To Mortgage or Not to Mortgage

 Jolilhols, says it's easy to get a Spanish mortgage, they don't do many checks!!!!, hence why the Spanish are in such a mess, encouraging people to buy and then when it all goes wrong, the Banks end up with millions of properties nobody wants. There are far to many people that should never been allowed to buy in the first place. You might have the cash to fall back on, but in my experience and being a President of an urbanisation, I see the outcome sadly only too often, the owners finally move out after running up debts gallore. Never to be seen again. The urbanisation's having to lose out as no fees are able to be recovered, because the debts have been allowed to rack up for years by the Banks. I've known of people buying property and never paid any mortgage payments in 5 years.  Another house has an embargo on it at the Land registry, the owners cleared off owing us 3,000 €. The house looks untidy and un-loved. This would never go on in the UK, if you miss a payment the Bank/building society contact you immediately. Yet still they are building in Spain, absolute madness. There are some people buying, but they are buying at low prices. The concern is many who live in Spain full time have houses that are being devalued, because others just need to sell to get out of their situations. The Spanish Banks are a joke, Banco sabadell having recently aquired CAM have changed those branches into SabadellCAM, so you have the CAM branches being kitted out in this new livery, they need to be scaled back and closed. On some roads where I am, the branches are a few doors apart. Everyday the Spanish Banks incompetense knows no bounds. It will be decades if ever before Spain recovers from it's financial suicide. Spain is a lovely place, but it is run by fools.

I certainly didn't say "they don't do many checks!!!!". They get your experian credit report and check your income, accounts and bank statements to make sure you can afford it.  They just don't go over the top like some UK banks we have dealt with asking for every little detail.

"Pretty bullish talk...........     Do you have any basis for thinking this is realistic"

Depends what you call realistic.

If in doubt, consult history.

So far, every recession in the last 80 years has been followed by a steep initial recovery, which flattens later on. So the trick is to ride that initial growth phase rather than jumping onto the bandwagon when everybody does, which is when things begin to slow.

It's the naysayers who need to explain why this time round it will be different.

Meet you again five years down the road and let's compare notes then.

Even today, with no end to the recession officially in sight, many mainstream stocks are up at least 20% compared to where they were at the apogee. The more you make before you buy a property, the less mortgage you're going to have to service. Of course property prices will recover too, but the property market is usually slow to respond and is often at the rear end of any recovery.

 Good luck - and yes, speak to you in five years time.    History means nothing to people who lost money in the .com bust (I made money and the fact that I got out was just luck!!)

Still waiting for some of my emerging markets 10 years on.     But you go for it.

I would say avoid a Spanish mortgage. The banks are notoriously difficult to deal with and seem to do whatever they want once you have signed on the dotted line. If your Spanish is fluent and you understand all the small print you may be ok but proceed with caution.A Spanish mortgage is a personal loan unlike UK mortgages . At least if you pay cash you will know that the property is yours and you will be in control , not the bank.

 Exactly, in any case, Cash is best, unless you earn more interest on your investsments than your mortgage/loan costs. Plus it's yours and you can sell if you have to. The spanish systems are very difficult to deal with when things go wrong, especially if you are not fluent. Sadly the vast majority of people really don't understand how things work in Spain and can only see their dream of a nice new home in the Spanish sunshine, with a better life style, the excitement takes over and common sense goes out the window. It was never easy to get employment before the downturn and starting a business is fraught with burocratic never ending process's.  If I knew what I know now I would never have bought in Spain, even though I own mine outright and did from day one. I'd still go for holidays in Spain, but I would have invested in UK property,  where you can let with decent rents and know and understand what you are getting into.

Nearly every Spanish Lender will ultimately hand your account over to your nearest branch where they all have an english speaking person, 99% have telephone and internet banking in english

 That is normally the case, however it's to late once you've signed the paperwork. A lot of people don't understand that things in Spain do not work in the same way as the UK, whether it's buying property or all the associated things that go with it.  Then there's buying Cars, Taxes etc, all totally different. People have no idea. The  water and electric company's will cut you off when you don't pay you bills, Water is never cut off in the UK and electricity only after many months. I'm not saying it's wrong, but it is different.

But it seems to me, that with the world sooner or later to emerge from a recession, it would be better to tie my money up in stocks and ride the market up maybe 10% a year for several years and finance the property with debt, rather than vice versa.

You obviously like taking risks. Multiple risks, simultaneously.

What goes up can go down, and vice-versa.

Worst case scenario: your assets could be wiped out and you could be left with a mountain of debt. If you like gambling and can afford the potential losses, though, that's your choice. It would not be my choice.

 Thanks for all the great info, that's helped me greatly.