buying an apartment in spain

buying an apartment in spain

Author
Discussion

Phil.

4,755 posts

249 months

Tuesday 17th May 2022
quotequote all
soxboy said:
Back on the topic of buying property, we were offered the other day a 'free' week this summer at my wife's colleague's villa in Fuerteventura (free as in all we had to pay was changeover/ cleaning fees). Free because they were putting it up for sale so didn't want to formally offer it to rent, but we could pop along as they thought in this market it would take months to find a buyer.

It sold in 4 hours!
Good for them. People are still selling/buying where we are on the mainland (SE Spain), which is always encouraging to know. Unfortunately Denis Waterman passed away recently about 100m from our place, so their might be another one up for sale soon.

Shnozz

27,423 posts

270 months

Tuesday 17th May 2022
quotequote all
mart 63 said:
Shnozz said:
Covid discussions aside, another beautiful day on the Costa Blanca. 30 degrees so fitted an early 8am game of padel tennis in before work. Dining on the terrace post work this evening and dining with some friends.
Are the cats joining youbiggrin
Don’t have much choice in that situation mate!

Phil.

4,755 posts

249 months

Friday 20th May 2022
quotequote all
Some positive news. It's now legal to enter Spain by road via France without 3 jabs.

''Travellers entering Spain by land from France are no longer required to provide any type of health certificate (vaccination, diagnostic test or recovery).''

https://travelsafe.spain.info/en/latest-news/

Also there are positive noises from the Ministry of Tourism about allowing third-country people without 3 jabs to test to enter ''within days'':

https://m.murciatoday.com/spain-to-allow-unvaccina...



Chris Stott

13,190 posts

196 months

Saturday 21st May 2022
quotequote all
Within days is today… so anyone can come now with a negative test.

pincher

8,497 posts

216 months

Saturday 21st May 2022
quotequote all
woohoo

Spain eases Covid entry rules for UK travellers https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61535204


I imagine that Phil is currently dancing around his garden hehe

Phil.

4,755 posts

249 months

Saturday 21st May 2022
quotequote all
pincher said:
woohoo

Spain eases Covid entry rules for UK travellers https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61535204


I imagine that Phil is currently dancing around his garden hehe
Just been cutting the grass but would have been dancing if I’d known a few minutes earlier smile

I was just about to post that I can stop whinging now hehe Sumer hols here I come thumbup

pincher

8,497 posts

216 months

Saturday 21st May 2022
quotequote all
Pleased for you mate beer

Means I can go and play golf in October now as well thumbup

g40steve

922 posts

161 months

Saturday 21st May 2022
quotequote all
Phil. said:
If you’ve not bought already investigate the property being owned by a company. My UK neighbours had this set up and before the father died the shares were transferred to the daughter and she now owns the Spanish property. I don’t know the details (UK or Spanish company etc.) so professional advice would be needed.

If of interest also check if it’s possible to transfer an existing Spanish property in to a company. I’d be interested in that advice.
Parents have owned property since 2013 so looking at options for passing on.

Phil.

4,755 posts

249 months

Saturday 21st May 2022
quotequote all
g40steve said:
Phil. said:
If you’ve not bought already investigate the property being owned by a company. My UK neighbours had this set up and before the father died the shares were transferred to the daughter and she now owns the Spanish property. I don’t know the details (UK or Spanish company etc.) so professional advice would be needed.

If of interest also check if it’s possible to transfer an existing Spanish property in to a company. I’d be interested in that advice.
Parents have owned property since 2013 so looking at options for passing on.
Would be interested in your findings.

Yetski

597 posts

162 months

Thursday 2nd June 2022
quotequote all
arfur said:
arfur said:
Yetski said:
I've just recently finished renovating my property in Duquesa, there are so many of the Scandanavian style villas springing up around there, we went and had a look at quite a few before purchasing ours.
They are very nice, we love all of the open plan style and glass, but when I looked closely at the finish, it makes me wonder what the condition of these will be like after a few years day to day living, some of the fixings on the glass balustrades (of which there are many) were not confidence inspiring, the maze of spaghetti which is the heating system would be a nightmare should anything go wrong, and many other issues.
There are 2 just down the road from us which were completed 3 years ago, lovely to look at, but there always seems to be a steady stream of contractors arriving.
I got mine for a fraction of the price, renovated it to our own preference (altough we don't have an open plan kitchenfrown), and still had plenty of change.
Heading down to Duquesa next week for a few days and looking at the area for a possible purchase. Staying in the marina in a rental apartment. Hoping the weather keeps improving !!!
Going back down to Duquesa for the Jubilee long weekend - a few places to look at locally. Must say I'm starting to seriously consider a floating apartment in the marina ! Looking at 14m boats as well this time .. really quite tempting, even to the extent that I'm doing my basic RYA studying already :-)
Enjoy, we got back from 5 weeks down there yesterday, had a great time, and the weather is picking up nicely now.
I did my RYA a few years back in Duquesa with Sun Coast Marine, really enjoyed the course, but if you're looking along the lines of a "floating apartment" the mooring costs are quite high in Duquesa Port compared to Estepona, and even Sotogrande, you'll probably see mine while you're there, the name gets a few double takes, look out for the Salty Swallow.

eyebeebe

2,962 posts

232 months

Monday 6th June 2022
quotequote all
eyebeebe said:
I think it’s time for me to enter this thread smile

Waiting for an up to date Nota Simple to be sent tomorrow for a villa a little North of Alicante. If it comes back ok or at least fixable, I think we’ll be putting in a relatively low ball offer in, subject to survey. We chanced upon a friend of the owner at a local bar watching the football and he let slip what he thought the owner would let it go for and it’s about 20% under the asking price. Hearing a lot at the moment from agents that vendors are asking crazy numbers, so if it doesn’t work out, we have some other irons in the fire.

NIE numbers are all sorted and Gestor is appointed. Next steps of the offer is accepted is arranging a surveyor (there are some cracks we want assurance on) and sorting the mortgage.

We should be good for the surveyor, but are there any recommended mortgage brokers? Mortgage Direct SL is one I’ve found on the net, but personal recommendations would be great.
So everything is going swimmingly if a little slowly with the process. Mortgage application is going through the process, owner has applied to rectify all the issues with the nota simple, price not quite as low as we’d have preferred, but… the verbal report we’ve had from the surveyor has scared us off. Problems with the pool, with damp in the underbuild and can’t be sure the house isn’t still moving, so back to the drawing board.

We’re doing a second viewing of a place that has cracking views, but needs modernisation and is on a bit of a steep unloved road which is putting my girlfriend off. I think if this doesn’t come off, we’ve exhausted the supply in the area in our price range and will need to wait for more to become available. The scary thing is we are finding that even places in the 1-2m plus range have compromises. I would have expected perfection for that kind of price!

Phil.

4,755 posts

249 months

Monday 6th June 2022
quotequote all
eyebeebe said:
So everything is going swimmingly if a little slowly with the process. Mortgage application is going through the process, owner has applied to rectify all the issues with the nota simple, price not quite as low as we’d have preferred, but… the verbal report we’ve had from the surveyor has scared us off. Problems with the pool, with damp in the underbuild and can’t be sure the house isn’t still moving, so back to the drawing board.

We’re doing a second viewing of a place that has cracking views, but needs modernisation and is on a bit of a steep unloved road which is putting my girlfriend off. I think if this doesn’t come off, we’ve exhausted the supply in the area in our price range and will need to wait for more to become available. The scary thing is we are finding that even places in the 1-2m plus range have compromises. I would have expected perfection for that kind of price!
Have you looked south of Alicante? Several owners in that region on this thread who could help.

If you want to share your price range, location and other requirements I’d be happy to keep an eye out for anything that may be suitable.

Chris Stott

13,190 posts

196 months

Monday 6th June 2022
quotequote all
eyebeebe said:
So everything is going swimmingly if a little slowly with the process. Mortgage application is going through the process, owner has applied to rectify all the issues with the nota simple, price not quite as low as we’d have preferred, but… the verbal report we’ve had from the surveyor has scared us off. Problems with the pool, with damp in the underbuild and can’t be sure the house isn’t still moving, so back to the drawing board.

We’re doing a second viewing of a place that has cracking views, but needs modernisation and is on a bit of a steep unloved road which is putting my girlfriend off. I think if this doesn’t come off, we’ve exhausted the supply in the area in our price range and will need to wait for more to become available. The scary thing is we are finding that even places in the 1-2m plus range have compromises. I would have expected perfection for that kind of price!
What a bummer... good luck with the search.

I hear you on the compromises point... last week I did a job at a Villa nr Benahavis (a really nice area in the hills above Marbella/Banus). A small development of 14 villas, 4/5 beds, priced at €1.7-2.5M... the last one is in final stages of construction. The family were renting this one off the developer, and planning to buy it.

Lot of WOW factor driving up to it, but as I spent time there over the next couple of days and got to see some of the detailing, I was pretty unimpressed. It was the usual white concrete and glass, open plan downstairs, 4 beds, big partially covered deck with decent pool, massive garage/rec room underneath... the interior fittings were all good quality, so the living area was nice. But the orientation was poor - it's very difficult not to get great views in the mountains, but this had virtually no view, and got no sun on the deck/pool until late afternoon... in the winter i doubt it would get any sun on the outside living areas. There was no guttering, so rain had run off the roof, staining the white render red with Saharan sand. There were numerous cracks (some pretty major) in the render. The tiling on the collecting pool for the infinity pool was already going yellow.... it just didn't look like a year old villa.

They will be in it for over €2M with taxes and fees... didn't look like good value to me.

Shnozz

27,423 posts

270 months

Monday 6th June 2022
quotequote all
Chris Stott said:
What a bummer... good luck with the search.

I hear you on the compromises point... last week I did a job at a Villa nr Benahavis (a really nice area in the hills above Marbella/Banus). A small development of 14 villas, 4/5 beds, priced at €1.7-2.5M... the last one is in final stages of construction. The family were renting this one off the developer, and planning to buy it.

Lot of WOW factor driving up to it, but as I spent time there over the next couple of days and got to see some of the detailing, I was pretty unimpressed. It was the usual white concrete and glass, open plan downstairs, 4 beds, big partially covered deck with decent pool, massive garage/rec room underneath... the interior fittings were all good quality, so the living area was nice. But the orientation was poor - it's very difficult not to get great views in the mountains, but this had virtually no view, and got no sun on the deck/pool until late afternoon... in the winter i doubt it would get any sun on the outside living areas. There was no guttering, so rain had run off the roof, staining the white render red with Saharan sand. There were numerous cracks (some pretty major) in the render. The tiling on the collecting pool for the infinity pool was already going yellow.... it just didn't look like a year old villa.

They will be in it for over €2M with taxes and fees... didn't look like good value to me.
My parents had a property in La Sella (near Denia/Javea) many years ago and several developers tried to sell them plots for a bigger place. Not the price range you are talking but probably with a modern day value of £1m or thereabouts. The orientation was dreadful for the sun, being a mountainside development. It amazed me how many people would hand over that sort of money to sit in the shade of a mountain for much of the day.

Likewise there is a large development I see of very nice, expensive homes between Calpe and Altea Hills that are all built into the "wrong" side of the mountain so constantly in the shade.

eyebeebe

2,962 posts

232 months

Tuesday 7th June 2022
quotequote all
Phil. said:
Have you looked south of Alicante? Several owners in that region on this thread who could help.

If you want to share your price range, location and other requirements I’d be happy to keep an eye out for anything that may be suitable.
Thanks Phil. I've had a bit of a look around on Idealista, but haven't seen much. We haven't visited south either as we generally don't hire a car as we're spending most of our time when visiting doing sport or drinking and the public transport doesn't seem to work very well. That's actually one of the things we like about the Playa San Juan/El Campello/Coveta Fuma areas is the decent tram connections.

That said, we may well be missing some gems... we're looking for a villa with sea views, a pool and good connections/amenities/restaurants/shops. Trying not to go above €600k, ideally less and looking for 350m2 plus with at least three beds. Generally the plot sizes we've been looking at are around 1000m2 and either have an outdoor/summer kitchen or space for one.

Chris Stott said:
What a bummer... good luck with the search.

I hear you on the compromises point... last week I did a job at a Villa nr Benahavis (a really nice area in the hills above Marbella/Banus). A small development of 14 villas, 4/5 beds, priced at €1.7-2.5M... the last one is in final stages of construction. The family were renting this one off the developer, and planning to buy it.

Lot of WOW factor driving up to it, but as I spent time there over the next couple of days and got to see some of the detailing, I was pretty unimpressed. It was the usual white concrete and glass, open plan downstairs, 4 beds, big partially covered deck with decent pool, massive garage/rec room underneath... the interior fittings were all good quality, so the living area was nice. But the orientation was poor - it's very difficult not to get great views in the mountains, but this had virtually no view, and got no sun on the deck/pool until late afternoon... in the winter i doubt it would get any sun on the outside living areas. There was no guttering, so rain had run off the roof, staining the white render red with Saharan sand. There were numerous cracks (some pretty major) in the render. The tiling on the collecting pool for the infinity pool was already going yellow.... it just didn't look like a year old villa.

They will be in it for over €2M with taxes and fees... didn't look like good value to me.
Thanks Chris.

This is exactly the kind of thing I mean, albeit quite a few of them don't even have the wow factor. I think we're also looking to avoid buying new, as I think you're going to take a hit on the price straightaway, as they no longer become new and shiny. We looked at a place that was maybe 20 years old for 630k and the agent had the keys to the new build next door going at 1.2m. We just couldn't see the value in the new build that was the same m2. He pretty much openly admitted that he was using it as a comparison to make the other place look better value to us!

Shnozz

27,423 posts

270 months

Tuesday 7th June 2022
quotequote all
eyebeebe said:
Thanks Chris.

This is exactly the kind of thing I mean, albeit quite a few of them don't even have the wow factor. I think we're also looking to avoid buying new, as I think you're going to take a hit on the price straightaway, as they no longer become new and shiny. We looked at a place that was maybe 20 years old for 630k and the agent had the keys to the new build next door going at 1.2m. We just couldn't see the value in the new build that was the same m2. He pretty much openly admitted that he was using it as a comparison to make the other place look better value to us!
I see this throughout our area and it seems this extends throughout Spain. It's a very strange phenomena that I haven't witnessed elsewhere. The glass box, slab sided modern Scandivanian style properties in my town are similarly twice the price for comparable square meterage to an older property, yet still they seem to sell. Boggles my mind but there you go. I find pricing property almost impossible; you think you are comparing like for like and yet the price variance can be 50% - 100% different.

Phil.

4,755 posts

249 months

Tuesday 7th June 2022
quotequote all
Shnozz said:
I see this throughout our area and it seems this extends throughout Spain. It's a very strange phenomena that I haven't witnessed elsewhere. The glass box, slab sided modern Scandivanian style properties in my town are similarly twice the price for comparable square meterage to an older property, yet still they seem to sell. Boggles my mind but there you go. I find pricing property almost impossible; you think you are comparing like for like and yet the price variance can be 50% - 100% different.
We have the same. White blocks and glass that look horrendous after 12 months once the water/rust has leaked down the walls. Many are positioned near to noisy bar/restaurants. And they build them on small plots next to each other. Compared to similar sized older more traditional properties they are at least 50% more expensive. A couple of examples:

https://www.resortsalesandmanagement.com/en/gbp/pr...

https://www.resortsalesandmanagement.com/en/gbp/pr...

We also have the properties that are built into hillsides and lose the sun early afternoon. Lots for sale (for obvious reasons) and some selling because the new owners don’t consider the impact of the location until it’s too late. An expensive error.

arfur

3,871 posts

213 months

Tuesday 7th June 2022
quotequote all
Yetski said:
arfur said:
arfur said:
Yetski said:
I've just recently finished renovating my property in Duquesa, there are so many of the Scandanavian style villas springing up around there, we went and had a look at quite a few before purchasing ours.
They are very nice, we love all of the open plan style and glass, but when I looked closely at the finish, it makes me wonder what the condition of these will be like after a few years day to day living, some of the fixings on the glass balustrades (of which there are many) were not confidence inspiring, the maze of spaghetti which is the heating system would be a nightmare should anything go wrong, and many other issues.
There are 2 just down the road from us which were completed 3 years ago, lovely to look at, but there always seems to be a steady stream of contractors arriving.
I got mine for a fraction of the price, renovated it to our own preference (altough we don't have an open plan kitchenfrown), and still had plenty of change.
Heading down to Duquesa next week for a few days and looking at the area for a possible purchase. Staying in the marina in a rental apartment. Hoping the weather keeps improving !!!
Going back down to Duquesa for the Jubilee long weekend - a few places to look at locally. Must say I'm starting to seriously consider a floating apartment in the marina ! Looking at 14m boats as well this time .. really quite tempting, even to the extent that I'm doing my basic RYA studying already :-)
Enjoy, we got back from 5 weeks down there yesterday, had a great time, and the weather is picking up nicely now.
I did my RYA a few years back in Duquesa with Sun Coast Marine, really enjoyed the course, but if you're looking along the lines of a "floating apartment" the mooring costs are quite high in Duquesa Port compared to Estepona, and even Sotogrande, you'll probably see mine while you're there, the name gets a few double takes, look out for the Salty Swallow.
You are the 2nd person in the last couple of days to say that Sotogrande mooring is cheaper than Duquesa ! I did look online for leases and that was not the case .. but I'm now assuming that the online prices are not realistic.

I was supposed to be viewing a Sealine T46 Fly that was in dry at Duquesa. Except that fell through :-(. I think I've now convinced myself that picking up a 9-10m boat is more sense, something mid 2000s. Sealine 30 Targa, Doral 27, Bavaria 30 etc. I'll stick with searching for an apartment.

I didn't see your boat, if you don't mind, what is it and what do you pay for mooring ?

ta

Arf

pincher

8,497 posts

216 months

Tuesday 7th June 2022
quotequote all
Phil. said:
We have the same. White blocks and glass that look horrendous after 12 months once the water/rust has leaked down the walls. Many are positioned near to noisy bar/restaurants. And they build them on small plots next to each other. Compared to similar sized older more traditional properties they are at least 50% more expensive. A couple of examples:

https://www.resortsalesandmanagement.com/en/gbp/pr...

https://www.resortsalesandmanagement.com/en/gbp/pr...

We also have the properties that are built into hillsides and lose the sun early afternoon. Lots for sale (for obvious reasons) and some selling because the new owners don’t consider the impact of the location until it’s too late. An expensive error.
Probably more rentable and looks good on the 'gram?


Edit - added in missing words to my brief post rolleyes

Edited by pincher on Wednesday 8th June 09:26

Yetski

597 posts

162 months

Wednesday 8th June 2022
quotequote all
arfur said:
Yetski said:
arfur said:
arfur said:
Yetski said:
I've just recently finished renovating my property in Duquesa, there are so many of the Scandanavian style villas springing up around there, we went and had a look at quite a few before purchasing ours.
They are very nice, we love all of the open plan style and glass, but when I looked closely at the finish, it makes me wonder what the condition of these will be like after a few years day to day living, some of the fixings on the glass balustrades (of which there are many) were not confidence inspiring, the maze of spaghetti which is the heating system would be a nightmare should anything go wrong, and many other issues.
There are 2 just down the road from us which were completed 3 years ago, lovely to look at, but there always seems to be a steady stream of contractors arriving.
I got mine for a fraction of the price, renovated it to our own preference (altough we don't have an open plan kitchenfrown), and still had plenty of change.
Heading down to Duquesa next week for a few days and looking at the area for a possible purchase. Staying in the marina in a rental apartment. Hoping the weather keeps improving !!!
Going back down to Duquesa for the Jubilee long weekend - a few places to look at locally. Must say I'm starting to seriously consider a floating apartment in the marina ! Looking at 14m boats as well this time .. really quite tempting, even to the extent that I'm doing my basic RYA studying already :-)
Enjoy, we got back from 5 weeks down there yesterday, had a great time, and the weather is picking up nicely now.
I did my RYA a few years back in Duquesa with Sun Coast Marine, really enjoyed the course, but if you're looking along the lines of a "floating apartment" the mooring costs are quite high in Duquesa Port compared to Estepona, and even Sotogrande, you'll probably see mine while you're there, the name gets a few double takes, look out for the Salty Swallow.
You are the 2nd person in the last couple of days to say that Sotogrande mooring is cheaper than Duquesa ! I did look online for leases and that was not the case .. but I'm now assuming that the online prices are not realistic.

I was supposed to be viewing a Sealine T46 Fly that was in dry at Duquesa. Except that fell through :-(. I think I've now convinced myself that picking up a 9-10m boat is more sense, something mid 2000s. Sealine 30 Targa, Doral 27, Bavaria 30 etc. I'll stick with searching for an apartment.

I didn't see your boat, if you don't mind, what is it and what do you pay for mooring ?

ta

Arf
Hi Arf,

Hope you had a good time while you were down there regardless.
I bought the lease to my mooring when I bought the boat, that is up for renewal shortly (which could be interesting) so I'm not up to speed on the rental prices exactly.
I just know through discussing with other owners that people are getting disgruntled with the rising prices, which is why there are so many empty berths this year.
Mines a Bavaria 33 Sport by the way., good luck with your ongoing search.