Buying in Spain - General Advise and Strategies

[Nathan Currier-Groh]

I want to buy a house and move my family to Spain for 1-2 years. Currently self-everything two multi-family buildings in Cincinnati and own a home in Cincinnati. Most of our capital is tied up in the properties we have. My wife is a teacher and would teach while there. I am full-time with the properties. The existing MFs have been renovated but not refinanced yet, traditional 30 year. 

• Is anyone on here buying property in Spain, and do you have advice?
• Is there a clever way of leveraging the equity in the Cincinnati properties into the Spanish property?
• Has anyone tried taking their skills to South Beach? (Imagine if I could fix/flip in Barcelona or more likely, renovate for short term rental)

So far, I know there are no restriction on foreigners buying property in Spain. If you spend more than 500 euro you can get a special visa. There is a fee of 10-15% paid to the government based on sale price. People sell properties that aren't built out yet to people that don't visit before hand. (SCAM)

[Account Closed]

@Nathan Currier-Groh Hi Nathan, To your point on fixing and flipping in Barcelona, yes this is still possible as the market stock of properties which need renovating is high. It is cheaper to flip on the outskirts (lower property costs 20 minutes outside central Barcelona and beyond). Barcelona has legal restrictions on short term lets and the government isn't granting additional licences in central areas. You would need to buy a property with an existing tourist licence to do this, or have a go outside the city centre/ other parts of Spain. In terms of leveraging with equity from abroad, I doubt it is possible. Worth checking with a local mortgage broker probably. You can get a Spanish mortgage fairly easily - normally there are no problems for EU and US investors with typical leverage to value being 50-60% for the latter.