service, however, totally understand if you do your own thing.

You will definitely need to consider heating as it’s very cold during winter nights. We have electric wall heaters and they wouldn’t be suitable if we lived permanently.

Happy to answer any further questions. We love Tossa and you will too!

So nice of you to reply. Your information was very helpful.

We plan on visiting the area in September to look.We will let you know when we arrive and if you would like to meet we would love to take you out for a meal.

Jerry Jeffries

JJ Jeffries

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:37pm

JJ Jeffries

Original Poster

Posts: 10

Location: Tossa de Mar

Joined: 19 Feb 2023

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:37pm

Kenroberge wrote on Sun Feb 26, 2023 2:12pm:

We are an American couple who purchased an apartment in Tossa last fall. We have spent long vacations in several costal towns near Barcelona and fell in love with Tossa. We could recommend Cristina Freixa from the firm Sales and Rental Spain as an agent.We could also recommend Cristian Balcells G...

...roup in Barcelona for your legal and tax services. We plan on staying in Tossa about six months each year.  To answer your questions: yes you will need heat during the the winter months especially at night, wood burning fire places are nice. Electrical costs are reasonable but we don’t have enough experience yet to give you data. Cellphone service in town is fine, but cellphone data is relatively slow (around 20Mbytes). None of the larger providers could provide fiber-optical cable to our 1975 apartment building. Consider an alarm service to protect your investment as squatters do exist and are difficult to remove. 

Thank you so much for your reply. We plan on visiting in September to look and when we arrive would love to take you out for a meal or coffee to say hi.

Jerry Jeffries

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TnD

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2023 5:34pm

TnD

Posts: 20

8 helpful points

Location: Tossa de Mar

Joined: 29 Apr 2019

Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2023 5:34pm

JJ Jeffries wrote on Mon Feb 27, 2023 4:35pm:

So nice of you to reply. Your information was very helpful.

We plan on visiting the area in September to look.We will let you know when we arrive and if you would like to meet we would love to take you out for a meal.

Jerry Jeffries

Hi Jerry,

So glad we could be helpful.

Unfortunately we won’t be in Tossa until maybe the last week of September as our son is getting married.

However feel free to ask anything else you think of and I’m sure we’ll catch up at some time.

Regards

PatLloret

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2023 11:40am

Posts: 4

Location: Lloret de Mar

Joined: 12 Mar 2023

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2023 11:40am

Bonjour. Nous vivons depuis 2 ans à Lloret de mar dans une urbanización. Nous avons choisi cette ville car c'est animé aussi l'hiver, contrairement à tossa de mar où les commerces ferment d'octobre à avril. Nous avons la fibre optique donc pas de problème pour internet et la TV. Pour les tel portables, nous avons gardé nos numéros français avec le même forfait, pas de problème pour le réseau. Pour le chauffage, il est utile l'hiver car les températures baissent à zéro degré la nuit, et pour enlever l'humidité car proche de la mer. Nous avons un poêle à pellets qui chauffe bien, et moins cher que le chauffage électrique. Si vous aimez le calme le jour et la nuit, il est préférable d'habiter dans une urbanización que dans un centre ville car les espagnols sont assez bruyants. Si vous voulez plus de renseignements, n'hésitez pas pour discuter par la messagerie ou vous aider dans votre recherche. 

Pour acheter nous sommes passés dans l'agence Myhome de Lloret, qui parle plusieurs langues et s'occupe de tous les contrats (eau, électricité, internet, impôts...)

UNu plaisir de vous rencontrer

patrick & Brigitte 

jhayward

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2023 12:52pm

Posts: 9

1 helpful points

Location: Tossa de Mar

Joined: 17 Jul 2017

Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2023 12:52pm

Hello JJ and Camille,

We have had our place just outside of Tossa for six years now and also found it through Sales and Rental Spain, with Paul Williams. Can't recommend them enough and they've stayed in touch ever since (they were especially kind and helpful during the pandemic when we couldn't get to Spain, for example Paul recommended that we install an alarm service to avoid "okupas" as a previous poster mentioned, and went personally to oversee the installation).

We can recommend a wonderful solicitor in Girona, Carlos Moret Llosas, who did an independent title search etc. for us. I am not sure whether he speaks English, though, as we speak Spanish (still working on Catalan!).

Fiber-optic cable doesn't reach our neighborhood so we've had to go with a slower wireless internet system through Movistar, but it's been fine even for remote work meetings. We do have electric heat but the cost has been lower than expected.

We love Tossa and the entire region, and are looking forward to spending about six months a year there in a few years' time! We will be there in early October, but not September unfortunately. Happy to answer any other questions as they come up, though.

Best regards, Jennifer


JJ Jeffries

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 7:33pm

JJ Jeffries

Original Poster

Posts: 10

Location: Tossa de Mar

Joined: 19 Feb 2023

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 7:33pm

PatLloret wrote on Sun Mar 12, 2023 11:40am:

Bonjour. Nous vivons depuis 2 ans à Lloret de mar dans une urbanización. Nous avons choisi cette ville car c'est animé aussi l'hiver, contrairement à tossa de mar où les commerces ferment d'octobre à avril. Nous avons la fibre optique donc pas de problème pour internet et la TV. Pour les t...

...el portables, nous avons gardé nos numéros français avec le même forfait, pas de problème pour le réseau. Pour le chauffage, il est utile l'hiver car les températures baissent à zéro degré la nuit, et pour enlever l'humidité car proche de la mer. Nous avons un poêle à pellets qui chauffe bien, et moins cher que le chauffage électrique. Si vous aimez le calme le jour et la nuit, il est préférable d'habiter dans une urbanización que dans un centre ville car les espagnols sont assez bruyants. Si vous voulez plus de renseignements, n'hésitez pas pour discuter par la messagerie ou vous aider dans votre recherche. 

Pour acheter nous sommes passés dans l'agence Myhome de Lloret, qui parle plusieurs langues et s'occupe de tous les contrats (eau, électricité, internet, impôts...)

UNu plaisir de vous rencontrer

patrick & Brigitte 

Thank you for your reply it is very helpful and also for the suggestion I will reach out to myhome. 

We were not looking in Lloret because we were wanting something more with an old town part with walk ability to restaurants and cafés since we won't be driving much at least in the beginning. What is downtown like there? 

We were looking at Tossa de Mar for these reasons but internet and heat are concerns in the old section. We would avoid the tourists months but maybe it's still too isolated.

Hope to have a chat in person when we finally get a place and settled.

JJ

JJ Jeffries

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 7:40pm

JJ Jeffries

Original Poster

Posts: 10

Location: Tossa de Mar

Joined: 19 Feb 2023

Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2023 7:40pm

jhayward wrote on Sun Mar 12, 2023 12:52pm:

Hello JJ and Camille,

We have had our place just outside of Tossa for six years now and also found it through Sales and Rental Spain, with Paul Williams. Can't recommend them enough and they've stayed in touch ever since (they were especially kind and helpful during the pandemic when we couldn't get to Spain, for...

... example Paul recommended that we install an alarm service to avoid "okupas" as a previous poster mentioned, and went personally to oversee the installation).

We can recommend a wonderful solicitor in Girona, Carlos Moret Llosas, who did an independent title search etc. for us. I am not sure whether he speaks English, though, as we speak Spanish (still working on Catalan!).

Fiber-optic cable doesn't reach our neighborhood so we've had to go with a slower wireless internet system through Movistar, but it's been fine even for remote work meetings. We do have electric heat but the cost has been lower than expected.

We love Tossa and the entire region, and are looking forward to spending about six months a year there in a few years' time! We will be there in early October, but not September unfortunately. Happy to answer any other questions as they come up, though.

Best regards, Jennifer


Thank you for your wonderful advice and being so helpful. 

We are interested in purchasing in old town Tossa but of course we are concerned about heat and Internet. Do you happen to know what the Internet might be there? And also if they even let you install heat in some of the older buildings since I know there are restrictions sometimes. 

Are there still available restaurants and shops and transportation in the off-season? 

I don't mean to pester you with questions but you just seem so knowledgeable and I understand if you don't have time to attend to all my questions. I still found your response very helpful and hope to meet you in the future when we find a place. Again thank you so much.JJ

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