Real estate in Tenerife employs its own jargon.

Real estate in Tenerife uses its own terms to describe types of houses or, even land. All are options for a holiday home in Tenerife. Every country uses its own expressions to describe real estate.

The American terms condos or flats are not used in Tenerife.
However, it's always possible that they may appear in the future.

Real estate in Tenerife Spanish terms translated and more.

• Una casa is a house that may be anywhere while estar en casa also means to be at home, by the way.
• Una casa rural is a house in rural area.
• Una casa adosada is an attached Tenerife townhouse. It may be modern or, a simple older type townhouse.
  At least 2 townhouses are attached side by side to make up adosadas.
Here, you see a row of modern townhouses. Modern townhouses take up a big chunk in real estate in Tenerife.

The inside and outside features of adosadas vary.

Usually, they come with small balconies.

New Tenerife townhouses
almost always have roof gardens (azoteas) with penthouses called aticos. An interesting article is dealing with the relation of azoteas and penthouses.

The private grounds
around a newish townhouse are rather small.

Not all have garages. Some have a backyard patio. Olden day townhouses have indoor patios and sometimes also back gardens like some old amazing Orotava townhouses . Some, even have a cellar in the basement. Some have a tiny front garden. Others are paved up in front.

• Una casona was the term for a big, luxury house used by the upper class in the past. One may compare it to a mansion. However, mansions are usually free standing. Mansions as well as casonas are hard to get today.
.
Some casonas are restaurants today
like the one in the photo of Puerto de la Cruz. It's inviting front shows with another restaurant in a holiday 1997.

You are seeing
only a small part of the very large indoor patio of Restaurant Casona with tables and a fountain.

The upper floor
all around the patio
makes for height.
This is typical for a casona.

Casonas may also be
small hotels nowadays like the one in the picture below. Real estate in Tenerife agents have rather large farmsteads (fincas, on their books, nowadays, that may be turned into country hotels or anything else which makes good business for tourism. Casonas are rare jams to get hold off for purchase but, are, at times, available for business rent.



Casonas belong to
the finest real
estate in
Tenerife when
they are
renovated.

What you see here
is the small, nostalgic
Hotel Marqueza
in Puerto de la Cruz.

This casona is also a
casa adosada (townhouse)because, there are a row of casonas attached to each other. All this is right in the hub of the oldest Tenerife resort in the north of the Island Tenerife.

• Un chalet is a more luxury house with garden around it, usually. It may also be called a villa in English.
• Un apartamento is a Tenerife apartment living unit which is normally found in apartment buildings.
  Apartments in Tenerife don't have more than 2 bedrooms. The word pisos is usually applied to larger apartments. Tenerife apartments have a kitchen and, 1 or 2 small bathrooms, usually. A balcony is normally part of it.
  Please, note that private living units are rarely on ground floors in Spain. The exception are, generally, village townhouses that are often attached, hence adosadas.
• Un estudio is a studio which may be similar to a condo. A studio is generally the smallest living unit of real estate in Tenerife. A studio is very often a small self contained apartment or, a self contained flat in American terms. Not all studios in Tenerife are fully equipped. 99% have basic interior which include at least hot plates and fridge as appliances.



A studio in Tenerife may have an open plan American kitchen inside the living room.

I have seen a studio that had 3 cupboards with a couple of built in hot plates as well as a sink and, a small fridge within the entrance passage. The kitchen may be semi separate like in this picture which
is more rare. This kitchen can't be seen from the living room.

A studio may have a separate full bathroom. However, it may only have a shower cubicle, toilet and, wash basin. The smallest studio I have seen had 26 square meters.

• Un estudio apartamento is a studio apartment. It is very much like the normal studio but, it has a separate room or alcove for sleeping.
• Un solar is a piece of ground of real estate in Tenerife which may be for private purpose or, for commercial use.
• Una finca is usually a rural house or, a farmstead. The finca may also just have a ruin or more. A finca may be by the coast as well. When something is being planted around the farmstead which might even be a villa then it's still called a finca. Los Realejos in the north has some beautiful fincas by the coast.
• Un viñedo is a vineyard.
• Una mansión is a mansion.
• Un hotel, hoteles stands for a hotel, hotels.
• Una pensión is a small guest house. Real backpacker hostels are very rare in Tenerife. The Refugio del Teide is a backpacker establishment very close to Mount Teide.

Information on the Backpackers' lodge 'Refugio del Teide' may be found in page Teide excursions.

• Una casita is a cottage.
• Una cabana is a shed.


• Una cueva is a cave where Guanches the former inhabitants of Tenerife used to live.

I have seen a few cabanas not far from Agua Mansa on the Orotava Teide mountain road. One of the cabanas burned down in the forest during Tenerife wildfires. One could see the cabana's debris and left overs of furniture in a Tenerife newspaper.

Tenerife apartments are often in new buildings that have a name.

Such a building is then called Edificio (building) Carmen or whatever.

Please, note that you must never forget to write down the name of a building in postal addresses... Street names and numbers are often hard to find by a postman. He is rather orientating himself with names of buildings or, bars nearby. That may sound funny, but, it's true.

Here, you see a red Tenerife apartment building which is not old. To the left of it is a lovely yellow painted 'casita' (small house).

The Tenerife house on your right doesn't have a building name. But one may see its house number by the front door. That house has 2 pisos (2 floors.)

By the way, apartments are usually called pisos as well all over Spain. In Tenerife the term apartamentos which means apartments is rather used for a flat that has not more than 2 bed rooms.

About Tenerife residential property:

Following real estate in Tenerife building glossary are ways of buying Tenerife property with glossary terms explained.

Buying Know How guide facts with much technical term glossary.
Tenerife Property guide for selling
Tenerife mortgages are called hipotecas.

More property related terms for Tenerife:

Reverse mortgages in broader spectrum
How avoid foreclosure
Mortgages in Spain in general
House flipping and its Tenerife law.
Property law Spain and inheritance tax
Tenerife holiday rental guide
Property investment Tenerife compared
Take Tenerife property chance or not?
Tenerife property fraud review
Timeshares Europe and essence of timeshare
Holiday Villa Tenerife renovation review.

In case you have not clicked above on townhouses in La Orotava would you like to see some great photos?Please, go from real estate in Tenerife to townhouses in la Orotava where you can also get an idea on how wealthy people were living in past centuries. To see Tenerife historic interior decorating best, however, go to Abaco with entertaining and events which could be a free standing townhouse or villa today but, was finca in the past.


Why shortage luxury apartments deals with apartamentos de lujo and where to find them?

A holiday home hunt review.

Note on translation proplems for Spanish real estate:

The word residencia (residence)and related words are not used in real estate in Tenerife Spanish terms. It is only applied to old age homes (residencia de tercera edad) or for on campus student accommodation. One calls everything by its proper word in Spanish as outlined above or, one uses the term propriedad which is property or inmobiliaria which is real estate.

However, the same terms are not used when applied to taxes. Spanish as language can be a hard nut to crack when it comes to real estate in Tenerife. Different terms might be used in South America.

Starting Real EstateInvesting - Articles and resources for real estate investing beginners.







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