Cost of living experiences

Hi Mark,

The cost of living in Valencia is lower than other bigger cities like Barcelona or Madrid, flat rental prices and houses to buy prices are lower too (and definitely lower than in UK).

You have many shopping malls with nice restaurants, shops, leisure areas, etc. Eating out is still cheap    ...

It's not hard to find a flat for a really good price, but if you have your own car, you can find a nice house in any of the residential areas or nearby villages (some villages have bus and subway, others only bus or subway... or none). Although commuting takes a bit long but, for an emergency, if your car is being repaired it might be OK.   

Flat rentals in Valencia: go from 400€ (basic) to +1700€ per month (luxury areas of the city).
Houses-villas-cottage-like-rentals in a residential area:  go from 900€ (or less) to +2000@ per month.

Please, beware of buying a cottage-like-house  in the countryside or an overly cheap (or not that cheap) house in an "ilegal" area... A legal house should be paying taxes to the council (clearly stated it in the taxes as "residential"... never as "field", or "rustic land" or so, never built in dangerous areas, etc), and already having electricity and potable (drinkable) water supply with an active contract --having a new contract might be a nightmare for someone who doesn't speak Spanish--.

This applies no matter if the seller is a Spaniard or foreigner (who might want to get rid of a troublesome house without electricity contract, non drinkable water, etc. etc.)

But... don't worry, those are very little cases, and there are many nice flats in the city and cute and fitting houses around... and you're gonna love living in Valencia.

If you need any help, please feel free to contact me.

Kind regards,

Jesus.
PD. As I don't have any children I can't offer you any  feedback about English speaking schools, but I have many British friends around, some of them work for schools, I could ask them for advice.