Mortgage advisor Spain: what arranging your loan costs
Our fee amounts to 1 % of the loan amount arranged and is payable only if the arrangement is successful. No IVA, no upfront payment, no processing fee if the arrangement does not go through. The mechanism behind this: because Perini does not take any bank commission, we approach at least 2 out of 15–20 banks for each case — including the online banks that do not pay broker commission and with whom commission-based brokers therefore do not work. This applies to purchase finance, construction instalments during the building period and borrowing against existing property — all from a single source.
What do you charge, and when is the fee due?
We charge 1 % of the loan actually arranged, not of the purchase price, and the fee is payable only if the financing goes through. There is no upfront payment, no handling charge and no IVA. You pay the fee, not the bank, and the amount is fixed before the first application.
Why do you pay the fee and not the bank?
You pay the fee, not the bank. Anyone who is paid solely by the banks is working for the institution that pays the most, not for the case that is the best fit.
How much does it cost to arrange a mortgage in Spain or Portugal? The fee for arranging a mortgage in Spain or Portugal is 1 % of the actual loan amount arranged — not the purchase price — and is payable only if the arrangement is successful.
If no financing is arranged, you pay nothing: no upfront payment, no processing fee, no IVA. If the loan amount is lower than planned, the fee is reduced accordingly.
The amount is fixed before the first application is submitted. In addition to this, there are purchase costs which are not payable to us — property transfer tax, notary and Registro fees, tasación, and fees for a lawyer or gestoría.
This means that the brokerage bears its own risk: if the deal falls through because of the bank, the tasación or the property, you will not incur any costs. The bank’s terms and conditions remain unaffected — the fee is not included in the interest rate.
Where does our loyalty lie when we charge no bank commission?
The customer pays, not the bank — we deliberately charge no bank commission, so that our loyalty is clearly with you.
In Germany, it is usually the bank that pays the intermediary. In the Spanish and Portuguese markets for non-residents, things are different: anyone who accepts payment exclusively from the banks there is, in effect, working for the institutions that pay the most — and will refer you there, rather than to the place where your case would be best handled.
Our fee comes from you. This makes the issue of loyalty crystal clear — and we can tell you if a property or a deal isn’t viable, without it costing us anything to be honest. How expensive the estate agent route becomes and where the mark-up is hidden is shown in the article The hidden estate agent mark-up on financing.
Success-based: No approval, no invoice. We share the risk of rejection. No hidden surcharge: The fee is not included in the interest rate and is not added to the loan amount.
In fact, it works the other way round: because we do not accept bank commission, institutions that do not pay intermediary commission are also open to us — including online banks.
In practice, the loans we arrange are therefore 0.25 to 0.7 percentage points lower than commission-based offers — this is the norm, but no guarantee; in individual cases, it depends on the property, the loan-to-value ratio, the fixed-rate period and creditworthiness. The arrangement fee (comisión de apertura) is often waived.
What other costs are there?
Transfer tax (ITP), or IVA plus AJD on a new-build, notary and land registry, valuation and your lawyer or gestoría — paid to third parties, not to us, and not financed alongside the loan.
Separately, purchase costs arise that do not go to us — transfer tax, notary and land registry, the valuation (tasación), and your lawyer or gestoría.
Mortgage advisor Spain: what does the 1 % fee come to in euros?
On a loan of €200,000 the fee is €2,000, on €350,000 it is €3,500 and on €600,000 it is €6,000. It is payable on completion.
Our fee comes from you. That settles the question of loyalty — and it lets us tell you when a property or a constellation does not hold, without honesty costing us money. How much the broker-arranged route costs and where the mark-up hides is set out in The hidden broker mark-up on your mortgage.
Why do we show a representative example?
Advertising a rate obliges us to show what it means in figures.
Here it is — calculated with the bonificación at the lowest rate in the range. Depending on the bank and credit profile, the rate is higher. What the discount requires, what it is worth and what applies without it is set out below. Loan amount: €200,000. Loan-to-value: 70 %. Term: 20 years, fully amortising loan.
Fixed borrowing rate: 2.4 % (with bonificación). Monthly payment: €1,050.09. APR (TAE): 2.45 % — excluding the running costs of the bundled products (bank-dependent). Total amount payable: €252,022. Assumptions: Valuation (tasación) €400, no arrangement fee (comisión de apertura 0 %).
The borrowing rate shown applies with the bonificación; it requires two to four bundled products, depending on the bank, whose running costs are not included in the APR. Without the bonificación the rate is 3.4 % → payment €1,149.67, APR 3.48 %.
The discount is therefore worth about €1,195 a year. It requires two to four, depending on the bank, bundled products (typically: bank account, term life cover, buildings insurance, alarm system). The bundled products carry running costs that can partly or fully offset the rate discount.
Whether the bonificación pays off depends on what those products cost in your case — we calculate that against the discount before you sign.
Rates as at 6 October 2026. Source: Perini’s own bank survey (as at October 2026); 12-month Euríbor: Banco de España / EMMI.
Not an offer and not a financing commitment — the rate you are actually granted depends on the bank, the property and your file.
Will the bank finance the costs that do not come to us?
Buying property in Spain or Portugal brings costs that do not come to us and that the bank will generally not finance alongside the loan.
Transfer tax (ITP), or IVA plus AJD on a new-build — Paid to: the regional tax authority. Notary and land registry (Registro) — Paid to: the notary's office, Registro de la Propiedad. Valuation (Tasación) — Paid to: a licensed valuation company. Lawyer or gestoría — Paid to: your own legal representation. Arranging the financing — Paid to: Perini — 1 % on success.
These closing costs have to come out of your own funds. They sit outside the loan, which is why the equity you need is the unfinanced part of the price plus this list — not just the deposit. Underestimating them is the most common avoidable mistake in a cross-border purchase, and it shows up at the worst possible moment: at the notary appointment, when there is no time left to close the gap.
The regional differences matter here more than most buyers expect, because the largest item on the list is set by the autonomous region rather than nationally. Two otherwise comparable properties in different regions can therefore carry noticeably different closing costs.
Why the fee model changes which lenders you are shown at all is explained on non-resident mortgage in Spain.
Model calculations without guarantee. Not binding offers. Terms vary depending on credit profile, property and bank. No tax or legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
What does arranging the mortgage cost?
The fee amounts to 1 % of the actual loan amount arranged — so €3,500 for a €350,000 loan — and is payable only upon successful arrangement, with no IVA and no upfront payment. It is the customer who pays, not the bank: Perini deliberately does not accept any bank commission, so that our loyalty lies squarely with you rather than with the institutions that pay the most.
Is the brokerage fee included in the mortgage interest rate?
No. The fee is not included in the interest rate and is not added to the loan amount. The bank’s terms and conditions remain unaffected.
What if no loan materialises?
Then you pay nothing. The fee is success-based and agreed in advance, before the first application is submitted — no approval, no invoice.
What other costs are there?
Transfer tax (ITP), or IVA plus AJD on a new-build, notary and land registry, valuation and your lawyer or gestoría — paid to third parties, not to us, and not financed alongside the loan.
Related pages
The hidden broker mark-up on your mortgage
Let your agent arrange the mortgage in Spain or Portugal and you often pay tens of thousands more — hidden in the rate, usually unnoticed.
Buying costs in detail
Cost of buying property in Spain: ITP by region, notary, land registry, lawyer — the full breakdown with a worked example.
Non-resident mortgage in Spain
Non-resident mortgage in Spain: up to 70 % of the tasación, broker fee paid by you, not the bank. Licence § 34i GewO, register D-W-132-ZUCB-95.
Portugal mortgage calculator: what will your non-resident loan cost?
For a €400,000 purchase with an 80 % loan, that means around €80,000 in equity plus roughly €40,000 in costs before the first instalment is due.
Spanish mortgage plus German top-up: how does the combination work?
First, the amount. Securing a Spanish property from Germany produces lending well below what the Spanish bank will advance against the same property.
Mortgage rates Spain: what do fixed, variable and mixed cost right now?
Variable mortgages add a margin of 0.25 to 0.9 per cent to the 12-month Euribor, currently 2.95 per cent. Mixed-rate mortgages add 0.1 to 0.3 per cent.
Mortgage rates Portugal: what does the fixed rate cost non-residents?
A discounted rate requires bundled products from the bank. Portuguese banks typically lend up to 80 per cent of the lower of purchase price or Avaliação.
Spanish mortgage calculator: what will your non-resident mortgage cost?
First, the loan-to-value limit: non-residents typically finance up to 70 % of the lower of purchase price and tasación in Spain — the rest is equity.
Refinancing a Spanish mortgage: When is it worth switching — and when isn’t it?
The savings over the remaining term are weighed against the costs of switching: a new tasación, notary fees, land registry charges and, where applicable, early repayment charges.
Self-disclosure form: What do banks in Spain and Portugal want to know?
Each of these is set out in the self-disclosure form before any application is submitted — which is why this form alone is enough to tell whether a case has merit.
Content by Siegfried Perini — local brand representative since 2019, active in real estate since 1992, entered in the German intermediary register (§ 11a GewO) as a person directly involved in brokerage and advice. Point of contact for German-speaking buyers in Spain and Portugal. Brokerage by Olga Nikushkina, mortgage credit intermediary under § 34i German Trade Regulation (GewO); in Portugal through a locally licensed intermediary.