Help and advice please

Hi Jan and everyone else on this amazing site that I luckily found
My name is Terri and my husband and I are hoping to buy a property
This year in or around the Quesada area, we have some viewings
Organised with 2 estate agents when we visit in April, we have given our max price and a wish list for a property, but we are very new to all this and we have not organised who to use as a Spanish bank or a lawyer, we currently live in England and wish to buy to have the home as a holiday home for a couple of years before we move over to live, but really would appreciate any suggestions of professional people anyone can recommend as we're not sure who to go to or what to get sorted first, we know we need a NIE number to buy, but again would really appreciate any advice or sound recommendations?
Thank you all in advance, kind regards Terri

Hi Terri, we're in the process of buying and are going out there to finalise the purchase in April. We're buying through Petra Honig estate agents, they're on the main street . We've never bought abroad before and didn't know what to expect. Petra Honig made it so easy, its like a one stop shop. They do all the legal work, take you to the police station in Elche to get your NIE number and once you've opened your Spanish bank account, they set up your direct debits for utilities. On top of the purchase price it's cost us approx another 10% for this service. Before we viewed the property we're buying, we visited another agent in Los Balcones, they advised us that we'd need to appoint a solicitor and to expect to pay around 13% in fees. We use Currencies Direct to send money from England to the Spanish bank account. It's cheaper than sending money direct. This is just our way, I'm not 100% sure it's the best way so will be interested to hear if there is a better way. Like I say, we're new to this too so take advice off others who may know better. Good luck with your search.

Pick the place you want to move to permanently as the one you buy. Yes, you can use it as a holiday home but, if you are going to come over later, you will find the cost of selling and then buying again in Spain is very expensive. (me selling for 170k and buying for 225k would have incurred fees of around 35 thousand euro which is all fees and taxes).
Although it's nice to have an agent who does it all for you, be very careful especially in the choice of solicitor. Always best to get an independent solicitor as they will, more than likely, be doing their best for you and not the agent.
And I really, really think that 10% on top of the purchase price for legals fees, utilities, NIE and setting up a bank account is way, way over the top. You can open a bank account for no charge, a solicitor will charge about 1% for legal fees and getting an NIE should be no more than 50 euro. The solicitor would also put the utilities in your name for about 6 to 7 hundred euro. The tax will be 10% but everything else should come to no more than 3 to 4 percent.
Good luck to you all. We are on our 3rd property here (made the mistake of buying a flat as a holiday home before deciding to live here permanently and lost loads) so got to know the decent developers, solicitors and the way to do things.

Hi Annette
Thanks so much for your reply and your really fantastic and useful advice, I will make a note of all the details you've given me.
Good luck with your purchase too
Kind regards
Terri

Hi marcliff
Thanks a lot for your help and advice too, we have already decided to buy a home we want to live in long term and not move again once we've made the permanent move, so that's good advice, is there anybody you could suggest as a independent solicitor? And which bank would you advise ? That's if your allowed to say on
here? All new to me so don't want to ask something I'm not supposed to?
Thanks again
Kind regards
Terri

I definitely agree that there are always cheaper ways of achieving the same result, but I would say that if you are willing to pay the extra amount to put all the work into the hands of professional, then the journey is so much easier. I agree with Annette find a reputable estate agent and let them take all the strain. Open your own bank account, use a currency transfer company and sit back with a big G and T and watch the evening sun set over your pool. Of course if you are on a tight budget then you will probably have to expend a little more energy to reach the desired result. I'm just lazy at heart lol. Good luck with the journey see you in paradise, that's Cooper bar by the way or possibly Mr Singhs.

Terri wrote:Hi marcliff
Thanks a lot for your help and advice too, we have already decided to buy a home we want to live in long term and not move again once we've made the permanent move, so that's good advice, is there anybody you could suggest as a independent solicitor? And which bank would you advise ? That's if your allowed to say on
here? All new to me so don't want to ask something I'm not supposed to?
Thanks again
Kind regards
Terri

There are loads of independent solicitors around and they have been mentioned on here. I believe Abaco gets a thumbs up.
As to banks, there doesn't seem much of a difference. I think Bankinter get the worst press because of their very high charges but Sabadell and Bankia get good reviews every time this is brought up.

I agree with Marcliff you need to instruct an independent solicitor to act on you behalf. We have lived here for 12 yrs, and just sold and bought, yes it is scary and confusing and just dealing with one person does sound attractive but you need a solicitor to work for you and you alone. A good solicitor will set up direct debits for utilities , sort out banks and NIE. Good luck. And take your time don't get pressurised into doing something you are not 100%sure of.

Most important thing of all is to use an independent solicitor, someone different from the Estate Agents. That way you can be more sure that they are looking to your interests and noone else's. There are a number of recommendations for solicitors on the forum if you go through posts on the subject. Speaking from personal experience (bought 2015) I used SGM Abogados in Benijofar http://sgmlegalspain.com The Solicitor is Silvia Galve and I had a totally great experience, she sorted everything out for me including getting the NIE and a bank account set up within one morning and chasing the estate agent on my behalf, checking all contracts before I paid a penny etc. Set up all utilities etc for me. Also subsequently did my Spanish will and acts as fiscal rep, dealing with tax, also a key holding service. Excellent English speaker and her assistant Esther is great also.
Re transaction costs, you should be prepared to budget for a total cost ( ie including all taxes, notary, legal fees Etc) of about 14% above the purchase price. Ie that should be ALL costs . From memory I think mine came in overall about 13.5% but the solicitor fee element was only a tiny part of that - most are tax, notary etc. Silvia documented all costs so everything was transparent.
I got the NIE the easy way, in a morning, organised via SGM - that part was probably more expensive that what some others might charge for the process but frankly I was happy to pay to have all made easy.And quick. Re bank I went with Caixa (SGM fixed an apt with the manager for me) and have been happy with them.

One thing to flag is to plan ahead for how you will do the money draft for final payment on notary day. All banks seem to want to charge a ridiculous amount for issuing the money order. So check out the situation on those so you dont get caught out at last minute.

And explore all the posts on this forum, its a goldmine of advice from people's real experience, I found it to be a godsend when starting the the process. Still is great for keeping up with what's going on in and round Quesada.

We bought exactly a year ago today . . We had Abaco represent us legally . . . No idea if they were cheapest but had no issues with them and they quoted costs up front . They sorted all purchase details , Nie's, bank accts , water power etc . . . Plus they will manage our taxes etc. going forward (for a fee) . . . English people liaised with us all the way through based in Torrevieja, minimised any requirements to be in Spain . . We used Sabadell as a Bank as they had nearest Branch and appeared to have best charges, plus their website and app was very user friendly in English . . ..