Buy holiday flat in Spain

[MadameButterfly]

Hi,

I'm spanish but I've lived in the UK for the last 8 years. I usually spend my holidays in a beach town in Spain which I know quite well now and recentlly I've started thinking about buying a small flat there. (as prices are quite low now)

The idea would be to use it 2/3 weeks a year (not during the holiday season, we can't stand the heat),and rent it the rest of the year on a short-term basis. (using Homelidays / Homeaway website)

My two main questions:

- Is it a good idea to extend my current mortage to buy the flat? I could do this easily, but who knows where the currency is going, and also I don't think I have many chances of getting a spanish mortgage (mainly because I already have 1 with negative equity on a property I bought at the worst possible moment..)

- Is is easy to find a estate agent who would take care of renting the flat (arraging keys, cleaning, etc..). If so how much do they charge..?

Many thanks for your advice

 

[totallyproperty]

First of all, welcome to the forum which we hope you find very useful and informative.

There is no doubt that the Spanish property market is relatively low when you compare prices today against those over the last decade. The idea of buying a property to rent out for the vast majority of the year seems sensible although I am a little concerned about your financial situation, especially the negative equity mortgage you have in Spain. I would definitely recommend taking professional financial advice to see if you can restructure your finances in a better way for the future.

The Spanish property market has been very fluid for some time therefore I don't think you would have many problems finding an estate agent to effectively look after the property when you're not around.