VILLAS IN SPAIN
Buying Spanish property can be hazardous and this is particulary true of villas in Spain. These, as I have stated in my book ‘How to Move Safely to Spain’, can vary greatly from being completely safe and sound investments – to properties that are wholly illegal or that have very serious future liabilities.
So, great care needs to exercised - made all the more important by the desperate volatility of the present Spanish property crash.
In truth, the secret to buying villas in Spain (or any property in the world!) could be summarised as: only ever buy what you can sell easily. In other words, always buy as if you were going to put your newly purchased Spanish property straight back onto the market! In which case, your intended property should have the least possible buying ‘obstacles’ applicable to the largest possible percentage of the potential buying market.
Taking it for granted that your intended villa is structurally sound – your ‘tick list’ for a safe and sound villa in Spain should be:
Legalities.
1. Fully legal. Your Spanish property should have a First Occupancy Permit (Licencia de Primera Ocupación – sometimes known as a Cedula or Certificado de Habitacion). It should also not have a habitable volume that exceeds that allowed etc. etc. Never buy a Spanish property that has any legality issue!
2. Fully Urbanizado. A villa should be on properly designated building land that already has all its full infrastructure in place (mains water, mains electricity, land line telephone, mains drainage, made up road with pavements and lighting etc.).
Maximum market appeal
3. 3 bedrooms (two bedroom properties are always awkward to resell).
4. 2 bathrooms (one being an en-suite – the latter is now an expectation).
5. Flat plot (many people are elderly, infirm or have small children/grandchildren).
6. Swimming pool (the ‘dream’).
7. 2/3 minutes from a village (a ‘real life’ community).
8. 15 mins from a town (the place that has everything for the weekly shop etc.)
9. 1 hour from an international airport (easy to get back and forth to home country).
10. 15 mins from a beach (Spain is all about the Mediterranean sea for most people).
Look at these factors and you will see that they are all objective and all are benefits that few people (the buying majority!) would not like their Spanish villa to possess. The trouble, of course, is finding a villa in Spain with all these characteristics. You may think that this would be easy but you will surprised at how rare it is to find a villa with all 10. If you do– then you have probably found a Spanish property that will be always resaleable and therefore one that is a safe and sound investment!
RELEVANT INFORMATION
HOW TO BUY SPANISH PROPERTY AND MOVE TO SPAIN – SAFELY
(80,000 words, 327 pages, 26 sections and 9 expert contributors – e-book 14.96 euros)
[...] VILLAS IN SPAIN – THE 10 KEY FACTORS TO BUYING A SPANISH PROPERTY … [...]
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Do you think the housing crisis is over and we have entered a different realty industry? I consider the economy wants to fully recover just before we have adequate people confident enought to purchase new homes. In this current market its hard to make a long term investment and burden oneself with a lot more debt with as a lot uncertainty is within the air.
I really enjoyed reading your post here and I just wanted to tell you that I totally agree with what you’re saying! It’s hard to find people that think alike these days. Keep it up
Foam, thank you for that – kind comments and most welcome!
Arron, crudely I think the ‘fat lady has not stopped singing yet’ – so, I would keep well out of debt until you see unequivocal evidence of a recovery. At the moment, I see no such thing. Sadly!
I enjoyed reading your blog and I wanted to tell you that I totally agree with you. It is hard to find people that think alike these days. Keep it up
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Great post! Any predictions that you may be able to divulge in order to help us understand your first point a bit further? nice one
You made some good points there. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your opinion.
In the last 6 months of 08 I decided to buy a property in Spain. When I explained to the Property companies that there prices were at least 25% to high they laughed at me. I pointed out the fact that millions of people had lost there jobs put it still made no difference. I asked them to explain to me how people were going to pay the serves charges on their properties if they can’t afford the mortgages. I believe that Spain’s problems are just beginning because when the serves charges on those properties are not paid they will fall into rack and ruin. They will become eyesores on the face of Spain’s tourist resorts, they will be ripe for squatters and scavengers.
Michael
Thank you you for your comment. You were certainly right in 2008, I was writing about what I saw as the impending crash (in Spain and the UK) in 2006 and the Bank of Spain (to their credit) was warning about the overheating in the market in 2004. So, how on earth did all of this come as a surprise to the governments and banks? It mystifies me!
Having said that, I think that you may be unduly pessimisitic about the property market in Spain. As I have written before http://www.culturespain.com/property-in-spain/spanish-property-crash-%e2%80%93-the-market-is-more-complicated-than-it-looks it is now all about segmentation. There are some excellent (in every regard) Spanish properties on the market. However, you have to be careful and choosy. If you know the rules of the ‘game’ there is no reason why you should not obtain a fine property and a reasonable, long term investment. However, be careless (or misread the market ‘segmentation’ and you could make a very regrettable error…
[...] 10 key factors to buying Spanish property safely [...]
[...] 10 key factors to buying Spanish property safely [...]