# Buying a bank repossessed property



## expatlora1 (Jul 30, 2014)

Hello All,

We are thinking of buying a bank repossessed property in the Spanish Algarve area. Would love to hear from anyone who has gone through the process and can possibly tell us how to start. We are in touch with an agent who represents the property, but do not know which bank owns it. We will of course get a lawyer to help -- any recommendations on Spanish/English speaking lawyers? We are not resident in Spain yet. Thanks and regards, Lora.


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## castaway06 (Jul 25, 2014)

I went through this loop un-successfully at Christmas. Found a bargain property that BBVA was selling, went through all the hoops as fast as possible (about 8 days) then waited to hear from the bank. On the day I rang them (about 10 days later) to find out what was going on I was told that just that morning it had ben sold to someone else. A little bit of questioning and answering later I found out that they had been sitting on my paperwork in the branch and not forwarded up to HQ.

I spoke to a real estate friend of mine who is been selling properties in the islands for 30 years and she said yes its quite common, that once they (the branch) realised there was a genuine bargain property available (my offer under the asking price had been provisionally accepted by HQ) either another employee or a favoured customer was told the details and what to offer in order to get it. They used the mortgage approval process to delay my application. In fact the mortgage had been approved miraculously that same day that I called them, but too late ....

Oh and another thing I learnt as part of all this those 100% mortgages that appear on the bank property websites don't really exist. They will give you 80% normally but want a guarantee from a Spanish resident for the other 20%.


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

You will certainly need a lawyer to help, banks sell illegal properties as well so you definitely need to make sure that just because it's a bargain it wont end up costing you more down the track.
How they can justify selling or giving a mortgage on an illegal property is frankly criminal.

There is a list of lawyers on the British consulate website who are English speaking so have a check and see if any are in the areas you are looking.


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## Maureen47 (Mar 27, 2014)

We had the same experience , bank sat on the paperwork and then suddenly the property was sold although we were informed we were first in the queue, the second one seemed to be going better and on the day we should have signed up it was found the property was illegal , our lawyer said it could be sorted out but it would have been additional costs , time and hassle , we found a property being sold by the owners and to be honest although the repossessions appear cheap there are often hidden additional costs , a good lawyer essential ! I can PM you the details of ours if he is in the right area for you (Gandia)


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## expatlora1 (Jul 30, 2014)

Thank you for all the replies. I thought banks could only sell legal properties -- scary!! We will of course hire a lawyer to go through the process if we decide to run with it. We do not require a mortgage, so things may be a tad easier (hopefully). Things are much more simple in Portugal! 
Maureen47, I will be in touch soon. Need to double check the correct town in the area we are interested. Keep all the replies coming. 
Have a good day!! Thank you!


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## expatlora1 (Jul 30, 2014)

Pazcat said:


> You will certainly need a lawyer to help, banks sell illegal properties as well so you definitely need to make sure that just because it's a bargain it wont end up costing you more down the track.
> How they can justify selling or giving a mortgage on an illegal property is frankly criminal.
> 
> There is a list of lawyers on the British consulate website who are English speaking so have a check and see if any are in the areas you are looking.


Thanks! Will take a look at the websites.


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## expatlora1 (Jul 30, 2014)

castaway06 said:


> I went through this loop un-successfully at Christmas. Found a bargain property that BBVA was selling, went through all the hoops as fast as possible (about 8 days) then waited to hear from the bank. On the day I rang them (about 10 days later) to find out what was going on I was told that just that morning it had ben sold to someone else. A little bit of questioning and answering later I found out that they had been sitting on my paperwork in the branch and not forwarded up to HQ.
> 
> I spoke to a real estate friend of mine who is been selling properties in the islands for 30 years and she said yes its quite common, that once they (the branch) realised there was a genuine bargain property available (my offer under the asking price had been provisionally accepted by HQ) either another employee or a favoured customer was told the details and what to offer in order to get it. They used the mortgage approval process to delay my application. In fact the mortgage had been approved miraculously that same day that I called them, but too late ....
> 
> Oh and another thing I learnt as part of all this those 100% mortgages that appear on the bank property websites don't really exist. They will give you 80% normally but want a guarantee from a Spanish resident for the other 20%.


That sucks! I can't think why they make the process soooo hard! Maybe Spain does have a lot of money after all. Have you found another property? Good luck to us all!


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