advice please
 

Hello! We are considering purchasing buying an affordable apartment in Spain in the next 4-5 years. I lived in Barcelona in college and loved it! However, I prefer to be in a place where Castillian Spanish is spoken. We intend to rent property at least 9 months when we are not there to offset costs and our budget is 200Euros tops for a 2 bedroom place. I tend to love cities and want a place where I am not known as the American as your may get in a small town. I Am considering Madrid but I love oceans. We want to be within 1-2 hours of Madrid or Barcelona because we want direct flights from US and they only go to these 2 places. I considered Valencia but in that Catalan. Our intent is to learn Spanish fluently and do not want to be in areas where English is common. Ideas?

I read your thread twice and still don't understand at all what you want (but I'm not a smart guy).
Your title 'advice please' doesn't give any hint either.
I would propose you clarify and maybe attach some tags like 'Spain'.

Well, from what hear, Spain is grossly overbuilt, so your acquisition cost should be low, though not €200, maybe €200K.

But maybe your opportunities to rent it for 9 months will be equally low. I would worry about this a lot. I would also worry a lot who is going to manage the rentals, repairs, emergencies, tenants who show up with four people for each bedroom when two are on the lease.

If you hope/plan/need to rent the property 9 months of the year, that should be your very first consideration in where you buy. A location that will have that kind of potential is more important than your own personal preferences.

Just as a word of advice, from what I've heard, Barcelona at least has initiated some severe regulations regarding so-called vacation rental apartments. You can't just do what you want. Don't know about Madrid. But definitely look into that as you may be surprised.

YOu yourself say you only have two options due to flights -- Madrid and Barcelona. So that's that, then why talk about Valencia? And direct flights from where? Because the only direct flights to Madrid or BCN are from NYC, Atlanta or Miami in the US.

If you only want those two cities, I think Madrid would be great, although I like Barcelona more myself. I could be wrong, but I suspect a lot of people there speak Castellano as their main language, not Catalan, don't they? I thought most people (younger, anyway) were bilingual. I know when I go there, I sure have no trouble speaking Castellano, not Catalan (which I don't know).

I wouldn't worry about the English thing at all, no city is mainly English speaking in Spain, so it's up to you who you choose to associate with in that regard (you can usually find expat communities where it is more common, sure).

I'd worry about the buying in 5 years or more, after you've lived in a place and decided you want to settle there. If you are adamant that it must be these two cities due to airports, you have to choose -- beach or non-Catalan, seems to me.

If you'd forget the direct flights, you'd have a lot more options. Do you plan to fly to the US to those 3 cities that frequently that a direct flight is the main basis of where you live? If so, then I guess it is important, if you have to for business.

Good luck, interesting idea but I don't think you can find a great 2 BR apt for 200 euro a month in those cities, anyway. In fact, your budget sounds like the determining factor in where you stay, I would have no idea where that could be. I mean I'm sure you can find a place for that rent in some smaller towns or suburbs of places in Alicante, etc., but not in Madrid or Barcelona.

Thank you all for your feedback I appreciate it!It is very helpful. Sorry, I want to clarify 200K Euros or approximately 200,000 dollars for the property to purchase. Has anyone known a US citizen to take a loan for Spanish property?

I have thought of places like Salamanca and Toledo but the ocean of Barcelona sounds so nice. I imagine inland is hot in the summer.

When I spent 3 months in Barcelona Castillano was spoken but it helps to have this in signs too for further learning vs. in Catalan like the street signs are.

Good point about not considering Valencia. Christina thanks for heads up on Barcelona regulations. Ideally I would love to not have to rent property but money is an concern and to have it vacant all that time doesn't make sense.I agree Barcelona is special I believe in part to the Ocean. We plan on renting for a week in Madrid in June to see how much we enjoy. We like cities.

We would be coming from JFK airport and flights would be direct. Thank you all!

Thats a good point SUze.

If you only need a place 3 months of each year, why not rent? I see zero advantage to trying to purchase something outright in this situation.

Your plan seems to have a bunch of potential holes in it - especially if you think you are going to get a mortgage to buy an apartment in Spain based on the assumption that it will be covered by rental 9 months a year.

I don't know a bank in the US that would let you borrow based on that - never mind one that will do it to foreign nationals.

Thanks for feedback and honesty. We are reasonably young 36 which is why we would consider renting to others. We are not ready to buy for at least 4 years but it is a dream to consider. Plus my husband and I need to rent in multiple areas to really see if and where we could see ourselves. I know we both love Barcelona but my husband has never been anywhere else in Spain. I studied Spanish all through college and still am not fluent and realize the only way to become is living there. I really want to have my children learn spanish and myself work on mine during summers.However, every summer may not be realistic at this point. Plan B is to wait another 10-15 years and assess where we are at that point. Also, my husband doesn't get a lot of vacation time so he couldn't take off more then 2 weeks at a time.

NY traveler- If we bought in the next 3-5 years we ideally would prefer a place not to have to rent and enjoy ourselves. We could do this if the property was less then 125,000. I know there are places like this in southern spain but I really don't prefer small towns and summers are so hot in the south. Although I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE Sevilla. May consider when my husband and I retire down the road because we wont have kids in tote. As of now, looking for around Madrid area or Barcelona, even will consider a large town like Toledo to keep costs down. The idea of buying now is to buy in a lower price vs. in 10, 15,
20 years.

Thanks too Suze!