First Time Purchase in Spain

Dear Mr Deeks

The advice I posted is the reality in your situation. I was in the mortgage business for 20 years. Sadly it seems you only want to listen to what you want to hear, you are leading your family to believe in a pipe dream, they deserve better.

Kavanagh - your point has been taken on loud and clear👏🏽

Mr Deeks,

The information seems a bit limited.  

The figures and exact purpose of the finance required is important.  But you may find that using the UK properties you have as collateral is a possibility, if there is good equity. For BTL in the UK you may find that lenders like Barclays and Birminham Midshires can assist.  They rate their terms and acceptance based on track record and the proposition, rather than the owners (landlord's) finances. 

You may also be able to use the above, or others to re-mortagage to provide finance elsewhere.  But they can be a bit more fickle.

Another option might be to have a  conversation with a good larger specialist broker like John Charcol or Conti Financial.

As I say, I don't know any detail but generally UK lenders are a lot easier to get a decision from than Spanish.
 

Thanks Acer for your help, i will be dropping my UK broker a line this week to see what options are available as i wasnt aware BM Solution lent on overseas investments. 

I'm not sure Barclays are directly involved in Spanish mortgages - but they can be receptive to a proposition involving re-mortgaging a UK BTL property to release equity for retired or self employed people, if this is a suitable option for you. 

From my limited experience I would suggest it may be best to avoid Spanish based finance.  The two UK brokers I mentioned are a better route - they are both highly professional and regulated.

A woman on our community re- mortgaged her UK house for the funds to purchase her Spanish property. She said it was an easier and cheaper solution than using a Spanish bank, but that was 10 years ago and things may have changed.

Hello Marksfish

That would be the simplest and easiest way to do it. The only problem is, if property in Spain drops again you cannot throw the keys in like many upstanding Brits have and disown the mortgage by doing a runner back to the UK leaving innocent others to absorb the defaulters debts.

Yes that is true, but she also doesn't have to worry about the exchange rate and how much to send over each month to pay the mortgage. I don't think she had too much of a mortgage as I seem to recall using some pension money came into it as well (probably not such a good move). That said, the property market is still quite low (although not now rock bottom), so good prices are out there to be had, which is less of a risk.

You are absolutely correct, it is quite low risk, but because Spanish banks have had their fingers badly burnt (some of their own making) they want you to jump through hoops now.

A couple of neighbours of mine bought villas at €400,000 borrowed €300,000 from Spanish banks, and when the values dropped to €200,000 just threw the keys in and said bye bye. No doubt sat in their conservatory now in the UK with a gin and tonic waiting for the cricket to start on the TV. Banks are not angels by any means but seem to get the blame for everything.