I did say I would post to report back on our experience of buying an apartment in Mallorca. I've had help and advice from this forum so thanks to anyone who has posted! I'm happy to give what advice I can so any questions welcome.

We started looking for an apartment in Cala D'or about 2 years ago, it took a lot of research and investigation as there is an awful lot of stuff for sale that is simple rubbish (too small, wrong area, high charges, over priced etc. etc.). The best advice I can give to anyone looking to buy anywhere is to go there, spend time there and you can never do enough research!

Always negotiate for everything, obviously the price, ours was resale and along with every property we saw priced above what we were willing to pay. Also look at the deal as a whole, do they want "black money", we didn't want to get involved in a deal with black money as the authorities are clamping down, we stuck to our principles on this and the seller accepted in the end depite originally asking for a high percentage of the price to be undeclared!

The bank - we chose a well known internationa bank because everything could be done from the UK and the rate was good. They were not exactly keen to provide information, we had to ask the right questions and hassle them until the provided what we needed. In general they were rubbish but we now have a mortgage with a good rate so it was worthwhile. Spanish banking is at the other extreme to our free banking, they charge for everything, makesure you get the commissions in writing and negotiate! I hadn't appreciated that the mortgage is almost a separate transaction to the purchase so there is a contract lodged with the nortary, a representative from the bank attends the notary signing etc. Again, this leads to another load of fees, makesure you know what they are.

Our signing was earlier this year and it was a straightforward process mainly because we had an excellent english speaking local lawyer. This is crucial and you need to be able to trust them, a lot happens before the signing and at the signing that you don't really understand unless you speak spanish very well, at the end of the day you are effectively asking you lawyer if everything is ok even though the main documents do get translated. Despite a good lawyer we still had to chase them and the bank to find out what was going on - everyone involved knows the process and will assume you do too!

Your lawyer should be able to arrange transfer of utilities, arrange local payments for bin collection etc. Much cheaper than the UK!!!

We used HIFX to transfer money and also our bank in the UK. Don't dismiss your bank, there are circumstances where they are cheaper than a currency broker. When dealing with currency Brokers don't accept their first offer, they will improve on the rate they quote!

Hopefully that is useful, any questions let me know. PM me if you fancy renting an apartment in Cala D'or!