From Rotterdam to Dénia for good, the paperwork we did in what order
We are moving to Dénia for good, not a second home, the whole life. My husband is 61 and can retire early, I am 58 and I can work from anywhere with a laptop. The house is reserved since August, the notary date is in the middle of November, and I thought a list of what we did in which order might help the next Dutch couple, because the order matters more than we thought.
NIE number: we did it at the consulate in Amsterdam, 6 weeks. Do this first, before anything else, before even looking seriously.
Bank account in Spain: needed the NIE. Opened it in Dénia in person in June, took one morning.
The search itself: from March to July I went through https://alegria-realestate.com/ every evening after dinner, the Dénia and Els Poblets pages, and put anything under 300 into a shared note with my husband. He crossed out everything without a garage. That left eleven.
Viewings: July, five days, nine houses. One was right. Townhouse in Els Poblets, ten minutes to the beach on the bicycle, garage, no pool, we did not want a pool.
Reservation: August, done from Rotterdam by transfer.
Padrón, healthcare registration, the car: all of this is after the notary, we are told, so that is the next list.
What I would still like to know from people who did the full move: how long did it take before Dénia felt like home and not like a very long holiday?