I reckon one of the best times to buy property in Spain will be over the next years. Bargains are cropping up continuously post credit crunch as property owners struggle to remain afloat. House prices will fall further as a whole but that doesn’t rule out the fact there are already interesting opportunities available in today’s market besides the classic three D’s: divorce, disease & death.

Some highly qualified sources are of the opinion that property prices still remain overvalued in Spain by an average spanning between 25-50% and yet other sources hint at a silver lining claiming there is strong empirical evidence suggesting that prices may be in fact already bottoming out – that is providing you trust Spain’s official statistics, which I certainly don’t. As American novelist Mark Twain liked to note with his caustic sense of humour: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

The truth probably lies somewhere in between. What people seldom remember is just how fast property prices appreciate if there is the faintest expectation of a market recovery and yet how slowly prices fall because landlords are understandably reluctant to take a hit lowering them. This asymmetry of expectations is what we are now witnessing in slow motion with property prices decreasing ever so slightly year on year. Whatever the case may be, it is undeniable the next years are going to provide unique one-time buying opportunities for the shrewd looking for property for sale in Spain.

With this in mind, I’ve written two ‘brief’ articles on the most common blunders that ought to be avoided by foreigners on buying property in Spain.

In the first article I focus on resale property, and in the second one to follow I look at off-plan (also known as new build or new construction). In between both I will be publishing a series of articles to help better understand key concepts on buying new builds such as: Licence of First Occupation and Bank Guarantees in Spain. These will be updated versions of the articles I originally published back in 2006 and 2008, respectively.

In this first article I will barely mention rural property or commercial property as I consider each merit their own articles.

I’ve already covered the topic on rent-to-buy contracts (‘contrato de alquiler con opción a compra’) in a prior article as an opportunity to take advantage of the current market turmoil jumping in today at tomorrow’s prices. It is a very interesting option for those who are keen to buy a BMV property.

So here is my first article in this series: Buying property in Spain: Resale