Buying in ~Spain - Survey question

jamie11

melb wrote: »

thanks for all the helpful replies - sorry only just seen them. We would remain living in the UK - this would be holiday home for us and maybe let it out. it is in a town but 5 minutes walk from a beach and less than that to the train, shops, bars etc. We stayed in the same block for a few days last year and loved the location. It is a residential block with mainly full-time spanish residents so i understand. We aim to fly out in the next fortnight to have a good look. Please can anyone tell us what steps we should take from the moment we meet the estate agent who will show us around. the questions I am planning to ask are: is it vacant, is the owner spanish or foreign why are they selling. Do estate agents provide leaflets/brochures on properties as they do here? If we approached Santander in England would they be able to help in obtaining a spanish mortgage (on maybe 25% of the value of the property)

You are going to be renting it? Then none of my advice stands, in the current market you will lose money hand over fist.

Tbh. I think Santander will laugh you out the door, try to understand, there are so many properties here for sale that the prices have been undercut by more than 50% and they are still going down.

It's one thing to live here and enjoy your property, it's an entirely different thing to think you can make one single holiday letting work with all the expenses of agents etc.

melb

oh sorry i didn't explain myself properly. We are not seeing the letting out aspect as a business - we don't need it to fanance the deal - it's just that we feel it is a viable letting property for some weeks in the summer when it will be too hot for us. I appreciate all your advice and I know it sounds like I'm not listening but we have been thinking of doing this for over a year but this property just seems to tick all the boxes - well it's cheap!

geoffky

I hope you are getting at least 50% off..prices are still falling fast..

beedeedee

Sorry but apartment blocks can be fraught with far more problems than most properties. There will be a sort of "residents association" and if you do not attend all the meetings and speak/understand Spanish well, you may find yourself paying for new lifts and other things you wouldn't think about in the UK and you could be outvoted by the other residents on things like pool access times, compulsory cleaning, roof access, repairs, expensive new Fire Alarm system installations - the list can go on, so please be aware.
I don't want to put you off - but you really do need to do your research well.

melb

yes that's a good point as we have only basic spanish. There are apparently about 6 english owners/residents who club together to pay for an interpreter at the committee meetings so they can understand what is going on. According to a lady who has a place there which we rented last year. they do send you a letter saying you need to pay say an extra 50 euros a month for 3 months to pay for such and such but I'm presuming this is discussed at the committee meetings beforehand. we will be finding out all we can about the rules and regulations of the committee. I wonder if there is a Spanish contribution and a "foreigner" contribution!

GCMBOY

As previously stated, there are so few work opportunities in Spain and a definite lack of a benefits system, not that I am endorsing that at all - see here - very few jobs listed! http://www.jobsinspain.info

If however you are retired and have a pension then why not move to Spain, I know I would!!

melb

we don't want to move or work there. Just to enjoy a few short breaks each year and let our family do the same. Plus in the future maybe rent it out in the summer months to help with ongoing community charges, taxes etc. anyway OH is off out in a couple of weeks to have a look and see. wish us luck!

DominicJ_2

Why not just, book a few holidays a year?

melb

I know that's what we keep telling ourselves - how many holidays could you have for 100,000 euros and even if you own the place you've obviously still got to pay for the flights just the same. It just doesn't stack up really. but on the other hand my OH is using money he already has which is earning next to nothing and why not use it to buy something that we will get enjoyment out of? is the other side of the coin. Why does anyone ever buy a holiday place? there must be something that makes them do it - and prices in spain are probably as low as they are going to get according to what I have been reading. He's booked the flights now so he's off and i have to trust him to be sensible which I think he is judging by the research he is doing

poppy10_2

melb wrote: »

prices in spain are probably as low as they are going to get according to what I have been reading.

You've been reading the wrong things. Spain is going to be one of the next countries to get hit hard by the debt crisis, after Greece eventually defaults. They're already facing massive unemployment and budget deficits. Wages are going to shrink in real terms, and property prices will likely fall as the country enters a deflationary debt spiral.

You may have other reasons for wanting to buy a Spanish property, but buying as an investment should not be one of them, unless you like throwing your money away.