I bought a second house in Spain for $250,000, and I now prefer to live here because of the lower expenses.

Michael Steven Grant and his partner bought a second home in Sitges, a town near Barcelona, Spain. The couple still lives in the USA and can visit it for extended periods thanks to remote work.

Grant, who plans to retire in Spain, offers some tips on buying real estate abroad.

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This essay is based on a conversation with Michael Steven Grant about his decision to purchase a second property in Sitges, Spain. Grant worked in the nonprofit fundraising sector before starting his job in July at VistaFutura, a company that helps Americans buy and maintain property in Spain. Grant declined to name his partner for professional confidentiality reasons. The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.

After many years on the West Coast, I found myself back on the East Coast, in Manhattan, about eight or nine years ago. A year ago, my partner and I started thinking about where we would like to buy a second home with the hope of retiring there permanently in the future. Although we had previously lived in California, Hawaii, and other places, we couldn't settle on any one location in the United States. We visited Spain about five years ago and explored its three largest cities - Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia - so I thought we should go back and perhaps check out one of them.

We stopped in Sitges.

We decided to see what is within a 30-minute trip from Barcelona, something that would be close to a big city but still have a beach resort vibe. I did some remote research, and Sitges often came up in the results. Sitges is a very European beach town just three blocks from the Mediterranean Sea. Apartments there are twice as cheap as in Manhattan, and twice as expensive.

Michael Steven Grant

So in September we flew to Barcelona and drove about 30 minutes to Sitges. We were there for about two weeks, mainly on vacation, but also with the intention of looking at real estate for purchase. We checked out several places, but didn't make any offers right away. We had a fixed budget in mind since we still have a place in Manhattan that we have a mortgage on, so we didn't want to go beyond our means. We wanted to spend less than $500,000, which was about €300,000 at that time. The list of what we could consider in our price range was quite limited.

Through friends, we met a local bilingual Spanish lawyer who turned out to be absolutely essential. We also opened an account at the Spanish bank Santander. The process took the whole day, and our lawyer had to be with us. It's quite complicated compared to opening a bank account in New Jersey or New York.

When we returned to New York, we mostly looked for places online. It all depends on you as a buyer - you need to do your research. It's like Manhattan - if you really want something, you can find it yourself. Because everything is out there, but realtors will try to sell what they have listed, which won't always fit your budget.

We returned to Spain in March of this year and looked at maybe a dozen places, none of which we liked. Then we found another listing on this general classifieds service called Idealista. We arranged to view an apartment with our lawyer.

Logistics of purchasing abroad

We were probably among the first - if not the first - to view the apartment. We wanted to buy it at the listed price, so there were no back-and-forth negotiations. We took everything as it was. She had just updated the entire place. The apartment is on the second floor of a four-story building with two apartments per floor. It's very nice. This is a rear-facing apartment, so you don't hear noise from the street.

The next day, our lawyer met with her, us, and our banker in a neutral office and handled all the paperwork. We secured a mortgage from the bank where we opened our account. Our lawyer assisted us with this. Some people think that you can't get a mortgage through a bank account in another country. We obtained a mortgage there for an amount roughly half the cost of the apartment. We spent much less on the apartment than our budget of $500,000 - €235,000, which at that time was a little less than $250,000.

We are planning to leave this place for a few years, until we possibly finally move there. And, of course, maybe buy another one. We go there for a couple of weeks every quarter, so we arrive every three months.

The key point is patience.

In the apartments and houses, there is no heating. In winter, it can drop to 60 or 50 degrees at night. In summer, we turn on a small air conditioner in the living room. Electricity and other bills are not high.

In Sitges and Barcelona, business is conducted very personally, one-on-one. Of course, some things are done electronically, such as payments and deposits, but much is done in a way that you might think could have been done 40 or 50 years ago. Everything must be registered at the city notary's office. Therefore, there are many small details that you absolutely cannot handle on your own.

For many Americans, I would say that you need to be very patient. Yes, it's a different country, a different language, different banks, different real estate; things won't move as quickly as you might be used to here. As long as you are very patient and say, "Okay, I'm going to the bank, and it's going to take two or three hours," and accept that, then there will be lunch, drinks, and quite possibly even a nap, and that might be the only thing you do that day. You will be frustrated if you try to get certain things done quickly.