Stage 3 of 6

Stage 3: Choose where and what to buy

§ 1Where this stage sits in the purchase

Choosing where and what comes after the decision to buy and a first budget, and before the legal checks on one particular home. The order matters. The region sets the resale transfer tax, so a budget made without a region is a draft. The region also sets the rules on holiday lets, which decide whether rent can be part of the plan. The kind of home then decides which papers you chase: a flat comes with a community of owners and its accounts, a house with its land and licences, a plot with a planning answer.

Work in this order. Write down what the home is for: all year, part of the year or as a let. Pick a region, then a setting, then a kind of home. Only then test the place itself, on a short list. The stage has three sections, on where to buy, on property types and on location checks. The next stage is the legal one: title, licences, charges, the notary and the registry. It needs one specific home to work on, which is why this stage ends with a short list. The purchase comes later.

§ 2What this stage settles

By the end you should hold four answers, each written down. The first is the use of the home, in plain words. The second is a region, or two or three to compare, with the tax and letting paragraphs of each read in full. The third is the kind of home, with the list of papers that kind needs. The fourth is a location file for each place on the short list: the flood map result, the town hall's answers, the damp and heating findings, the water and sewage papers if the home is rural, and notes from your visits.

The location section says to keep each answer with its source and its date, and to show the file to your lawyer. A written answer from the town hall counts. An agent's or a seller's word does not.

§ 3Where to buy: the region first, the town second

The section on choosing an area holds fourteen chapters: three on how to choose, ten on regions and coasts, and one on inland Spain. It ranks no town and prints no price forecast. It gives a method and the official figures that exist.

Start with the questions

The chapter on comparing areas with questions says that no public body ranks places to buy, and that commercial lists mix taste, commission and old numbers. It asks six things in turn: what the home is for, which rules apply, who else buys there, what it costs, what the risks are and what daily life is like. Read it first if you have no region yet. Its registry figures show where foreigners buy most. A high foreign share means more English-speaking services and more competition for the same homes, and it says nothing about quality.

Seven short notes fit the questions to a type of buyer. The note on checks for retirees starts from healthcare, because public cover depends on your status, and observes that a flat with a lift near services often suits later life better than a hilltop villa. The note on schools and language for families starts from the school, since admission to publicly funded schools follows regional rules and distance often counts.

The note on a home used part of the year puts access and upkeep first, because fixed costs continue while the home stands empty.

Price and the cheap house

The chapter on low prices and what the data shows opens with a point worth keeping: a low price describes a home, and says little about a town. The registry shows the lowest average prices in inland provinces, and the chapter spends most of its space on what a low price can hide. Fees, a lawyer and works do not shrink with the price, so a small purchase carries them as a larger share.

On a modest budget, read two notes. The note on the risks of very cheap houses lists missing licences, a registry that differs from the cadastre, debts that follow the property, and the case of several heirs, who must all sign. If answers do not come, it says walk away. The note on working backwards from a budget starts from the total and subtracts the works reserve, the survey, the lawyer, the fees and the transfer tax. What remains is the price you can offer.

Coast, village or city

The chapter on choosing between coast, village and city compares the three by what the law and the services say. On the coast the coastal law applies and tourist-let rules are stricter in many regions. In a village the questions are doctor, shop, bus, winter cold, legal status, water and sewage. In a city flat they are noise, community charges and rules on lets.

Two notes turn that into checks. The note on what a village asks of you covers services, damp old stone, unregistered wells and the real speed of the internet. The note on community papers in a city flat covers the reserve fund, the vote on tourist rental and a Friday-night visit to hear the street.

The regional chapters

The remaining chapters cover the Costa del Sol, the Costa Blanca, the Costa Cálida, Andalusia, the Valencian Community, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Madrid, northern Spain and inland Spain. Each gives what the registry shows, the regional resale transfer tax, the tourist-let rules, the main risks and a note for each main town or island. Open the two or three that match your short list and read them side by side. The rest, and the town notes, wait on the section page.

Three points make the regional chapters worth opening early. The first is the tax rate, which moves. The chapter on the Valencian rate change and the 2024 storm says the Ministry of Finance table shows a lowered general rate from the start of June 2026, while an undated page of the regional tax agency still shows the old one. The Costa Cálida chapter reports the same for Murcia. The pages disagree, and the chapters say to confirm the rate on your deed date with the notary. The Madrid chapter adds that a regional announcement of 5 October 2026 proposed a lower rate for buyers under forty, which is not law and should not go into a budget.

The second point is letting. The chapter on Catalonia and its tourist-let licences describes a prior planning licence for tourist use in a list of municipalities and a cap on tourist dwellings. The chapter on Balearic tax brackets and letting fines says the resale tax rises with the price and that fines for tourist-let breaches can be very large. In every region the community of owners can also vote to limit lets.

The third point is risk. The chapter on the Alicante coast and its floods covers the market where foreigners were nearly half of purchases in Alicante province in the second quarter of 2026, the highest provincial share the registry reports. It records that the October 2024 storm flooded coastal towns that had little rain themselves, and that parts of the coast have houses built without licence.

§ 4What to buy: seven kinds of home, seven sets of papers

The section on seven kinds of home starts from use and then from upkeep: who looks after the home when you are away, and what the taxes, works and fees add up to. It prints no price or cost average for any type, because no official figure was found, and it did not read regional planning rules.

Flats, townhouses and villas

A flat is bought together with a community. The chapter on questions for a flat's community asks for the statutes, the last three sets of minutes, the budget and the accounts, and for the administrator's certificate that the seller is up to date, with the seller's statement repeated in the deed. The note on terraces and roofs in a top-floor flat adds what an advert never says: whether the terrace is private or a common part, and who pays for the roof.

A villa is land plus a house, each with its own papers. The chapter on matching the registry to the house tells you to compare the registry, the cadastre and the licences with the house on the ground. Extensions, garages and pools are the usual gaps. The note on the licence and registry entry of a pool treats a pool as a construction that needs permission, warns that many pools are missing from the registry and says an insurer may answer differently for a pool without papers.

A townhouse mixes the two, and the chapter on party walls and estate rules covers shared walls and the estate community.

Country houses, plots and ruins

Finca, cortijo and masía are everyday words for styles of property, and none is a legal category. The chapter on country houses and rural land says what counts is the registered description, the cadastre, the land classification and the licences, and it runs through legal access, water, power, sewage and boundaries. The note on why a ruin is a bet on permission says the price may reflect the land alone, and that the town hall's written answer on rebuilding decides the worth.

A plot is bought for what it allows. The chapter on buying a plot and building asks you to get the town hall's written answer on the classification, on whether a house can be built and on how large, and to make the purchase conditional on a favourable reply. The note on who grants a building licence states that an estate agent's word that a plot is buildable is not evidence, and that if the town hall refuses or delays, the time limit for an appeal starts when the decision is notified.

Renovation, coast and golf

A property that needs work is a bet on two unknowns: how bad the problems are and how much the authorities will let you change. The chapter on surveys, permits and budgets answers the first with a survey by a qualified technician and written builder quotes, and the second with a written reply from the town hall. The note on obra mayor and obra menor explains the Spanish terms for large and small works, and says that starting without a permit can bring a stop order and a fine and make the building irregular.

Homes by the sea or on a golf resort come with other rules. The chapter on the shore and resort communities introduces the coastal law and the golf resort, where the course may belong to someone other than the community. The note on the zones of the coastal law describes the protection zone, the line-fixing procedure called deslinde and the certificate that registering or transferring a coastal property can require. Its author did not read the transitional provisions, so the passage on older buildings has gaps.

§ 5Location checks: test the plot before you pay

The section on checking a location before you buy covers what a contract cannot tell you. A house can be perfect on paper and still stand in a flood zone or sit under a flight path. Its advice on order is to do the checks in order of the cost of getting it wrong: first those that can make a home uninsurable or unsaleable, such as flood and fire, and last the preferences. Treat a missing answer as unknown.

Floods, fire and cover

The chapter on floods, fire and the coast starts with the national flood viewer, which shows hazard maps for three scenarios that should be read together, each layer with its own update date. The chapter does not say the viewer gives an official ruling on one property, so confirm what you see with the water authority and the town hall.

The note on flash floods after a DANA storm adds what the maps miss: dry stream beds, a plot below road level, a road in that crosses a ford and a basement that has flooded before. The note on state cover for extraordinary events explains that the state body pays when the policy carries its surcharge. Its author could not open the body's own site, so check the current rules there. The wildfire note finds no single national rule, so ask the town hall in writing what applies.

Heat, damp and energy

The chapter on heat, damp and energy makes a purchase point: a house you cannot heat in January or cool in August is an expensive house, and the energy certificate gives a letter without showing damp or a failing roof. The note on the three sources of damp names rain and run-off, the ground and condensation, with a viewing routine that includes ceiling corners and a fresh coat of paint on one wall that may hide a problem.

Water, sewage and power in the country

If the home is rural, the chapter on wells, septic tanks and power is a must. The river basin authority regulates wells, and rules differ by basin.

The note on the papers for a home with a well explains why an unregistered well is a problem for the buyer and for a later sale, and how to write the seller's statements into the contract. The note on septic tank authorisation reports one basin authority's position: discharge needs authorisation unless the waste goes to a sealed tank emptied by a licensed manager. Other basins may differ.

Daily life

The chapter on healthcare, schools and noise starts from a plain fact: a contract tells you what you own, and it says nothing about waking up there. Its note on routes to public healthcare describes three: the special agreement for people with no other cover, a 2026 decree for people without legal residence and the route for pensioners covered by another state.

The note on noise near an airport shows how to use the operator's interactive noise maps, and why you should still stand in the garden at the busy hours.

§ 6Where readers get stuck at this stage

Buyers fall for a town before the region. The flats and houses may be fine, and the bill, the letting rights and the flood risk still belong to the region.

Registry averages get read as prices, or as a verdict. They are averages of registered sales that mix flats and houses of any size, and they say nothing about the home in front of you.

Holiday-let income gets counted before anyone reads the community statutes and the regional rule together. A seller's word gets accepted for a plot, a pool or an extension, when the papers have to say it. A low price gets taken as a deal, when the cheap-house notes list the licence, registry, debt and heir problems behind it.

A rate seen online gets treated as current. Two regional chapters report a lowered resale tax rate that an undated agency page still lists at the old level, and the Madrid chapter reports a proposal that is not law. Where pages disagree, the notary's figure on the deed date settles it.

The place gets seen once, in good weather. The chapters ask for visits in different seasons and at different hours, and for the flood, damp and noise tests that only a bad day shows.

§ 7How to know you are ready for the next stage

You are ready when you can tick these off.

• You can state in a sentence how often and for what the home will be used, including whether any rent is part of the plan.
• You have chosen a region, or a pair to compare, and you have read the tax and letting paragraphs of each, including what the chapter could not verify.
• You have chosen a setting and a kind of home, and you know the list of papers that kind needs.
• Each home on your short list has a file: the flood viewer result, the town hall's written answers, the community papers or the land and water papers, and notes from more than one visit.
• You have asked an insurer what a policy would cover, including whether it carries the state surcharge for extraordinary events.
• You have a lawyer lined up who works for you alone, to compare the papers with the home.

If a box stays empty, the cheapest fix is usually a written question to the town hall or the community administrator. The next stage starts from one specific home and one lawyer, and it pays off only if the home has passed these tests. Pay no deposit until the lawyer has seen the file.

General information only. This is not legal, tax or financial advice. Check your own situation with a qualified adviser.