Hello everyone.

If you could afford a nice vaction/retirement house? Where would you buy a property at in S :p pain. Looking for ideas or suggestions?

My personal choice would be Basque Country, on the north coast, because it never gets too hot in the summer, or too cold in the winter. You have more options as to when you want to be there.

Also, the prices can be fairly reasonable if you're looking for country living.

Wolf (Who, as most of you well read members know, will have part of his ashes spread over a hill top in Basque Country when he dies. But I ain't in no rush to get that done!!! )

I agree with Wolf. The Basque country is Beautiful. I have a little fishing village all picked out (Not for my ashes but where I want to retire)
Lagun

I've been researching this topic for three years (not for retirement but for vacation, so beach is really important to me). If you give us a bit of info on what types of things you're looking for, we can narrow it down. I have tons of websites I can recommend. Are you looking for coastal/inland? Mountains, rural? Under or over, for example, 400,000 euros? There are certain areas where prices are considerably cheaper, it all depends. Also, how much land were you hoping to have, under or over 1000m2 for a plot or are you looking for a much larger "terreno"?
This will help as there are so many choices! Spain is loaded with lovely locations!

Lagun,

It wouldn't be Ea, would it? That's mine!

Wolf

New York.... you must spend some time looking on site.. It would seem prudent to make at least 3-5 trips to the locales you are interested in(and make those trips at different times of the year)... I have recently committed myself/wife to Andalucia because of our "interests"... we are one- hour from Cordoba or Granada or the Beach and two hours from Sevilla... we prefer warm weather and low rainfall... price is a function of location to major population centers(compared to NY you will find that property in Spain is very affordable!!! Basque country is beautiful, especially in the country but as warm as I would like in the winter when I don't want to be in Idaho... what ever you decide spend a lot of time finding the right lawyer to help you with the purchase it will be well worth the few hundred dollars to avoid problems....

jlawson, if I'm not mistaken, you didn't have an issue with financing, right? I remember reading about your purchase some time ago. I have a question for anyone out there and it's on the complicated side (sorry, MM, a bit off topic). In two years I'll be ready to purchase a home in Spain and I'm not sure where I can get a loan (I'll have enough for a down payment and fees). My husband does not work and my paycheck is from the U.S. Gov and is issued out of Washington and I also pay U.S. Federal taxes (lucky me, I know). I checked with 3 banks in the U.S. and they don't give loans for properties in foreign countries. Does anyone know of a Spanish bank that I should check with or even the rules in this situation? I know it would be a lot easier if we had a Spanish income but it will be two years before my husband is planning on working. If anyone can lead me in the right direction I would appreciate it.

When it comes to the mortgage deparment, following spanish law, the bank will own the property pretty fast if you fail to pay the installments. So they will be more flexible on mortgages than on providing other kinds of credit (Provided that the property value assessed by the bank is reasonable compared to the price you'been asked.)

You can try with bankinter online, they claim they've opened a new banking area for non-resident and the page has an english version ( www.ebankinter.es ).

Having just bought a house in the charming town of Ronda, I know all too well how difficult it is to get a mortgage. Spanish banks are quite conservative in giving mortgages. I went to about 15 banks with mountains of paperwork and all said no, because my source of income wasn't straightforward, even though i earned enough to make the monthly payments. They tend to distrust foreign sources of income particularly. The problem was finally solved in he traditional Spanish fashion of using an enchufe – a friend of a friend of a friend who happened to be a bank manager. The most flexible banks tend to be the smaller, newer ones such as la Kutxa, which are trying to break into the mortgage market. Having a large down payment will obviously help.
The happy ending is that I now have a little 17th century house in the old part of Ronda with a garden. It cost 130,000 euros, but needs a lot of work. but that's half the fun, isn't it? Renovation starts soon - if anyone's in the area, free labour is more than welcome in return for free accomodation in spartan, but atmospheric conditions!

New York (a pretentious name to say the least) writes: First things first: As a native New Yorker (are you?) I claim the right to say that your Message Board nom de plume is a bit pretentious.

I might buy such a property on the Atlantic coast or the north coast (Asturias or Cantabria) but not on the Mediterranean (Costa Brava, Costa del Sol, Costa Dorada or Costa Blanca). Prices are overly inflated and the 'Med' is becoming more polluted each year (it's an enclosed ecosystem). My preference would be Pontevedra (Galicia) or Cantabria; but even the latter is becoming overly crowded with European tourists.