How do you buy a home from a Spanish bank?
You see a lovely house on one of the Spanish banks websites. What do you do next?
In this article I outline how you can buy a property in Spain from the bank.
Note the differences of buying from a bank
Banks may be different in the way they operate.
You wouldn’t want to miss out on your chosen house.
Make sure you are fully informed.
Indeed, there are now more buyers in the market looking for a bargain.
Do you want a bit more security and guidance? Send me an email.
For a relatively small cost, I will support you in your purchase.
Plan a viewing
The agreement is quite easy to make via a form on the bank’s website. If you are lucky, you will be quickly contacted by a commercial bank employee or a broker who has been hired by the bank.
Make an offer
You can make a bid that is lower than the price indicated on the bank's website. Consider if you would still want the house at the advertised price.
Bid and pay deposit immediately
When you submit a bid, you will also need to pay a deposit. To avoid a lot of unnecessary work, all banks use the system of requiring a deposit immediately with your offer. This can range from € 3000, - up to 10% of the amount you have offered.
What happens after I've done the bidding?
After the bid is made and your deposit is with the bank, they consider it. The time needed varies with each bank. You could wait between 1 week and 1 month. Even if you offer the asking price, you will need to wait.
Why does it take so long?
A local bank doesn’t make the decision. All bids go to a central point and are referred to a committee. You deal with a national bank, but with the Bank of Spain looking over its shoulder. This is to counter favoritism and corruption.
Bid accepted
If the bank agrees with your bid you'll receive written confirmation.
A period of 30 days between the time of acceptance and passing
the deed at the notary is given.
The deposit will be deducted from the purchase price.
Bid rejected
If the bank thinks your bid is too low, and rejects your bid, they
refund the deposit to the account you specified on the bid form.
Place a bid only if you have the means
A bid to buy a home without the assurance that you can pay for it is not wise. Do you have sufficient resources? Perfect. But if you are depending on financing, make sure that you arrange this in advance. You will lose your deposit if your bid is accepted and you cannot complete.
Extra discounts
Extra discounts are given by some banks, in addition to the reduced price These discounts will have conditions, see that you agree with them.
Finally on this:
This is a fallacy
- “I buy from the bank so it will be okay”.
Check the build quality
- A house bought from the bank has often not been maintained by the previous owner. Please, therefore, expect work to be done.
Disadvantage
- Price negotiating is difficult due to the inflexible bidding system of the bank.
Find out everything and be secure for your purchase
If you have found an interesting house, you’ll only want to buy it if everything has been checked and is in order.
Step by step
The cost for the purchase guidance is in three steps, so you can stop if something is wrong. Step 1 you pay €250, - you will find out all about the property and can decide whether you want to continue to completion. The complete acquisition guidance when buying a property from the bank, until the transfer, is € 2,000.-
If you decide to go for security, please send me an email and we can start step
towards your purchase in Spain.
