Our van broke down - again - yesterday and the first garage we took it to said that it was probably a serious problem that would cost about €1000 to fix.  Now bearing in mind the van is about 10 years old this is a huge amount of money and we have to decide whether it is worth spending that  amount or somehow finding the money to buy a new one.

With the current financial ´crisis´in Spain, the banks are tightening their criteria for mortgage applicants and according to www.prestamoshipotecarios.com.es, immigrants are considered a much higher risk.

Finally there is a website where you can compare all the offers in one place! Bankimia.com is a new service that searches all the offers from the different banks, lists them in order of monthly payments and has an easy to view checklist with the requirements for each offer.

While you obviously still have to check the fine details with each bank, it means you have compare a much wider range of offers at a glance.

Check it out at www.bankimia.com

One of the most important pieces of advice I give in my book is that you should always seek professional advice rather than simply doing research on the internet of taking information from a guide book.

Listening to Brian Deller on REM.fm bought this home yet again as he mentioned the case of an expat involved in an accident who while legally using a UK licence had not had the medical that is required by law in Spain.  Because of this, he says her licence was deemed invalid, she lost the case and her insurance would not pay.

I am putting together a selection of video clips from expats telling the story of their experiences in Spain.

The theme will follow the Expat Survival Guide showing mistakes that we have made, advice to other expats and funny stories.

The intial categories would be:

Speaking to a Spanish friend of my today he told me that a few months ago he had 4 points taken off his driving licence.   What had he done?  He did not come to a complete stop at a stop sign.  By a complete stop I mean just that, he had slowed right down to about 3 miles an hour, there were no cars in sight and he made the turn.  Unluckily for him there were two police parked nearby who pulled him over and fined him the four points.