Hi,
In the years 2002/2003 i lived in madrid. I rented an apartement through an agency in Calle Conde Duque (centro de madrid)
I'm trying to find them on the internet, or some information about them, but i don't know the name of that agency.
I can't remember how i find them several years ago, but it seems to me that those little agencies don't exist anymore on the internet.
SO, can somebody help me? With the name or website of this agency in Calle Conde Duque (centro) or with other agencies? I want to find out how those agencies operate? And which agency can be trusted etc. I need this information for a research!

Thanks, muchas gracias!

Saludos, yvonne

Hi Yvonne,

I don't know anything about that particular agency you are looking for but you can try:

Yahoo.es and put Agencias Inmobiliarias and should get a lot.

To find that particular one, you could try paginasamarillas.es and look up inmobiliarias and then look for the ones on Conde Duque street.

The chains tend to be the most reliable:

Look and Find is good (I used them once)
Remax
Gilmar (Spanish with a good reputation)

Are you moving back to Madrid?
You are not by any chance the Yvonne I knew here with two boys (ages 8 and 6 or so)?

Good luck,

Val

If I am not mistaken I think you are talking about an accommodation finding agency that has a few of it's own properties, which is called Room Madrid / Room Europe.

The only problem with them is that they overcharge you for both the rent and service fee.

Room Madrid, just like Sal y Ven, AccomMadrid, and all of the other similar agencies are stuck in the old mode of re-renting all of the same flats from all of the same landlords in Madrid, who keep raising their prices and lowering their quality of service.

Now there are two better options which you can use either both, one or the other.

First there are the short term rooms ypu can rent for one week minimum stays through the Madrid Insider: Booking Dept.
These are single rooms for 15 euros a night or double rooms starting at 20 euros a night. See http://www.madridinsider.com
This gives you a chance to get to Madrid and have a place to stay short term while you conduct your longer term housing search.

Next, there is the phone calling and appointment setting services offered by Donald Timson at Opening Doors.
For his 50 euros or so service fee, he will call around Madrid for you and set up the viewings so that you can just go look at places until you settle on something that you like. He spends a lot of time calling the landlords and sending people on viewings so he has a better feel for what is available than someone just picking up the Segundamano newspaper and trying in for themselves.

I would suggest:
1). Take a place for one to two weeks through Madrid Insider: Booking Service

2). Try to find a place on your own for a few days (Segundamano, In Madrid, internet search, bilboards, new friends, etc.)
and then if you have no luck with it and get frustrated...

3). Contact Donald Timson at Opening Doors.

Thank you very much! Both replies are very useful for me! And indeed, it was Room Madrid!! A paid them 600 euros service fee. Back then i thought what an amount! But it all worked out well, thank god.
I live in the Netherlands, i am 23 years old, just finished higher education, comparable with university abroad, and i would like to start my own company.
Many students have to go for studies or ´prácticas´ abroad (spain, france etc) I would like to set up an agency in the netherlands that helps students and other people who want to go abroad with finding a place to stay etc. But i don't know how these agencies in Spain work.
If my plan becomes a succes etc then the students are coming to me, i will offer them a total package and i have to arrange a living for them through an agency overthere. Or what do you guys think? Any suggestions?? Thx! Muchas gracias, 1 besazo! Yvonne

There are already many agencies that currently exist that do exactly what you suggest.

What you have to do is just find a way to do it equal or better for cheaper.

You will need to try and contact a series of Madrid landlords directly yourself and then set up your own database of housing.

You will need to try to work out deals with the people who provide these internships to see what perks they offer.

Then you will need to come up with a combined fee that leaves you with enough of a profit so that the people will not complain about the quality of the housing and job based on the amount of service fee that they will be paying you to set this all up.

Right now the biggest complaint I hear from all of the people who have used agencies like the one you want to set up is that they paid too much for the quality of the housinf and intership they got.

They have all felt totally ripped off.

Thanks once again! That's exactly the reason why i want to set up an agency. I feel ripped off and i now i can do it better and cheaper! My homebase will be in the Netherlands, and from here i want to arrange everything. This means i have to do a lot of research and every help is usefull, as well as your tips are! Thank you.
I already have made contact with my school i graduated from, they think it's a great idea. And a lot of students go abroad every half a year. SO, the biggest problem will be to find out which agencies overthere of landlords (without an agency) would like to do business with me. The adventage from them is that they will have a 100% passage of the apartment. And what my fee is going to be, i don't know so far. It must be payable for the students and it has to give me profit aswell.
Maybe you have some ideas or tips, than i would like to stay in touch with you.
Thanks once again!
I'm not a person who will ripp off students, because i know how that feels!!!!

In the beginning I used to work with an agency and then after seeing how they worked and also seeing the huge amount of new agencies sprouting up all over the place as well as the ones that already existed decided that it would be smarter for me just to do the housing booking and let Madrid landlords and the agencies fight it out with each other for my clients.

I can do the booking for you through the Madrid Insider: Booking Service.
I already deal with the top agencies and know quite a few landlords.
I am sure that I can fill most of the housing needs or point you in the right direction.

I have found that the people are never really satisfied with any of the housing offered here for the money so I have bargained with both the landlords and the agencies and have gotten them to agree to reduce the minimum stay to one week instead of the four weeks they used to insist upon. I have also gotten them to agree on changing rooms if the place you start out in is not passable as what they promise.

The only thing cheaper than what I can book for you is if you worked directly with a Madrid landlord who dedicated the rooms in their flats to your students for a minimum monthly fee.

thanks once again. It sounds very interesting the things you pointed out in your reply.
I understand and saw it on your website that you have an own database etc. I was wondering if you have a diplome for what you do. Do you have a diplome for house-agent?
I'm checking the internet from companies in the Netherlands to find out if i need such a diplome. I hope not, because otherwise i have a problem.
Still i have a lot of questions which are unanswered etc which i have to deal with, before i can say if my plan is possible.

I am not sure what you mean by diplome, but you must mean a license of some kind and the answer is no. I do not have one or need one. None of the agencies here have a license although some of them are registered as legal businesses.

I just capture the market for people who are looking for housing and go around to all of the Madrid landlords and agencies (legal or not) and shop around for the best quality at the moment for the standard negotiated price. This is the best place that the agencies and landlords are willing to give my clients based on availability. I run my booking services on-line using paypal for payments and trying to provide the client with as much information as possible so that they always know what they are getting themselves into. I also can not control the quality of the places so I counteract that with getting them shorter term stays or the possibility of leaving a place after their minimum time is up. I find that it only takes a couple of days to a week before other people in Madrid start putting stuff in their ear about how they paid too much or about how there are nicer places out there or places with fewer people or places with Spanish speakers, etc.

So instead of the old way where they would sign up for 4 weeks, be content for around one week, then meet people who tell them otherwise and become upset for the rest of their stay, trying every excuse in the book to get out or whatever, I have seen the future and have convinced many of the agencies and landlords to agree to the one week minimum stay. This way no matter how bad a place is in your own opinion you can just stay there cheaper than a hostal with the added bonus of cooking facilities until you find something better out there on your own.

Hi Madrid Insider,

Two years ago we have had contact about housing agencies in Madrid. Back than I said that I would set up my own company, and so I did in 2006. The only problem I don't seem how to fight it, is the connexion between student and landlord. I have/had about 60 rooms in Spain, Belgium and Germany. But without the students. The students are very demanding and nowadays the landlords aswell. Now i'm thinking of changing the main business and changing it into renting for a week etc. Just like you do. Is there a possibility that we can help eachother. Still there is nobody in the netherlands who has set up such a business like I am still trying to set up. I have had great response on highschools etc, but that only one thing that isn't going good, is messing up everything.
I hope you can reply to my message.
Thank you in advance.

Goodbye Yvonne