Selling a Spanish Home to Escape Rheumatism
A 43-year-old worker with rheumatism plans to sell his flat for €200,000 and move south while awaiting medical tribunal ruling.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Selling the flat for €200,000 and moving south with rheumatism
Can one stop working due to degenerative rheumatic disease and live off the proceeds of selling their home? The question, seemingly abstract, has names and numbers. A 43-year-old worker with twenty years of seniority at the same company, diagnosed with a rheumatic condition since age 25, proposes selling his property for €200,000, paying off the €75,000 outstanding mortgage, and buying a simple house with land in a warm area. He shares this without drama: work has become torture, and he wants to verify if the change is viable before the medical tribunal decides.
A cheap house in the south and zero heating costs
The plan is as simple as it is ambitious: sell, settle debts, and buy in southern Spain to avoid spending on heating, reserving summer for a family apartment in the north. The individual is tempted by Canary Islands bungalows from €25,000 seen in ads, though admits they don't convince him. Prefabricated houses appeal, but clash with land issues. A recurring warning: cheap village properties aren't always cheap bargains. Ridiculously low rents often come with fewer services, longer commutes, and a more solitary life. Savings on heating may vanish into fuel costs to visit family or August air conditioning bills.
Segarro: €150 monthly rent and healthcare bills
The Segarro option appears in the debate, with a forum user citing €150 monthly rents for beachside apartments, 400 meters from the shore and with a pool. On paper, unbeatable. Another user's warning is blunt: outside Spain there is no public healthcare, and serious problems force crossing borders however possible. For someone with a degenerative disease, that argument sinks the idea. Distance adds up: parents live in the Basque Country (Euskadi) and will likely need help sooner than expected. Cheapness has fine print.
Elche, Alicante, and a winter costing €52.50
Against the extreme heat of inland Andalusia, which some consider unbearable for northerners, emerges a recommendation for the Alicante coast. The argument is concrete: €52.50 for heating all winter with a catalytic stove in Elche, no air conditioning needed if the house is well-oriented because, according to him, there is almost always a breeze. This user defends the housing price-to-municipal services ratio as hard to beat. Other voices back inland La Rioja, with its orchards and river, good climate, and services similar to those in the Basque Country.
The medical tribunal and a hip that won't wait
The big unknown isn't where, but what income. The individual assumes the tribunal might deny permanent disability, stating he won't beg for the pittance but also won't give away his exit. Ten months after raising the issue, he reports undergoing arthroscopic hip surgery and irreversible wear. He claims the rheumatologist attributed hip pain to his underlying rheumatic disease and that cartilage is destroyed. His timeline describes someone watching a door close while bureaucracy debates opening it.
Near parents and the desire not to be tied down
One factor few question: proximity to parents. As an only child, he accepts he must dedicate time and care to them soon, reinforcing his idea of leaving employment. The proposal to buy a family farmhouse and regroup resources is dismissed with irony: tying oneself to real estate isn't what he seeks. The imagined life is different: garden, chickens, sunsets, and own rhythm. Few friends and zero social life miccionan he wouldn't miss anything.
Test before changing your whole life
The most repeated advice is not to buy with the heart. Rent for months in the chosen area, check daily life, real climate, and access before selling. Practical warning: a house with a yard in the town center is a bad purchase without attached land; better a slightly isolated dwelling with well or irrigation channel, solar panels, fruit trees, and vegetable garden. The operation, they insist, allows no turning back.
The conversation, however, didn't end with house plans. Part of the exchange turned into personal conflict between two participants, with cross-challenges and an unresolved meeting.
In the end, the easiest part of the plan is selling. The difficult part is finding someone to certify you are no longer fit for your previous job.
Can one stop working due to degenerative rheumatic disease and live off the proceeds of selling their home? The question, seemingly abstract, has names and numbers. A 43-year-old worker with twenty years of seniority at the same company, diagnosed with a rheumatic condition since age 25, proposes selling his property for €200,000, paying off the €75,000 outstanding mortgage, and buying a simple house with land in a warm area. He shares this without drama: work has become torture, and he wants to verify if the change is viable before the medical tribunal decides.
A cheap house in the south and zero heating costs
The plan is as simple as it is ambitious: sell, settle debts, and buy in southern Spain to avoid spending on heating, reserving summer for a family apartment in the north. The individual is tempted by Canary Islands bungalows from €25,000 seen in ads, though admits they don't convince him. Prefabricated houses appeal, but clash with land issues. A recurring warning: cheap village properties aren't always cheap bargains. Ridiculously low rents often come with fewer services, longer commutes, and a more solitary life. Savings on heating may vanish into fuel costs to visit family or August air conditioning bills.
Segarro: €150 monthly rent and healthcare bills
The Segarro option appears in the debate, with a forum user citing €150 monthly rents for beachside apartments, 400 meters from the shore and with a pool. On paper, unbeatable. Another user's warning is blunt: outside Spain there is no public healthcare, and serious problems force crossing borders however possible. For someone with a degenerative disease, that argument sinks the idea. Distance adds up: parents live in the Basque Country (Euskadi) and will likely need help sooner than expected. Cheapness has fine print.
Elche, Alicante, and a winter costing €52.50
Against the extreme heat of inland Andalusia, which some consider unbearable for northerners, emerges a recommendation for the Alicante coast. The argument is concrete: €52.50 for heating all winter with a catalytic stove in Elche, no air conditioning needed if the house is well-oriented because, according to him, there is almost always a breeze. This user defends the housing price-to-municipal services ratio as hard to beat. Other voices back inland La Rioja, with its orchards and river, good climate, and services similar to those in the Basque Country.
The medical tribunal and a hip that won't wait
The big unknown isn't where, but what income. The individual assumes the tribunal might deny permanent disability, stating he won't beg for the pittance but also won't give away his exit. Ten months after raising the issue, he reports undergoing arthroscopic hip surgery and irreversible wear. He claims the rheumatologist attributed hip pain to his underlying rheumatic disease and that cartilage is destroyed. His timeline describes someone watching a door close while bureaucracy debates opening it.
Near parents and the desire not to be tied down
One factor few question: proximity to parents. As an only child, he accepts he must dedicate time and care to them soon, reinforcing his idea of leaving employment. The proposal to buy a family farmhouse and regroup resources is dismissed with irony: tying oneself to real estate isn't what he seeks. The imagined life is different: garden, chickens, sunsets, and own rhythm. Few friends and zero social life miccionan he wouldn't miss anything.
Test before changing your whole life
The most repeated advice is not to buy with the heart. Rent for months in the chosen area, check daily life, real climate, and access before selling. Practical warning: a house with a yard in the town center is a bad purchase without attached land; better a slightly isolated dwelling with well or irrigation channel, solar panels, fruit trees, and vegetable garden. The operation, they insist, allows no turning back.
The conversation, however, didn't end with house plans. Part of the exchange turned into personal conflict between two participants, with cross-challenges and an unresolved meeting.
In the end, the easiest part of the plan is selling. The difficult part is finding someone to certify you are no longer fit for your previous job.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (122 replies).
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