LEARNING SPANISH MAKES SPANISH PROPERTY BUYING EASIER!
If you are moving to Spain then, of course, the most important part of the process is finding somewhere great to live. Whether you are going to be renting your home or buying a Spanish property, you will need a selection of helpful Spanish phrases. These will help you to obtain a dream home in Spain and enable you to immerse yourself in the fabulous Hispanic lifestyle!
So, first of all, you are going to need to locate un agente de la propiedad inmobiliaria (estate agent) and ask them for information about the types of Spanish property that you are seeking. This first expression will do the job nicely:
Hola, me gustaría que diese información sobre los pisos/las casas en venta/alquiler – I’d like to have some information about apartments/houses to buy/to rent
The agent will more than likely say:
¿Qué busca usted? (What are you looking for?) or: ¿Busca usted algo en particular? (Are you looking for something in particular?)
Of course, you will need to reply with the type of Spanish property that you want, for example:
Estaba buscando un piso/ático/una casa con al menos dos/tres habitaciones una de ellas de matrimonio, y con terraza o balcón – I’m after an apartment/a studio/a house containing no less than 2/3 bedrooms with one of them a double-room and with a terrace or balcony
Other key words you can include here are: A estenar – brand new, amueblado – furnished, con un ascensor – with a lift (and I make a point of always asking for this if the flat is on the fourth floor or higher) and bien situado – well situated. It is possible you will also encounter bien situado as bien comunicado in some agencies.
Should the agent have a suitable place and you’d like to ask for further information, the Spanish is easy:
¿Puede darme un folleto informativo? – May I have a brochure?
One thing that can cause confusion for students of Spanish relates to the usage of two terms for the word “deposit”: Una entrada and una fianza.
The next example will clear up the confusion:
¿Cuánto es la fianza del alquiler y cuál es la duración del contrato? – How much is the deposit for the rent and how long is the duration of the contract?
Para firmar las escrituras de la casa, es necesario dar una entrada del 20% y tener un aval bancario – To sign the deeds of the house, you need to make a 20% deposit and to possess a banking endorsement.
A pair of extra-valuable Spanish phrases, in the example, were: aval bancario (a banking endorsement) and las escrituras (the deeds).
Now you can introduce several more, very useful Spanish phrases to your developing vocabulary and they are ones that you are sure to hear when you look for your ideal Spanish property:
Soleados y amplios (sunny and spacious). Mind you, you will see this even if the place is a very small studio – where a mouse would feel claustrophobic!
Tiene humedades - This means that the property has damp – so, be warned!
Calefacción general – If you’re looking for a flat, you need to be informed of this. This indicates that there is just a single boiler servicing the whole building and it cannot be regulated by the tenants, all of whom will pay a share of the heating costs. It is generally better is to check that the property has calefacción individual, so the heating remains under your control and you only pay for what you use.
To conclude, perhaps I can provide another Spanish expression that might create confusion! In relation to making payments for your new place, it is possible that you will encounter this on the contract:
Se puede pagar por transferencia bancaria o solamente mediante talón.
Now I am quite certain that you will have translated all of the Spanish in that expression apart from talón, the Spanish term for “heel”. What a curve-ball! What does this mean, to ‘pay by heel’? Well, it just denotes that you can make payments with checks, another canny and useful Spanish expression to introduce to your ever-increasing Spanish vocabulary…
Written by Barcelona-based Peter Christian author of “Streetwise Spanish“, a fun guide showing you how to speak Spanish with an authentic flair! You can add even more vibrant and really useful Spanish phrases to your vocab – by signing up for your free weekly Spanish tips only on the Streetwise Spanish website.