Many Europeans now embrace the concept of buying a home in a different country. With a drop in the cost of air fares, interest rates in Europe becoming lower, and the property itself offering capital growth, countries like Spain have become more enticing to potential buyers. The country of Spain provides the advantage of brief air travel, plentiful sunshine and a thriving economy. It may not have been a good idea to buy in Spain in the past, but it can be done more safely if you stick to some general guidelines. Here is your basic buyers guide for purchasing real estate in Spain:

Get your finances together before you do anything else.

Consider using a Spanish mortgages expert to guide you through the process.

Before you sign any binding contracts, seek expert legal advice.

To save yourself from becoming financially strapped, you should spend wisely and frugally.

Be prepared for time deadlines to be stretched.

Wait until you have the funding in place before committing yourself to a private purchase contract.

Be prepared for the Spanish purchase process, which is different in Spain than in the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

Fully understand the way taxes are accrued based on the specific ownership structure that you choose.

Be careful not to let yourself be persuaded to do anything you wouldn’t normally do.

Work with a lawyer independent of the sales agent that you are working with.

To ensure that your own best interest considered at all times, you must seek the opinion of an unbiased party.

Many examples of people buying foreign property have negative results because they didn’t ask the right questions before they began the transaction. Before completing the transaction, you should get answers to the following questions:

Is the site where the property is located listed as urban or rustic? What are the implications of purchasing on land that turns out to be rustic?

What costs will have to be accounted for, including standard legal costs and tax costs?

Are licenses already in place, for instance property contracts or first liens of residency?

Did you purchase this product directly or was it a cessation of contract?

In this specific purchase, will any be under declaration?
Are you responsible for any additional costs such as, capital gains, inheritance, wealth or income taxes?

Are there any unforeseen deposits to pay? When in the process are refunds no longer possible?

Are there any additional legal costs or fees to be paid?

This entry was posted on Friday, January 30th, 2009 at 11:05 am and is filed under Real Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.