Tuesday, August 16, 2005

Buying property in Spain

The Spanish property market continues to thrive as more and more people buy houses here as an investment, as a holiday home, as an extra source of income (buy to let) or as a permanent home. And Spain is a wonderful place to make a new home.

However, despite the numerous websites offering advice, financial help, houses for sale in Spain... alot of people fall into one of the many pitfalls when purchasing their Spanish property, and their dream turns into a nightmare. Lots of our visitors have been successful buying a house in Spain, but we do still hear too many horror stories of people who, in the words of the Consul in Alicante, "don't do their homework properly" (often because they don't know where to turn) and end up losing alot, even all, the money they invested in property here.

Euroresidentes offers a section about the Property market in Spain, aswell as sections on Spanish mortgages, property taxes in Spain, Spanish real estate news and a free noticeboard where people can post properties for sale in Spain or properties to rent in Spain.

Because of the popularity of this section among our visitors, we receive hundreds of emails each week from people asking questions, sharing a success story, warning other users against using the services of a certain estate agents, sharing a horror story, praising a certain service.....

So we decided to set up a blog from which to channel this flow of information which could be of interest - and maybe of vital importance - to anyone interested in buying (or selling) property in Spain. We will include all the latest news relevant to house-buyers - good and bad, special offers and real estate promotions, new mortgage deals from all major Spanish banks, news on the state of the Spanish property market, real experiences sent in by our visitors....

If you have any suggestions or want us to cover a specific subject, write to us. If we don't know the answer, we will find out. Euroresidentes is run by a very small team of people who live and work in Spain and have first-hand experience of the property market here. And we work closely with lawyers, bankers and consultants who are always prepared to clarify doubts.

We do not sell houses in Spain, we do not offer mortgages and we do not make any profit when offering advice to our users. Our opinions are objective, and if this blog can contribute to helping you make sense of the very complex, and often ruthless, Spanish property market, then it will have been worth our while.
posted by Euroresidentes at 8:50:00 AM

6 Comments:

Anonymous waysider said...

In 2002 a retired English couple were thinking of moving to Spain. A few 'inspection trips' later they decided to enjoy their remaining years in a new bungalow in the village of Pozo del Esparto. In June 2003 they sold their house to raise capital and stayed with relatives as work commenced. In April 2004 they rented accommodation in Spain, expecting to take ownership of their newly built property within a few weeks. Seventeen months later they are still waiting…

Please see my blog for regular updates.
http://wyldereaches.typepad.com/

9/23/2005 12:04 AM  
Anonymous Charles S. Fitzhugh said...

You hae an interesting website. But I see nothing in it containing warnings about the notorious "land grab" laws prevailing in the Valencian region and apparently spreading to other areas in Spain. Even the British Foreign Office has posted some dire cautions. The EUropean parliament has conducted two fact finding missions and has issued documents condemming the predatory laws and the practices they encourage, as has, for example, the Valencia Ombudsman.And even with a proposed new law the situation is so risky that it is impossible to get any form of "clear title" insurance, readily available elsewhere in Eurpe and even in Latin America. Grateful for your comments.

10/27/2005 4:41 PM  
Anonymous waysider said...

Hi Charles.

There is a passing reference to this appalling practice at the end of the post entitled "will the real abogado please stand up", along with a link to a detailed report at www.thisismoney.co.uk

Regards, Bob.
http://wyldereaches.typepad.com/

10/29/2005 12:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Euroresidentes also covers the LRAU scandal in the following links:
http://www.euroresidentes.com/Blogs/2005/04/valencian-land-laws-unconstitutional.htm and http://www.euroresidentes.com/Blogs/2005/06/european-parliament-delegation-visit.htm and http://www.euroresidentes.com/vivienda/urbanismo/LRAU-valenciana.htm(this last one in Spanish)

10/29/2005 11:29 AM  
Blogger john said...

I just came across your blog about Spanish Property and wanted to say how fascinating your information is.
I have my own Spanish Property blog – spanishpropertyinfo.blogspot.com about my experiences. Know a good site when I see one. Keep up the good work.

5/19/2006 4:31 PM  
Blogger mary anderson said...

I am about to purchase a new property in Almeria can anyone recommend a good lawyer please

8/16/2006 11:09 PM  

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