The following article is taken from Eye on Spain, www.eyeonspain.com

My Tips for Buying Off Plan Property in Spain

For the past 5 years I have been a small private property investor in the Costa del Sol, meaning: buying off-plan and reselling them later on

Concerning the buying of Spanish Properties I would like to give a few tips for all future buyers:

Do not believe what you see in magazines,ask for more information, go on the premises, look for yourself for views, infrastructure, surroundings and so on, unlimited sea or golf views will always keep their value, south-southwest orientation also counts.

Ask friends and relatives who live in the neighbourhood for their opinion, even a waiter of a local bar /restaurant can give you fantastic information.

Try to get the name of the constructor Cie, bank involved,... always ask.

Your Spanish bank , if these people are solvable and if their references are OK.

Go to a good lawyer (also ask your friends/ relatives for one) and ask him to check all details, bank guarantees and so on, this will cost you only arround 1% of the total value of the property

Be patient to search and verify all these things, dont sign an agreement too quickly.

Discuss the repayement methods, they are negociable. Most of the time I give a reservation deposit of around 3.000 Euros when signing the agreement, then when signing the Title Deed, most of the time within the month up to 15%.

One year to 18 months later again 10 to 15% max and the rest meaning 70 or 75% on completition

Untill now I never had problems with this system.

Wishing You all a happy home in lovely Spain

 


Comments:

CommentDateUser
Sound advice. Checking on developers with your bank is a quick and FREE way to get valuable info, i.e. how long has this company been around and are they solvent? Also good advice on checking the development thoroughly before commiting. ALWAYS think about your resale market - it's easy to buy but not always so easy to sell, so buy what you think others will buy later, not what you fancy now. Good idea about asking the local barman for info. As long as you buy a drink, the info will be plentiful, free and unbiased!11/30/2006 7:21:00 PMRoberto