What we missed during our own purchase is exactly what Casa Connecta does now.
Lotte Schouwenaars and Sander Leenders are the founders of Casa Connecta. We've known the Costa Brava since childhood, have lived in Baix Empordà for most of the year since 2025, and bought, financed, and renovated our own home there. Casa Connecta is built from what we missed along the way.
Lotte spent years running projects in the Netherlands: the planning, the people, the progress. Sander coordinated property projects from purchase to handover, in the Netherlands and in Spain, for himself and for people he knows. The coordinating, we'd done before. The Spanish purchase we did for the first time ourselves.
From 2022 we searched along the coast, in Calella de Palafrugell and Llafranc. Supply is tight there, and good properties rarely come up. We viewed eight homes. Not one was quite right. At the end of 2024 the right one came onto the market, dated throughout. In the spring of 2025 we bought it.
We knew the region. We spoke the language. And yet it stalled. The NIE application, the number every foreign buyer needs. A mortgage file that had us supplying the same documents again and again: the bank said everything was complete, and a week later it wasn't. Contract clauses we negotiated ourselves.
None of these obstacles was insurmountable. Together they showed what was missing: one party watching the full picture, on the buyer's side, only for you. So we built what we wished we'd had. That became Casa Connecta.
"If this was already this complicated for us, with the language, the network, and the local knowledge, what's it like for someone without any of that?"
We've been coming here since childhood. First on holiday, then for longer stretches, and since 2025 for most of the year. When we decided to buy in 2022, we built our network straight away: architects, contractors, agents, and contacts at the ayuntamientos.
We put that network to the test with our own renovation. At the end of 2025 we had that same dated house fully renovated: wiring, plumbing, bathrooms, kitchen, plastering, window frames. The permit came through quickly from the municipality. The schedule ran over a little, but it stayed under control, because someone was keeping an eye on the project as a whole. We know the villages, the trades, and the local rhythms, not from a guidebook, but from daily life here.
Spain is much larger than where we work: Costa del Sol, Mallorca, Marbella. We don't work there, because we don't live there. In Baix Empordà we know which ayuntamiento responds quickly, which architect fits the project, and which contractor suits which kind of work. Renovating from a distance is possible, but without someone on the ground, you miss signals you can't afford to miss.
Mortgage coordination works differently. Banks and ACI-certified advisors work across Spain, and so does Casa Connecta Finance. For renovation, it stays Baix Empordà.
A property coordinator is not an estate agent, not a mortgage advisor, not a contractor. It's an independent role: one independent party overseeing the full process, on the buyer's side, only for you.
In practice:
Right now, Lotte and Sander take on each file together. Who leads depends on the case: mortgage, renovation, or both.
We earn only from you.
Banks, contractors, and lawyers don't pay us, and we have no arrangements with parties behind the scenes. That's what working independently means for us: your interest is literally the only interest we have.
If the mortgage carries more risk than you've been told, or if a contractor's quote doesn't add up, we'll say so. Even when it's inconvenient.
On mortgage coordination, the legal position is clear: Casa Connecta Finance doesn't provide mortgage advice. That's done by ACI-certified Spanish advisors under Spanish law (Ley 5/2019). We coordinate the file and the process around it.
Tell us what you're considering: financing in Spain, renovation on the Costa Brava, or both. We'll get back to you by email within 24 hours, in your language. No obligation. Just clarity.
Reply within 24 hours · In your language
