Over the past few months there has been a lot written and publicized about Distressed Spanish Property sales and Spanish bank property repossessions with lots of different real estate companies making fantastic claims and fantastic offers. So what is the difference and more importantly given the choice between a distressed sale and Spanish bank repossession which represents the best value, well that probably depends on what type of property you are going to buy and what sort of budget you have to spend .
A Bank repossession is basically what it says on the tin where the bank has gone through the whole repossession process which includes hefty costs that are then added to the price of the property and nearly all Spanish banks are looking receive 100% of the total debt. With a distressed sale this happens before the bank goes to repossession and again by its very nature the owner needs to sell quickly with the main reason he needs to get the equity out of the house before the bank repossesses the property or the Owner desperately needs the money for another reason. However the most acute distressed sales happen where the Owner has three months or less before the bank repossesses their property
Bank repossessions aren’t always good value because banks originally lent high loans to value and due to the practice of some mortgage brokers some people borrowed more than the purchase price and when you add the costs to the outstanding loan then there are very few bank repossessions under €500,000 in Costa del Sol that represent good value. However as you start to go above that level then there becomes some very interesting properties.
With distressed sales the majority of these come at the bottom to middle end of the property market where the Owners are desperate to sell. So in conclusion you are probably better off with a distressed sale if your budget is under €500,000 and as your budget increases then some Spanish bank repossessions start to become more interesting
If you would like to find out more about distressed Spanish property sales and Spanish bank repossessions then you should contact International Property Investments 2000 (I.P.I 2000).
