Buying in condado de alhama

HI,

I'm a Canadian citizen looking to buy a 2 bedroom property at the Condado de Alhama Golf Resort apartments. Never owned an overseas property but one of my cousins in UK bought here in 2014 and liked it. However since COVID hit, he hasn;t been able to visit and I'm a bit nervous.

Main purpose will be to use as a vacation house maybe 2ce a year, once in summertime and once definitely to get a break from Toronto winter. We are avid golfers and hopign to get as much golfing as possible while there.

Any rental income will be welcome, but not counting or depending on it.

WIll it be a good investment? Any risks or issues I need to be aware of? Upsides, downsides?

Are foreign investors run any risks of investment losses?

The agent on property recommended a loca llawyer and his services to use for property management, is that a good idea? 

Anything else I need to look into or know? look forward to your feedback! thanks in advance,

Hello Golfmonger

You should be OK. I have lived in Spain for many years and enjoy it. If you speak Spanish it is a benefit. However you will be use to Canada where laws and rules are fairly black and white, but in Spain things can be a bit wily nily, you can go to the local town hall and ask a question and get 10 different answers, even from the same person, it’s their culture and you get use to it.

You will have none resident tax to pay even if you do not let out your property.

‘’WIll it be a good investment?’’ Who knows, property values fell by 50% in 2008. The definition of investment means risk vs. reward. You could eliminate the risk by renting yourself.

‘’The agent on property recommended a local lawyer and his services to use for property management, is that a good idea?’’ NO, find your own independent lawyer. In Spain I would not trust a lawyer to run a bath.

Best of luck.

When you purchase a property in Spain it should be looked at as a buying a lifestyle..not a investment ..I have owned a property in Spain for the last 17 years all the people that I know of that have sold have either broken even or lost money even after many years of ownership.. personally if I was you if you are only looking at using a property twice a year then I would not bother buying...if you do buy then what you have got to take into consideration is the up keep like none residents tax/local government tax know as IBI / your yearly site maintenance fees and something that most people seem to forget is maintenance of the property as they tend to fall apart when not in regular use  ..  don't rely on rental income to cover anything good luck but think twice and part with your money once.

There's some good advice here - it doesn't seem to make sense to buy for such a likely limited usage.

It's too easy to buy in Spain, but unless you do so very cleverly you'll find it difficult to sell. 

Hotels are relatively cheap.

Each to his own but whilst Condado de Alhama is a well priced development and has a few useful amenities the properties tend to be rather small to the point they have deals on packages of furniture which are designed for the small rooms on the development.