# First Time Buyer In Spain



## pilatesvictoria (Oct 20, 2015)

Hi everyone, I am a newbie here so please excuse all ignorance!
So looking at buying our first property in Spain (we are still in UK). Really just after advice on everything!! 

But I guess to start with, I've been quoted taxes and notary on top of purchase price, can anyone explain what these are? (Total 12.5%) Who they are paid to and when during the potential sale do these become due?

Also the Certificates : Habitabilitad, de Energy & Escritura, these are obviously all important but are there any others I should be looking for ideally?

Has anyone gone through the process of rent-to-buy? I recognise that the estate agents aren't keen on this as they won't see a sale for a while, so they are mostly saying not available, but surely if a house has been reduced, this seems to indicate to me that a buyer may be open to this suggestion??

Thanks in advance, look forward to your comments...


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## Guest (Oct 20, 2015)

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-buy-property-in-spain

We used this website as an guideline to buy our property in Spain.

Once you buy a house in Spain you can rent it out straight away. No problems at all.

We paid 10% tax based on the house value, then we had to pay around 5,000 euros in various paperwork and surveys etc.

We also had to pay 10% deposit for the house as well to secure the mortgage.

That's it in a nutshell really, I strongly recommend you use the BANK legal advisor's not the estate agents legal team to purchase the house!

Good luck - best time to buy in Spain at the moment.


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## pilatesvictoria (Oct 20, 2015)

*First time buyer...*

Thanks Nigelk,

thats really helpful, just been in touch with estate agent who said this to me regarding customers who were requiring mortgages:

_"And since 2010, the banks in Spain , refuse the money to these customers because of the low % the bank would allow to these people.
Mainly because a lack of guaranties.._

I also read on Spanish Property Insight that Spanish Banks are only lending max 60% of value??

You said you only had 10% deposit which is much more my line of thinking! 

Can I ask when you bought? and any other mortgage/bank info you'd be willing to supply (within reason of course)

Thanks again….


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

pilatesvictoria said:


> Hi everyone, I am a newbie here so please excuse all ignorance!
> So looking at buying our first property in Spain (we are still in UK). Really just after advice on everything!!
> 
> But I guess to start with, I've been quoted taxes and notary on top of purchase price, can anyone explain what these are? (Total 12.5%) Who they are paid to and when during the potential sale do these become due?
> ...


The tax is property transfer tax. The amount payable varies between different autonomous regions in Spain, so it depends where you're buying. In Valencia, for example, it's 10% whereas in Andalucia and Murcia it's 8%. Then there is your solicitor's fee (I paid 1% of the purchase price, it is normally paid as a percentage here rather than fixed fee conveyancing as you would get in the UK), then the notary fees. If you get a mortgage from a Spanish bank, you would be responsible for paying the bank's notary fees as well.

It is normal for you to be asked to lodge a sum sufficient to cover all these costs with your lawyer when you agree to buy the property. If there is a surplus left after completion, it will be refunded. When I completed there was almost €900 left over and it was refunded back to my bank account within days.

I do see quite a lot of properties offered on a rent to buy basis where I live, but I don't know anyone who has actually done it. I am not sure that seeing that a property has been reduced in price would indicate that an owner would be open to such an arrangement, the adverts I see are usually for a period of up to 3 years and many sellers might not want to wait so long whilst just getting a rental income.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

pilatesvictoria said:


> Thanks Nigelk,
> 
> thats really helpful, just been in touch with estate agent who said this to me regarding customers who were requiring mortgages:
> 
> ...


It has always been the case that Spanish banks would not lend more than 60/70% mortgages to buyers who are not resident in Spain. I bought my house in 2003 and it was like that then.


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

First thing is to not listen to the estate agents about anything, they generally have their own agendas and are full of it.

For a mortgage you really have to shop banks in your area to see who can offer what, true some banks make it hard while others are more than happy to give out a mortgage but what we found is after they have assessed your ability to repay the loan the % of what they will lend is based on their valuation of the property and not what you may actually pay.
So if their valuation comes in under what you paid then don't expect the full 80%(the normal amount lent), likewise if it's valued higher than what you paid they may be more flexible in lending a bit more than 80%. This is if you are a resident at least.

Basically they are loaning the property the money in some respects and not you. Every house you consider you have to bring the details to the bank and they will tell you what they can and can't do for each property so you can't really make a viable offer until you know just how much you have to spend.

That is what we found anyway.


However if you find a bank owned property then they seem more than happy to push these and offer what may seem like good terms ie: 100% mortgages but I would urge caution on all fronts with this kind of set up.


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## Guest (Oct 20, 2015)

pilatesvictoria said:


> Thanks Nigelk,
> 
> thats really helpful, just been in touch with estate agent who said this to me regarding customers who were requiring mortgages:
> 
> ...


We just brought our place a few months ago. We found our ideal property on idealista.com website and decided to go ahead and buy it.

The property we purchased was a ex-repossession (vendor failed to pay mortgage)

Property belonged to La Caixa and they wanted to get rid of it. Huge price drops from 130,000 euros all the way down to 40,000 euros over the last two years (we had been watching the price go down monthly literally)

Booked appointment with bank manager and said we wanted this property and this was our budget.

Bank manager agreed to our offer and our terms with regards to the deposit and mortgage repayments (1.69% fixed 10 years)

Good luck with house hunting - now is the time to buy.


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## pilatesvictoria (Oct 20, 2015)

nigelk said:


> We just brought our place a few months ago. We found our ideal property on idealista.com website and decided to go ahead and buy it.
> 
> The property we purchased was a ex-repossession (vendor failed to pay mortgage)
> 
> ...



Now thats very interesting Nigelk and quite contrary to what others are saying, this gives me some more to work from so thank you very much…. happy for you! Good luck with everything…..


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## samthemainman (Aug 15, 2012)

I secured a mortgage with ING. Their banking is largely all online but they have an office in Valencia. For residents they lend up to 80% of the VALUATION price, unlike most banks who lend 80% of the lower value (out of the paid price or the valuation). ING also had by far the best rates - euribor+0.99% currently I think if you domicile salary and take out their life and home insurance. You can track the process on line. They're a bit slow but I found them pretty good. I didn't have to speak to them personally since the initial application until I met them at the notary with the cheque. If you like lots of face to face contact from behind a bank desk, they are not for you. But for in my opinion, they are worth it for their excellent rates. I don't plan on having to speak to them much/at all during my mortgage period. They have no commission or opening fee either.....

I would strongly advise you do not use either your bank's or your estate agents lawyers - neither will be acting in your interest. Choose independently. If you can circumvent going through an agent, you can also save stacks by not having to pay commission or having to put up with their occasional bullish behaviour (I'm sure there are many good ones).

Also resist the national addiction - Dinero B/Black Money and under-declaring on the deeds to reduce your transfer tax commitments. Many sellers insist on it still to reduce their capital gains and plusvalía spend - but it's illegal, and frankly, their problem and will leave you in the same predicament when you eventually come to sell yourself. So I'd also insist on NO under the table cash.


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## Lynn R (Feb 21, 2014)

I think it's quite important to clarify whether the OP is (or is going to be when they apply for a mortgage) resident in Spain or not. In the original post she said

"So looking at buying our first property in Spain (we are still in UK)."

A lot of the advice being given and experiences outlined is related to mortgages which have been obtained by Spanish residents, and getting one as a non-resident does make a substantial difference.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

We got ours back in 2006 via a UK mortgage broker. We finally got a good deal with Halifax (which went through various incantations but is now Sabadell). 

We pay *monthly *eurobor plus 1% - note monthly eurobor and not annual!

The broker was mortgage4spain but they don't seem to exist any more.


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## Roy C (Sep 29, 2012)

A friend of mine was over looking at property a few weeks ago and he had been talking to a few ex pats in a bar or somewhere and they were advising him to get a mortgage even though he is a cash buyer. Does anyone know why this would be a good idea, I can't fathom it.


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## evertheoptimist (Apr 4, 2013)

Im thinking of buying a bank owned property in Torrievieja mainly because its very cheap in comparison. So I would appreciate if anyone could recommend an independant english speaking solicitor in Torrievieja whom I can trust.
Thanks in advance.


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