9 points to consider before buying a second home or house in Puerto de la Selva

We enter the months of the year of good weather and it is normal to consider if it is worth buying a second home, or if now is a good time to make this investment. Here are some guidelines to give assurances and help when making such an important decision. Or you can fill out the following form to start knowing the profitability of your second residence, without any commitment.

What is considered second residence?

First of all, we must be very clear that a second residence is a luxury product. That is, it is obvious that we all need a roof to live and cover our first needs but we must distinguish the usual and main residence, from the other homes that can be disposed of in property. Habitually, we define the second residence as those dwellings located in holiday places (beach or mountain) that are used during leisure or holiday seasons (weekends, summer, Easter, ...).

Own use or investment?

The motivation for acquiring a second home can be for personal or family use or enjoyment, or as an investment to obtain a return with your tourist or long stay. The approach is very different:

if it is for own use, the priority will be to satisfy our interests derived from the enjoyment of the zone and the comfort and good communications will have to be valued,
If what we are looking for is an economic return, we must look for a location, type of housing and a price that, through rent, offers us a good return in relation to the purchase price.
If you want to allocate to tourist rental, you must inform yourself beforehand if you can obtain the municipal license and the rental prices of the area.
some owners opt for a mixed use. During one season of the year it is for own use, and during the rest of the year they allocate it to tourist rent, in order to cover the expenses of maintenance of the house.
Economic capacity and budget.

Being a product that is not essential, it is not advisable to acquire a second home if you do not have savings or financial means that cover a large part of the investment. Therefore, we must first define a maximum budget that is acceptable and that in no case can affect or harm our first basic needs.

Knowledge of the area.

If you have been visiting the area for a long time, this aspect will be clear. But if it is not, we must assess the communications and distance from our main residence, if the area has the necessary services, if we like the environment ... In short you have to find the necessary stimuli because we compensate spend much of our time free in that area.

Family situation.

The number of people that make up the family nucleus not only determines the type and surface of the home, but it is also important that the whole family shares the same decision and consider, for example, that if we have small children, when they are teenagers, they will find enough incentives area to continue spending the holiday stays in the destination of second residence.

Find out about maintenance costs.

Before making the decision to buy an apartment or house, you have to know what the annual maintenance costs are. Especially in those cases that are inside a residential complex with swimming pool, garden or sports areas, concierges, etc. You also have to inquire about the cost of the IBI, insurance ...

Conditions of the mortgage.

It is also necessary to consider that financial institutions are much more demanding when the destination of the mortgage is for the acquisition of a second home. In this case, usually the loan amount does not exceed 60% of the acquisition or appraisal value.

Interesting prices, within a very local market.

In general, prices are currently still in the low band. This means that during the real estate crisis in recent years prices have dropped by an average of 40-50%, and in the vast majority of tourist towns, especially on the coast, currently the sale prices have not recovered the levels prior to the crisis. But this can not be extrapolated everywhere and you can not generalize average sales prices, given that the real estate market is very local. For example, the prices of Roses or L'Escala, have nothing to do with those of Cadaqués, Port de la Selva or Pals. And those of Tossa are very different from Blanes or Lloret.

Put yourself in the hands of a professional.

The best advice is to put yourself in the hands of professionals, Real Estate Agents who will inform you about all these aspects and many others (registration, urban, tax, taxes, etc.), which