That's the house we almost had!
Since January, Jose and I have been looking for a house to buy. It seems like a great market for buyers, but there are some really interesting factors in play that haven't made it that easy. But that's a different post. Last Friday, we met with a real estate agent, Pablo, to see a house in Villamiel de Toledo, one of our preferred villages. We loved the house. We loved the village. We loved the pantry and the chimney. And the price, 150,000, wasn't that hard to love either. Pablo, the real estate agent, told us that the house already had a mortgage with Caja Castilla la Mancha (yes, the same one that the Bank of Spain has just taken over)that the constructor was still paying, and the bank was eager to pass the mortgage to an individual. Ok, that sounds normal.
We talked about it all weekend and ran all the numbers. We decided that it was what we were looking for and that if a meeting at the bank went well, we'd sign the intention to buy contract and give a reserve to Pablo. So we went to the bank and met Guillermo, the bank manager in Fuensalida. Guillermo was extremely eager to give us the mortgage and when he saw that Jose is a civil servant, he very nearly wet himself. Everything went great. (Even the conditions of the mortgage.)
We called Pablo and told him we'd like to sign the intention to buy contract, but we'd like to do it Friday (since that's the only day I don't work in the afternoon) and before that we'd like him to send us a copy of the official property record (where it shows everything that has happened to the house: buyings, sellings, mortgages etc). Although Pablo argued that it wasn't necessary, since we'd see it when we went to the notary (to sign everything), he agreed to send it to us.
This is where it gets hairy. It turns out that the house was built in 2006-2007. In 2006 a third person, Antonio, who happens to have only one hand, signed an intention to buy contract and paid the constructor some money. One handed Antonio, from Madrid, is what they so eloquently call a "pasa pisero", a guy who goes around agreeing to buy half built houses so he can later sell them for a higher price when they are finished, but without ever actually buying them. In other words, one handed Antonio never paid more than 6,000 euros for the house, nor does he have the deeds to the house. The only thing he has is a contract saying that the constructor has to sell him that house.
Ok, between the time the house is finished and December 2008, the house doesn't sell. Someone was paying the mortgage, but we don't know if it was the constructor or one handed Antonio. In December 2008, the constructor went bankrupt and all his assets were taken over by an administrator in Madrid, including said house. Now, it seems that Pablo, the real estate agent, has been contracted by one handed Antonio to sell this house, which he doesn't really own. If we buy it, everything may seem ok and we would get the deeds and everything, but the administrators in Madrid could repossess our house any time during the next two years, because it was sold during the bankruptcy proceedings and not sold by them. That would be really bad.
What we do not understand is where the bank fits into all this. Why would they give us a mortgage when they know that the house can't be legally sold? My guess is that Pablo, Guillermo and one handed Antonio either are related, went to primary school together or both, and they all are looking to receive a little under the table compensation for the illegal sale of this house.
While obviously Jose and I are disappointed about not buying the house we really like, for the price we really like and in the place we really like, we are so much more relieved to have found all this out now, before we've signed or paid anything! Oh, and by the way, the way we found this out was by enchufe, Jose's got a friend in the house registry where the house is listed. If not, God only knows where we might have ended up!
