We had a harder time finding a suitable apartment in Valencia than we had expected. There are plenty of agencies and resources who’d like to help, but not many are worth wasting time on — we lost many days with agents of dubious quality showing us shit apartments we would never consider.
Here are some of the things we had a little more luck with:
1. Pantoja Inmobiliaria
This is the best real estate agency that we dealt with while in Valencia. The places they took us to were of a far higher quality than those of other agencies, and it was through them that we ended up renting a place. Their agents were all friendly and helpful, happy to patiently explain things multiple times to confused foreigners.
Web Site: http://www.pantojainmobiliaria.es/
2. Idealista
Idealista is the best online market for apartments that we came across. Their site is multi-lingual, easy to navigate and mercifully spam-free. Their apartments run the gamut from agencies to private landlords, and from renting to selling, and cover all of Spain.
Web Page: http://www.idealista.com/
3. Walking Around
This is a great way to find places that haven’t been advertised online, or through an agency, and thus avoid any extra fees. A lot of people, especially with cool apartments in the city, just throw an “Se Alquila” sign in the window of the place they want to rent out, knowing it won’t be too long before they get a call. We spent many hours wandering through the neighborhoods we wanted to live in, finding and calling phone numbers in nice-looking buildings.
Oh, and one other thing that is really important — you have to know at least a little Spanish to be successful. Nobody we dealt with was able to speak English at all, except for one lady who was clearly not to be trusted (Gracia: we are onto you, and we always were). We got by with my minimal Spanish, but it wouldn’t have been possible without knowing the basics.
Have you already found an apartment in Valencia? Agree/disagree with our advice? Please make a comment here, or join the Hola Valencia forum to share your tips and experiences.