Continued from previous article

Just bear in mind that the vast majority of Spanish banks will now only lend on the PURCHASE PRICE, not the valuation. After all, in the current credit crunch, the banks really don´t want to over-expose themselves (again!), and will want to see you taking on some of the risk by way of a decent deposit.

There are one or two banks in Spain that will lend up to 90% of purchase price if a valuation is hugely in excess of the price you are paying for your Spanish property, but even with this scenario, you will need to find a 10% deposit, plus your 10% purchase costs, plus the costs to arrange the mortgage and pay the mortgage taxes, so you would still be looking at around a 25% commitment.
Finally, most buyers expect estate agents to know the exact valuation of a Spanish property for mortgage purposes. This is unrealistic. There may be a previous valuation available to us, but this will be meaningless if the valuation is dated September 2008 and you are looking to buy 6 months later. The housing market has changed you know! So be careful with agents talking about wild valuations – they may be very old.

If you are serious about buying a discounted Spanish property, you will need to find well priced stock, speak to a mortgage broker or lender, and then arrange a valuation.

Yes, that´s right, you will have to invest a little by instructing a genuine valuation based on today´s market.

It will cost you a few hundred euros, but could ultimately save you a fortune.

That´s the way to do it.