Hi,

I am going to be moving to Madrid soon and would appreciate some insight.

I know that the property prices are going down in Spain, have the rents also been going down?

I would like to live very close to my work. I would like to be within a 10-15 minute walk of work. Using google maps and idealista.com then the two neighborhoods I would like to live in are: el viso and castellana

The office is very close to the Gregario Maranon metro. Is the rent in the area I am trying to stay at a lot more than the rest of Madrid? I do know that I would be paying a premium by living in that area, but how much of a premium would it be?

I am looking for a nice 2-bedroom place (ideally with two bathrooms). I would prefer a place that is newer and is in very good shape; from the pictures I have seen on idealista, not many places seem to fit that "newness" requirement. Would it make more sense for me to live further and commute into work?

Thanks!!!

On the contrary, rents have been going up. As people are locked out of the buying market, landlords are raising rents. A two bedroom will be at least 1000 per month. Near Gregorio Marañon, an upscale area, it might be more. You should be checking prices now on www.segundamano.es and elsewhere. Craig's list is good too, but prices tend to be higher and I've run into several scams there. The motherlode of apartments for rent are to be found on idealista.com You can search by apt size, price and/or area.

As for what to bring over.....there is really very little you can't get here. And what some people consider imperative, others don't care about. A friend of mine always brings q-tips as she hates spanish ones. I always bring over Lady Mitchum deoderant and Cetaphil lotion as I can't get either here. I say, if you have a very specific skin care product that you use, bring a supply. If not, just buy what you need here.

Good luck

Thank you for your detailed.

What kind of scams can you see on craigslist? Most of the apartments I have seen on the site are newer compared to the ones on idealista. Is that for a reason, or because the areas I am selecting on idealista that are an older part of town?

Idealista is the number one site in Spain, so that is where you will find the maximum of listings. Of course, you have to act fast as apts there go quickly, esp if they are well-priced. Craig's List has more people out to contact the foreign market (in my opinion) and twice I've run into a scam there. Great apt, great price and then when I contacted them, so crazy story about their having to leave the country indefinitely and how desperate they are for a good person to take care of their home and that I could prove what a good person I was by sending them a month's rent even before I saw the place.

Anyway, it will be tough to definitively find a place before you actually get here. Idealista and even the listings are www.in-madrid.com are good for giving you an idea of pricing to start.

good luck

hey.

that is interesting that Candela has noticed rents going up.

i have not looked personally but i have read more than one article in the newspapers of late reporting that rents are coming down due to the huge surplus (over 1,000,000) of unsold homes in spain since the real estate crash of past months.

they say that the surplus homes are just sitting there and that the builders are in such debt that they are being forced to rent at reasonable prices to pay off their debts.

perhaps the reality of it all does not click with what i have read.

saludos,
jer...

well, rent price is why we are now in the burbs. we couldn't find a decent two bedroom for less than 1400...and we LOOKED a lot.

another problem is the fianzas and avals. since tenants hold so much power and have more rights than landlords, many landlords are resorting to things like one year long avals (payment of one year of rent to be held in escrow) are they want fianzas (downpayments) of up to six months.

maybe all those zillion of block pisos that have been recently built or still being built on the outskirts of towns are in the process of being rented and at decent prices...but I haven't heard of it yet. it would make sense if they can't sell them.

I have heard of this 1 year in escrow stuff. That just sounds so dumb. It just sounds like those landlords just don't want to rent out their places. I don't know many people that can do that. People with that much cash, can go out and buy a place.

It sounds like the landlords don't want to rent out their places. Why do they even put a request like that out there?

Thanks.

hey canadian_in_madrid.

you would be surprised at how many deadbeat tenants there are out there.

too many horror stories about landlords getting burned, there was a special in the newspaper the other day about it all, renters -vs- landlords and there were awful stories on both ends.

quote:

People with that much cash, can go out and buy a place.

not quite. just because someone may have say 12,000 or 15,000 euros in the bank to put out a years rent , that is still FAR from a down payment on an apt.

quote:

Why do they even put a request like that out there?

pretty obvious, to avoid getting burned.

all in all, they are entitled to do whatever they want with their properties.

what disgusts me however is the fact (and it is a proven fact) that they put different conditions and requirements on a rental depending on where the person interested in renting is from. a reporter on the news here carried out an experiment a while back and called (he is spanish) a landlord pretending to be interested in a rental. the landlord told him there was a 2 month sec. deposit and first months rent upon signing. then he had a colleagu call (latin american) and the same landlord asked where he was from. after saying ecuador, he was told that he would have to pay 12 months up front and a 4 month security deposit

saludos,
jer...

I thought that if you had a relationship with a bank (savings etc.) and/or had your nómina with them, then you didn't actually have to put up the money for the aval... that the bank would insure your aval as a sort of letter of credit that only gets called in if you break the terms of your lease... So everyone doesn't have to actually take money out of their savings and put it into an escrow account to get an aval, do they? I know some people (Spaniards of the gainfully employed variety) who definitely didn't have to do this... but they did have to have good credit and the aval was counted as a sort of debt.

I've been following rent prices maniacally, because we're thinking of moving sometime soon, and I'd say that in the past four months or so, it seems like the rents have been flattening out and even going down just a tiny bit. For the first time in a long time, I've seen places that started out high get reduced three or four times before they rent. And places are staying on the market longer (at least in my neighbhorhood--where they used to get snapped up immediately). From what I can tell, after reyes and spring is usually the best time to look.

Mariposita, when is reyes?

I will have two options: Is it better to rent in late July or in early September?

Thanks!

Día de los Reyes is January 6th... tough choice... I think either way you'll find some people are already/still on vacation... but I would think that there would be less competition for places in July and those renting out their places might negotiate more, since they'll be happy to rent their place before they leave on vacation...

hey mariposita.

the year in advance i was referring to is not actually in the form of an aval, some landlords demand the cash up front but that is an extreme case.

día de los reyes? did i miss something?

anyway, canadian_in_madrid, in july the VAST majority of landlords (and tenants for that matter) are on vacation so you will have a lot of trouble getting in touch with those offering apts./rooms. you may get frustrated if only 2 out of every 10 ads you call have someone there to answer.

i would say early sept is better since summer vacation is over for most and people are back home gearing up for back to the grind time (whether it be work or school).

saludos,
jer...

trust mariposita...she really is obsessed with rentals!!!

as for the aval, one reason it exists is that rental laws are skewed in favor of tenants. if a tenant decides not to pay or do something else like move in ten people, the landlord will face an uphill battle to get them out. it could take years in court. i've read articles suggesting that these laws be changed in order to make it easier and safer for landlords to rent out, but that hasn't happened yet. so landlords charge avals and embrace racist tactics to try and protect themselves. in the case of my old apt, my landlord who is british will only rent to native-english speakers as he believes they are less likely to cause problems. another side of the renting problem.

anyway, in my opinion, your best bet is to come here with enough cash to stay in a hostel or take a temp rental for 2-3 months. that should give you plenty of time to find a place.

good luck!

as a renter of both an apt. and an office here in the center of madrid, i must say that my landlords have always been fair to me and in the many years of renting, they have barely raised the rent (only for inflation).

so, when a landlord gets a good tenant they usually take good care of them.

saludos,
jer...

quote:

Originally posted by jer:


día de los reyes? did i miss something?

I mentioned upthread that I think right after reyes and the spring is one of the best times to find a good deal... probably because stuff builds up over the holidays when no one wants to move. But I would imagine that you could get lucky (or unlucky) at any time if you are persistent and patient (and can speak Spanish to negotiate).

About the aval/escrow thing... I was trying to explain to canadian in madrid that not everyone has to put the aval in escrow... only those who don't have good credit with a Spanish bank would have to put up cash up front.

The biggest rip-off is having to pay a month's rent to an agency (when it's not a private person renting). Now that's highway robbery.