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REAL ESTATE > LEARN ABOUT BUYING PROPERTY IN SPAIN

The Spanish property market is a thriving, but complex, sector and more and more non-residents are taking advantage of low interest rates in Spain and reasonable house prices. However, it is very very important to consider all the possible pitfalls involved in purchasing property in Spain. This section is designed to help you to do so. There are many reasons to live in Spain, and lots of benefits to be got out of making a wise property purchase here. But, as is the case in any big, profitable sector, there are also alot of sharks swimming around in the real-estate sea, dying to get their jaws around that sales commission. So be very very careful, make sure you read as much as you can about how to protect your rights and your investment before taking the plunge. Learn the basics before you start looking. You could visit the links on this page that you think might be useful.

LOW INTEREST RATES
Most Spanish banks offer non residents in Spain the possibility of a home improvements loan, something which is worth considering since interest rates in Spain are generally much lower than interest rates in the UK and other EU member states. For example Bankinter is offers home improvement loans to non-residents in Spain of up to fifty percent the official value of the property. Application is quite straight forward. A document detailing the estimated cost of the home improvements to be carried out must be presented together with the application.

MORTGAGES IN SPAIN
Many guides about buying property in Spain assume that potential buyers actually have the money available, but if you are considering buying a house in Spain because you live and work here, or because you simply want to invest in real estate in Spain, you may want to consider taking out a mortgage with a Spanish bank. Whether you want to buy a finca in Spain, a holiday apartment on the Costa Blanca or a new home in Spain, taking out a Spanish mortgage may be the right solution for you. Don't accept the first offer. Ask for a copy of one bank's offer and then take it to a different bank to see if they can improve the offer - they often will. Then take the improved offer back to the original bank - you may get a pleasant surprise!!

You will be expected to prove ability to pay (i.e. wage slips from the last 3 months and bank statements of the last 6 months or, if you are self-employed, copies of your last 3 years accounts (with an auditor's stamp) and copies of you last 12 month's business bank statements and your last 6 months personal bank statements). Proof of payment based on your ability to pay with income received from renting the property will not be taken into account by Spanish banks.
If you are not a legal resident in the country, then you may be asked to provide an aval. This will be somebody usually based in Spain who agrees to pay in the event of you being unable to. You will also be required to have a NIE (Numero de Identificación para Extranjeros) which is like an ID number everyone needs (residents and non-residents) in order to buy or sell property in Spain.

OBTAIN A N.I.E.
Until recently, foreign non-residents in Spain could buy or sell property without a NIE. Then, once it became necessary to have one, their legal representative could get one for them. But recent legislation passed in Spain has made it necessary for anyone paying money to the Spanish Inland Revenue (Hacienda) to have a Spanish identity number, and to obtain it in person.

EXTRA EXPENSES WHEN BUYING PROPERTY:
The extra expenses involved in buying a house in Spain tend to add up to about 10% the purchase price of the property itself. Expenses include: Taxes (re-sale, new property, plusvalia) Legal fees (lawyer and notary) Property register fee Other fees (translation of documents, presence of translators during negotiation and contract-signing..) Do be careful when accepting the services of a lawyer. If you are going to get a mortgage, most banks get their own lawyers to to check out the legalities of the house purchase. Bankinter, whose services we recommend to our visitors, are especially efficient in this task, and the cost of using their lawyers is just 360 euros if the purchase goes through and is included in the mortgage costs.

DO YOU NEED A REALTOR?
You do not have to go through a Spanish estate agent to buy property in Spain, and because the commissions charged by Spanish estate agents were very high until quite recently, it is quite common in Spain to do private house sale. If you decide to do a private deal however, it is very important that you have a good, trustworthy lawyer to guide you through the whole process and to take care of the smallprint. Because direct house sales are quite common in Spain, there are lots of places with listings of property for sale. Local newspapers are a good place to start. If you are looking for an apartment and know the area where you want to buy, you could also try visiting the apartment blocks you like most and leaving your name and number with the portero, as the caretakers of these complexes are called. They usually know if any apartments in that block are for sale and can point you in the direction of the owners. If you are looking for a villa, try driving around the residential areas and looking for signs saying "se vende" (for sale). You can usually tell which ones have been put there by an estate agent, and which ones have been put there by the owners

BEWARE WHEN ASKED TO PAY CASH!
it is common practice in Spain to "camouflage" the real sale price, although recent legislation makes it more difficult to do so than it used to be. Even though black money continues to change hands in the majority of second-hand property deal in Spain, it is very much against the law and you need to be aware of that when you make your decision. Your estate agent will encourage you to agree because she may have agreed with the vendors that her commission on the sale will be paid to her in cash too, taken directly from the cash paid by the buyer during the sale. It sounds very wheely and dealy written down like that, but the property market in Spain boomed at a time when legislation was not prepared for a thriving real estate sector, and things like black money payments reflect this perculiarity. Cash payments in effect become "invisible" (and therefore "black") during the property sale because they are not mentioned in the deeds and do not figure in the sales contract. They are usually handed over during the signing of the contract. The "black" or "undeclared" money has advantages for the property vendor, because it means he/she will pay less capital gains tax on the sale of the property because the price that figures in the deeds is lower than the money which has really changed hands (i.e. deed price + cash) and this in turn means that the vendor's taxable profit is also lower.

BUYING LAND IN SPAIN
More and more non-residents considering a property purchase in Spain look for land to build their own dream villa. Increasingly Spanish real estate agents include plots of land in their property for sale. Given the rise in Spanish property prices over the past decade, buying land in Spain to then build your Spanish home is often much cheaper than buying a Spanish villa with a large garden (although not necessarily as cheap as many newcomers to the Spanish property market hope).

If you think you might need help of a real estate agency to buy property or you would like to browse the properties available, you can visit these sites:

	ADAIX Large network of Real Estate agents all over Spain. www.adaix.com E-Mail Form (Click here)
	GLOBALIZA.COM (only in Spanish) Wide catalog of brand new and second hand homes all throughout Spain. Your Real Estate Portal. Globaliza.com E-Mail: Contacto@Globaliza.com
	UNICASA Purchase, Sale and Rent of all kinds of Spanish properties, in the city or in the countryside... Full Real Estate Service: Contracts, financing, etc. Unicasa.es E-Mail Form (Click here)
	HABITAT24 El portal inmobiliario con mayor crecimiento de España. Más de 110.000 inmuebles actualizados diariamente. Pruebe nuestro nuevo buscador de vivienda. Habitat24.com E-Mail: info@habitat24.com
	VISUAL HOME Grupo inmobiliario. Los mejores productos inmobiliarios y el servicio más profesional en la Costa Blanca. VisualHomeOnline.com E-Mail Form (Click here)

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