{"id":105857,"date":"2026-07-12T10:47:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T08:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/?p=105857"},"modified":"2026-07-13T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T06:00:00","slug":"common-mistakes-buying-flat-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/buyers\/common-mistakes-buying-flat-spain\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Top 10 common mistakes when buying a flat in Spain and how to avoid them"},"content":{"rendered":"<table class=\"table table-striped table-color-200\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<ul>\n<li>The <strong>additional costs<\/strong> for taxes and purchasing procedures in Spain range between <strong>an extra 10% and 12% on top of the sale price.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Not requesting a <strong>mortgage pre-approval<\/strong> before searching, or purchasing<strong> illegal properties on rustic land<\/strong> without a certificate of occupancy, are the most common oversights among international buyers.<\/li>\n<li>Having the support of an<strong> expert real estate agency<\/strong> and using<strong> search engines like Fotocasa<\/strong> is essential to understand the market and fully optimize your budget.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Every year, thousands of foreign buyers pack their bags with the dream of acquiring a home under the Spanish sun. However, the property-buying process in Spain differs significantly from other countries, and it is common for the same mistakes to be made over and over again.<\/p>\n<p>Getting carried away by the purely emotional side of the purchase <strong>without knowing the local regulations<\/strong> usually translates into major financial and legal problems. At Fotocasa, we explain the most common pitfalls international buyers encounter when purchasing a home in Spain and how to manage them correctly to ensure your transaction is a resounding success.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you know how much extra money you actually need to cover the purchase and maintenance of a property in Spain?<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>1. Failing to set a realistic budget: the first mistake foreigners make when buying a home in Spain<\/h2>\n<p>Setting a financial limit based solely on the sale price is a frequent error. Experts recommend that <strong>monthly debt obligations should not exceed 35% to 40%<\/strong> of the buyer&#8217;s net income. When calculating your budget, you must take into account not only mortgage payments but also all the ongoing expenses associated with running a home in Spain (utility bills, taxes, etc.).<\/p>\n<h2>2. Not having a pre-approved mortgage before looking for a home<\/h2>\n<p>Starting to browse apartments on real estate portals without knowing if <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/buyers\/mortgage-requirements-spain-non-residents\/?lang=en\">you will be granted a mortgage<\/a> is a very common mistake when buying a home in Spain. Before making an offer on a property, it is highly recommended to request a bank pre-approval. This gives you an accurate estimate of the amount a financial institution is willing to lend you, allowing you to accurately crunch the numbers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fotocasa is the expert real estate portal if you are looking for your home in Spain and want to resolve your doubts about housing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":282,"featured_media":105863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"yes","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13472],"tags":[14996,13692,13548,15964,13709,13844,13742,13710,13535,15958,15959,14821,15967,13552,13551,13549,13550,15966,13547,15965,15968],"class_list":["post-105857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buyers","tag-agencia-inmobiliaria","tag-buy","tag-buy-in-spain","tag-buying-a-property","tag-compra-de-vivienda-por-extranjeros","tag-compradores-extranjeros","tag-comprar-casa","tag-comprar-una-casa-en-espana-siendo-extranjero","tag-compraventa","tag-consejos-compraventa","tag-errores-al-comprar-un-piso-en-espana-como-extranjero","tag-foreign","tag-home-buying-mistakes","tag-housing-doubts","tag-housing-experts-in-spain","tag-housing-purchase-market-spain","tag-live-in-spain","tag-property-tips","tag-real-estate-market","tag-real-estate-spain","tag-spain-housing-market"],"modified_by":"Patricia Andr\u00e9s","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/282"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fotocasa.es\/fotocasa-life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}