Your Guide to Buying Property in Spain
Sponsored by Inspire Property Experts.
The first things that come to mind after deciding to purchase a property in Spain are: "What comes next? What are the steps?" I'm here to ease your concerns and save you time and money.
The Property Buying Process in Spain
When making important financial and lifestyle decisions like buying a property in Spain, a clear buying process can be extremely helpful to navigate the landscape. Whenever a process is embedded in a robust framework with clear roles and responsibilities assigned to the various players (agencies, landlords, notaries, banks, etc.) with clear liabilities, licenses-to-operate and legal guarantees, you will have reliable, predictable outcomes and clear ways to resolve issues when they occur.
The 10 Steps for Buying a Property in Spain
- Preparation phase. Define realistic expectations (property characteristics, locations and budget). Obtain mortgage simulations. Decide whether you'll be doing it alone or with the help of experts.
- Search and visit properties, shortlist your favorites.
- Identify potential red flags.
- Decide on the true value of the property so you don't overpay. Understand the value-for-money and negotiation potential; be mindful because price points are constantly changing due to COVID-19. Then, negotiate.
- Reserve the property.
- Undertake a substantive due-diligence test. Protect your interests legally, technically and financially.
- Sign a robust arras contract and anticipate potential buyer-seller conflicts that might occur.
- Prepare for signing at the notary (calculate amounts to be withheld from the purchase price, order bank checks, align between all parties, etc.).
- Sign your purchase at the notary. Get your keys.
- Post-purchase obligations.
In our real estate webinar series, we share property purchase tips, derived from our longstanding experience, explain the full process and warn about pitfalls of buying a house in Spain. Recently, we conducted a webinar about the buying process and where it often goes wrong, covering all the steps in detail. Additionally, we also touched upon:
- Mistakes you should avoid when buying a property in Spain.
- How long does it take to buy a house in Spain?
- When to start looking into a mortgage in Spain?
You can view the full recording here.
Pitfalls of Buying a Property in Spain
Why is it complicated to do everything by yourself? The source of many headaches for buyers is that the housing market in Spain is an unregulated playing field without a fence around it. A walk through the jungle with minefields and misleading indicators is probably a fair comparison. This means that:
- Anyone can sell properties in Spain. There are virtually no entry barriers; often no training or professional qualifications are required by agencies when hiring agents. In many parts of Spain, you don't even need a license and agent registration to sell properties.
- Liability in Spain is a joke. Realtors are not required to tell you everything about a property; you cannot hold them accountable if they hide information regarding problems with a property.
- The notary public in Spain has a very restricted role, it is completely different from what you might know from your home country. The notary is neither involved in the process nor responsible for the due-diligence of your purchase. You will only see the notary in the last hour of a several-month journey.
- Lack of transparency. The information and documentation you need to review for information on a property is not centralized, and cannot be accessed online.
Reliability of Realtors in Spain
Good properties sell quickly. Hence, you’ll often need to be able to make a quick decision while at the same time faced with the challenges of accessing and reviewing all of the documentation before feeling comfortable enough to make an offer. In this context, a buying process or a checklist alone itself won't lead you to the results you expect.
Realtors in Spain love this. Many regularly pressure buyers to put their signature down on an offer for a property knowing full well that the buyer is poorly-informed.
Buyers in Spain are exposed to mistakes, problems and surprises and visiting properties is often a frustrating and disappointing experience. There is a fine line between an excellent purchase and an awkward one, and adhering to certain principles may save you tons of money and future peace of mind.
The Role of the Notary Public and a Real Estate Lawyer
You may say: “Yes, but I can hire a lawyer.” True. I wouldn't recommend anyone to buy a property in Spain without a lawyer. That's why we have expert real estate lawyers in our team at INSPIRE. But equally, I have seen plenty of cases where people have bought poor properties in Spain with a perfect contract (It is usually related to technical issues, overpaying, community problems, etc.). So it's not just about having a good lawyer.
Over one-third of owners in Spain indicate that if they could go back in time, they wouldn't buy their house again. I don't want you to end up on that list!
About 50% of buyers are wrong and start off trusting the wrong person. How do I come to that figure? In the first session of our real estate series, I asked a simple but a crucially important question:
When buying a property in Spain through an agency, who is the client of the real estate agency?
A. The buyer.
B. The seller (landlord).
C. Both buyer and seller.
The only correct answer is B. Many potential buyers enter the process not realizing that agencies are contracted by sellers. They have a sales mandate and defend the seller’s interests—not the buyer’s. As a buyer, you are on the other side of a unregulated playing field.
This poll reveals a dramatic response error rate and means that 50% of buyers would start their home buying journey—one of the biggest financial decisions they will ever make—by putting trust in someone whose sole interest is getting the property sold to any taker.
Image courtesy of INSPIRE Property Experts.
This is why, years ago, I decided to launch INSPIRE Property Experts. I wanted to provide professional and independent advice to buyers and investors and guide them through the jungle, help them find better properties, access off-market opportunities and remove the risk from the buying process. Or, as one buyer recently told us: “Deciding to get expert advice from INSPIRE has been the most profitable decision in the entire purchase process.”
Imagine Being Better Informed Than Other Buyers
- If you want to be well-versed, save money, avoid disturbances and conflicts of interest, this is what you can do:
- Join our weekly Real Estate Series with webinars and short videos providing no-nonsense insights and tips to help you make better decisions and avoid mistakes when buying a property in Spain
- Contact me to discuss your plans and receive my recommendations (free first consultation). raf@inspireapartments.com.
- Learn more on our website at inspirepropertyexpertsspain.com
Raf Jacobs is an economist specialized in finance, a lecturer at University of Barcelona for the Real Estate Executive Program and is the Founder & CEO of Inspire Property Experts (previously Inspire Boutique Apartments), a real estate advisory firm helping you take optimal decisions and guiding you from A to Z when buying in Spain.
You can learn more about how INSPIRE Property Experts can help you find your dream home on the website at inspirepropertyexpertsspain.com and you can follow on social media for the latest updates on Twitter @INSPIREexperts, Facebook @inspirepropertyexperts, Instagram @inspirepropertyexperts, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Sponsored by Inspire Property Experts.
Originally published October 17, 2020, updated July 26, 2022.
