I feel better now for putting it out there. Trying to find an apartment in Spain is a lesson in frustration. It seems like everything is set up for failure. You’d think this would get easier since it’s not our first time, but nope! I was having a discussion with another woman who expressed frustration with the real estate agents. It’s just her and one small dog and she is ready to give up. I could empathize because l have to say that I am in no way impressed with Spanish real estate agents.
The estate agents actually suck for the most part. I know I’m going to get a lot of hate and “go back to where you came from” comments, but it needed to be said. Here are just some of the stupid reasons why flat hunting in Spain sucks, especially if you have pets. These are the reasons why Spain sucks. They have a lot to learn when it comes to real estate. It’s only for the brave, unless you know people who know people and can skip this whole drama.
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3 of the stupid reasons why flat hunting in Spain sucks!
- Laziness and lack of knowledge of the realtors
- No centralised listings
- Pets are unwanted for a majority of the rental properties
Laziness of the estate agents:
House hunting is so frustrating to see how lazy a lot of the realtors are here. I have to say it was the same in Malta. A slight improvement actually, because here the listings are at least removed shortly after the flat rents. In Malta, they never do, you make calls only to find out that the listings are years old! 😉 .
I’ll be the first to admit that real estate agents in the U.S suck too because they are way too aggressive and will bombard you with phone calls, texts, emails and any other way to contact you in an effort to get your business. Spain is the complete opposite where they are slow as molasses. The best way l can describe it is the old Six Million Dollar Man episodes where Steve runs in slow motion, but is actually fast. Here, you almost see the wheels turning in slow motion, only nothing gets accomplished :-).
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The work day starts at 10AM and you call at 11, they don’t even pick up. It just rings, or you might get a message saying call back. No answering machine or anything, not that they would call back anyway. If you’re lucky enough to catch someone, they either just got in..or are just leaving and will call you back. Yeah! Don’t hold your breath. Siesta is from 2-5 and if/when they come back in the evening, rarely know anything about their own listings.
I swear, it’s like they don’t want to make money. Ask to see the flat, and they’ll call you back because they have to talk to the owner since they have no keys. Call you back later means anywhere from 24 hours to never!. They don’t respond to emails either. If you call them, they’ll even mention that they saw the email. The worst part is that their fee is one month’s rent from both the landlord and the lessor!!!!!
For that much money, I would be jumping through hoops, but they are so lackadaisical. Each office seems to also share just one cell phone between the workers so you’re constantly speaking to someone different who has no clue about what you just said like 10 minutes before. This brings me to the number one kicker!
No Centralized Listings: another reason why flat hunting in Spain sucks
In the U.S, there is the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), the bible of real estate agents. They are capable of centralized showings. This means even if the listing is not with their agency, they are still able to show you the place. If you rent it, each side splits the profit equally. Not so here. If you contact an agent, you can only be shown the listings that belong to his/her company, which severely limits your choices as most have just a few.
This means you are forced to deal with several agents and hope someone brings you something desirable in your time frame. What this also means for the landlord is that in order to rent their place quickly, they will list it with a bunch of different agencies. Of course, they can’t give keys to all these companies, understandably. Sometimes, the company no longer has the listing and will tell you it’s rented when it’s not. It’s insane how such a big country hasn’t been able to get it together. In my real estate loving dreams, I picture a Spanish MLS.
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Dogs and Cats are considered Godzillas and Mothras:
I guess they picture this in their minds:
When this is closer to the truth 🙂
The stupidest reason why flat hunting in Spain sucks! Pets!
You would think cats and dogs were 10 foot monsters with size 48 feet who crush everything in their sight. Our dogs are so well behaved and rarely bark. Let’s talk about kids screaming, yelling, crying, writing on walls and yes..destroying everything in their paths. That is apparently okay.
One silly man wanted a year’s rent upfront (which we didn’t even mind paying), 2 months deposit, another 3 months put aside with the agent AND one more year worth of rent blocked by our bank (Avalo Bankario). In order to enter this piece of s***t apartment, we were supposed to lay down an excess of €15,000 and have the bank block our money because our dogs might ruin the furniture.
After laughing and telling him to keep his precious flat, we kept thinking.. “if only these landlords had an idea of where we lived” 🙂 ;-). I kind of understand now why a lot of expats buy. Maybe it’s to avoid the headache, but I’m sure that comes with its own set of problems. There are other reasons why flat hunting in Spain sucks, but these are my top three!
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Suggestions for Flat Hunters in Spain:
- Get in the right mindset. It is frustrating. It is exhausting, so get ready and don’t let it do you in.
- Forget about emailing the realtors, especially if you’re not already on ground. They won’t respond. You’ll have better luck with whatsapp which is very popular here.
- Spread your seed :-). Try and call as many agents as you can so you have a good selection of places. Check the available places on Pisos, Idealista website and my favorite one Fotocasa.
- They will never give you an answer the same day. They always have to consult with oracles or who knows what! 🙂
- Prepare for a lot of No answers if you have pets. It’s a mystery, everyone walks around with dogs, yet say dogs are not allowed. Even a lady whose dog was prominently featured in the first picture of her ad said she doesn’t want dogs :-).
- Looks for places with terraces especially if you intend on living in the city. Some of them are huge, sometimes bigger than the flat itself. This will give your dogs plenty of space.
- Place an ad yourself. I got so frustrated that l placed an ad on Milanucios which is like the Craigslist of Spain. This has led to us being contacted by three real estate agents. They are now actively searching for us, but nothing has panned out yet. What l find very interesting is that they are all women. We actually ended up finding a really ambitious guy in Malaga, but he has been the exception.
- You might want to rent a place for a short amount of time while you search. We have now secured an AirBnB place for ten days while we search. Hopefully that will give us enough time to find something. Otherwise..new country here we come! 🙂
House hunting in Spain wrap up:
A lesson in frustration. There are no ifs or buts, I will say it again. Spain sucks when it comes to flat hunting. The process is a bit better for buying real estate, at least they are more responsive since the payoff is bigger.
Update:
We have since gotten out of the rental market in Spain and have now purchased our very own flat in Valencia. You can read up on the tips to buy on that post. You can also see our remodel job here and the end result on this post. I can’t tell you how good it feels not to have to worry about finding a place that will accept our dogs anymore.
Pin it for later:
How is apartment hunting done where you are? Is it a frustrating experience like this? Do you have any tips for us?
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This is good to know as we often talk of Spain for retirement. My husband will need his patient pants. Ha! So sorry. And good luck. I guess Fate has Its hand in the deal.
Terri
Maybe by the time you retire, things will have changed.. Bwaahhh, I doubt that a lot. Your hubby will definitely need his patient pants, shirt and shoes :-). Thanks for the good wishes. I think it will work out in the end.. I hope :-).
Where do I buy those patient pants, shirt, and shoes? Whatever country you find they sell those in, we’re there! Hahaha! Keep us posted on your apartment! Can’t wait to hear.
I think maybe l’ll start knitting and selling them on the site..haha! whaddaya think? We will definitely keep you posted. I’m wondering what will happen too :-).
When I lived in Spain that was pre-Internet and cell phone days. However I can see nothing has changed much when it comes to speed. It’s like going to the bank there. If I saw more than 2 people in line, I’d skip it, unless I had over an hour to kill. S L O W. I was going to ask if there wasn’t something like Craigslist where one can skip realtors and just go to the landlord, but you answered that with the Milanucios. It sounds like finding a long term rental with AirBnB is the way to go, or moving around to several AirBnB if there’s some law in Spain limiting the nights. Nice place to visit but I don’t think I’d want to live there again due to the frustrations of the overall slowness. Good luck finding a place.
Nope..Nothing has changed at all. Funny you mentioned the bank, Federico says the same thing. If he goes in and see more than 2 people, he usually leaves unless it’s really necessary. I’ve seen one person turning in a roll of coins stay for over 40 minutes at the sole counter and the chat away like it’s nothing. For him, it’s worse since he is the one who speaks Spanish and deals with everything. It’s hard to believe it was just as bad way back then. The only problem is you end up paying three times the amount with AirBnB. I understand your reluctance to come back to live, it is quite frustrating and l think this will be that place we rent in Spain ;-). Hopefully we like it enough to stay a long, long time or buy..whichever works better :-). Thanks for your comment. It’s good to know it’s not just us that feels that way ;-).
I think looking for rent will suck everywhere in Europe. I know that in Romania they don’t have a MLS system in place and that can indeed drive you crazy. And Romanian estate agents are usually doing business just like you described it happening in Spain.
When we were looking for an apartment to buy (so they would probably get an even better commission), one agency printed out all their listings for us, gave us 10+ pages of text only, told us to look through them, choose and inform them on our decision. There was not a single image with the listings, just text and it didn’t look like they even cared about showing us the places. So it can be even worse :))
I can only imagine that if pets enter the equation, things get even more complicated. But you need to have nerves of steel and keep on searching. I am sure you will find that perfect place, just like you did in the past in Malta and Seville.
Oh C! You made me laugh when reading your comment. I would go absolutely crazy…10 pages of text and no freaking pictures??? Haha! It’s good to know this is more the norm in Europe and not just Spain and Malta. How frustrated you must have been when searching for your place. It’s insane that the incentive of a great payday does nothing to motivate them. I have been proactive and looking up places myself. It just sucks because cellphone to landline numbers cost a lot, so we try and catch them at work from home but that doesn’t always happen. I am determined and hopefully we will find something and soon. I am determined to stay close or as close to the center as possible. It has to tick my boxes :-). You found a good place and so will we.
Haha, this made me laugh. I am currently flat hunting in Spain and I got called this morning to say that the estate agent wanted to cancel the viewing because it was raining… Although pets are welcomed where I live, contrary to your post 🙂
Haha! Lucky that you were even called. We went all the way to Valencia to see an apartment we had reconfirmed the appt just 3 hours prior. He never showed. Had rented and he never bothered to call us..the schmuck! :-). One of the few where dogs were allowed too. Good luck with your hunt!
Yikes sounds awful. This may sound controversial but what are the benefits (stipend paid by government to low income folks) & health systems like there? Countries where folks rely on government handouts & free health tend to be less interested in hustling for their daily bread. Of course there are exceptions.
It really is. It gives you the shakes.. ;-), but it seems to be the norm around these parts. I know you get free healthcare when you work (a tiny amount is deducted from your paycheck) and l think you get unemployment benefits for atleast a year. Jobs are scarce too which would make you think people would work harder. I don’t profess to know the laws and such, but l think it’s going to be hard for Spain to shake the recession if this keeps going on. It seems to linger, especially Southern Spain were the unemployment figure for under 30 is somewhere around 35%.
Here in Lagos, Portugal long-term lets (year round) are difficult to find because owners can double and triple their rents in June, July and August and are content to leave their rentals empty the rest of the year. And, just like Spain, MLS is a pipe dream here too. Our first rental was a dive with some hidden hazards that made it possible to legally terminate the lease early and we (totally) lucked into our second apartment. Of course, now that we love it here, it’s up for sale so we may be singling the apartment hunting blues along with you! P.S. Your dogs are so cute. 😁Just keep your patience and stubborn streaks front and center! Anita
I’ve never understood the whole let’s keep it empty for 9 months. The house loves being lived in l think. It sucks that you guys might have to move. It’s such a pretty place and has all the comforts of home, not to mention the view. I hope the sale is slow. If it’s anything like here, it might take a year plus to sell. We will definitely have the stubborn streaks front and center, especially Federico :-). The dogs thank you..haha!
Oh wow! We lived in Germany for 3 years and we saw several flats. We opted to live in military housing though.
I’m sure military housing was easier to get. We had a taste in Berlin and it was insane in a different way 🙂
We just decided our vacation in 2018 will be Spain. I can’t imagine looking for housing in a foreign country but thank goodness you were able to find something
Not yet..but hopefully will find something..
Kemkem, I don’t know if you’ve read a book called Driving Over Lemons. It’s about a British family who move to Spain and their trials of dealing with a realtor and buying. When the possession date came, the old couple who sold their home were reluctant to leave, so they were all living there for awhile. Very weird. You might come across that same problem if the current occupants aren’t ready to move out when you’re moving in!
Oh God! That sounds like a nightmare. I’m afraid to read their story. I knew buying would also have some nightmares. In Spain, outstanding debt goes with the house and not the previous owners, so you need to do your homework and make sure all bills are paid before signing the final papers otherwise you might be in for a big surprise. It really is insane that they haven’t figured it out. Federico went to see one we were really excited about, and was supposed to be free the 5th, she hadn’t even started packing and said well..more like the 25th..haha! Thanks for the comment Cheryl. Wish us luck!!! I’m partial to empty space at this point.
It is surprising that even the prospect of a commission doesn’t even seem to be motivation for more help from the agents. This certainly seems to be a common problem in many places and it makes the choice between renting and buying that much tougher. We are soon going to be entering the rental market in Portugal and are already seeing the lack of centralized listings, multiple agents and outdated listings are going to be a challenge. We are learning from your experiences though. Hope you find one soon!
As someone put it below, you definitely need to put the patient pants on ..haha! I said in Malta that people only worked enough to make what they need for the day. Like the old guy who had a convenience store. The hours were so erratic and he would close on a whim. A good percentage of atores do not put their hours on the door 🙂 since it changes often. Yeah.. it’s going to be a challenge for you as well. I will keep my fingers crossed :-). I just find it amazing that nobody cares to make money.. ;-).
I totally understand! I’m an expat in the Middle East and yeah lol. Those of us from the West have a totally different concept of space and business dealings as well. Best wishes on your search I’m sure you all will find something soon!
I feel a little better knowing that this is a bit more widespread than l thought :-). Definitely different concept. I had to get in the mindset right away once we moved from the States. I am still baffled though at the reluctance to make money. I hope once we are firmly on the ground and not on a time crunch, we will have better luck. I get a chuckle out of the fact that this one place still hasn’t rented! 🙂 :-). I hope it never does, or does for cheaper.. greedy twat! ;-).
We just went through the same here in Split (Croatia) but we went through 4 different agents and luckily there was one in the bunch that was great. Situation here is exactly what Anita describes above – most locals don’t want to rent out for the year because they make more money renting their apartments out on Airbnb during the summer months and then just leaving them empty the rest of the year. Says a lot about tourism and how it affects different places huh? Even some of our favorite restaurants are closed half the year, not worth staying open off season.
Sweet dogs. They look really lazy 🙂
Frank (bbqboy)
Just 4? Lucky you :-). Each agency seems to have just 1 or 2 listings at the most that fit our criteria so we have spoken to plenty. Yeah..that was the same thing as in the area of Cullera that we had visited. Insane though still because l think houses like to be lived in, especially in Spain where they get that trapped whatever smell that stinks up the house after it’s empty for a while. We saw one that was okay, but the smell made me rush out of the place in a hurry. True what you say about tourism. Trust me, the dogs are super lazy..all they do is eat, poop and sleep! 🙂
That first picture is gorgeous! Was that one of the options?
I wish :-). No, the bullring and some very expensive places.
WOW! I guess I won’t complain anymore about the US apartment hunting system. At least you get an immediate answer and there are tons of listings here in the US. I hope you find a place soon.
Haha! I know…we have it good over there. Thanks for the good wishes. We fell better now that the long drive is behind us and stuff is in storage..now it’s just a matter of waiting out the biggest party of the year.. Fallas which ends this weekend ;-).
Goodness gracious me! It sounds like hell but sadly, it’s the same everywhere!
Ha! In our gentrified quarter of Prenzlauerberg in trendy East Berlin, we had to think of a strategy.
Firstly, our region is popular with yuppy hipster Germans who all want to live in the same Quarter of town!
Second, most of the buildings have high ceilings, have late 1800 or early 1900 facades and wide spaces, so a premium.
Thirdly, if you want “a kitchen” and “a bathroom”, you’re either going to have to pay absolutely loads or do it yourself!
Estate agents do absolutely nothing, but you still have to pay the fee, and yes, they sometimes all have the same properties. At one point, we went to visit an apartment and there were 60 couples waiting in a queue!
In the end, we knew someone, who knew someone, who knew about an apartment that wasn’t listed, was converted from two apartments into one huge one, was a historical building (Alt-Bau), and had a private garden! Ha! I followed the estate agent all day, and even carried her handbag and her files while dropping hints on why I thought we were the best “candidates” to get the apartment. And crucially, we sent in our application immediately.
We got it, and moved in two weeks later! Now if only they would let us buy it….!
Oh.. I remember your story about so many couples waiting for the apartment. We had a taste of it in Berlin and l mentioned it to you. That was even one step more..every one waiting around and sitting on the floor etc trying to fill out the forms while the estate agent just looked on gleefully. Then you have the warm and cold price which is insane :-). It’s a good thing you found a great one..Maybe you need to carry the handbag of the owners to get in on the good side. I can’t believe people have to jump through so many hoops to give money..haha! I hope we end up with a good place. Fingers crossed..something has to give and l am trying to decide what. I hope we get as lucky as you did..The falls is on right now, so we are screwed till Monday because there are millions of people in the city right now.
This is really disappointing…and I got frustrated just reading!! Like another comment said my husband and I would DEFINITELY need some patience pants LOL
Thanks Carissa for feeling our pain. It’s insane, but nice to know several countries do the same stupid thing ;-). Patient pants galore for a lot of things here..like the one hour plus wait at the bank :-). I try to do everything on line.
Wow! Thanks for the insight, I never knew how flat renting really worked. It’s very interesting to compare the differences between there and the US.
Yeah.. It is a lesson in frustration for sure. We don’t know how good we have it in the States :-). It’s like 20 steps back from there over here.. 🙂
I pray you find something I am sure things will change soon.
Thanks so much for good wishes. I hope it changes to positive soon..haha! I will share the good and the bad :-).
Sorry you’re having a hard time with this. Hopefully you find just what you need very soon! 🙂
Thanks Stacie. I hope so too. We have a tiny hope with one that will work, just have to find out from the owners now about the dogs. Fingers crossed.
The two times I lived there I found places by word of mouth or walking around, seeing for rent signs and calling on the spot. In fact it was encouraged as the best way. I know seems so behind the times but each time I ended with a flat much nicer and cheaper than those that went with a relator…crazy!
Hang in there and good luck.
Thanks Christine. I am showing Federico your comment. That’s a really good point. We actually kept an eye out while observing the Fallas activity. Saw one hand posted sign that looks good, but no answer when we call. Thy are busy enjoying Fallas and we hope once that party is over on Sunday, things will settle down and we will have better results. That is crazy that you found better ones..haha! Hope the same happens with us :-).
Even though this was a long process, these flats are beautiful! Enjoy your Spanish journey!
Thank you..
Sorry for your troubles…I hope you’re having better luck finding a place.
Thanks Rachael. Happy to report that we found an absolutely wonderful place. I will be raving about it in the near future :-). Hope you are well!
We are in the middle of this right now! I share so many of the same frustrations as you being from the US as well. No MLS.. what the heck is going on with this country?! Some agencies we went into had literally 0 apartments for rent… plus most of what is available at a decent price is just plain terrible. Tell me you’ve seen the massive dark wood grandma hutch that takes up half the living room?! And I couldn’t believe that these agencies charge a full months rent to the tenant and now you’re saying they charge the owner as well?! What a rip off. In the US, the renter pays nothing. The owner pays the service of a realtor finding a renter and the renter pays the rent! I was blown away when I found out I’m expected to pay them for the service they are providing the landlord! There are a lot of good things about Spain but sadly their housing situation is not one of them
Oh Lisa, I so feel your pain. It really is frustrating isn’t it? You would think that a country this big would have at the minimum some centralized listing. I could almost understand it of Malta since it is kind of small, but Spain just leads you to believe it would be more organized. We were also blown away when the agent told us they also charged the landlord. Just take deep breaths and grit your teeth. You might try advertising in Milanucios, at least you get people eager to make money, but it still sucks. Haha!..we have that hutch in our living room in a lighter color (you can see the pics on this post https://nextbiteoflife.com/2017/04/21/new-home-valencia-spain/ . I don’t mind it though because the room is quite huge and even with it, there is still lots of space. Our search was rewarded with this one and the landlord so far has been absolutely amazing, so much so we’re pretty sure we will renew the lease at the end of the year. Whereabouts are you looking? I hope something turns up soon for you. Hang in there :-).
Very informative! We will be moving to Valencia in a year (we’re heading there again in a month to spend 2 weeks there to get a better feel for the neighborhoods). I had no idea you also had to pay the landlord a fee, just thought a month’s fee for the realtor. We also have a medium size dog so it shall be interesting to see what options we have 🙂
Hi Gloria, it sure is an adventure all itself. My husband was ready to call it a day and forget Spain altogether. Usually from what the realtor in Malaga told us, the renter pays one month fee and the landlord pays a month as well even though the realtors usually have a “sale”. It’s insane for such little work that they do :-). Truthfully, we got the apartment, signed the papers and then told our landlord about the dogs..haha..and he was cool with it. It is insane because so many people have dogs. I hope you enjoy your visit. Let us know when you get here, perhaps we can meet up :-).
Funny we met with a realtor when we were there last year just to ask questions etc. She told us not to mention our dog when looking for a place ;p We would love to meet you guys, will do!
Haha! It’s good to know we’re not the only sneaky ones :-). Coolness! See you soon.