# Buying a property in Spain as a holiday let.



## Deb1234 (Feb 13, 2013)

My husband and i are looking to buy somewhere in Spain, not to use as our permenant residence as we both still work and live in london but to use as a holiday let and to use ourselves for weekends away and family holidays, is it quite easy to let a place out to holiday makers, whether it's families or golfers, if I have the right area. We love Marbella and it's surrounding areas but there does seem to be a lot of empty properties. It seems everyone is looking to get out and we are looking to get in, are we crazy?
I will have a mortgage on it and I'd need the income from renting it out to pay this mortgage. I'd like to keep the property long term and maybe spend a lot more time there once it's paid off and we've retired. Is this a crazy idea?


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

Deb1234 said:


> My husband and i are looking to buy somewhere in Spain, not to use as our permenant residence as we both still work and live in london but to use as a holiday let and to use ourselves for weekends away and family holidays, is it quite easy to let a place out to holiday makers, whether it's families or golfers, if I have the right area. We love Marbella and it's surrounding areas but there does seem to be a lot of empty properties. It seems everyone is looking to get out and we are looking to get in, are we crazy?
> I will have a mortgage on it and I'd need the income from renting it out to pay this mortgage. I'd like to keep the property long term and maybe spend a lot more time there once it's paid off and we've retired. Is this a crazy idea?


Sent you a pm


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Deb1234 said:


> My husband and i are looking to buy somewhere in Spain, not to use as our permenant residence as we both still work and live in london but to use as a holiday let and to use ourselves for weekends away and family holidays, is it quite easy to let a place out to holiday makers, whether it's families or golfers, if I have the right area. We love Marbella and it's surrounding areas but there does seem to be a lot of empty properties. It seems everyone is looking to get out and we are looking to get in, are we crazy?
> I will have a mortgage on it and I'd need the income from renting it out to pay this mortgage. I'd like to keep the property long term and maybe spend a lot more time there once it's paid off and we've retired. Is this a crazy idea?


Personally, I would not consider it. There are many empty properties as you say. Some of these are owned by brits who can't sell and have gone back to UK - seemingly, they can't even rent them out.

For a holiday let to work you first need to be in the right area. You then need a management company who can look after it with regard to cleaning, maintenance and key holding etc. I would suspect this would cost at least 20% of any rental.

Add to that the income tax that you would have to pay - even when empty and it doesn't leave much.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

snikpoh said:


> Personally, I would not consider it. There are many empty properties as you say. Some of these are owned by brits who can't sell and have gone back to UK - seemingly, they can't even rent them out.
> 
> For a holiday let to work you first need to be in the right area. You then need a management company who can look after it with regard to cleaning, maintenance and key holding etc. I would suspect this would cost at least 20% of any rental.
> 
> Add to that the income tax that you would have to pay - even when empty and it doesn't leave much.


It depends on the villa and area. Neighbours a few hundred yards away have €14k of bookings for this year, so he tells me and there are several around here doing the same. Changeover is around €40 - €50 with bed clothing wash and a 3 bed villa with a pool realises about €550 - €600 a week in this area in Summer months


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Stravinsky said:


> It depends on the villa and area. Neighbours a few hundred yards away have €14k of bookings for this year, so he tells me and there are several around here doing the same. Changeover is around €40 - €50 with bed clothing wash and a 3 bed villa with a pool realises about €550 - €600 a week in this area in Summer months


Wow - what am I doing wrong? We have just one booking for this year so far.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

snikpoh said:


> Wow - what am I doing wrong? We have just one booking for this year so far.


You have to speculate to accumulate 

When we rented we used Holiday Rentals.com 
It cost us iirc £200 a year, but we got good bookings. I'm pretty sure the neighbour uses the same site, but I think the name has changed


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

Stravinsky said:


> You have to speculate to accumulate
> 
> When we rented we used Holiday Rentals.com
> It cost us iirc £200 a year, but we got good bookings. I'm pretty sure the neighbour uses the same site, but I think the name has changed


Its homeaway.co.uk


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## Deb1234 (Feb 13, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> Personally, I would not consider it. There are many empty properties as you say. Some of these are owned by brits who can't sell and have gone back to UK - seemingly, they can't even rent them out.
> 
> For a holiday let to work you first need to be in the right area. You then need a management company who can look after it with regard to cleaning, maintenance and key holding etc. I would suspect this would cost at least 20% of any rental.
> 
> Add to that the income tax that you would have to pay - even when empty and it doesn't leave much.


You have to pay income tax even when it's empty!!! I thought you would have to pay tax on your earnings minus your expenses. Is this not the case?


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Deb1234 said:


> You have to pay income tax even when it's empty!!! I thought you would have to pay tax on your earnings minus your expenses. Is this not the case?


even if you NEVER let it to anyone EVER, & only use it yourself as a holiday home, you have to pay tax on 'imputed earnings' - in other words what 'they' expect you to earn from it


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## Deb1234 (Feb 13, 2013)

xabiachica said:


> even if you NEVER let it to anyone EVER, & only use it yourself as a holiday home, you have to pay tax on 'imputed earnings' - in other words what 'they' expect you to earn from it


Wow, I didn't realise! Thanks. How do they work this out. Is it based on the price of your property?


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

Deb1234 said:


> Wow, I didn't realise! Thanks. How do they work this out. Is it based on the price of your property?


yep - based on cadastral value (not what you may have paid).



Stravinsky said:


> Its homeaway.co.uk


Yep. we're on there. I think we pay 250 annually.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

snikpoh said:


> yep - based on cadastral value (not what you may have paid).
> 
> 
> 
> Yep. we're on there. I think we pay 250 annually.


Cant explain then, looked on his paqge and he is booked all August, July, June, Feb and parts of other months, and his top rate is £700 a week!!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

I live in the Marbella area and we have a family property here which my son and dil lend to friends occasionally.
There are so many empty properties here that would-be renters are spolit for choice. You will make money only if you have a large villa with private pool which you can rent for £3k plus a week to Russians or Chinese. I have a friend who moves to an apartment she owns every summer, rents her house for three months and returns in late September with enough to live on for the year. But I doubt you'd be able to rely on a steady income to pay your mortgage from an apartment in an urb.

As well as tax you have to consider: who will maintain the apartment/house, who will see to laundry/cleaning etc. 
We had property we rented in the UK and Canada and frankly, unless you have a vast property empire, renting can be a pita. We sold our properties because we couldn't be bothered with the hassle.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

I would not consider a mortgage at all, unless I could afford the repayments without extra income. I suppose it depends on the property and I do not know enough about the areas to offer advice. But the economic situation across Europe has put loads of buy to lets on the market and a lot of people with debts and reposessions. If you can afford to pay for those months where you have no rental income then no problem. Only you know your financial situation,


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## zenkarma (Feb 15, 2013)

Deb1234 said:


> I will have a mortgage on it and I'd need the income from renting it out to pay this mortgage. I'd like to keep the property long term and maybe spend a lot more time there once it's paid off and we've retired. Is this a crazy idea?


I'm new here and hoping to get get some advice myself on other areas but I saw this thread and thought I'd reply to it.

I'd think very, very carefully about doing this and most importantly - crunch the figures, because they will tell you if it's viable or not. My hunch says it won't be.

I have a small one bedroom flat in Almeria, mortgage paid, and I've seriously been thinking of renting it out to help recover some of the outgoing running costs. I've just been looking at the figures and for the last couple of years it's been costing on average about €2,000 per annum to run. 

That includes electricity, water, Communidad (Flat block community) service costs, Almeria council taxes and property taxes (which I assume refers to the taxes people have mentioned already here) and insurance.

I worked it out recently, I'd have to rent it out for about 2 - 3 months over the summer to recover that cost and that would include the 20% charge for the rental management agency. You would also have a mortgage to consider as well.

As you can probably see, it's a lot tighter than you think and consider that if you cannot easily find people to rent - you've still got that running cost and mortgage to service. It costs that whether it's empty or rented.

Please think very carefully about this, the days of buying to let and recovering your money from rentals is long gone in my opinion. That boat sailed a long time ago.


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## zenkarma (Feb 15, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> yep - based on cadastral value (not what you may have paid).


I'm not sure what cadastral value is, but as far as I understand this, it's a non-resident property tax? I pay about €350 for this on the last spreadsheet I looked at, does that sound about right?


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## Leper (May 12, 2010)

If you are going to buy a property in coastal Spain now is the time as prices are low and many are trying to offload. That is, of course, if you can afford to pay the mortgage, community fees, public lighting tax, refuse charges and a plethora of other Spanish taxes. Dont forget you will have to maintain the property all year round also.

So you want to rent the property to offset some (forget about all) of your mortgage and expenses. You will need to engage a cleaning person at least. It is likely that you will have no difficulty in renting a decent property during July and August. But, from September to June is the problem. You might be luckly and get a long term rent @ €500 per month in the off season.

Think carefully, do you need the added pressure of a mortgage? Do you need to run a property by remote control? Can you have the property maintained and painted easily?

Let's say you intend retiring later, now, you can rent for €500 per month. Why buy?


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

Leper said:


> If you are going to buy a property in coastal Spain now is the time as prices are low and many are trying to offload. That is, of course, if you can afford to pay the mortgage, community fees, public lighting tax, refuse charges and a plethora of other Spanish taxes. Dont forget you will have to maintain the property all year round also.
> 
> So you want to rent the property to offset some (forget about all) of your mortgage and expenses. You will need to engage a cleaning person at least. It is likely that you will have no difficulty in renting a decent property during July and August. But, from September to June is the problem. You might be luckly and get a long term rent @ €500 per month in the off season.
> 
> ...


Well, presumably because you would waste €6000 pa in rental payments

Actually, as I previously stated, if you have the right villa in the right place then it's not so difficult. The villa down the road is booked in the main months but also a good number of bookings from next month onwards. When we rented, the one year we rented one year almost the whole year through. It can be done, and if he is charging €700 a week down the road in the summer, its well worthwhile


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## zenkarma (Feb 15, 2013)

Stravinsky said:


> Well, presumably because you would waste €6000 pa in rental payments


Would you? I think it depends on what scenario you're referring to.

I believe the original question was about buying a flat on a buy to let mortgage. In other words buying a flat and then letting it out to pay the mortgage and running costs and that's where I believe the €500 a month figure came from. 

If you were to buy a €60k flat funded mostly by a mortgage plus the annual running costs you'd be looking at somewhere around €500 a month in payments. That's a lot of money to recover every year from renting it out, particularly when you consider the time window for rentals really only covers a 4-5 month time span say June to September for a coastal property. Not forgetting the 20% rental fee a management company would charge for cleaning, fresh laundary, tenant changeover etc.

Add in the problems of actively finding tenants to rent, that may also incur charges and you would have to have the flat almost permanently occupied from June to September to recover your costs.

When property prices were rising and people had more disposal income to go on holidays in Spain and it was still a popular destination that scenario was doable, just about. Now, however with the sheer volume of cheaper rentals on offer and less people spending money going on holiday it is in my opinion a very, very risky proposition. The figures just don't stack up.

The scenario you're describing is a multi-bedroom villa with a pool. That isn't going to cost you €60k. It will cost you 3 times that much and that isn't going to have a monthly outgoing of €500 if funded by a mortgage and maintenance costs.

The bigger the villa, the higher the purchase price, the higher the mortgage costs and the riskier the proposition in the current market. As you say, with more desirable properties it's certainly doable, but the risks are also much higher.

Unless someone was able to purchase a property in Spain with hard cash and without a mortgage and without having to recover rental costs, in this property market I'd advise a very big NO, don't do it.

Use that €500 a month likely outgoing on buying a property and use it on renting a holiday Villa or flat for 4-6 weeks of the year without all the headache and heartache of owning a property until the market has settled and the economic situation in Europe is more defined.


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

We have a holiday let and we are always fully booked June/July/August but it is taking longer to get those weeks booked and our guests are usually returns or recommendations which does save us paying the commission as they book direct with us. My daughter lives on site so we have no cleaning crew to pay but she also owns a management company and she charges 60 euros for a clean at the end of a let plus 25 euros to open up so each let is costing you 85 euros plus if you have a pool its more euros if you cannot do it yourself. We have no mortgage and for that I am thankful, no way would we be able to pay a mortgage from what the rental generates and we have a nice detached place with a big pool. It is not in my opinion a good idea to expect rental to pay your mortgage


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

zenkarma said:


> Would you? I think it depends on what scenario you're referring to.
> 
> I believe the original question was about buying a flat on a buy to let mortgage. In other words buying a flat and then letting it out to pay the mortgage and running costs and that's where I believe the €500 a month figure came from.
> 
> ...


Not around here it isn't 
I take your point ... the bigger the villa the bigger the mortgage maybe, but also the bigger the returns. Lets see, June & July & August at €700 a week = roughly €8500 gross


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

zenkarma said:


> I'm not sure what cadastral value is, but as far as I understand this, it's a non-resident property tax? I pay about €350 for this on the last spreadsheet I looked at, does that sound about right?


For every property owned there is "poll tax" or "rates" to be paid. This is called IBI or contribucion and is managed by the Cadastral. The cadastral value is similar to the rateable value of a property but, in many areas, has not been updated for ages.


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## zenkarma (Feb 15, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> For every property owned there is "poll tax" or "rates" to be paid. This is called IBI or contribucion and is managed by the Cadastral. The cadastral value is similar to the rateable value of a property but, in many areas, has not been updated for ages.


Thank you for clarifying this but I'm more confused now.

The IBI you mention comes up as: Diputacion Prov.Almeria-IBI UR and is about €150 a year paid in September. I've always assumed that was the local council tax/rates.

So what is the €350 the solicitor (abogado) pays each year, usually in December? Is that the non-resident land tax? And as an adjunct, if I went to live their full time, would this still be payable?


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## tonyinspain (Jul 18, 2011)

Not to mention the hassle of tenants 
A not paying squatting for a year 
B stealing all you furniture no sorry works for some but me no thanks ill stick to my bar


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

tonyinspain said:


> Not to mention the hassle of tenants
> A not paying squatting for a year
> B stealing all you furniture no sorry works for some but me no thanks ill stick to my bar


Holiday rents .... not long term stuff, I would never get involved in that. Holiday rents surprisingly go pretty uneventfully.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

zenkarma said:


> Thank you for clarifying this but I'm more confused now.
> 
> The IBI you mention comes up as: Diputacion Prov.Almeria-IBI UR and is about €150 a year paid in September. I've always assumed that was the local council tax/rates.
> 
> So what is the €350 the solicitor (abogado) pays each year, usually in December? Is that the non-resident land tax? And as an adjunct, if I went to live their full time, would this still be payable?


See here for a definition of IBI

We pay about 1300 euros each September/October. However, our property is large and TOTALLY legal. You will find similar properties with a lower IBI bill, but then will also find that their pool / outbuildings / casita are all illegal!


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## zenkarma (Feb 15, 2013)

Stravinsky said:


> Not around here it isn't
> Lets see, June & July & August at €700 a week = roughly €8500 gross


And I assume 24% of that is withheld and paid to the Spanish Tax authorities? 

Of the remainder, you have mortgage payments, IBI council tax, electricity, water and general running costs and the cost of managing the rentals of about 20%.

How much would you estimate would be left over?


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## zenkarma (Feb 15, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> See here for a definition of IBI


Ahh thank you. That's the €150 IBI.

This is the €350 Non-resident Property Tax. Tumbit.com - How To Guides - Spanish Non-resident Property Tax

At least it's nice to know I'm all up to date with my taxes! But what I don't really understand is what that tax is for? Why am I being taxed on my property because I don't live there? Do residents have to pay this tax or is it only non-residents?


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

zenkarma said:


> Ahh thank you. That's the €150 IBI.
> 
> This is the €350 Non-resident Property Tax. Tumbit.com - How To Guides - Spanish Non-resident Property Tax
> 
> At least it's nice to know I'm all up to date with my taxes! But what I don't really understand is what that tax is for? Why am I being taxed on my property because I don't live there? Do residents have to pay this tax or is it only non-residents?


As tumbit says, IBI is a property tax - everyone who owns a property pays it. 

There are no reductions, unlike in UK. So, even if you have no power, no water not even much of a roof, you still have to pay 100% of the tax. We have an empty, uninhabitable property but still have to pay 400 euros property tax every year!


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Stravinsky said:


> Holiday rents .... not long term stuff, I would never get involved in that. Holiday rents surprisingly go pretty uneventfully.


Trye, if you have someone/an agency keeping an eye on your property and a good laundry and cleaning service.
But would the income from holiday lets bring in enough to cover the mortage? I would guess there is a lot of competition in that sector of the market. 
There are a lot of overheads to consider: cleaning/laundry costs, paying someone to deal with key handovers, taxes, advertising...Not to mention furnishing and equipping the apartment/house to a good standard. You'll need someone on the spot to check that everything is OK, no damage, no theft.
If your mortgage payments are dependant on rental income I'd say it's too much of a risk.
And holiday renters can do as much damage as long-term tenants.....


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## zenkarma (Feb 15, 2013)

snikpoh said:


> As tumbit says, IBI is a property tax - everyone who owns a property pays it.


Yes, I understand the IBI. It's the Spanish equivalent to UK Council Tax and you pay it towards the local Municipal Province for the upkeep of the Province, like rubbish collection, street cleaning, lighting etc.

But I'm more interested in the Non-Resident Property Tax, not least of which because it's more than twice as much as the IBI!

Now the question I'm hoping to get an answer to is, is this tax payable by everyone, or does it only apply to *Non-Residents*? If so, is it then right to assume that if I become a resident, this tax is no longer applicable?


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

zenkarma said:


> Yes, I understand the IBI. It's the Spanish equivalent to UK Council Tax and you pay it towards the local Municipal Province for the upkeep of the Province, like rubbish collection, street cleaning, lighting etc.
> 
> But I'm more interested in the Non-Resident Property Tax, not least of which because it's more than twice as much as the IBI!
> 
> Now the question I'm hoping to get an answer to is, is this tax payable by everyone, or does it only apply to *Non-Residents*? If so, is it then right to assume that if I become a resident, this tax is no longer applicable?


Err, no ... a resident doesnt pay the non resident tax .... however if you are resident then you will need to declare tax as a tax resident


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## Cazzy (Nov 23, 2008)

If you are a non-resident you have to pay the tax at the end of the year!! Just for those who are thinking about holiday lets... I viewed a property with some clients yesterday which has a 2 bed villa with pool and hot tub, a one bed flat with hot tub and a 3 bed main house with pool. The house makes 35k a year. I didn't think that this was a bad turnover, especially as there was scope to do a lot more, so holiday lets can be profitable!!!


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Cazzy said:


> If you are a non-resident you have to pay the tax at the end of the year!! Just for those who are thinking about holiday lets... I viewed a property with some clients yesterday which has a 2 bed villa with pool and hot tub, a one bed flat with hot tub and a 3 bed main house with pool. The house makes 35k a year. I didn't think that this was a bad turnover, especially as there was scope to do a lot more, so holiday lets can be profitable!!!


but if the owner had the maximum possible mortgage on the property, would it cover it?

what I mean is, would it pay the mortgage, utilities, taxes etc., & cleaning/repairs/replacement of household goods?


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Cazzy said:


> If you are a non-resident you have to pay the tax at the end of the year!! Just for those who are thinking about holiday lets... I viewed a property with some clients yesterday which has a 2 bed villa with pool and hot tub, a one bed flat with hot tub and a 3 bed main house with pool. The house makes 35k a year. I didn't think that this was a bad turnover, especially as there was scope to do a lot more, so holiday lets can be profitable!!!


Yes, that does sound good, but thats "big" money, which few could afford - As Xabiachica says, it would for most of us require a big mortgage, the banks would want big security and of course theres still the risk factor and if it all goes wrong...........The big fall! Maybe I prefer to play safe, but IMO, you should only do it if you can either afford the mortgage repayments without the rental, or afford to not have the mortgage

Jo xxx


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## Cazzy (Nov 23, 2008)

The house is for sale at 600,000 euro and they do all the work themselves. It is a lot of money. Although the owners do no catering and they have 2 en-suite B&B rooms that they don't use, so it is possible to increase the turnover. I think if you down the mortgage route (which you are unlikely to get, even with business books) maybe you would still make a profit. Personally I think that to go into this type of business you need the cash to buy the property outright. Saying that we also looked at another 600,000 euro property, a hotel, with restaurant, which has a huge transferable mortgage on it, the owners are still making a reasonable profit.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Cazzy said:


> The house is for sale at 600,000 euro and they do all the work themselves. It is a lot of money. Although the owners do no catering and they have 2 en-suite B&B rooms that they don't use, so it is possible to increase the turnover. I think if you down the mortgage route (which you are unlikely to get, even with business books) maybe you would still make a profit. Personally I think that to go into this type of business you need the cash to buy the property outright. Saying that we also looked at another 600,000 euro property, a hotel, with restaurant, which has a huge transferable mortgage on it, the owners are still making a reasonable profit.


I'm sure its got potential, I guess I'd want to play it safe in this economic climate - but then some may say that my caution is why I'm not a multi million property tycoon lol!!!!!!

Jo xxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

jojo said:


> I'm sure its got potential, I guess I'd want to play it safe in this economic climate - but then some may say that my caution is why I'm not a multi million property tycoon lol!!!!!!
> 
> Jo xxx


Ditto!

My name should be Prudence, not Mary. I am extremely risk adverse. I don't borrow money and stuck for decades at a job I found boring and that after a couple of years I could do standing on my head. But I knew the light at the end of the tunnel would be a handsome final salary pension.

In the UK and Canada I bought and rented out properties but sold before major works needed doing. 

In my limited experience of the property market I'd say that it's not worth the hassle unless you have a substantial portfolio and can employ others to run it for you.
If the OP needs a guaranteed income from this one let to pay off a mortgage I'd say No way Jose. Too much worry and insecurity.

But although I'm no way 'wealthy' my caution has paid off in that short of a truly major economic catastrophe which would affect everyone we will have no money worries. In a few years we will move from this large property to a smaller but equally 'nice' adosado or piso or smaller house for which we will pay much less rent and will therefore have more disposable income to make our very old age more comfortable.

Says she smugly...


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## zenkarma (Feb 15, 2013)

Stravinsky said:


> Err, no ... a resident doesnt pay the non resident tax .... however if you are resident then you will need to declare tax as a tax resident


Ahh thank you. So if I became a resident I effectively swop one tax for another! Out of the frying pan into the fire.

From what I've read about Spanish income tax on earned and unearned income and the allowances you are allowed to offset against it, with a bit of jiggery pokery (all legal and above board) I may just be able to minimise my tax liability to pay very little.

As you can see I'm doing the figures on whether it's financially viable to sell up and move and live their permanently. It's looking good so far.

Many thanks.


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## Stravinsky (Aug 12, 2007)

zenkarma said:


> Ahh thank you. So if I became a resident I effectively swop one tax for another! Out of the frying pan into the fire.
> 
> From what I've read about Spanish income tax on earned and unearned income and the allowances you are allowed to offset against it, with a bit of jiggery pokery (all legal and above board) I may just be able to minimise my tax liability to pay very little.
> 
> ...


Well, imho it just depends on where you live.
Here in CB North, with taxes etc it is still cheaper to live here. Disregard what people tell you about it being more expensive to live here than the UK. It may be the case down in Marbella etc, but here it's not.

It's worth getting a good gestor who knows about tax. I got one and it pays dividends

Bear in mind also that as a Spanish tax resident here now you have to declare all your worldwide assets in detail if they exceed €50k in different areas


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## zenkarma (Feb 15, 2013)

Stravinsky said:


> Well, imho it just depends on where you live.


Yes indeed. 

The principal is the same in the UK. London and the SE (where I am) will have a much higher cost of living than say more rural areas in Wales for example or some places further North of England.

The principal seems to be where the work is around major capital cities such as London and Madrid will be more expensive than where the work isn't such as more rural areas and down on the Costa's. So if you're lucky enough to be retired or not have to work, you can certainly choose a cheaper place to live.



Stravinsky said:


> Disregard what people tell you about it being more expensive to live here than the UK.


I don't really need to disregard them, I know they're wrong  But a lot depends as you rightly say on where you live and how you define 'cost of living'. People will define it quite differently depending on what your own personal situation is. In my opinion, inflation and the rising cost of living in the UK (one of the reasons I want to get out of it) is horrendous - and by far the worst I've ever known in my entire life. The rate that things are going up by is shocking and the real underlying rate of inflation I would estimate is closer to 10% than the paltry 2-3% the government has somehow managed to estimate it as. But that should come as no surprise to anyone, this British government lies and deceives its population all the time and manipulates the inflation statistics to say whatever it wants it to say. You only need to see the way they ping pong backwards and forwards between CPI and RPI depending on which one is the lowest! 

But the vast majority of the UK working population are being shielded from this high inflation rate for the simple reason that their largest monthly outgoing - their mortgage payments are at the lowest level they've ever been. The government also seem determined to keep it that way for the near future. Just watch these people squeal about how unfair life is once that rate starts to move upwards! I remember paying the 12-14% mortgage interest rates of the Thatcher era and 80% of my monthly salary was going on mortgage payments.

So, having learnt my lesson the hard way, I worked my socks off and went without to pay off my mortgage as soon as I could only to now find any savings I have in the bank are being constantly eroded by low interest rates and high inflation. Likewise for anyone retired in a similar position.

I currently pay about £1600 a year in Council tax alone compared to what would be €150 a year on the Spanish flat. 

I don't need anyone to tell me which country has the lower cost of living


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