A British woman living in Spain who has bought a house has warned of the difficulties she’s faced in what she said was “quite a stressful process”.
Buying a house in Spain has become a monumental challenge for most of the population. The combination of low wages and steadily rising house prices has created an almost insurmountable barrier for those wishing to become homeowners.
The situation is exacerbated by the lack of property construction and price regulation, which further restricts access to affordable housing. Now Geo, a British woman who has been living in Spain for six years, has shared how she managed to buy a house in Malaga, Andalucia – but it wasn’t without difficulties.
In a recent video on her @geoinspain TikTok account, the content creator explained that buying a house “was quite a stressful process,” before confessing the things she wishes she had known before buying a house in Spain. Although at first the young British woman said that “the process of buying a house in Spain is very quick,” she also confessed that “the banks can be very slow and can drive you crazy.”
The banks in Spain ask for a large number of documents, to prove that buyers can afford to pay the property. The content creator also mentioned the amount of money needed to buy a house “is much larger than in the UK.”
In this sense, in Spain, in order to have access to a home, people must have saved 30% of the total price of the property, which corresponds to the down payment and the associated costs and taxes. Therefore, if you want to buy a house worth 100,000 euros, you must have 30,000 euros saved.
However, in England normally a 10% down payment is required, a third of what is required in Spain, and, in addition, there is the possibility of obtaining certain grants that can reduce this amount to 5%. The young British woman also warned that “not all estate agents are professionals” and do not have the necessary knowledge to do this job properly.
Finally, the content creator confessed that “renting before buying” is a great option, “especially if you don’t know the area.” However, despite it not being “for the faint hearted”, Geo said “it was all worth it” in the end.