Month: June 2019 Posts

If you’re able to finance the entire purchase of a property in cash then you are ready to make your offer. But most people nowadays typically engage a bank or a lender at this point to obtain a mortgage to finance a portion of their property purchase in Spain. The mortgage system in general here in Spain is quite a bit different than back home. Unlike in Canada where most mortgages are amortized over a longer period (such as 25 years), but are renewable every five years, most Spanish mortgages are fixed for the entire term. What that means is […]

For those of my friends that follow me online, you may have noticed that I’m currently in the process of buying a flat here in Valencia. While the process isn’t quite over yet, I wanted to give people information on everything that is involved here. I’ll break this out into a multi-part series, the first part of which is this one: how to find a property in Spain. Looking For A Property If you’re starting out in a search for a property, chances are you are already looking at some of the more popular real estate websites such as idealista.es […]

I’ve been living in Spain, and consequently Europe now, for about ten months. While I’ve always enjoyed the time I’ve spent in ‘the old world’, I’ve really come to appreciate it much more now than I’m an actual resident here in Spain. So I thought I’d make a post about some of the aspects of living in Europe I really enjoy. Freedom of Travel Previously as a Canadian resident I was allowed up to a 90 day visit in a rolling 180 day window in any of the Schengen countries. That may sound like a lot, but there are 26 […]

Well it’s hard to believe, but I’ve been in Spain nearly ten months now. My original non-lucrative residency is valid until August 30th, 2019, but the rules stipulate that a person can start the renewal process up to 60 days in advance, which means I can start the renewal process on July 1, 2019. The renewal process is significantly less involved than the first application – you don’t need any criminal record checks for example, and the fees are basically administrative in nature. So I’m mostly looking at this as a formality. Compared to the original visa though (which was […]