DE ▾
English
Dansk
Español
Nederlands
Norsk
In short: On 6 September 2026 Boligen, the property supplement of the Danish national newspaper Berlingske, ran a full-page interview with Mikael Hansen, owner of Plexo Properties, on the mistakes that make a Spanish property purchase expensive. His four points: start with the purpose, not the property; use an independent lawyer who is separate from the agent; work with one buyer’s agent who can search the whole market through the MLS rather than contacting ten; and decide between new build and resale before falling for a view. The full Danish article is available on the Danish version of this page.
Most of our clients are Danish, Norwegian, German and Dutch, and the same questions come up whichever language they arrive in. What actually goes wrong when a Northern European buys on the Costa del Sol and regrets it later? It is rarely the property. It is the decisions around it. That was the conversation when journalist Martin Andersen of Partnermedier interviewed Mikael Hansen for Berlingske’s property supplement, Boligen.
The interview ran as a full page on 6 September 2026. The original Danish text is reproduced in full on the Danish version of this page, with permission from Partnermedier. The complete supplement can be read at Partnermedier on Issuu. Below is a summary in English.
How the story starts
More than 45 years ago Mikael took an evening walk on a Spanish beach with a woman he had just met. They agreed that if they grew old together, they would one day move to Spain. She became his wife, and the plan eventually became reality. After a career in sales, marketing and management in Denmark, the couple bought their own home on the Costa del Sol in 2011. The agent who showed them the property, as Mikael puts it, more or less just opened the door. That looked like easy money. In 2019 he founded Plexo Properties and found out fairly quickly that it is anything but.
The four points from the interview
Start with the purpose, not the property
Will the home be used a few weeks a year, rented out, or eventually become a permanent residence? Where on the coast? And how much of the overall finances may it take up? Buying the wrong property is expensive: taxes and costs come on top of the price, and a quick resale rarely recovers them. As Mikael says in the article, the property must not eat the whole budget. You need to be able to afford the life around it.
Keep agent and lawyer separate
A Spanish purchase does not follow the Danish model, so Mikael always recommends an independent lawyer who reviews the paperwork and handles the legal side. He is happy to recommend lawyers he knows do good work, but the client chooses, and the lawyer must have no stake in the deal. Buyers should also check the agent’s experience, certifications, local network and professional affiliations. Plexo Properties is a member of GIPE, the Spanish professional real estate association, and works to the standards of the European MMCEPI/CEPI Quality Label.
One agent can open the whole market
Mikael works primarily as a buyer’s agent. Through the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), a shared database in which agents along the Costa del Sol list properties with each other, he can search thousands of homes from a single desk. The work is therefore less about having stock and more about understanding the buyer. The same system is used to sell Green Hill 14, a villa at Cabopino Golf that a Danish owner moved to Plexo Properties as an exclusive listing after first trying another agent. Sharing it through the MLS means an agent with a strong German or Dutch network may be sitting with exactly the right buyer.
New build or resale?
With new builds you often buy before completion and may wait years for the keys, in return for newer building standards. With resales you can stand in the property today, but legal documentation and the condition of the home need a thorough check. Most buyers still choose resale, because they want to feel whether a home is right. And Mikael’s advice to those standing in the perfect one: stop and listen. Can you hear the road? If it would bother you, do not buy. He is fine with that.
What to do next
If you are weighing up a purchase yourself, the practical side is covered elsewhere on the site. The buyer’s guide to the Costa del Sol walks through the process from reservation to deed, the cost calculator shows what comes on top of the price, and the area guide helps with the question of where on the coast you actually want to live.
Talk to Mikael about your purchase
Tell us what the property is for and where you picture yourself living, and we will come back with an honest view of what is realistic.
Source: “Sådan undgår du de dyre fejl ved boligkøb i Spanien” by Martin Andersen, Boligen (advertising supplement to Berlingske), 6 September 2026, published by Partnermedier. Reproduced with permission.