Do you want to know how to buy a flat in Barcelona? Are you thinking of moving to live in Spain and are you looking for to buy an apartment in Barcelona? Here we will explain to you all the things you need to know.

Welcome to BCN Advisors, a website where you can find everything you should know to start buying a flat, buying a property or buying an apartment in Barcelona. We know, it might seem like a tough and hard thing to do, but if you follow our advice, you’ll find the best flat in a really short span of time.

So, if you’re ready to know about it, ¡keep on reading!

¿Where do I start searching?

Maybe you have heard about some pitfalls of buying a property in Spain or you are hesitating if it’s better living in Barcelona vs Madrid. Well, in our real estate in Barcelona, we are experts on this catalan city, and we want to explain you some things you should have into account before buying an apartment in Barcelona.

Before start, we want to say that we understand your situation perfectly: it’s hard to find a property to live in even for locals, so we’re here to guide you. There are some steps we must follow to begin with:

Get to know the cost of living in Barcelona

If you’ve been searching for flats in this city for a while you may know this already, but for those who don’t, Barcelona is the most expensive city to live in Spain currently.

This is something that we must take into account, since it can affect our final answer, and we must do some numbers in order to see if we really can afford the expenses that come with living in this famous Spanish city. This actually, this brings us to the next point.

Set a Budget

It’s really important to know how much we can spend per month and actually create a realistic budget of how much we can actually spend. There are certain things that we have to think of when calculating our budget in order to start buying a flat in Barcelona. In fact, it make sense doing that, because the cost of living in Barcelona can oscillate depending on different factors. The first one (and we would say that is one of the firsts questions you have to make) is:

¿What area of Barcelona do you want to move into? Because is not the same living in one of the most expensive streets in Barcelona, that living in Gracia, living in Sarrià or living in Poblenou.

There are many areas or neighborhoods in Barcelona, and each and every one of them have a different “vibe”. We would strongly recommend going before moving in, walking through the streets and observing. Not only the architecture that you can see, which by the way is beautiful in certain areas, but also the people that we can find, and if we want to see that every day when we walk around.

You could also find locals who we are sure will be pleased to help you. If not, you could find a site that talks about each one of the areas in Barcelona. Just choose one that’s near many amenities and makes your everyday life comfortable.

There are neighborhoods that are better than others we could say, perhaps we should know which ones are. The places like in the Les Corts district, have a higher rental price, but at the same time, they offer their residents one of the best environments in the whole entire city.

Type of flat

Maybe if you’re an American willing to live in Barcelona, you may not know about this. In many, there are flats or apartments that lack certain facilities. What I mean by that is that, in certain flats, they don’t offer an elevator or lift, you just have to use the stairs every time. You might think that is not a big problem but think about it in the long run, if you come with groceries or you have kids, you might want to reconsider your choice.

Other things that we might have to watch out for are:

• Elevator
• Parking Spot
• The number of rooms that we need
• The number of bathrooms that we need
• Windows facing the street
• A terrace or balcony

Ways of finding a flat in Barcelona

Online

The most famous way to look for flats in Barcelona is online. We can find many websites that filter apartments according to our preferences, like the ones we talked about earlier, or even areas and prices. This way is easy, we can do it from home and it’s completely free: Bcn Advisors, our real estate agency in Barcelona, is one of the best ways to buy a luxury flat. We have buyer agents in Barcelona, ready to help you and to advise you (that is the next point).

Hire a professional agent

If we have some extra money on our budget to spend on, this would make our life a bit easier. They search for the best options and they do all the hard work for us, which is way more comfortable.

If you want to find one, we recommend you to contact our professional team, and you will have access to all of our apartments for sale in Barcelona. We’re waiting to hear from you.

The moment to take action

Now we know, it’s official, we are moving into Barcelona, ¡congratulations! At this point we get into some tricky stuff. There are some things we need to take into account.

Tips when checking out a flat

Never show that you like what you see. You might get weird out about this, but the agents won’t be willing to lower the price if they see that you really like it. Our advice is to wait to find a negative thing the flat has, then, use it to negotiate the price.

Get the NIE and Bank Account

So, now it’s time to, as a foreigner, get actually ready to start the purchase. One of the most important things, if not the most important one, is getting our very own NIE and bank account.

If we’re going to sign a mortgage, it’s mandatory to have it. There are many websites that will explain the exact points you have to follow.

Last steps 

Now, you only have to reserve the contract, the “arras” (which is a type of reservation for the flat), or sign the deed. It will be all yours by the end of all this journey.

If you find yourself unmotivated, lost, or even wanting to stop searching for your flat, don’t worry, it happens to everyone. It’s a tough thing by itself so, in Barcelona things get extra challenging. But don’t worry, have patience and when you least expect it, ¡you will be signing the contract and moving in!