How wonderful that you are thinking of buying a home in the sun! You have a fantastic journey ahead of you and MiMove is here to help you to find your dream home!

We are all used to the way of buying a property at home; which websites to go to, we trust the agents, trust the information about the property we are given, and we trust that the property is in fact for sale. We also believe that it will be easy to arrange a viewing and to talk to someone about the property. It all sounds pretty logical, right?

Well, different countries have different customs and sometimes it clashes with what we are used to. That is why we have created MiMove. We want you to have an easy and pleasant experience when searching for a property, learn about different areas, learn more about the purchasing process, taxes and fees, and where the local property market is heading next.

Vetted agents

Did you know by the way, that all agents advertising their properties on MiMove.com are controlled and vetted by us? That means that we have met with them and ensured that they meet our requirements on transparency and business acumen before allowing them to advertise with us. No cowboy agents will ever be allowed to advertise on MiMove.com.

MiMove Verified

Another thing that we do to make sure the process is safe and pleasant for you while you are looking for a home in the sun is that the MiMove verification team double-check and verify the agents’ property details. We call that MiMove Verified listings and we mark them clearly with the thumbs up symbol. The symbol shows that the property details are of the highest standards, both regarding photographs and information.

Unverified

Sometimes the agents, for some reason or another, don’t have good enough photographs or information to qualify for a MiMove Verified listing and in that case; it will get less room on MiMove.com – the pictures are smaller, and the details are fewer. To make it easy for you to know what kind of quality the details are we have colour coded them for you. The red ones are of the most basic quality and then they get better and better until all the dots are green. If you only want to see MiMove Verified listings, you can select that on top of the property index.

Regardless of the quality of the property details, you can trust that all properties on MiMove are marketed by an agent who has the sales agreement with the owner of the property and that it is registered in the Spanish Land Registry.

If you click on a listing in the property index and scroll down you can see details on that property. Keep an eye out for the orange ticks as those are the features included in that property. Is there no orange tick next to a feature, then that feature is not included. Also, further down the page, you can find details on extra costs like taxes and fees.

Bank repossessions

Another listing format on MiMove.com differs from the others as it is for Bank repossessions. They are owned by banks and are clearly marked. When the original owner defaulted on their mortgage, the bank repossessed the property and is now selling it, often below the current market value. We are proud to be the only international property portal showing them.

However, there are some pitfalls when considering a bank repossession, for example, it may have stood empty for a while. MiMove’s concept is to control and vet all agents’ advertising on MiMove but in regard to the bank repossessed properties we haven’t. The banks deal with the sale themselves alternatively give the prospect to an independent consultant. Should you be interested in exploring the avenue of buying a bank repossessed property, find out more here.

You can bag a real bargain, perhaps to flip, buy to let or to retire in style down the line, as long as you keep in mind that there are special circumstances when buying a repossessed property. Please, also keep in mind that MiMove often gets very limited information on the individual properties from the banks (often just size, price, and address) meaning you will have to contact the bank to ask them to fill in the blanks. Please also note, the bank repossessions showing on MiMove are only available in Spain.

Tax calculator

In different countries, and even within the same country different taxes and fees are added when buying a property. To make it easier for you, who are looking for a home in the sun, we have created a tax calculator. You can use it to find out what it would cost you in total to buy in a certain area. Here is the calculator for Spain, and here is the one for Portugal.

Search and filter

There are many different ways to search for your dream home on MiMove.com. For example, you can filter your searches by selecting different features under FILTERS. You can select the size, price, and the number of rooms, etc. If visiting MiMove.com on your laptop you can also click on the green plus icon and get the opportunity to select palm trees, sea view or walking distance to the beach (or any other interesting feature).

You can also filter based on new development or bank repossessions. Please keep in mind, however, that we often have very limited details for the bank repossessions. Should you select bank repossessions and palm trees you will, therefore, get zero properties. That does not mean there are no bank repossessed properties with palm trees in the garden, it only means that we are not aware of that information.  When it comes to bank repossessions you will need to contact the bank via the form on the MiMove.com to get more information on the property.

When you have done a search, you can save it under “Create an alert” to get emails with new properties matching your search.

Map Search

Another way, also only available on laptop, is Map Search.  When visiting the map, you will see lots of markings, light and dark green. The dark green markings are the bank repossessions and the light green are properties for sale by private vendors (or builders) who are selling via an estate agent. Keep in mind that many estate agents may only have given us an approximation of the location and then we will show that as a circle instead of an exact point of address.

LifeStyle Search

If you still don’t know where to look for your dream home, you can try out our Lifestyle-search. There you can select what is important to you; culture, nightlife, sports etc and the system will give you suggestions. Perhaps you will discover new places that will become favourites of yours?

Blogs

We also run blogs with information and inspiration for you who are looking to buy a property in the sun. A solicitor based on Costa del Sol blogs about what to think about when buying or owning. And we run a blog with posts with useful tips and information on living in Spain and Portugal.

We also have many guest bloggers sharing their stories on when they moved or how their lives have turned out after having bought a property in the sun. Some are digital nomads and can work wherever they are, some have retired and some have moved and found a new job locally. By signing up for our newsletter you won’t miss any of our inspirational and useful blog posts. You can sign up at the very bottom of this page.

MiMove Insights

The whole process of finding and buying a home abroad may feel a bit daunting. Nobody wants to be cheated or taken advantage of, right? We are used to knowing our home market well; where is the property market headed, what is the average price etc. To make it easier for you when looking for a home in Spain, we have created MiMove Insights where we present public statistics on the Spanish property market for you to use. We have even made it searchable for it to be really useful. Why not have a look?

Do remember that it is trends and averages that are interesting. A ruin in the mountains will always be cheaper than a newbuild apartment with a sea view close to the beach. But as long as you remember that as well as keep an eye on if the numbers are for region, province or city and if they are annually or quarterly, the information can be really useful when looking for your dream property.

We don’t have the corresponding feature for Portugal yet.

Are you an avid MiMove-user? Would you like to share your experiences? We would love to hear from you. Please, send us an email to info@mimove.com.

Good luck with your search for your dream home in the sun!