How to Buy a Property in Spain With 100% Confidence
Written by PropertyLawyers ®
Are you planning to buy or sell a property in Spain? If so, you must become familiar with the process and understand what each step entails so you can be prepared for everything.
Buying a property in Spain is not difficult, especially not with the help of a good property lawyer. After all, this is one of the most important investments you can make, so you should have as much assistance as you can.
A Complete Step-By-Step Guide
When you do it right, buying a property can be a rewarding experience. That’s why today we want to provide a complete breakdown of the process so you know exactly what to expect.
Step 1: Hire a Good Real Estate Lawyer
The first step to buying a property in Spain is to hire a good real estate lawyer. Why? Because the entire transaction involves so many people. You have to deal with insurance assessors, appraisers, inspectors, mortgage brokers, seller’s agents, bankers, and so many other individuals.
All of their decisions and actions need to be in sync for the purchase process to be effective, and your real estate lawyer is the person who coordinates everyone and everything involved. They act on your behalf and they will advocate and defend your best interests.
Property Lawyers do a lot more than coordinating everything involved in the process, they can negotiate for you, they handle the paperwork and deadlines, contracts and they solve any issues and disputes that may come up.
Step 2: Secure the Financing for the Purchase
Buying a home can feel like such a thrill until you think about taking out a mortgage. It’s also a huge financial commitment that can make anyone just a bit nervous. However, it doesn’t have to be daunting.
To secure the financing for the purchase, you only have to follow 6 steps. First, you need to pick your loan officer. This is not a decision you want to make lightly, so take your time researching and comparing options before you pick one.
Second, you need to make a loan application and wait for it to get preapproved. Then, you need to choose a loan option based on what you want to pay. Once you do that, submit an accepted purchase offer contract so you can get an appraisal and title commitment. Lastly, you will get the funding at closing the purchase. But again, the Lawyer can act on your behalf and negotiate with the Spanish bank the best rates for you.
Step 3: Find a Home You Want to Purchase
If you want to buy a home with 100% confidence, you need to be sure that the property you choose is the one for you. Shopping for homes can be fun because you get to drive around different areas for example of Mallorca, Marbella or Costa Brava and view different homes.
However, if you don’t know what you’re looking for, the process can take ages. Finding the right home is all about understanding your wants and needs, not just in the short term, but also in the long term.
Ask yourself important questions, such as:
- How much space do I need?
- Planning to buy for tourist rentals?
- What is more important to me, size or location?
- Is a renovation property also of interest?
- How important is neighborhood stability?
- Surroundings of the property – location near the city, restaurants and clubs
- What features and amenities are the most vital to me? Pool, garden
Step 4: Make an Offer
Now we’ve reached one of the most important steps of the process of buying a home in Spain. Once you’ve found the right property for you, you have to make an offer. It can be exhilarating to find the home of your dreams, but you don’t want to make an offer before you’ve cooled down.
Enjoy the moment for a bit, but then it’s time to do business. Offers have three basic components, namely the price, the terms, and the contingencies. The price needs to reflect the market value of the home, so your real estate agent has to do market research to help you determine it.
The terms will include the schedule of everything that needs to happen before closing, the conveyances, which are the items that will be sold with the home, the real estate commission, the closing costs, the home warranty, and earnest money, which protects sellers if you back out of the deal last minute. Lastly, the contingencies are the conditions of the sale.
Step 5: Do Your Due Diligence
Buying a home in Spain is not like buying a piece of clothing. You can’t just return it if you find something wrong with it. That’s why you have to do your due diligence and get a property inspection done and get homeowner’s insurance to protect your investment.
Step 6: Close the Sale
For the final step of the process, you have to go through a pre-closing process that entails a survey, an appraisal, a title search, and confirming the state of your credit and financing. These are things your real estate agent will handle and they will keep you updated on everything.
Of course, there are responsibilities you have to fulfill on your end while your real estate agent works on everything else. Needless to say, you have to keep your finances on track until you close on the home. You also have to return every phone call from your agent and stay on top of whatever paperwork they send you.
It’s a good idea to keep in touch with your real estate agent and check in once a week to see how everything’s going. A few days before you close, make sure that all the documents are in order and go through a last walk-through of the home.
When closing day rolls in, you’ll sign the documents with the guidance of your real estate agent and a settlement agent to finalize the mortgage, pay the seller and the closing costs, transfer the title, and make the necessary arrangements so the transaction is legally recorded.
As you can see, buying a home in Spain is not a difficult process once you know what you need to do and you hire the right people to assist you, including a professional real estate agent and a good property lawyer.
