Originally Posted by twyntub

At least with renting, even if you stuck a drawing pin into a map of Spain and moved there... you could always move somewhere else if you weren't happy.

Good luck...

Originally Posted by Jeanie27

The advice you have been given is good - whatever you do, shop around first and do a lot of homework. We bought a house at a good price about 4 years ago and, although a Spanish family had been living in it, it wasn't really what I would have called habitable. It was, however, structurally very sound. We renovated it and it it is now on the market with several different agents, the majority of whom shove it on their websites and do nothing else.

The point is, the vendor states what price they want and then the agents add on their commission. In our case it varies from 1 agent asking 6000 euros right up to another asking a whopping 23000 euros. That has only served to push us out of the market as the house, lovely though it is, is nowhere near what they are asking for it. Ironically, the only agent who has put himself out is the one charging the lowest commission. In the end, we have decided to market it ourselves for the price we want without the agents fees.

As I said, shop around. You might get a bargain. Just because a house is on the cheaper side it doesn't always mean that there is too much wrong with it. Often it just means that a greedy agent hasn't grabbed it first. However, at the 'bargain end' do be prepared to do a lot of work. We have been into houses being sold as liveable that would have been condemned if they were in the UK.
Good luck

Originally Posted by sueandterry

Sorry, but you can't compare the Spanish houses with the UK. If you did nobody would ever buy one !! My house had no electric, no running water, no toilet etc., and damp in all the walls when I bought it... and the walls were falling down.... No surveyor in UK would have touched it....but that's what Spain is like. You more or less buy it as seen ..... Good luck anyway.