Finding and Meeting With an Attorney or "Let's Talk Money!"

Real Estate Lawyers in Spain.

They will become your best friend during this process along with your real estate agent!
Mine are so amazing they have been storing boxes of interior decor for me since February. So if they need to get in their storage closet they literally have to climb over or pull out four 50lb boxes.

Again, we found Always Marbella real estate, with the extremely well respected owner Geoffrey Donoghue, via our attendance at an International Living meeting in Las Vegas.  We liked him right away because he started by showing us property brochures that were actually less money than we expected and with more amenities than we anticipated.  How often does this happen?

There are certain steps, in a somewhat specific order, that you need to follow. The attorney will handhold you thru this process. Well, as much as they have time to.  You will work with your attorney, a notary and a land registrar to get the ball rolling and your real estate agent will be there to help decipher some of the lingo into layman's terms.   Now for this part of our story, we did not have time due to national holidays (multiple in one week) to meet with their Notary.  What we had to do is have the paperwork sent to us and upon our return to the states we took copies of the purchase, the receipt and copies of our passports to our local notary. Thank goodness for having a fabulous patient in our practice that saw us on a weekend!  We then sent all of it certified to the state department in Olympia.  This took approximately two weeks to process.  Because I was heading back to Spain to set up the bank account, I took the paperwork with me to give to the attorney.  Plan on at least two weeks (with no national holidays) if you want to get this part done immediately.  This paperwork basically gives your lawyer the 'power of attorney' to sign for you when you cannot be there in person.  If you aren't planning to go back right away, you will need to DHL the paperwork. DO NOT MAIL.  The postal system, at least in the Marbella area, is extremely unreliable.  This is your personal information, so you want to be extremely secure.  The best way is to plan on staying and just doing thru the Notary there and seeing it done.   I know, staying in Spain is a real burden isn't it?!

Your attorney is a professional member of the bar and he will instruct you thru every step. For example, with our property in Estepona, he met us literally four hours after we decided to purchase the townhouse. Well, technically, I decided I wanted it when I walked into the brand new building with marble and tile and wrought iron with a perfect view of the Mediterranean!  My husband?  Well he needed an hour lunch with a couple of cocktails before he could say yes. But he did!   This was the start of our exciting, yet drawn out, experience.  But the fact that this would have been weeks and mounds of financial information in the states, we were able to put our money down with a credit card and file paperwork on our unit.  Because we are using retirement funds, we will not go thru the process of a mortgage application. BTW, that is only two sheets long to do that!!

Costs and fees to start this process (See bottom of this page for an example of fee schedule):
** Keep your passport(s) with you at all times.  You will need for every process. **

* Notary Fees:  To legally prepare and sign the deed of sale, give your lawyer power of attorney and of course prove that you are who you say you are.
* Attorney Fees: They take care of you from start to finish and their fee is approximately 1% of the purchase price plus VAT.
* VAT/Transfer Tax, Stamp Duty.  These taxes are always the expense of the purchaser. VAT is applicable for residential homes, unbuilt plots of land, commercial spaces, garage and storage facilities.  (It would be easier to just say everything except a water floatie!!) Fees at land registry correspond with the deed of sale for the property you are purchasing. It's your proof of ownership.
*Utilities Contracts.  The companies charge, like here, the cost of connection of utilities.
*Any upgrades and unexpected costs. An example of this would be our kitchen upgrade. We don't care for the light brown cabinetry and prefer the whitewashed cabinets and better appliances.  Unexpected costs would be the appliances.  Many properties, previously owned, will have all appliances that will be sold with the unit.   For a new one, it will include the cooktop, vent and dishwasher.  You would need to buy the fridge, washer/dryer and microwave.  You also need to purchase the lighting.  In this case: kitchen x2, patio x2, bedroom x3, bathroom x3, garage x1, living/dining room x2, main hallway x1.  Give or take one that I've most likely overlooked!  They will have catalogs you can choose from or like me, I prefer to drive around randomly and pick out fixtures that I believe will make it look a bit nicer!

Just to let you know, if you are buying a property that is not completely finished or is in the process of starting to build, then you will find that nothing goes fast in this country and do not make plans that will definitely not go with your timeline!  We put the reserve fee on the property in December and it's now April and they just obtained the 'occupancy permit' which will allow the contractors to start the utility and electrical work.

Our attorney, Santiago, will take care of everything from transferring money from our bank account to going over the contract for our kitchen upgrade and will make sure that everything is in order and the amount we are being billed is what we will pay when it's finalized.

Mortgage: you can apply for loans for non residents that range from 50-80% of the purchase price. Just note about your age.  If you are 75 or older, you will need to pay in full up front as you will not be able to get a mortgage.  (I guess they expect you to conk out at any moment?!)   If you are my son's age, 23years, he could get a 40 year mortgage at 2%-3% interest.  If you are my age (over 50 and we will leave it at that!) then you need to deduct your age from 75 and that's what you can apply to receive.  I could get a mortgage for a couple of years longer than my husband.    If Spain leaves the EU, some of this might change.

Buying Costs:

Transfer Tax: 8%
Lawyer's Fees (min charge 1600Euros + Vat @ 21%) . 1% (+Vat)
Notary Fees, Registration of Title, Connection of Utilities Less than 1%
Total  Approx 11%

New Property
Vat: 10%
Stamp Duty: 1.5%
Lawyers Fees (min charge of 1600Euros +vat @ 21%)  1% (+Vat)
Notary Fees, Registration of title, Connection of utilities) less than 1%
Total: Approx 14%

Mortgage Costs in Spain:
Opening Commission: 1%
Stamp Duty: 1.5%
Notary fees and associated costs: Approx 0.5%
Total:  Approx 3%


Remember that these are approximate and can change or be revised at any time.

Confusing at first, but once you start it's not too bad! Or so they keep telling me.

Cheers,

Karen