I am the first to admit that I did the apartment thing all wrong when I moved to Spain – without so much as seeing the place in person, getting a feel for the neighborhood or even exchanging more than a few emails, I paid a deposit on Calle Numancia and September’s rent.
Looking back, it was probably not my smartest moment. What if the place was a dump? What if the landlord lived there, too? Would my roommates smoke indoors?
Thankfully, everything worked out fine, and I lived in that apartment with the same Spanish roommate for three years before packing up and moving in with the Novio and eventually buying a house.
When people ask me for tips on apartment searching, I am often not a great source of information because – confession time – I have never searched for an apartment on my own in Spain!
I have heard all of the horror stories and read all of the advice, but there are a few things missing, mostly by way of what they don’t tell you about flat hunting (not included on this list: my creepy landlord who had a habit of showing up whenever I was in the shower).
You will have a noticeable lack of appliances
In building my wedding gift registry, I’m taking a look around at what sorts of appliances we may need. For years, I lived without an oven, a toaster, a dryer and electronic water heaters. My clothes were torn apart my machine wash cycles. The TV was archaic. I forgot what heat and air conditioning felt like.
But I got by.
Currently, we don’t have a microwave, but this is only a problem during Thanksgiving. I haven’t had a clothes dryer since moving here, but thanks to warm weather and plenty of sun, I haven’t needed one (ugh, except for the year it rained three months straight).
Many landlords are older and have had the apartments left to them – a staggering two-thirds of Spaniards live in apartments as their first residence, and living in a house is quite uncommon. This means that you’re stuck with older, heavy furniture, ancient appliances and occasionally a saint’s bust.
Nothing a little IKEA trip (or nicely asking your landlord) won’t fix!
There will be scams
The most common way to search for apartments is through online websites like Idealista or Easypiso, which allow you to put in specifications by number of rooms or neighborhood, among other factors.
So, you spend all afternoon browsing, getting a feel for what you can find in the center of town with international roommates who will feed you and who are clean and who maybe have a cat. Then, the perfect place pops up and, surprise! The landlord speaks English!
You get in touch with him via email, and he claims he’s had to run back to his home country for a family emergency, but can mail you the keys if you wire a deposit.
Red flag! It is never, ever wise to send money to a landlord if you’ve never seen the place in person. But if you’re not into the whole hitting the pavements and making endless calls, there are bonafide agencies that can set you up with a pre-approved place to live.
Spotahome is currently working to provide long-term visitors and students with a place to live straight off the plane, and they’ve just added several dozen properties in Seville. Rooms and locations are approved before the listing goes on the site, so you’ll not need worry about scams or the dreaded search for a place to live, and with far less language issues! They also have excellent city and neighborhood guides on their youtube channel.
You won’t be best friends with your roommates
Once I’d moved in, I was thrilled to meet Eva, my German roommate in the back bedroom. She was a fantastic friend who announced that she was moving back to Germany a few weeks later.
While I was pining for European roommates to share meals with and practice Spanish with, I was on opposite schedules and rarely saw them. And because we were three girls of three different ages, three different native tongues and three different cultures, there were often misunderstandings.
Don’t get me wrong – I’ve stayed in touch with both Eva and Melissa, our Spanish roommate, as well as the other two girls who came later – but the expectation that you’ll all have one another’s back isn’t always true. Convivencia brings out the claws, people.
My advice is to lay out house rules right away – can guests spend the night? How do chores work? Is smoking permitted indoors? It’s one thing to live with strangers, and entirely another to combat language and cultural issues!
You can (and won’t) always get what you want
It’s good to have parameters to help you find the perfect place for you – I firmly believe that your living situation has the power to make or break your experience in Spain. Think about price range, neighborhoods, connectivity and a few comforts, like an oven or a double bed.
Then remember that a decently-sized Spanish apartment is a glorified walk-in closet, not every place will have a terrace and the chances that you have both air and heat are slim to ni de coña in many areas, including Seville. Or, you can get the mess that is my next door neighbor’s house as far as ‘pisos amueblados’ go.
I’m not saying to give up on those things, but to remember the reality of the Spanish apartment situation. Remember that most apartments already come furnished, though you’ll have to buy your own towels and sheets. At least that’s good news, right?
Now you see it, now you don’t
When we bought our house and signed the mortgage in late June, the property stayed on the realtor’s listing and on several websites for weeks. If you see a piso one day and can’t make a decision about it, move on. These sorts of places come and go quickly, so even in a span of a siesta, you may be caught taking a place you didn’t feel so fondly about because the top places were gone. And don’t get discouraged when a place you’d like to have is suddenly off the market, either.
Here’s some advice: start early, ask the right questions and don’t give up and settle. Where you hang your hat or flamenco shoes at the end of the day can have a huge impact on your year (or seven) in Spain.
Considering a move to Spain? Hayley Salvo and I have written an ebook that includes tons more advice about not just searching for your hogar dulce hogar in Spain, but also give brilliant tips on setting up phone lines, internet and getting registered with city hall.
The ten euros you spend will save you tons of hassle when it comes to moving to the land of sunshine and siestas.
This post was brought to you by Spotahome but written by me. I was not compensated for this article in any way – check out what other young expat entrepreneurs are doing!
You might also like: Eight Simple Rules for Convivencia | Strange Things in Your Spanish Apartment | Seville’s Best Neighborhoods
Would you add anything else to the list? What should newbies in Spain be wary of when looking for a place to live?
Great tips!
I remember how horrified I was at the lack of appliances in my very first Spanish kitchen in Seville: no oven or microwave, just one burner and a grill to toast bread. No living room either, and I had 2-3 roommates at almost any given time to share this with.
I now live in a 35m2 studio in the heart of Madrid, and thanks to that experience, I was not even slightly fazed by the lack of oven, mini-fridge with no freezer, and non-functioning burners lol. I also appreciate how spacious 35m2 is, all this room just for me. A friend back home commented on how small that sounded, I told her this is enormous by Spanish/downtown Madrid standards. I had been considering a 15m2 studio much further away from the center before finding this place.
Are you a mindreader or something? Because I just went through this process last month, but in NYC. And I don’t know about other people’s experiences, but renting an apartment in NYC was much harder and way more stressful than anything I went through in Spain. I found NYC more daunting than searching for an apartment in a country where I wasn’t a native speaker, go figure!
But yeah renting an apartment sight unseen in Spain is not the best idea. I did this too and unlike you, my roommates and I ended up leaving that apartment after about a month. Our “landlady” (who was really the woman renting the apartment and subletting the rooms) kept all her crap in boxes in the living room and it made the living situation unbearable.
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Useful tips for a first-time renter in Spain! Setting something up before you go is definitely tempting, especially if you don’t know the city well – but that’s exactly why it’s risky. You may end up in an area you really dislike, in addition to all the potential pitfalls you mention above. I once set up a room for a month through a short-term letting agency so that I had a roof over my head, and then used that time to find somewhere permanent. I’ve been through the process (renting both rooms and flats) several times, here are my tips: http://ohhellospain.blogspot.com.es/2014/08/expat-issues-renting-apartment-in-spain.html
Kate – Oh hello, Spain recently posted..I’m a Praktik Hotels Ambassador
Good tips! I would also add: Never live in “un bajo”. Nope.
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Ew, cockroaches!
…Here’s another one: Just because the place is still listed on Idealista, don’t hold your breath too long–it might not still be disponible!!…
But hey, I can’t complain: Even though I live with my landlady, I STILL have my own bathroom (clutch!!), and everything (including CENTRAL heating) comes to 220/a month, :-)!!…
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Ugh, so true. It’s amazing how fast places go when it’s the high season!
Hey,
came across this article while looking up if spotahome.com is actually a trustworthy website. I’m moving to Rome for a year and they have some great roooms. Do you actually have any experience with them since you tipped them here?
Michiel
Hi Michiel,
I haven’t personally used Spotahome because I’m a homeowner, but I know the company and its founders. The site is definitely legit, and having a place to live before you go is definitely peace of mind. Good luck and have a great year abroad!