Before you can register the land to your name, it is best that you measure the property first. This ensures that the plot and border measurements are correct.

Land is usually measured per square meter. If the measurement in your deed doesn’t jive with your actual land, this will lead to dramatic legal issues and court hearings. You can avoid this problem by having a renowned surveyor measure your property.

You can then secure the Survey Sketch of the property. You can get this from the municipality’s Survey Department. Once you see the sketch, you can use this for comparison.

Special Power of Attorney (SPA)

The person staying abroad is also capable of selling his property by providing a Special Power of Attorney or SPA to a third party. There are instances also that require the SPA to be duly signed and witnessed by the consulate or officer of the necessary embassy.

The SPA or Special Power of Attorney authorizes the third person to vend the land on behalf of the owner. You need to make sure, in cases like this, that the SPA is legitimate.

The Agreement

When all the necessary verification has been made, you can then have a written agreement. This is important before you shell out your advance payment. It should be ideally written in a standard stamp paper.

This written agreement will ensure that no changes regarding the cost will come up eventually. Thus, it also guarantees that the property won’t be sold to someone else who can offer more money.

This written agreement should be prepared by a trusted lawyer.  It should include the following:

• The concrete cost
• The advance payment
• The time frame for the payment of the payment terms
• Default settlements for both parties, to cover for loss
• Signature of the vendor and the vendee
• Signature of two witnesses

Once this has been settled, any default made by either party allows the other to take the necessary legal action.

Registration

Once the title deed and all other relevant information have been prepared, you can now register your property with the sub-registrar office of the municipality it falls under. The title deed can be obtained from a (government) licensed Document writer. The lawyers can also prepare the deed.

This document should not be handwritten. It should either be typed or computer printed.  Only those who have a scribe license are authorized to produce handwritten documents.

Before having the document written in the stamp paper, it is best to have a draft first. This way, you can check if all the information is accurate. Once you’ve registered the document and you notice that the document has some wrong details, it will be a very tedious revision on your part. This is because the secondary document bearing the correct information needs to again be registered. Thus, the registration cost will be recurrent depending on the errors made.

Finally, you need to register it within the necessary time line mentioned in your agreement. Some of the documents needed to register the property would be:

• The Original Title Deed
• House/Property Tax Receipts
• Two Witnesses
• Torence Plan (optional, only for some areas) – the property’s detailed plan as prepared by the licensed Surveyor. Accurate measurement details, like the length, width, borders among others, are necessary.

The expenses during registration would vary and depend on the price of the property. Some of the expenses concerned would be:

• Registration fees
• Stamp Duty - varies with the Municipality to the Corporation
• Document writers fees – varies with the person/writer but cannot go beyond the percentage decreed by the concerned government
• Lawyers fees

Once all these are submitted, it will then be processed. It usually takes about two to three weeks until the registered document is released by the registrar office.

Having the Title Changed

This is the final legal step in buying the property. You need to have your name recorded in the municipality’s village office. This completes the turning over from-the-seller-to-you process.

You need to first give an application, along with a duplicate of the actual registered deed. This is also processed at the village office. Make sure you do not surrender the original copy yet.

After this, your name will be the one on record as the new owner of the property.

Other Documents (some are not really necessary):

• General Power of Attorney
• Affidavit
• Will
• Change of Address
• Nomination Form
• Indemnity Bond
• Rent Agreement

Insurance

For most people, having a property or a house is a valuable investment. It actually represent years of financial growth through hard earned money. Comparing this to beautiful dreams, there are also threats of nightmares.

These nightmares may come into the form of fire, natural calamities – like floods, earth quakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions among others. These are the major threats to your property investments. If this happens and you lose your property, it will definitely cause a serious blow.

This is why it is advisable to have your property insured. It can be your guard against unexpected risks.

*House Holders Insurance

This is actually one of the most popular insurance today. It is a protection against unforeseen events. Aside from protecting your home, it also covers your precious personal property. This includes the contents of your home, like your clothing, furniture, computer, jewelry among others. If it will be stolen, damaged or hit by unpredictable calamities, your insurance company will cover for your losses.

This type of insurance has 10 sections, depending on the section you prefer to secure. For public sector establishments, they are required to have three sections – with the burglary and fire coverage essential.

The insurance needs to be renewed annually. It is only when you purchase five to six sections that entitle you to a discount of 15% on the actual premium of the non-compulsory sections. You can also get up to 20% discount when you take more than 7 sections.

10 sections of the Insurance:

• Fire Coverage (basic policy) – This is divided into two smaller sections. One would cover the building. The other would cover the building’s contents against actual damages from allied perils, fire, natural calamities, and riots among others. It does not include valuables and jewelry.
• Coverage for damage or loss because of Burglary – This does not include gold and silver articles, jewelry, televisions, and bicycles among others covered by other sections
• Coverage for every risk against damage or loss of valuables and jewelry
• Coverage for unintentional breakdown of electronic, electrical, mechanical gadgets/appliances like microwave ovens, air-conditioners, and refrigerators among others
• Coverage for loss or damage to fragile things like glass ware (glass, plate, and chandelier among others).
• Coverage for damage or loss of TV sets, DVD’s, and computers among others against allied perils, risk-fires, theft and unintentional breakdown.
• Coverage for damage or loss to a bicycle
• Coverage for damage or loss to baggage while you’re travelling
• Coverage for personal mishap.
• Coverage for your legal accountability to a 3rd party for property damage or personal injury.

Aside from this Insurance Policy, there is an exclusive Fire Policy that covers the building and its contents from the perils of lightning, fire, earthquake, floods, and storm among others. This type of policy can be acquired for a five to ten year term. You can get more discounts on the premiums by securing a longer term policy.

*Holiday Home and Expatriate Insurance

Holiday home is also called Second Home Insurance. This type of insurance can be easily acquired. There are just about two important things you need to consider before getting this.

One would be the fact that it is very expensive. Even if you deal with a non-specialist insurer or an overseas actual insurer, the rates would be just as high.

The second problem would be about the policy documents. Most of the time, this is written in a language different from the buyers. This makes the terms and conditions difficult to understand.

*Intasure

Intasure is a type of Insurance made for expatriates. They have a property insurance that is comprehensive and borders all the risks that deal with owing a property to certain countries like UK, Portugal, Spain and a lot more.

These are some of the benefits of Intasure:

• Full comprehensive cover
• Cover when property is unoccupied or occupied ,long term or short term
• Public liability covering for holiday homes of up to £5 million and £1.5 for expatriates
• Cover for emergency accommodation and travel, also temporary accommodation to follow a claim
• Pool
• Loss of rent following a claim
• Golf Insurance-This has the widest cover. It is designed for owners of Spanish land and expatriates. It protects you as you play golf in Europe and the Mediterranean for about 365 days a year.
• Travel Insurance-Free coverage of up to 4 children per policy. It includes single trip, annual, inter sports, backpackers, business travel and golf
• Others – You can check with your Realtor or Broker for other types of Insurances necessary in buying properties overseas.