Before you start looking for a property there are some initial steps you can take to make the whole process easier.
First of all you have to find out how much you can afford or are willing to pay. An easy way to solve this issue is to apply for a home loan in a bank. The bank can help you set your limits and with a pre-approval you don't need to worry about getting a rejection from the bank when you have found your dream house. (If you want to use a Spanish bank to finance the purchase we can help you with the initial contact and with recommendations see our Help & Advice section for further information).

After having found out roughly how much you can spend on a property you need to make some basic decisions about where you want to buy and what type of property you are looking for (apartment, villa, farmhouse, etc.).
When selecting the location for your future property in Spain factors such as friends already living in the area, hobbies available (i.e. golf, the sea) or experience from previous vacations are important but not the only things to be aware of (especially if you are going to live in the area all year around). Things such as whether you like the area during the winter or perhaps you don't like living in a tourist location all year around are also important factors to take into consideration.
Both where and the type of property will have a great influence on the total price. If you don't have a basic knowledge of prices of properties in Spain you can see our price guide in the Guide Section.

At an early stage it is also important to think about whether you want to buy a second hand home or a property under construction directly from the promoter - off plan.
There are both advantages and disadvantages of both type of properties and the purchase process is also different. In our Guide Section you can find further information about the differences and the advantages and disadvantages of buying off plan or a second hand property.

The last initial step we can recommend before you start looking at different properties is to make a list with the priorities and requests you have to the property you are looking for. This can include size of the property, price, number of rooms, facilities included, views, easy access, orientation, investment value, distance to facilities in the surrounding area, etc. When you have created such a list it is a good idea to use it as a criteria before visiting a property. This can save you a lot of time not having to look at properties, which are not complying with your basic needs.

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