# Buying a Vacation Property...Where in Spain?



## Farma10 (Jul 10, 2013)

If you were going to buy a property to rent out to people on vacation/holiday, as well as use for yourself and family about a month every year, where in Spain would you buy it?

It seems pretty obvious that it comes down to Barcelona, Madrid, or somewhere along the Costa Del Sol. But which one has the best rental potential?

I love all of Spain so it doesn't really matter to me where I'd spend my month of vacation.

Let me know what you think - tell me the:

1. City, 2. District/Area of that City, and 3. Reason why you chose what you did.

Thanks!

Tyler


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Farma10 said:


> If you were going to buy a property to rent out to people on vacation/holiday, as well as use for yourself and family about a month every year, where in Spain would you buy it?
> 
> It seems pretty obvious that it comes down to Barcelona, Madrid, or somewhere along the Costa Del Sol. But which one has the best rental potential?
> 
> ...



is this plan B? be prepared to spend half a million....


none of the abovementioned......

Jávea Port - actually I live here, but it's great for holidays for all the reasons that I live here 

Home - Xàbia Tourism Portal - Town Council of Xàbia


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

You need to know your market and you also need to know that it is a competitive one, with fewer and fewer folk renting for holidays - hotels now offer some very good deals as the tourist market shrinks. 

Without a doubt, I would say you need to be close to the sea, close to an airport and close to tourist attractions - and preferably with a pool. Those things seem to be the winning combination

Jo xxx


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

jojo said:


> You need to know your market and you also need to know that it is a competitive one, with fewer and fewer folk renting for holidays - hotels now offer some very good deals as the tourist market shrinks.
> 
> Without a doubt, I would say you need to be close to the sea, close to an airport and close to tourist attractions - and preferably with a pool. Those things seem to be the winning combination
> 
> Jo xxx


haha!!

still Jávea 

must add the caveat though, that if you're relying upon rental income to pay a mortgage, then don't do it


anywhere!


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## 213979 (Apr 11, 2013)

IF you can get the mortgage.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

elenetxu said:


> IF you can get the mortgage.


that too..........


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

The other important factor is the proposed changes to rental law here in Spain.

The current proposal is that you will not be able to rent for less than 1 month at a time! If this goes through then it will KILL the holiday rentals market no matter where you buy.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Farma10 said:


> It seems pretty obvious that it comes down to Barcelona, Madrid, or somewhere along the Costa Del Sol. But which one has the best rental potential?


What leads you to make that astonishing statement? Is it because those are the places that YOU would choose?

Personally speaking for SWMBO and myself would absolutely hate to live in any of those.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Farma10 said:


> If you were going to buy a property to rent out to people on vacation/holiday, as well as use for yourself and family about a month every year, where in Spain would you buy it?
> 
> It seems pretty obvious that it comes down to Barcelona, Madrid, or somewhere along the Costa Del Sol. But which one has the best rental potential?
> 
> ...



If I were to spend a month in spain each year then I'd simply rent somewhere for that month. Apart from the fact that buying to let isn't that profitable by the time you account for expenses, void periods, taxes, maintenance, agency fees, purchase costs. exit costs, etc you also have to take into account that there are a lot of people unable to sell their properties and they are trying to rent their properties instead. It is not a property owners market at the moment.

However if you've got €500k burning a hole in your pocket, the Spanish government will give you a residency permit if you spend it on buying a property.


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## 90199 (Mar 21, 2010)

Farma10 said:


> If you were going to buy a property to rent out to people on vacation/holiday, as well as use for yourself and family about a month every year, where in Spain would you buy it?
> 
> It seems pretty obvious that it comes down to Barcelona, Madrid, or somewhere along the Costa Del Sol. But which one has the best rental potential?
> 
> ...


Forget Iberian Spain they have winters there.

Embrace the sunny Canary Islands.


Las Canteras, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, or for year round sunshine and a huge winter tourist season, the southern resorts of the same Island.......


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## 213979 (Apr 11, 2013)

Chopera said:


> However if you've got €500k burning a hole in your pocket, the Spanish government will give you a residency permit if you spend it on buying a property.


BUT I don't think that permit allows you to work if you get bored.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

elenetxu said:


> BUT I don't think that permit allows you to work if you get bored.


that's what I understand, too

although I don't think the new rule has been rolled out yet, has it?


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

xabiachica said:


> although I don't think the new rule has been rolled out yet, has it?


But when it is, whatever it says, it will be interpreted differently wherever you are!


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## Farma10 (Jul 10, 2013)

Thank you all for responding, I appreciate the feedback.

In response to a couple of your responses specifically:

- I narrowed it down to these 3 locations because they are my favorite in Spain, especially Barcelona
- I don't know if I would call this my plan b, more like a "if all else fails, at least I can spend multiple vacations in Spain" plan
- you make valid points on renting vs buying but I would eventually like to retire to Spain and it would be nice to have my house/flat paid off and ready to go by that time
-what exactly do you mean: "if I can get the mortgage?" These are the beginning stages of my homework on this whole process so I'm not exactly familiar with the whole process of financing a property/mortgage in Spain
- The proposed 1 month minimum rental law is a bit intimidating, I agree. This is the first I've heard of such, does anyone have any more info on this? Does it seem likely it will become a law?

- finally, as I mentioned above, my favorite place in Spain is Barcelona - you really don't think I could get decent rental income from a flat in the city center, say near La Rambla or Barceloneta?

Just seeing what you think since you all have much more experience with buying in Spain than I do.

Thanks again!

Tyler


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Farma10 said:


> Thank you all for responding, I appreciate the feedback.
> 
> In response to a couple of your responses specifically:
> 
> ...


The mortgage question - after the banks got their fingers burned with the property collapse, mortgages in Spain are extremely difficult to obtain.. If you are able to raise finance back in the US against property you have there, then that would be your best bet. In fact that was what we did (raise finance against property in the UK) when buying a place in Florida for my in-laws and also when we bought here.

Your choice of place/s is obviously a matter of personal likes/dislikes/hopes/aspirations and personal taste. How much of Spain have you really looked at. Barcelona and Madrid are large cities and have large city pluses and minuses. The costas (there are much more than the CdS) each have their own pluses and minuses. But there is so much more - the northern Provinces also have cities and beaches plus they have mountains and skiing in the winter and some fabulous scenery all often preferred by the discerning visitor (frequently pay more to rent the right place)

Inland, you don't get the coasts and beaches but you get more of the cultural stuff (Unesco world heritage sites, etc). Have you been to Córdoba, Sevilla, Toledo, Salamanca, Segovia to mention a few?


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## Farma10 (Jul 10, 2013)

baldilocks said:


> The mortgage question - after the banks got their fingers burned with the property collapse, mortgages in Spain are extremely difficult to obtain.. If you are able to raise finance back in the US against property you have there, then that would be your best bet. In fact that was what we did (raise finance against property in the UK) when buying a place in Florida for my in-laws and also when we bought here.
> 
> Your choice of place/s is obviously a matter of personal likes/dislikes/hopes/aspirations and personal taste. How much of Spain have you really looked at. Barcelona and Madrid are large cities and have large city pluses and minuses. The costas (there are much more than the CdS) each have their own pluses and minuses. But there is so much more - the northern Provinces also have cities and beaches plus they have mountains and skiing in the winter and some fabulous scenery all often preferred by the discerning visitor (frequently pay more to rent the right place)
> 
> Inland, you don't get the coasts and beaches but you get more of the cultural stuff (Unesco world heritage sites, etc). Have you been to Córdoba, Sevilla, Toledo, Salamanca, Segovia to mention a few?



My wife and I have been to Madrid, Barcelona, Girona, Malaga, Granada, Sevilla, and Valencia. So you do bring up a good point that I still have a ton left to see. We will be making at least a couple more trips over to visit new cities (new to us) before we make our decision on a city/location and this purchase is still at least 4 or 5 years down the road. I'm just trying to make sure I do my homework, and I know I've still got much to do!


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## Ann in La Palma (Jun 14, 2013)

The points about renting laws is a very important one for you to consider. 

But just about choosing where to buy as in near the coast, with a swimming pool etc. As Baldilocks says, it's well worth considering locating yourself inland.
We bought in the country in the Canaries - rural north of one of the smaller islands where there are more goats than people - and we are really happy that we did. Our big attracting is that it's unspoilt walking country and we get the benefit of fabulous views along with the fact that our neighbours are all Canarians. 
Again, as has been said, personal preference. 
But before we decided, we spent 6 months moving around all 7 of the islands and I think our homework paid off.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

Farma10 said:


> My wife and I have been to Madrid, Barcelona, Girona, Malaga, Granada, Sevilla, and Valencia. So you do bring up a good point that I still have a ton left to see. We will be making at least a couple more trips over to visit new cities (new to us) before we make our decision on a city/location and this purchase is still at least 4 or 5 years down the road. I'm just trying to make sure I do my homework, and I know I've still got much to do!


Try going to photosharing sites such as flickr and get an idea of the places from people's photos. The average person is not trying to sell you anything so you'll get fairly honest perspectives on the various places. If you want to look at touristic stuff in each place, just search "turismo" plus the name of the place and even the American site "TripAdvisor" can give you a lot of info.

Where I live is inland in Andalucía (photos in my forum photo albums) but, i doubt that this is the sort of place/area you would be looking for.


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## Farma10 (Jul 10, 2013)

baldilocks said:


> Try going to photosharing sites such as flickr and get an idea of the places from people's photos. The average person is not trying to sell you anything so you'll get fairly honest perspectives on the various places. If you want to look at touristic stuff in each place, just search "turismo" plus the name of the place and even the American site "TripAdvisor" can give you a lot of info.
> 
> Where I live is inland in Andalucía (photos in my forum photo albums) but, i doubt that this is the sort of place/area you would be looking for.


Inland Andalucia is very beautiful and I wouldn't mind living there either. However, for the sake of rental potential I think a bigger city would be better. But I might be wrong, that's why I'm trying to get a general concensus. 

The types of tourists I think of in my mind that I would be targeting to rent a place near La Rambla in Barcelona would be those who are visiting major cities. For example: a 10 to 14 day trip - London, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona. I realize that one could easily spend the entire 14 days + in just one of these cities, but I feel like a lot of people (particularly Americans) jump around from one major city to the next when visiting Europe. On the other hand, tourists from the UK or nearby may do it differently, staying in one place for longer for example, since they don't have to fly 7 hours to get to "the promised land." Of course, I've never been a British tourist so I could be way off lol.


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

Farma10 said:


> Thank you all for responding, I appreciate the feedback.
> 
> In response to a couple of your responses specifically:
> 
> ...


All things being equal, you'd probably be better off buying to let in a market you are familiar with and can readily manage, and then when the time comes you can sell up and buy your place in Spain outright with the proceeds. What makes a good retirement property doesn't necessarily make a good rental property.


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## Madliz (Feb 4, 2011)

As far as mortgages go, I was chatting to a Spanish lady this week. She and her husband are both in full employment (she having her own sound, established business)and have been renting and saving hard for ten years. In recent months they've decided that the time is right to buy their first home together. The have saved 50% of the purchase price (wow) and their mortgage payments will be the same as the rent they pay, which they've never had a problem finding. Nobody will give them a mortgage. 

I have a house to sell. When people come and see it, they love it, but cannot buy it as they need a buyer themselves. The property market here is stuck and ruining many lives. You'd think some fluidity would benefit everyone - tradespeople, shops, local councils, central government would all benefit from taxes and people with new homes to equip. 

From a buyer's point of view, it is truly your time, IF you have the money.


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## Madliz (Feb 4, 2011)

Well, well - the IMF agrees, we can only hope that the advice is heeded:

International Monetary Fund tells Spain to relax credit rules


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## Guest (Jul 18, 2013)

I would have thought it has to be the Costa del Sol for us! We are in Nerja and love it 

I have read somewhere that new laws were coming in to place regarding the letting of property, certificates etc.

If I can find where I read it I'll post the link for you :fingerscrossed:


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

ironstone said:


> I would have thought it has to be the Costa del Sol for us! We are in Nerja and love it
> 
> I have read somewhere that new laws were coming in to place regarding the letting of property, certificates etc.
> 
> If I can find where I read it I'll post the link for you :fingerscrossed:


take a look at recent threads or use the search function - the new rules & energy certificates have been discussed at length - feel free to add to those discussions, though


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## mickbcn (Feb 4, 2013)

Farma10 said:


> If you were going to buy a property to rent out to people on vacation/holiday, as well as use for yourself and family about a month every year, where in Spain would you buy it?
> 
> It seems pretty obvious that it comes down to Barcelona, Madrid, or somewhere along the Costa Del Sol. But which one has the best rental potential?
> 
> ...


 take a look in yaencontre.com: pisos Madrid, pisos Barcelona, pisos alquiler, casas de compra, venta, alquiler y obra nueva


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