Page 1 of Buying in Spain

Thinking of buyintg a place in Spain . Anyone had any experiences ? any suggestions of the best area to go to ?

What type of property do you want, a Villa, Townhouse, Apartment? How much do you want to spend?

Research, research research. We bought a few year back and although we don`t have any regrets the agents (Millenium) lied through their teeth. What was supposed to be a park/garden is now a block, what was supposed to be primary school is a huge secondary college. All the fields surrounding the appartments are orange/lemon trees, "They are protected and will never be touched" bulls*** they will start building later in the year.

As you see we did not do enough research and now the place we bought is not really what we had in mind. Nevertheless it is a nice place in a nice village and the value has increased by almost 50%.

A few words of advice, if what you are buying is surrended by empty fields, you can be sure that one day they will build, no matter what the agent/local/council say now. In my opinion it is better to buy something that already built, although buying on plan should guarantee you a profit on delivery day. Take you own sollicitor, not local but from a different town. Don`t forget to add all the cost attached to it, insurance, IVA (VAT), agent fees etc. and plan that you will have to pay a few bills during the year (a lot of people I know bought a place in Spain and then are very surprised to receive bills!)

Hope it helps and don`t put you off, Spain is a fantastic country but unfortunately there are idiots everywhere.

JC

jean88 Where in Spain did you buy?

In a small village just 10mins away from Torrevieja.
JC

I lived in Moraira, about 1 hour north of Alicante. My mate has a place in La Marina. Last year we went to Torrevieja & area for a couple of days, but we always end up `up north` in Moraira. A lot of people see prices in Spain & think they can afford but the IVA (VAT) can push some over they`re limit. I believe it`s 10% on new properties & 7% on resales. We are looking hard for a Villa at the moment but Moraira & the surrounding area is more expensive than Southern Alicante. We nearly bought one a week ago, saw it on the net, discussed it with the agents, bought flights & the day after the agent said someone else came in & put a deposit on the villa. Cost us £60-00 to cancel our flights. The people are still trying to get a mortgauge, but we had cash & would be the owners but for the bloody agent.