Krystal Homes - Work Out Your Finances

Work out your finances - Whats the next step >

It’s an enormously exciting time – you’ve found the home you want and now you’re ready to make your property purchase. But where do you start?

Krystal Homes make the process as easy and enjoyable as possible, even if you’re buying as an investor and never intend to live there.

One way we can help you is by taking the stress and strain out of ‘the money side of things.’ We can recommend a number of Independent Financial Advisers to help you maximise your buying power. We can even help you save money when buying your foreign currency.

So your dream home is closer than you imagine

Buying in Greece

Additional costs on purchasing

All illustrations of cost are based on a purchase price of €120,000 (£94,500 based on an exchange rate of €1.27 to £1). Exchange rates are subject to fluctuation.

Example of additional purchase expenses*
Greek Tax (between 8% and 19%)	Payable on the declared value of the property	€22,800(max)
Legal fees**	Preparing the title deed, registering the property sale, solicitor's costs and notary charges	€2,400
Notary Fees	Preparation of paperwork and stamps	€2,400
Connection charges	Paid by the builder	€0
Owners Club fee	Liason with your builders during the build period, legal representative and bank	€900
	Total additional costs £19,690*	€28,500

** Legal Fees vary depending on sale price.

The cost of living – uncovered!

Similarly, once you’ve bought your property, you’ll have to allow for the normal, everyday expenses that are part and parcel of running a home. Once again, these are mostly the same bills you’d expect to see living in the UK – but whether you’re living in Spain, Mallorca, Cyprus or Portugal, each country has it’s own individual system and rates.

No matter where you live you’ll have running expenses to pay for. The good news is that in hot countries like Crete you’ll find your heating bills a good deal smaller than in the UK.

But it’s important to investigate the cost of things like electricity, mains water and local rates before you make any purchase so you can budget accordingly.

Below is an example of the annual running costs of villa ownership in Crete:

* Illustrations based on a buying price of €120,000 (inc. tax) (£94,500*) based on an exchange rate of €1.45 to £1, exchange rates are subject to fluctuation).

*Example of approximate annual cost of ownership

Urbanisation fee

Payable to the developers or the management company for maintaining the common areas, gardens and pool

€600

Real Estate tax

This arrives every 2 months with your utilities bill, and is clearly itemised. It is relative to the size of the property as well as the amount of electricity used.

€240

Insurance

Buildings and contents, the same as the UK.

€264

Electricity/
Water

These bills arrive separately every 2 months

€300

Accountant

A local book keeper who submits yearly tax forms on owners behalf

€150

Total

€1,554
£1,224*

*All costs are estimates and for guidance only. Sterling prices are based on an exchange rate of €1.27 to £1 and are liable to fluctuation.

Your mortgage

Remortgaging in the UK? Euro Mortgage. Second or main home? Interest only or repayment? Fixed rate or variable?

These probably aren’t the kinds of questions you’re asking yourself right now, but when making a property purchase abroad it’s important to know you have a sound financial plan. Interest rates in Europe can be much lower than in the UK, so your dream home may be more affordable than you think.

Our financial partners are available to you to offer you the same independence, value and choice in their recommendations that we give you in choosing your home. They’re free to suggest the best mortgage deals, whether in the UK or overseas KrystalHomes operates in conjunction with a number of Europe's most prestigious high street banks and lenders.

They’ll show you how to plan your finances for your property purchase. It means you can be confident about how much you have to spend when you fly over to take a look at the homes you’re interested in and how you can arrange funding for your stage payments. You can even obtain a mortgage 'Agreement in principle' before you travel, to make your buying position even stronger.

Don't worry about making any commitments too soon - we promise that if you need help with any aspects of buying your dream property, our financial partners will make it absolutely clear as to how owning your dream home really is more affordable than you think.

Buying currency

Buying a property abroad is often the realisation of a personal dream and probably represents one of the greatest expenses of your life. As part of the purchase process, you will need to transfer a Sterling sum into another currency to pay for your property. This vital element of the purchase process - one that is often overlooked - can make a huge difference to the price, in Sterling, that you will pay for your dream home.

You might naturally assume that your bank will take care of your payments on your property and, indeed, they can. But because retail banks are not specialists in foreign exchange, you could end up spending much more than you have to.

Uncompetitive rates of exchange, high transfer fees and a range of hidden charges will soon add up. Furthermore, constantly fluctuating exchange rates can seriously damage your wealth.

Krystal Homes has chosen to partner with foreign exchange specialists Moneycorp in order to help you, our clients, with foreign exchange transactions. Moneycorp is an alternative to your bank for making international money transfers, and as foreign exchange specialists, they can offer better rates of exchange and a personal, proactive and efficient service that could save you a considerable amount of money.