All Forum Posts by: Erwin Groenendijk

Hi @Oriol López Marti, this sounds like a too good to be true story. Or, if it is true, you need a whole lot of experience to be able to find these deals. With being active now for 3 years, and getting better with every deal we are doing (we bought apartments, a building, and garages), something like this can not be found. Or at least not where we are active (Barcelona, Valencia, and surroundings). 

One tip: don't try to chase the impossible and the best numbers, try to start with a simple secure deal that maybe is not giving you the best ever ROI, but that is giving you the learning experience to do better and more in the future.

Erwin

Hi @Gregory Polinger, can only help you so far because the rules are a bit different between Spain and Holland. What I know is that when you open your Airbnb hosting account, you can choose to link your account to the tax office in the country you are hosting your apartment. At least, this is what I am experiencing now putting our newly bought apartment on Airbnb. 

Did you btw read the recent news about Airbnb and the rules of renting out your place? The court decided that Airbnb is not recognized as a hotel category but as a service, so that is why the 30 day minimum of renting out your room doesn't apply anymore, or at least this is what I understood from it. In Spain, for example, this rule was not there yet.

I am Dutch but currently active in the Spanish real estate market. Would like to follow this conversation though for at one point I decide to come to the Netherlands. 

@Gregory Polinger, in Spain I immediately had the answer ready for you.

Hi @Account Closed, what can you offer here exactly? We could be interested for some of our RE projects in Spain that need refinancing. Regards

Thanks for sharing the story! How is the purchase of the home in Spain going and where are you thinking to buy?

Hi @Avi Levi, the most important point is researching both markets using the real estate platforms out there and talking with separate individuals. Get to know what the potential is or how the markets behave, how fast they are, which models work, etc. A decision like you are about to make is also based on trust, because this company is going to manage your money in a project. Make sure that they are transparent and also make sure they include you in the process as it seems you have an urge of learning it yourself as well. 

In the end, to be honest, it doesn't really make that much of a difference what you are choosing. If you know what you are doing, or if you are collaborating with companies that know what they are doing, you can make money everywhere. 

Maybe a last practical point would be to ask yourself where you would like to spend your time most visiting the projects. Visiting it is going to be essential to be seeing the progress yourself and letting the REI company know you are serious. In that sense, Spain would be a more attractive decision.

Regards!

Hi @Bruce Smith, I am a real estate agent in Spain/Barcelona working in an international real estate agency. Although it is hard to generalize or to give a concrete answer to your questions, how you are asking the questions your research outcomes most likely were that the level of English was not up to the level to deal sufficiently with English clients. Although the level of English among younger generations is improving, you still see that it is lacking at times. On the other side, with their charm and the basic level of English that my colleagues have, they are still managing to make it work in most cases. Just how I am at times creatively making my way with Spanish clients.  

Side note: have to point out though that for most agents their English is also not the worst & that I am saying this from a perspective of working in an international agency.

@Erik Noordam, it is true that you can pick many agents in Spain to work together with. Mainly because in Spain you don't need an official license to be an agent or work in an agency. It is also that in Spain there is not one buying that you are working with as in the Netherlands, but there is a buying agent for every agency you contact. Although this seems favorable, for many clients finding an agent in a foreign country costs a lot of effort and that that experience can either make or break it for them. 

@Verity Macdonald @Javier De la Rosa thank you for the referral. 

Hi Bjorn, you should definitely go forward with it. There is a lot of potential. A question to ask yourself is if you would like to manage these room rentals yourself or outsourcing it. With the frequent changes in renting out a room you may end up paying quite a lot for your property manager. A possibility could be saving this money and doing this yourself close to where you live in Denmark. On a bigger scale, it would be beneficial to use property managers.

We rent out our rooms ourselves for the moment, and therefore keeping the money for possible fees for ourselves. 

To give you an insight into how we are thinking to deal with this towards the future when we are growing, is hiring an employee in our team that is going to be managing x amount of apartments. Paying them a fixed fee with some commissions build in here and there.

Erwin

Guys, coming back after having done quite some research and asking around. BRRRR for individuals in Spain is not possible, however, for companies it is if you talk with the right people. Not like 75% as in the US, but you can get a LT(new)V of 50%.

Let me know if I should bring you in contact with our specialized mortgage broker who is helping us out in one of our projects.

Hi Johan, where are you from in the Netherlands? Check out the many meet up groups out there and have a look in the forums typing for the words that you are interested in. We have been discussing many times this topic with other dutchies here. 

Erwin