The Phases of buying a house on La Palma

We get requests from people in all stages of their search for a new life and new house on La Palma.
It helps us enormously if you can tell us at the start what stage you are in. It might also help you!
Generally there are 4 phases. Dreaming, Orientation, Planning and Buying.

Dreaming. 'I would love to live on La Palma'
The La Palma Virus is something that affects very many people who have visited La Palma for a holiday. They fall in love with the island and its people and the relaxed lifestyle.

So what do we suggest that dreamers should do?
Stop dreaming and take some action.
Read the dreaming section ...

Orientation. 'Would we realistically be able to live on La Palma?'
In this phase you should be thinking about the lifestyle, costs, your income and personal limitations.
The costs are basically the costs of buying a house, the cost of the move, living costs, cost of services and future costs.
How do you get that information?
Read the section on Orientation ...

The planning phase. 'We are going to live on La Palma!'
So you have decided it is feasable to live on La Palma.
The next thing you need is to plan the most important aspects of such a move in more detail.
- How do we arrange the move?
- When do we want to move?
- What houses are available?
- How do we make the money available?

How can we help in this phase?
If we have not already met in the Orientation phase then it is better if we can talk face to face the next time you are on La Palma.
We can discuss your detailed requirements with you before you arrive and tell you about the available properties. Not all of the properties are on our website www.livingonlapalma.com

When you are here we can meet you to discuss your wishes and walk through a list of possible houses.
Read the planning section ...

The house purchase phase. 'We are buying a house on La Palma'
Now you have found a property to buy on La Palma.

How can we help you?
Helping people to buy houses and land on La Palma is our business.
We can help you through the entire process, including checking papers, preparing pre-contracts, arranging bank accountsa nd NIE numbers and arrange the appointment with the Notary and support you throughout the whole process.
Read the buying section ...

Phase Zero: Dreaming

Dreaming. 'I would love to live on La Palma'

The dream of a life in a warm climate within Europe is a dream that infects many people once they have visited La Palma. They fall in love with the island and its people and the relaxed lifestyle. La Palma being within the Europe Union makes life a lot easier for EU residents. Visitors often get infected with what we call the La Palma Virus.

At this stage the ideas are vague and people wonder what it would be like to live on La Palma. We sometimes get asked this impossible question .. what is it like to live on La Palma.
There are as many answers to that question as there are people on the island.
It depends on who you are, what you like, your age, what you are expecting, how good you are at adapting, whether you have to work or travel and whether it works out the way you wanted. Its a bit like asking what its like living in Cornwall. If you don't have any income its bad everywhere, if you work in Glasgow and like visiting Harrods every week its a real pain and if you hate tourists then don't live in St.Ives or Newquay.

Somewhat surpisingly we also get enquiries from people who ask for details about a specific house who have never been to La Palma.

So what do we suggest that dreamers should do?

Either stop dreaming and take some action or hold on to your dreams until you are ready to take action.
99% of all dreamers just keep dreaming, which is fine except when they expect estate agents to wave a magic wand to create jobs for them, reduce house prices by 70% and shorten the traveling time to Northern Europe.


Ready to take action? Move on to the orientation phase ...

Phase One: Orientation

Orientation. 'Would we realistically be able to live on La Palma?'

So you have decided, together with your partner, that it is worth spending a bit of time seeing if there is a way that you could actually manage a move to, and live, on La Palma.

In this phase you should be thinking about the costs, your income, the logistics, lifestyle and personal limitations.

You need to sort out the possibilities and impossibilities of:
1. leaving your current location and
2. moving somewhere else and specifically
3. moving to La Palma.

The first part of this feasability study is deciding what you want; to identify your requirements.

The second is seeing if it is feasable for you to realise those requirements on La Palma.
Note: If you want to buy a second home for renting and occassional own use then other factors are involved and some of the information below may not apply to you.

We suggest that you start by looking at the personal aspects, because they are the commonest reasons for not moving abroad. Among many other things consider ...
- Will I miss my friends and family?
- Can I settle in a place where few people speak my language fluently?
- Will I miss my work?
- Will I be able to support myself (us)?
- Will I miss the pub, football, bridge club, theatre, etc?
- Will I miss the BBC and ITV?
- How will I feel if I miss the birth of a grandchild, or the funeral of an uncle?
- Can I live without fish and chips, Cumberland sausage, Pickled Onions and Mr. Kipling cakes.
- Do I have ambitions which are not yet fulfilled?
- How would I keep myself busy?
- What would be the consequences for my (young) children?
If you still want to live on La Palma than move on to the logistical and financial aspects.

There are the interrelated isuues of location and lifestyle.

- Which area would you like to live in? Near the beach? Near the shops? Near the airport? Or just the opposite, somewhere quiet and well away from the bustle, growing your own vegetables, or sipping cocktails by the pool all year round? Do you want to be isolated, or close to a village, or near to other foreigners? Do you want to be able to walk to a bar or high class restaurant? Do you have children who need to go to school? Do you need to work? Do you expect to collect people from the airport regularly?

- What lifestyle are you anticipating. This might sound a bit personal but you would be surprised how many people have contradictory wishes. Contradictory in the sense of wanting to live in a traditional cottage in the woods but within walking distance of beach, shops and restaurants. (This particular combination does not exist on the west side of La Palma). Contradictory wishes between partners are also very common. You will need to answer all of the above questions for youselves, and more, in order to find out if it will be possible on La Palma.

- If you need to work, what could you do and would it be enough to live the lifestyle you anticipate?
- Do you have children who would live with you and need to go to school or find work?
- Do you have family and friends who would expect to stay with you and expect a certain level of accommodation and facilities?
- Do you have special needs? For example, wheelchair access or a Harley-Davidson dealership or specialist medical assistance.
- Do you want a country life, or village life, or a town life, or a beach life?

Then you should look at the financial aspects.

On the outgoings side:

- What does property cost on La Palma? The short answer is that buying a reasonable house on La Palma will cost between 150,000 euros and 300,000 euros. For more luxury and size the prices go up to about 500,000 euros and there are properties all the way up to 2 million euros.
Add about 10% for the cost of buying a property.
Buying land and building might save a little money but you will still arrive at roughly the same prices as buying an existing property and have spent 1 to 2 years waiting for permissions and the building work.
Buying an old tumbled down house and renovating it is becoming much more expensive. That 'bargain' which you may have seen is probably cheap for a reason. The reason is often due to location, lack of permissions and possible unresolved boundary or ownership issues.
- Do you have cash available to buy a house outright? Would you come to La Palma and rent an appartment while taking time and look for a house? Would you need a mortgage? If so would you need a mortgage on the new house on La Palma? A mortgage requirement places demands on the type and legal status of the property you would need.
- What is the cost of living on La Palma?
- What is the cost of the health services etc

Consider the income issues:
- How would you maintain your lifestyle on La Palma, do you have enough income (pension?) or do you have the expertise or experience to earn a living on La Palma?

Suggestions for getting the relevant information?
The personal aspects of moving to La Palma are something that you can only resolve yourselves, perhaps with some help from us and Internet.
There is a wealth of information on Internet if you take the time to look for it.
- Read the other posts on this blog and on the main LivingonLaPalma.com website.
- Read the archives of several of the internet forums related to Spain and emigration. There is a huge amount of useful information in these forums.
- Look on Google for general information about emigrating to Spain.
- Look for government and other official websites, you countries embassy in Spain may have a website.
- Write down a list of things that you would no longer be able to do.
- Think about the lifestyle you expect and whether it is attainable for you.
- Learn about La Palma and its towns and villages and the different social and climatic areas.
- Visit La Palma again.

How can we help you in the orientation phase?
We can't make any decisions for you. We can help you through the process if you give us enough information. Tell us as much as possible about your plans, requirements and limitations so that we can make suggestions and give feedback which may help you.

We can indicate and give information about some houses which may suit your needs, or are in your price range.
When you next visit La Palma we can meet you and talk about your plans.
We may also be able to show you some candidate houses from the outside. This is usually enough to give you an idea of the types of houses and locations that are available. At this stage it is not fair to the owners, their keyholders, maybe their renters, or indeed to us to make arrangements to see the inside of a house when you are not yet in a position to buy.

We can't find you a job. We might be able to make suggestions, and may be able to help with some aspects of starting a business.

If your ideas seem to be possible, if the financial plans would work then Read about the planning phase ...

Phase Two: Planning

The planning phase. 'We are going to live on La Palma!'
So now you have decided that you are going to live on La Palma.
In the orientation phase you should have got a good idea of where you want to live and what type of house you can afford.

Now its down to practical issues of buying a house.

How can we help in this phase?

Helping people find and purchase a house on La Palma is our business.
We specialise in the La Punta, Tijarafe, Puntagorda and Garafia areas but we do have houses or contacts in other areas on the West side of La Palma.

Our estate agent website is www.livingonlapalma.com

If you can tell us as much as possible about your plans, requirements and limitations we can tell you more about suitable houses that are on our website and several others which, for various reasons, are not on the website.

If the combination of house and location that you are looking for is currently not available we will make a note of your wishes and keep you informed of any new properties and price changes of existing properties.

When you are on the island we can can talk about the current selection of houses available and show you candidate houses from the outside. This gives a very good idea of the location and type of house and we can discuss most aspects of the property and its price.

If one or more of the properties falls within you criteria we can arrange a viewing and be present at the viewing to discuss the positive and potential negative aspects of the property.

When you have found a suitable property and want to negotiate a deal we can guide you through the process and arrange the paperwork.

At this stage you will also have to make a financial plan so that you have money available for a deposit and the full payment on the date of the sale.

Found a house? Read about the buying process ...

Phase Three: The sale

The sale: 'We are buying a house on La Palma.'

Once you have seen a house that you would like to buy we will negociate with the owner on the price.
In some cases the price is fixed and the owner will not, or cannot, negociate.
In other cases the owners are sometimes prepared to accept a slightly lower price.

We will acquire relevant official information about the property to check that the information presented by the owner or his representative is correct. Where available we will check future plans for the area.

Once all parties have reached agreement the normal procedure is to sign a pre-contract.

The pre-contract is your security that the owner will sell to you, and his security that you will actually buy the property. A 10% deposit is normally a condition of the pre-contract. A sale date is stipulated in the pre-contract, this is usually within 2 months but sometimes a longer period can be agreed.
This period enables you to set up a bank account, obtain a NIE number, make money available and move it to your bank on La Palma.

Prior to signing the pre-contract we will have checked all documentation of the owner and the property to ensure that the property is correctly registered and that the owner is the sole legal owner. In the case of older properties some extra documentation may be required, this will be done before the actual sale at the notary.

We will arrange the paperwork for the final sale and check it through with the notaries office, we will make the appointment at the notary and be there to guide you through the sale. Where needed we can translate and explain the documents.

We can provide some after sales services, such as arranging telephone connections, changing names and bank details for amenities and making contact with builders, gardeners and cleaners.

Our estate agent website is www.livingonlapalma.com

House 504 has been sold

House number 504, a house in Puntagorda has been sold at the asking price of 135,000 Euros.

For more houses for sale on La Palma, Canary Islands visit http://www.livingonlapalma.com

Setting up a Bed and Breakfast

Setting up a Bed and Breakfast sounds easy and fun.
Those British television programs make it sound an attractive and a reasonably cheap exercise leading to a relaxed and profitable business.

The reality is somewhat different.
If you need to make a living out of the business and support yourselves solely from the income then you will be working 7 days per week and 12 to 16 hours per day, getting up early, being pleasant to customers and continually interrupted while trying to complete the daily cleaning, maintenance, shopping and booking tasks. A B&B is a people oriented business requiring patience, a constant good humour and the ability to handle difficult situations with ease and with a smile. It also demands skills in cooking, cleaning, maintenance, decoration, emergency repairs, gardening, administration, marketing and communication. If you don't have all these then you probably will not succeed in a running a B&B.
Read the full post ...



To be able to run a profitable B&B business you need to have at least 5 rentable rooms, either with a couple of common bathrooms or with en-suite in every room. With less than 5 rooms the general cost of maintenance and taxes etc are unlikely to be covered by the income.
You will probably need to live in the building yourself or have accommodation for yourselves close by.

The interior and exterior of the building are covered by La Palmas strict building regulations, planning laws, fire regulations and health and safety regulations. Additionally the building has to be in a planning zone where tourist accommodation is permitted and the Cabildo (island government) has to be persuaded to give you permission to open a tourist-establishment and then the required number of 'bed-allocations'. Bed allocations are in very short supply and are not easy to get.
The regulations determine aspects such as room sizes, the material used in doors, windows and curtains and especially to food preparation areas and bathrooms.

To ensure a continuous flow of guests the property needs to be accessible by road or bus or be in a popular walking area or just have something very special.

So how much would it cost to buy an existing B&B on La Palma?
A Pension in El Paso with 6 rooms is currently on sale for 1,200,000 Euros.
You should expect to pay at least 400,000 Euros for a building with enough rooms that would still need to be converted to conform to all the building, fire, safety, hygiene and health regulations.
Building a B&B from scratch will cost almost the same amount of money, but take about 2 years to get built, furnished, decorated and approved by several authorities.
Finding suitable land is not easy on La Palma because of planning regulations.

There are a hand full of pensions on the island, some of which make a profit for the owners, others provide a secondary income and currently (summer 2008) 2 are for sale.
If you are looking for a return on investment in the holiday industry then a better option is to buy or build a group of holiday homes. The rates per night that you can charge for a holiday home are higher than for a B&B, there are fewer regulations because you are not preparing food, and it is far less work for yourselves.

We strongly suggest that you use the Internet to research the pros and cons of starting a bed and breakfast before starting to look for a suitable building. There are web sites with checklists and tips and warnings.
They say that many B&B owners burn-out after 5 years because of the stress and the long working hours, often without days off and without holidays. Those that don't burn out usually have family and friends living nearby who can help out and take off some of the load.
They say that most aspiring owners never get as far as purchasing a property because they cannot get enough money together, or realise that they won't get rich or realise how many hours they will be committed to or just how multi-talented they need to be able just to break even.

If you are still interested in starting a B&B on La Palma then perhaps we can help you find a suitable property. Once you have done the viability calculations and decided how many bedrooms, public rooms and owners accommodation and the all-important required location please let us know and perhaps we can find a property which may be convertable into a bed and breakfast or pension.