How to Get a Mortgage in Spain

On this episode, I sat down with Rob Govier of MHI Group, an international mortgage broker with offices all over the world.

Rob is an international mortgage veteran with over 30 years experience. He’s based in London but knows the Spanish mortgage process in and out. We cover everything you need to know about getting a mortgage for a home in Spain from the documents you need, the amount of loan you might qualify for, home valuations and so much more.

Important links and contact info of MHI Group: https://www.themhigroup.com/

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Read the transcript here (edited for readability):

Chris 0:05

Welcome back to another episode of the Cheap Property Spain podcast. Today's episode is all about mortgages. I've gotten loads of questions over the years about how to get a mortgage in Spain, so I decided to ask an expert. I sat down with Rob Govier of MHI Group, an international mortgage brokerage with offices all over the world.

Rob is an international mortgage veteran with over 30 years of experience he's based in London but knows the Spanish mortgage process in and out. We cover everything today that you need to know about how to get a mortgage for a home in Spain, from the documents you need, how to apply the amount of loan you might qualify for, how home valuations work, and so much more. Enjoy.

Rob, thanks again for coming today and just love to start off, if you could just tell us a little bit about yourself. 

Rob 0:49

Sure. Okay. Well, my name's, Rob Govier I'm one of the directors of the MHI Group. We are an international mortgage brokerage. We're based in the UK and Spain. Personally, I've been in the finance market for over 30 years, 16 of those within the Spanish mortgage market.

So obviously bringing with me a huge array of experience, in both Spanish markets and other international markets as well. But Spain is one of our core markets. Obviously, it's always a hugely popular place to be buying property. 

Chris 1:30

Yeah, of course.

So, you guys do lending and brokerage for not just Spain though, for all over the world, is that right?

Rob 1:37

That's correct, yeah. Our core markets, as they do tend to be Spain, France, Italy and Portugal, but we do have inquiries and wherever possible we will assist in other countries, but they tend to be our core markets, let's put it that way.

Chris 1:52

So do you make it over to Spain much?

Rob 1:54

Not often enough, unfortunately. But one of my co-directors who is based in Spain sends me lovely images on social media of him normally enjoying quite a nice beer with a Mediterranean backdrop. You know, this sort.

Chris 2:08

Oh my gosh. I don't think you should be friends with him anymore, he sounds terrible.

Rob 2:10

Well, really I shouldn't, but I've known him for the better part of 30 years, so I probably should yeah.

Chris 2:17

Hard one to shake.

Rob 2:18

Yeah, it is indeed.

Chris 2:20

Let's zoom in a little bit on Spain specifically. And I'd love to just get an idea of a general overview.

How does the mortgage process work in Spain for an expat, mainly someone who maybe doesn't live full-time in Spain yet, or, all their income is derived from another country or something? (A general overview of the mortgage process when buying a home in Spain)

Rob 2:40

Sure. Okay, so we'll keep it simple and classify them as a nonresident buyer. So depends on where the client comes from, as a rough guide if they're from a country within the EU the lenders will lend typically up to 70% of the purchase price or valuation, whichever is the lower. If they're from a non-EU country, so obviously USA and UK would be two countries that instantly spring to mind, then they generally lend 60% of the purchase price or valuation. 

Now that's a general guide but there are exceptions to that as there always are. So because we deal with every bank in Spain, and of course, we have to generalize to a large extent, but that's a rough guide in terms of the percentage that you can borrow. 

In terms of how they assess you in the process, it's fairly straightforward. They will ask for various documents. And there are different scenarios. So they will obviously need, first of all, proof of income. So that could be for employees, pay slips. If you are self-employed or a director of a company, for example, they're normally required tax returns from the country where you generate your income.

They'll also need to see proof that money hit in your bank account. So they'll normally need to see personal bank statements. And if you have a business, they'll also need to see business bank statements. They'll need proof of who you are, so that would typically be a copy of a passport. They'll also need to see your credit report wherever available, it's not available in every country, but in most countries, you have to provide a credit report.

And that's obviously from a lender's perspective to assess what information you have and/or what credit commitments you currently have, which will be in addition to any mortgage that you'll be taking out in Spain. The final item that they need is, is proof of savings that you currently have. So these are the fairly standard basic requirements.Certain lenders will always ask for additional information, but that tends to be the core information that lenders will require. 

What the lenders then do is they lend based on what we call affordability. Very simply how that works is they look at what income you have coming in. They'll look at what credit commitments you currently have going out. So that could typically be, for example, a mortgage, a loan, credit cards, car finance, how I purchase, et cetera. And basically what they do is they look at what you have coming in, and what's going out, if you're like, in your main residence typically. They then combine that with your proposed mortgage that you wish to take out in Spain and providing that you fit within their calculation, you will then be approved for the mortgage. 

Now, what I would say at that point is that each lender has their own calculation. Some are more generous than others and also sometimes depends on the country where you come from. So for example, if you come from one of the countries in the EU block, they don't have to allow for currency fluctuations because of course, normally the client would be paid in Euros.

The mortgage in Spain would of course be in Euros. So there's not that fluctuation. Clearly, if you are coming from, I don’t know, the UK for example, they have to factor in currency fluctuations, Sterling can fluctuate, therefore, that's something that they will build in a bit of margin for. So it's not straightforward, yes, every lender does it this way. That's the formula. But as I say, in terms of the percentages, that will vary from one lender to another. 

And that's really how the process works. Once that's all been approved, it's always gonna be subject to a satisfactory valuation of the property. So they will employ an independent valuation company to visit the property and provided that all comes back okay, then of course the mortgage would then be issued on the terms that you acquire. 

The exception to that for example would be if the property is valued at a lower figure than the price that you've agreed, as I've mentioned to you a moment ago, they will lend up to 70% of the purchase price or valuation, whichever is the lower figure.

Assuming everything comes back on the valuation okay then the mortgage offer is issued, and that's the process really.

Chris 7:08

Okay, wow, yeah. Great, so of course it depends on so many factors. Like, you mentioned, whether your income is derived from an EU country versus, you know, somewhere like the UK or the US where you're paid in pounds or dollars or you're not part of the member block. So a lot of personal factors to consider, right?

And then how does the process change when depending on property type, right? So you mentioned they'll loan up to 70% is that across the board or how does that change if I'm looking at an apartment versus a single-family home versus like one of these beautiful rustic Galician estates?

Rob 7:43

Yeah. Okay. It's a fairly straightforward answer to that. Properties are classified in Spain, so what they put in English it would be what we called urban property, or urban Easter is the actual Spanish phrase. So that would be a fairly normal apartment or villa, et cetera, et cetera. And they will be, as I said, up to those percentages that I've disclosed.

If however, the property is what we call, rustica, so that would typically be what we would know as a farmhouse or a finca as it's known in Spain, quite often the lenders will do one of two things. They may not lend on them full stop or they may reduce the lending to a lower level. So they may, for example, only lend 50% on those types of property.

So there's a big difference. So it's very important if you're looking to find a property you establish with the agent that you are perhaps buying or hoping to buy the property through what the property is classified as. So they tend to be the fairly standard ones. There are some other exceptions but I won't go into too much detail. They tend to be the main ones. Most people will either buy a fairly straightforward villa, apartment, or townhouse, which is on urban land. But it's those clients who perhaps are looking for something a bit more inland, typically which there may be issues. But again very straightforward for us to find that information.

Now, once we have that, then we can know which lenders will consider it and which lenders won't consider it, and obviously the percentages that they may consider on that type of property.

Chris 9:14

Okay, that makes sense.

So do you recommend buyers find a property first or come to you first to get a pre-approval?

Rob 9:21

Okay. Still, the answer would obviously be to come to me first, but there's actually a genuine reason. You get a lot of people who may arrive on a plane typically and look at properties and think, I'm sure I'll be fine for the mortgage without any problems. I have a good income, etc These are fairly standard comments that you might get from somebody.

But they don't understand the process or the way that lenders assess you. So quite often you will get a situation where somebody may have reserved a property, put down a holding deposit, which is fairly standard, only to then go along to a bank and find out that actually, no, they've not been approved for the mortgage.

So quite often we might get involved at that point. And again, sometimes we can help, and sometimes we can't. But that's the reason why we say, look, whatever you do, just make sure you can get the money first because it doesn't cost you anything to do that. So we always recommend what we call an agreement in principle.

So we will basically do our own initial underwriting if you like and make sure that we feel it's going to fit. We'll then approach a bank who we feel is most likely, who at that moment in time, may have the best rates for that particular client as well to get an agreement in principle.

So prior to going out and visiting properties, get the mortgage agreed. So if you then do come over to Spain, find a property that you wish to buy, you have the sort of safety, if you like that, yes, I know I'm good for the money. Obviously, again, subject to satisfactory valuation but you are approved if you like. So it's only then down to the property being signed off if you like, by the bank. 

So always, always, always get it agreed prior to any visit. Seeing too many people let down over the years and quite often those deposits can be non-refundable, so they may have paid a sizeable amount of money. In terms of taking the property off the market. It's lost and it would've taken them not a great deal of time for them to forward the required information to us. We could have got it agreed or we could have told 'em straight away, said, look, love to tell you, but it's not gonna work. 

So being blunt, you know, don't go and buy or you can't buy at that level. And a typical example of that might be a lot of people don't always appreciate the full extent of the cost involved in buying a property in Spain. So it's not just obviously the deposit required for the mortgage, but of course, there are a number of other costs. So property purchase tax, if it's a resale property, or IVA if it's a new build. Obviously, legal fees, notary fees, mortgage arrangement fees, mortgage valuation fees, and the list goes on. And so sometimes they might say, I've got this amount of money, but I want to buy at this level. Well, they haven't got enough money to cover all of the costs, so we might say to you, you may want to buy this, but unless you can find some more money to put down as a deposit and obviously to cover all the costs you really need to trim your budget back down. 

So again, that's another benefit of speaking to somebody like ourselves, first of all, so that you have that again, you know that what you're looking at property-wise is gonna be affordable, gonna be something that you can cover the cost for, and obviously that you can get the mortgage degree for that level.

Chris 12:44

Of course. That's great. That makes a lot of sense. And I love that you started touching on cost, 'cause that was my next question for you.

So what are some of the costs that a buyer can expect particularly when they are taking out a mortgage? And then what kind of overall percentage should they plan to reserve within the cash part of their budget?

Rob 13:13

Okay. So I've touched upon the typical cost. So obviously property purchase tax, if it's a resale property or IVA if it's a new build. Also, stamp duty on top of that if it's a new build.

But just touching from the property purchase tax, this again isn't always known by buyers, but the regions in Spain are autonomous. So basically they set their own property purchase tax. So again if I use, two particular regions where we get a lot of clients who are looking to find those areas 'cause they tend to be very popular with overseas buyers, one is called the Alicante region, the other one is the Murcia region, just south. 

Now if you purchase a resale property in the Alicante region, your property purchase tax is 10% of the purchase price. You drive south to Murcia, it's 8%. And again, each region in Spain does have their own property purchase tax. 

So always, always, always find out what that cost is because you know, again, it might be you worked and agents will say, oh yeah, budget around 10%. Can tell you in fact that if you're taking a mortgage, it will always be more. For example, if you're buying in the Alicante region straight away, it's 10%. Obviously, legal fees that you'll be charged. There are then other  fees where obviously you sign for the property. 

Relevant to the mortgage, you tend to have two costs. The first one will be a valuation fee. So obviously, as I mentioned they will require an independent valuation company to visit the property. They will charge a fee, which tends to be based on the value of the property. So obviously the more expensive the property, the more they would charge you. The typical cost would be 400 to 500 Euros is fairly average, but I have to say, if it's a more expensive property, you can budget more than that or need to. 

The other one is the lender would typically, not always, again, cause I have to be generalized here, will charge an arrangement fee. Typically between 1 to 2% of the amount that you borrow, so keep it simple. If you borrow a hundred thousand, you can look to budget between 1,000 to 2,000 which is the lender's arrangement fee. They tend to be the cost that you will physically have to pay. There are additional costs that the lender has to pay, but that doesn't concern you because you won't physically have to pay those.

So you need to budget. Typically, if I take a normal region, as a rough guide, we work on around 12% of the purchase price to cover on a resale. The purchase tax, legal fees, notary fees, mortgage valuation fees, and lender's arrangement fees. It's a rough guide, there's no exact science, and obviously, we'd always advise you to get an exact breakdown from any solicitor on your point, who will go through all of the costs on the legal side. We will obviously go through the costs on the mortgage side because that's our agreement if you like. 

So again, region to region, that will vary. And again, if you're buying a new build, it will be more expensive again. So, just find that information out before you go and sign for any reservation agreement if you like.

Chris 16:15

Great. That makes a lot of sense. And yeah, that's a good watch out if, for anyone who's planning to buy with a mortgage specifically budget, it sounds like a minimum of 10% over your purchase price just to have extra to cover all the tax and whatnot.

Great, well you briefly mentioned it, but I'd like to ask you a little bit about new build. So well, there might be a small group of people that are maybe interested in purchasing land and building on it.

Are loans available to do that in Spain?

Rob 16:48

Yeah, yeah. Very simply, they're what we call a construction mortgage. So in essence, what you have to do is if you're buying a piece of land that becomes available, you pay for the land in cash. You can't get financed on land. So you can then, obviously if you're gonna do what I would call a self-build, so you're gonna build a villa to your specifications, ultimately, a lot of people like it, and very simply what will happen is a lender will essentially lend you a certain percentage of the construction costs of that build. They will tend to release it on what I call a stage payment basis. Now the advantage of that is, let's say for argument's sake, it was gonna cost you 200,000 Euros to build that property.

And you said, I would like to borrow, say, 140 against that. Well, clearly you don't want 140,000 released straight away because of course you'd be paying interest on it from day one. So they release it on, what we call a stage payment basis. So as certain as construction gets to certain levels obviously the architect who's normally supervising the project will, if you like, sign it off and then the bank can then release that transfer funds so that you then get onto the next phase. So it's, it's doable. Not many products in the market, not many lenders offer this type of product, but there are lenders in the market that do and that's a general guide.

But you have to purchase the land outright first. Then as I say, the construction mortgage is the route to go down. It just works. I say not everybody does it. So I don't think you can do that on a, if you buy a development, for example, because of course you won't own the land.

So if you buy a development where the builders build X amount of villas, you can't do it on that because of course the developer is of course building that property. So it's only one that you are going to do the build. Whatever is a self-build, purchase the land in cash, and then get a construction mortgage to finance part of the works.

Chris 18:51

Great. That makes a lot of sense. That's for those who are willing to take on a project like that. For me, that sounds like a huge undertaking.

Rob 18:58

Well, yeah, particularly the construction costs. Obviously, material cost is going up through the roof at this moment in time, so it's again, a difficult one to budget what was a construction cost a year ago. Generally speaking, it's gonna be a bit more today.

Chris 19:13

Yeah, of course. So let's dive in a little bit to sort of mortgage specifics. So where I'm from, and I think a lot of Americans will relate to this. You know, the 30-year fixed rate is kind of the standard product. Some people go for a 15 to get, you know, pay off a little bit sooner.

What are the terms for a mortgage and the details of loans offered in Spain?

Rob 19:37

Cool. Okay. Again, I'll generalize it 'cause there are exceptions, but most lenders will offer you what's called a variable rate mortgage. So that will be linked to what is normally, again, some lenders do it slightly differently, but it's normally linked to what we call the 12-month Euro bar rate.

So the 12-month Euro bar rate is not, first of all, a Spanish rate. So if you are taking a mortgage in France, Italy, or Portugal, for example, lenders will link it to the Euro bar rate. So basically how it works is fairly straightforward. The euro bar rate is obviously set on the date that you complete, and then a lender will typically charge you a certain percentage over and above that.

So if a lender says, okay, whatever the 12-month Euro bar rate is, we would charge you say 2% over and above that. So let's say the rate at this moment in time is a shade over 2.5% as we talk here. So 2.5%, you added 2% to that. You would, then your pay rate would then be 4.5%. 

You then have a mortgage anniversary. So let's say you completed on the purchase of your property today. 12 months' time of course will be your mortgage anniversary. And let's say in 12 months' time, Euro bar rate was 2.6%. Put your 2% on top of that for the next 12 months, you'll pay 4.6%. So the guarantee you've got is you're always going to be above the 12-month euro bar rate on that example by 2%.

Of course, what we don't know is each year what the 12-month euro bar rate is going to be. So that's the product that the vast majority of banks will offer to non-EU clients. I must stress that there are a couple of lenders that will offer fixed-rate mortgages for clients who are non-EU and they do tend to be for the life of the mortgage. Not always, but most of them tend to be for the life. Say for you, using your example, you took a 15-year mortgage term, you would get a 15-year fixed rate, so you know exactly where you are, you can budget. 

As we speak today, of course, there is a lot of volatility in the money market. So a lot of lenders have sort of pulled these products or withdrawn them temporarily or because they're very difficult for them to price at this moment in time.

But in a normal market, it's fair to say that certain lenders will offer you a fixed rate and that fixed rate will be fixed for the term. But I'd say, that normally only applies to EU clients, but there are certain lenders that will offer those to non-EU clients as well. So again, from your perspective, if that's something your client wants and is insistent on if you like, again, we would know which lenders we could go to that offer that type of product.

Chris 22:21

Okay. That makes a lot of sense. So again, really depends on where you're coming from, from an income perspective. Then with these, with the variable rates, what are the terms for a mortgage in Spain? Are they typically 15 or 20, or is a 30-year offered for amortization?

Rob 22:37

It depends on a number of factors. First one is the age of the applicant. So for example certain lenders may require the mortgage to be paid off by the time the eldest applicant hits a certain age. So if, for example, I've got a 55 year old client who is looking to take a property into a certain lender, they may require the mortgage be paid off at age 70, for example, we'll get a 15-year term.

Firstly, it might be another end that we can go to, goes to age 75. Therefore he could get a 20-year term. So it just depends on the lender. And depends on the age. Conversely, if I've got a 40 year old client and they want me to keep the repayments down to minimum, certain lenders may, for example, do a 30-year term.

So you know, it just depends on the age of the client and the requirements of the bank. Certain banks will do a maximum term irrespective of the client's age. So some banks, for example, say maximum term we do is 20 years. So, if it's 40 or 50, you know, doesn't actually matter. Their maximum term is 20.

So, again, depends on the profile of the client and depends on the bank and their bank's policy with regards to paying off the mortgage in a certain timeframe.

Chris 23:50

That's interesting. And do any lenders in Spain require the borrower to take out life insurance?

Rob 23:57

Okay, here's a really good one. You'll like this one. They passed the law a few years ago now which basically states that the lender cannot insist that you take their insurance. So for example, there's various insurance products so life insurance is obviously one of the common ones. Home insurance will be another one that people might want to consider, et cetera, et cetera.

Now what you will find is that certain lenders will give you a rate of interest, but that will be subject to you taking additional products with them. So they can't make it compulsory. So they basically say, okay, well that's fine if you don't want the product. That's absolutely fine. However, the interest rate we're going to charge you will be considerably higher.

So if I use one example that I can think of this precise moment in time, I've got one particular bank that will give you a discount of 1%. The life of that you keep the policy for taking out a life insurance policy with them and an additional 0.35% for taking home insurance. So it's a 1.35% discount, which can be quite sizable. If you choose not to take that they're still going to give you the money but you'll lose those discounts. And that's basically how the lenders are creative, shall we say, with the way that they interpret the rules. So that's a general guide and they're the most common ones that lenders will use. So say not compulsory, however, just be mindful that the rate may not be as keen if you don't take their products.

And again, we'll very simply look at the cost of that and say, look, there'd be certain cases that is actually beneficial to the client. So that would typically be for a, younger applicant because of course the cost for particularly life insurance will be less expensive. Conversely, if you've got somebody who's a bit later in years, the cost of that can be quite prohibitive.

And therefore any saving they're making, if you like, by having that reduction on the interest rate is more than swallowed up by the insurance premiums. So again, we'll do a full analysis and say, look, in our opinion, it is better for you not to take it. Appreciate the market repayments will be a bit higher. However, we can't justify you take that product because it's frankly too expensive.

Chris 26:13

Okay. Wow. Yeah. That is interesting. I've heard about that in the States. That's not even really part of the conversation of obtaining a mortgage usually. But I've heard that from different groups of people who purchased homes in Europe and they had to take out the life insurance or they were highly incentivized to take out the life insurance.

Rob 26:32

I mean, yeah, in young days they were very blunt prior to the law that came in. It was, if you want this mortgage, you're gonna take those products. And 'cause not being unkind, you didn't know anything better. You took them and people were not particularly well looked after should I say politely.

Chris 26:55

All right. So let's kind of walkthrough, kind of summarize this buyer that we've kind of been talking about a little bit. So let's assume they do everything right. They call you first, they get kind of like this pre-approval and they understand how much money they have to afford. They find their dream home, and they make an offer and it's accepted.

How long does the mortgage process then take to actually obtain the funds and close on the house?

Rob 27:19

Yeah, again, depends on the lender because obviously, each lender has different processing times and also depends on the time of year. To quantify that, for example, if you are looking at trying to get some finance in August, if anybody knows anything about Spain in August, not a great deal happens.

So we have inherent problems or banks have inherent problems of, yes, they tend to have a very much of a skeleton staff in the month of August. But in a normal time, and this again comes back to that point, if you've got the agreement in principle, the lender is already happy with you, they would have approved you.

So the only thing they may require, depending on how long it's been since they've given you that approval, may be updated documents. So for example, if we are here today and you might have got the approval three months before they say, okay, well we need three months of bank statements, we need an updated credit report. And if you're employed, we'll need three more pay slips just to see that your situation hasn't changed. So obviously your income hasn't dropped and you haven't taken on any additional credit commitments. So let's take all that and it's all been fine, then that's it. Next step is the valuation of the property, value visits the property says, yeah, everything's fine. Typically three to four days later, you will get that valuation report back at the bank. That will then need to be signed off and obviously assessed to make sure that, happy to them on that property, assuming that's all okay then the full mortgage offer can be issued 

Rough guide at this moment in time, I would typically say about three to four weeks from start to finish would be realistic. I can assure you there's a lot of clients that fall outside of that timeframe often because it might be the bank has issues because frankly, they've got too much business coming in and that they can't cope with the volume.

Or it may be that they've requested updated documents and the clients are quite slow at getting an update on updated information to us. So assuming that you know, if we request updated documents today and the client gets them back to us tomorrow, there are no delays. But typically three to four weeks at that stage the mortgage offer is then issued and goes to the solicitor acting on behalf of the buyer and they will then have to forward that to the notary where you are going to sign for the property and there have to be at least 10 days before you can actually sign for the property. So that's what I would call a cooling-off period. So that again was part of the law that was changed a few years ago. So if, for example, a mortgage offer was issued today and the notary received that today, then you've gotta allow again, at least 10 days before you can physically sign and complete it.

The documentation, of course, will all be in Spanish because for it to be a legal document has to be in Spanish. So again, what we'd normally advise, particularly if your clients are not particularly conversant in Spanish or that you work with a solicitor that can speak in their language, whether that's, you know, German Scandinavian, British American, whatever it might be. That's really very key. So that you know, they would obviously have to explain that information. Quite often it's listers that are often given what we call power of attorney. So to save your client to keep flying over to Spain to sign documents, for example, they will be given power of attorney by the client, so they will actually sign in for that mortgage on the client's behalf.

Clearly, it's very important the client knows what the solicitor signed on their behalf. So they will go through everything with the client to make sure they're happy and it says they understood it. Clearly, we will put that in English and we'll summarize the salient points if you like.

But again, you know, we don't physically sign for the mortgage on the client's behalf. That's down to their sort of stuff. Again, you don't have to do that, but most clients tend to go down that route.

Chris 31:22

Yep. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And just for anyone listening we also have another episode where we interview a real estate lawyer, kind of talking about that specific topic. Plenty of detail out there. And you're right. It's really important to have everything translated into your language and have someone you can trust on your team to sign those documents for you because it is a big decision. 

Great, Rob. Well, I think we covered a ton of ground.

This was an incredible overview of this entire process, which I think for a lot of people is sort of like hidden behind a veil and I think you've done a great job, you know, moving that and providing a lot of clarity, so, good. Thank you.

Before we go, are there any last, you know, tips or something maybe from your experience and all the years of working with different buyers, you know, is there anything you'd want to leave with like a first-time home buyer in Spain?

Rob 32:15

Yeah, I think again, the key thing I would always say to people is know the area because Spain's a vast country and you touch upon an area of Spain you particularly like. And people often ask me, where would you buy it? And there's a very straightforward answer to that. Where I want to buy might be completely and utterly different from where you want to buy. Some people like something a little bit more Spanish. I know it sounds strange 'cause we buy it in Spain, but some of which are the more traditional Spanish feel. Some people prefer to be in an area where there's quite a large expat community. So I think the key thing is, you know, look at the areas, first of all, because those areas cross bank vary, dramatically.

So from one area to another, one region to another. You've gotta find an area that feels good to you. And it might be that you find these wonderful properties, but actually, you don't like the area. So it might well be that you go down the coast. You know, if I could have picked this up and put it down there, yes, I would buy it. Obviously establishing your budget is really key because again, there's quite a lot of variation in property prices. So if you go down to, for argument's sake Andalucia down to Malaga, Marbella, that sort of area that tends to be very, very expensive. So you might need to come up the coast to places like the Costa Blanca, which is the Alicante region where prices tend to be a bit more affordable.

And again, even in that region, you know, if you go to Costa Blanca North, that would be more expensive than the Costa Blanca South. So again, feel an area that's right for you. They will probably be the most important. But just do your due diligence. You know, do your research. Establish if you're gonna buy on, for example, a resort, typically a golf resort, which is quite common in Spain, establish what those fees are 'cause there will be community fees because you've obviously gotta maintain the golf course, the communal grounds, swimming pools, et cetera, et cetera. So again, that can be quite expensive. And if you are working on your budgets, you might say, oh great, yeah, this is gonna cost me x per month on the mortgage. But then there could also be a community charge or more often not will be. So establish what those additional costs might be so that when you are crunching your numbers, you know the numbers actually work for you. But I'd say that's really the best advice I could give. Just get to know the area, and then once you've chosen the area within that area, try and find the areas that you really like.

So once you've done that that's really the time, you know, so do a lot of work. You can use the internet, but the internet, you know, is great, but it doesn't obviously give you a true reflection. Best thing you can do is actually get on the ground, get out there, and get a feel for the area yourself.

Once you've done that, as I say and you feel the area's right for you that you know, that you wish to buy in, then just go for it. But just get the pieces of the jigsaw in place first, you know, by means speak to us solicitor about, obtaining legal documents, NIE which obviously, you feel comfortable with who will speak in your language.

Obviously, you're getting a mortgage agreed if you're taking finance again because as we really touch upon, you don't really get in a situation where you found a property and obviously you then find out you can't get the money. So, you know, fairly basic stuff. Nothing, you know, not gonna break any you know, any sort of fantastic oh, oh wow, Rob. I never fought that before, but you know, it's just common sense in a lot of it. Don't leave your brain to the plane. As somebody once said to me.

Chris 35:46

I couldn't agree more though with this advice, Rob, it's true. A lot of it does come down to common sense, but you know, when you're doing something like moving, you know, across an ocean or even just over the English Channel or something, you know, a much shorter distance or down it, it can get exciting and emotional and you can start making decisions that you never would've made back in your home.

Rob 36:07

Exactly that. Exactly. Seen it too many times.

Chris 36:13

Thank you for listening to this episode. Really hope you enjoyed it. If you wanna learn more about getting a mortgage in Spain you can visit the MHI group.com.

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