How to buy land and build a self-sustainable house in Spain
Right now, of all the countries in Europe, I believe Spain is the country where it is easiest to create a self-sustainable life.
But there are many traps. Traps that may eat a good chunk of your time and money. On average, people end up spending 3 times more money and 3 times more time than they thought, and than what is strictly necessary. The reason for this is a lack of knowledge. It is not easy to gain the necessary knowledge either. Most people just buy a land they like and start winging it from there. Halfway through the process, they realize the mistakes and end up giving up the whole idea of living self-sustainably. The problem now is that they are stuck with a property they can not sell and can not live in, but generate monthly and annual costs anyway. Most of their money has been used already, and their situation is far worse than before they started. It is not unusual to need 25-30 years to recover financially, before allowing them to start over again.
This page is for those who see the value of good preparation and knowledge.
I have created a step-by-step guide to help you through each stage of the process, saving you a lot of irreversible mistakes, time, and money.
The guide consists of downloadable Starter Guides and Online Coaching.
Starter Guide A - Creating a self-sustainable Life in Spain
Starter Guide B - Defining the house
Starter Guide C - Defining the plot (land)
Starter Guide D - Financing
Starter Guide E - Finding the perfect plot in Spain
Coaching - Plot evaluation
Starter Guide F - Acquire property in Spain
Coaching - House 3D Sketch
To make sure you can handle each step yourself, each Starter Guide includes general step-by-step instructions (PDF) and general time/cost schedules (XLS).
For customizing the information to your needs, 4 hours of online coaching with me is an option that is also included in each of the Starter Guides.
This should be enough, but more coaching hours can be purchased if desired (50 euros/hour).
Starter Guide A
Creating a self-sustainable Life
in Spain
Pros/Cons of Spain for self-sustainability
Pros/Cons of having your own house and land
Evaluating the degree of Self-sustainable life
Where to settle down in Spain
Moving to Spain (When/How/Costs/Time)
Starter Guide B
Defining the house
Choosing the right type of house. Materials and design.
Desired house size, floors, and rooms.
Utilities (Public, or Self-sustainable, or both).
Usage - House vs plot,
Labor - professionals, volunteers, DIY
Budget House.
Starter Guide C
Defining the plot (Land)
Choosing the right type of plot (Agriculture, urban).
Defining usage (Agricultural, living, business, etc.).
Utility options (Public, or Self-sustainable, or both).
Defining plot size range.
Mapping non-negotiables (views, access, distance to services, neighbors, etc.).
Setting up a budget for a plot.
Starter Guide D
Financing
Financing the plot.
Financing the house.
Financing temporary housing.
Financing a self-sustainable life.
Financing labor.
Financing bureaucratic processes.
Setting up an initial budget and financing pre-approval with bank/creditor (if needed).
Starter Guide E
Finding the perfect plot in Spain
Creating a criteria list for a self-sustainable plot
Mapping out legal loopholes to save time and money
How to search for a proper self-sustainable property
Coaching
Plot evaluation
Once you find a plot you like, contact me for a plot evaluation.
I will use your data gathered so far in the process, plus my experience and ability to see out-of-the-box opportunities, to make a recommendation that will help you make a better decision about buying the plot.
Preliminary property evaluation
Preliminary house design evaluation
Evaluation of out-of-the-box options.
This coaching is a standard 4-hour session where I review your data and provide a simple recommendation on whether to buy the plot or not.
Contact me for customization - Adding on-site evaluation (recommended), surveys, and/or information gathering.
Starter Guide F
Acquire property in Spain
An overview of costs, time, the process, and investigation.
An overview of the buying process.
Coaching
House 3D sketch
Up to 45 hours of developing a SketchUp 3D sketch of your house.
Up to 5 hours of online meetings where we evaluate the sketch.
If necessary (very unlikely), extra hours. 50 euros/hour.
A SketchUp file of your house with all the systems.
It is very unlikely that you will find standard models for self-sustainable houses in Spain. So, at some point, you will need to hire an architect/engineer/self-sustainability expert to design the house for you according to your needs. This is an expensive process, as your house will be customized. Architects and engineers, and even builders who can help you through this process, are typically far more expensive and harder to find. And they typically have a 1-2 year waiting list. Once you have hired them, expect them to have several clients at the time, making your process take 5-10 times longer.
I can offer my expertise as a designer and a self-sustainability expert to create a SketchUp 3D model sketch of your house, customized to your needs and the opportunities and features of your property. We can do this online, saving you a lot of time and money, and giving you the opportunity to participate in the process with ideas, questions, comments, and perspectives. With this sketch, you can get a good impression of the design and functionality of your house. And you will have a file that most architects can convert into a blueprint for engineers to evaluate, for local authorities to approve, and for local builders to use for building the house for you.
Typically, developing a customized blueprint will cost 20.000-30.000 euros. But having a SketchUp sketch may reduce this cost to 8.000-18.000 euros.