Here’s part 3 of my series on making the leap to homeownership in Spain. In part one I shared my experience with finding an apartment and making an offer, and part two was about payment options. Now I’ll talk about sealing the deal and finally becoming a homeowner.
First let’s review the timeframe of my personal journey so far in this whirlwind, but exciting home-buying adventure!
Personal timeline
*Note that this was my personal timeframe, but the timing will vary from person to person! You may get it done faster or it may take longer, depending on various factors.
And the last step was the notary signing!
I luckily was able to ask a favor from a friend of mine to come with me to the meeting for moral support. When we finally assembled (we were early and everyone else came in a bit later), the notary, bank representative, realtor, and mortgage broker joined us in the meeting room. I also briefly met the seller but they said that we would do the mortgage document first, and then the home sale deed after, so the seller first stepped out of the room.
Mortgage Deed / Escritura de préstamo hipotecario
This document is only needed for people who get a mortgage. It is the legally binding document showing that the buyer is basically putting their new real estate purchase as collateral or “real estate interest” to a bank in order to receive a mortgage loan. The real estate interest transferred is the right to retain a lien on the property, and the right to foreclose upon the lien if the mortgage is not paid as agreed.
Do you need to obtain a mortgage in Spain or Portugal? Check Spainguru’s recommended mortgage brokers
The deed contains the following elements:
- Notary name
- The personal information of the bank representative and his/her national identity number
- The buyer’s personal information and national identity number
- Information and CIF of the lending bank
- *Description of the real estate purchase
- **Description of loan
- Penalty rates for late payment
- Description of closing costs and stating the buyer is responsible for them
- Deed annexes
*The description of the real estate purchase contained:
- Address, which floor of the building, usable square meters, what elements are next to it
- Cuota de participación – In the case of a condominium ownership, this shows the percentage of ownership allocated for this property
- Inscription number in the public registry
- Name of buyer and name of seller
- Clause stating that the property to be purchased is up to date with all the home ownership fees
- Catastral reference number
- Mortgage FIPER
**The description of the loan contained:
- Amount of loan from bank
- Appraisal value of the property
- Buyer’s bank account number which will be used to pay the mortgage
- Interest rate and type of loan (fixed vs. variable)
- Duration of loan, monthly payment amounts, and payment terms
- Information about early payments / amortización anticipada
- Nota simple informativa – a printout from the Property Registry showing the description of the property and the title owner
- Receipt for the last IBI paid – Property Tax
- Appraisal Certificate
My mortgage deed, including annexes, was very long – 42 double-sided pages. I reviewed it a couple of times and tried to read it as carefully as I could. Humorously enough, thankfully my friend spotted it, but they had misspelled my name several times – instead of “Christina”, it was written as “Crhistina” which is a good catch – so they were able to reprint all the documentation correctly.
I signed it and so did the notary.
More documents: Home deed – escritura de compraventa
Phew, after the long paperwork for the mortgage deed, the actual (and perhaps more important!) deed for the apartment purchase was MUCH shorter, only 14 double-sided pages including annexes.
Now the seller came into the room.
The deed contained the following elements:
- Notary name
- The personal information of the bank representative and his/her national identity number
- The buyer’s personal information and national identity number
- *Description of the real estate purchase
- **Deed annexes
- A photocopy of the cashier’s check from the bank to pay the remaining balance
*The description of the real estate purchase contained:
- Address, which floor of the building, usable square meters, what elements are next to it
- Cuota de participación – In the case of a condominium ownership, this shows the percentage of ownership allocated for this property
- Inscription number in the public regstry
- Name of buyer and name of seller
- Clause stating that the property to be purchased is up to date with all the home ownership fees
- Catastral reference number
- Agreed upon purchase price of the property, and also detailing the amount of the down payment paid
- Payment information
- Information about the cashier’s check that would be used to pay the remaining balance to the seller, including bank account number
** The deed annexes contained:
- Nota simple informativa – a printout from the Property Registry showing the description of the property and the title owner
- Energy efficiency certificate for the property
- Receipt for the last IBI paid – Property Tax
- Catastral certificate and description
The seller, myself and the notary signed it, and the bank representative gave her the cashier’s check.
Then the seller kindly gave me the house keys and also all the appliance manuals.
That was it, I was a homeowner!
Summary of closing costs
So you may be wondering, after all was said and done (and not including any optional costs of repairs/remodelling), here is what the costs were for me. Now that I got this far, the next steps were to change all the bills (electricity, home owners fee/gastos de la comunidad, and water) and to see what minor changes/repairs I had to do.
Stay tuned for the next part of the series to see how I went becoming a landlord and my experience in finding a tenant…
Do you need to obtain a mortgage in Spain or Portugal? Check Spainguru’s recommended mortgage brokers
Make sure to also read:
- Part 1: Introduction to the Process
- Part 2: Payment options
- Part 4: Sealing the deal and becoming a landlord
