The best way to save thousands of euros / pounds on Spanish properties is to go straight to the property owner themselves, by doing this you WILL find a bargain and you WILL save money.

Yes Spain is a little different for purchasing property compared to buying in the UK; extra costs can come as a bit of a surprise to those that do not know what is incorporated in the property purchase. Extra costs that you are likely to have to pay are:

• IVA (VAT) for the buyer - 6% on resale properties, 7% on new build properties.
• 1 / 2% for stamp duty
• Registration office fee (300 euros roughly)
• Also the notary fees and legal costs

So it is important to add roughly 10% of the value of the property that you are buying to the end amount needed for extra property taxes and costs.

Straight away you are landed with costs of up to 10% of the properties value, and that is before you have even brought the place and signed on the dotted line which if you are looking to invest in property in Spain or find a bargain - is a huge set back already.

So then we come to property agents! Back in the day of the property boom in Spain, Real Estate companies more or less dictated the market prices and commissions being able to reap the rewards of buyers desperate to buy a property in Spain - properties were being snapped up quicker than the demand, builders simply couldn't keep up. It's a different story now, with the market flooded with too many empty resale properties on the market and developments' still flying up all over the place, the demand is just not what it was at the start of the bubble.

Even now you could expect to face commissions as high as 10 or 15% on new constructions and more or less the same with greedy Estate agents with resale / second hand properties.

So you wanted to save money on overseas properties in Spain?

Add the costs and taxes which are needed to buy your property to the commission that the Estate agent demands for the property and you are landed with a big bill. In our days in Spain, if you were looking to sell the property that you have bought - you will stand to lose one hell of a lot of money for a property that you were told would sell for a lot more than you bought it for, to recuperate the money that you have spent - you would have had to find a real bargain of a property.

What if you could cut out the agent? Well you can, go direct to the owner; deal with the seller of the property to negotiate the price that suits you and the owner.

Remember that the Estate agent is also pricing them out of a sale as well....