# homes to buy



## ericsean (Jul 10, 2009)

hello everyone.
Im just wanting to know the implications of buying a house (possible finca) and spending two or three weeks a year in it. doing some satellite and aerial work, then renting it for the rest of the year.
Thank you all. (you are all so lucky living out in the sun)

Sean Lambert
ps. i have a web site.

Mod> // took out web site - please see into premium account for advertising //


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## littleredrooster (Aug 3, 2008)

ericsean said:


> hello everyone.
> Im just wanting to know the implications of buying a house (possible finca) and spending two or three weeks a year in it. doing some satellite and aerial work, then renting it for the rest of the year.
> Thank you all. (you are all so lucky living out in the sun)


With regard to a finca you would probably need to spend your 2 or 3 weeks doing maintenance work.
Presume you mean holiday lets,in which case you would need a very reliable manager (especially if you are back in the UK for eleven and a half months)for the property who would take a sizable cut and also the authorities would want a fair slice in tax.
I think most ppl.would have reservations about leaving it for that length of time.
Letting out for long term (6 months or so at a time) also carries risks,especially if the tenant is reluctant to move out after the term of contract.


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## Suenneil (Feb 17, 2009)

ericsean said:


> hello everyone.
> Im just wanting to know the implications of buying a house (possible finca) and spending two or three weeks a year in it. doing some satellite and aerial work, then renting it for the rest of the year.
> Thank you all. (you are all so lucky living out in the sun)
> 
> ...


Hi Sean ... welcome to the forum,

Not sure what you mean by "implications" .... but in my experience fincas (which are generally inland rather than coastal properties) tend to be less interesting for holiday lets and more for long term lets ... (although not all!!). Most long term contracts here on the Costa del sol are for 11 months - which wouldnt give you much flexibility to us the property yourself.
It depends where you want to be ... but in and around Coin / Alhaurin el Grande for example there are plenty of agents who manage long term properties, and they are pretty reliable. We have rented 2 long term properties (fincas/villas) in the past few years and have had no problems with the owner or the agent ... just make sure you do your research into who you want to take care of it in your absence.
If you want something you can use yourself - therefore need more flexibility you may want to advertise short term lets / holiday lets ... but again in my experience these are harder to keep "occupied" .. it depends how much you need the rental income.

Sue


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## SteveHall (Oct 17, 2008)

The bit I am most confused about is the "doing some satellite and aerial work" - are you suggesting that 2/3 weeks work would cover your bills here? 

BTW, what do you mean by a finca? A house IS a finca


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## Suenneil (Feb 17, 2009)

SteveHall said:


> The bit I am most confused about is the "doing some satellite and aerial work" - are you suggesting that 2/3 weeks work would cover your bills here?
> 
> BTW, what do you mean by a finca? A house IS a finca


Hi Steve .... I could be wrong, but most people (Brits that is including myself) use the word Finca for a country house / usually old / traditional / sometimes needing work etc etc - therefore I made the assumption this is the type of property Sean was referring to ...... whereas "house" conjures up visions of a townhouse / semi / terrace / whatever


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## SteveHall (Oct 17, 2008)

Suenneil said:


> Hi Steve .... I could be wrong, but most people (Brits that is including myself) use the word Finca for a country house / usually old / traditional / sometimes needing work etc etc - therefore I made the assumption this is the type of property Sean was referring to ...... whereas "house" conjures up visions of a townhouse / semi / terrace / whatever


A finca is simply a piece of property - it is often, wrongly, used to describe the type of property that you quote. The R.A.E. gives: finca. 1. f. Propiedad inmueble, rústica o urbana. 

Another word that causes confusion is una villa which the expats seem to use to mean any detached house - my Spanish friend is very fond of his "chalet" which also has a completely different meaning in English. Think he'd be horrified if told him about little casetas on Herne Bay beach!


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## Suenneil (Feb 17, 2009)

SteveHall said:


> A finca is simply a piece of property - it is often, wrongly, used to describe the type of property that you quote. The R.A.E. gives: finca. 1. f. Propiedad inmueble, rústica o urbana.
> 
> Another word that causes confusion is una villa which the expats seem to use to mean any detached house - my Spanish friend is very fond of his "chalet" which also has a completely different meaning in English. Think he'd be horrified if told him about little casetas on Herne Bay beach!


Exactly! which is why I replied to him as I did - and probably why Sean used the word "Finca" as his interpretation may not be correct .... but its the one regularly used and understood by many people (other than the Spanish of course).


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

SteveHall said:


> The bit I am most confused about is the "doing some satellite and aerial work" - are you suggesting that 2/3 weeks work would cover your bills here?
> 
> BTW, what do you mean by a finca? A house IS a finca



I think Sean wants to buy a "place" here, bo it up, put some aerial and sat work onto it as that appears to be his profession?? and to cover the costs (I assume) rent it out when he cant be in it. Do we think its a viable proposition!

My answer would be no, not in this economic climate, I´m not sure you could guarrantee a constant enough income from tenants. Altho as a long term investment, with no mortgage it maybe worth looking into. But nothing in Spain is simple, so doing work on properties, aerials and even buying maybe more complicated and costly than you´d think



Jo xx


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## ericsean (Jul 10, 2009)

Lol. Afternoon all. Thankyou for the replys. as always i never have enought time to type out all the info. What i really want is to move to spain, near the sea but not tourists, in an old farm house ( finca ) and generate an income doing what i do here, which is aerials and satellite installs. I dont think my wife is ready for a full move over to Spain yet, so i wanted my cake and eat it as well. What would suit us is a home over there that would generate an income when we are not in it. We can only come over a few weeks of the year due to kids at school. I have lost all love i had for the UK, due to the appalling weather we have (hate it more each year) and for what our government has done our country. I have my own business over here and a web site. i also have some software on my web site that lets me look at which country people are looking from and what keywords they used to find it(google analytics) so please feel free to visit it, and make me happy, just google search either Lamberts Aerials or Digital Aerial Upgrades.

And just to make it worse my two step daughters are flying over to spain this sunday for two weeks.... Agghhhh, i want to come over there for a holiday too. Many thanks to all of you that took the time to reply to me. Say hello to the big yellow thing in the sky for me and tell him/her i miss him/her.
Cheers for now. Sean Lambert

ps. Its cloudy and cold here today....


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## Cazzy (Nov 23, 2008)

We look after a Cortijo for someone who comes out for a few weeks a year, and lets it for holidays the rest. It is an hour Inland from Malaga. This year his bookings have started slowly, but have picked up now. There is an awful lot of work involved in an old property and they need constant maintenance.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Cazzy said:


> We look after a Cortijo for someone who comes out for a few weeks a year, and lets it for holidays the rest. It is an hour Inland from Malaga. This year his bookings have started slowly, but have picked up now. There is an awful lot of work involved in an old property and they need constant maintenance.


I think its fine if you have the spare cash to buy a place over here, do it up and rent it out when you´re not in it. But the key is "having the spare cash" Its not something you can do to actually make money (well not as things are in this economic climate), and if you´re gonna need a mortgage to fund it, then, not only will that be very complicated, difficult, if not impossible. But you´re gonna be hard pushed to break even, let alone make a profit.

As a long term investment and if you do have the spare cash, well maybe. House prices here have fallen significantly over the last 18 months or so and apparently there are some good deals around, however, they´re predicted to fall further, but who knows on that one?????????????????

Jo xxx


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