Guides

Rent, food, transport, healthcare and tax, with real 2026 numbers. Where Madrid is far cheaper than the US, where it is not, and the part most guides leave out.

Not legally, but the notary is impartial and does not act for you, and your deposit is committed long before you reach them. What a lawyer checks, and the cost.

There is no restriction on Americans buying in Spain. What catches people out is that the process has no contingencies, no title company and no MLS, and the notary is not your attorney.

You can build in Spain as a foreigner, but almost everything that decides whether the project works is settled before you buy the land. What to check, what the price is really made of, and whether building beats buying.

How schools work in Madrid, why your address decides whether your child gets a place, where the international schools cluster, and what a family home here needs that nobody warns you about.

What changed since Brexit, why the Spanish buying process is nothing like the English one, where British families tend to land in Madrid and the order I would do things in.

Spanish banks lend to foreigners, but less and slower. How much you really need in cash, the valuation trap, and the deposit contract mistake that costs the most.

Real asking prices by district in Madrid, what your budget actually buys, the 10 per cent nobody budgets for, and which areas are rising fastest.

No credit score, months of rent up front, and square metres instead of square feet. What actually surprises Americans about renting and buying in Madrid.

The three documents that decide how smooth your first month in Madrid goes, in the order that actually works, and the traps that slow everyone down.