# real estate agent in Madrid



## expatpete (Jul 15, 2013)

Can anyone recommend a good real estate agent in Madrid, for residential property? a professional, with some English language skills (can be basic) would be great, preferably in the Retiro or Atocha area, but all recommendations are welcome. thanks! - Peter


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## Chopera (Apr 22, 2013)

We have bought (twice) and sold once in Madrid, and our overall experience of agents is that they charge a lot of money for a terrible service. If you are able to present and sell the property yourself instead of using an agent then I recommend you do so, you'll do a better job and save a lot of money. For most of the properties we viewed when looking to buy, the agents just opened the doors and that was it. They gave out no particulars or background information, and they often didn't know basic things like the size of the property.

However if you need to use an agent then we bought our flat through http://www.fincas-madrid.com/ and they seemed the best of the bunch. In fact we had previously viewed another property with them about a year earlier, and they remembered us. I have no idea whether they speak any English though.

Red Piso seem to be quite active at the lower end of the market, but they are a franchise so you never quite know what you are going to get. I really dislike Tecnocasa (another franchise).


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

DO NOT pick a real estate agent simply on the basis that he or she speaks English. Many English speaks (often native) prey on those who do not speak the local lingo (wherever you are). It is always better to get a good estate agent and employ your own translator if you need one. In addition you will need a lawyer, it is usually the best idea not to use one suggested by the agent.


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## Madliz (Feb 4, 2011)

expatpete said:


> Can anyone recommend a good real estate agent in Madrid, for residential property? a professional, with some English language skills (can be basic) would be great, preferably in the Retiro or Atocha area, but all recommendations are welcome. thanks! - Peter


Are you buying or selling?

I'm in Madrid and trying to sell. In my opinion agents here are completely useless, utterly incompetent, I cannot comprehend how they are still in business. That opinion is from a seller's point of view. I have recently ended a contract with one agent who arrived close to dusk to take poor photos, stuck the pictures and a brief description on the website then did nothing. I only stuck it out as I was also actively using several other means to sell. There was no contact from this agent (only from me, to drop the price!) for a year. I tried several others, most told me there was no point in trying to sell anything, others wanted 5% commission for their 'trouble' and several never responded to several emails. You'd wonder how they can stay in business if they don't take on properties to sell! On the coast they are different as they have been exposed to international ways of business, but here in Madrid I find they are very blinkered and have the attitude in many walks of life that 'this is how it's done here' and are not open to new/better ways. 

If you're buying, I would suggest you look on kyero.com or idealista.com, both can be viewed in English, plus fotocasa.es. Idealista is probably the biggest property web in Spain (with 1.4m ads today, including mine!)and can be accessed by anyone, likewise fotocasa, so you will see many more properties and get a wider view of properties and prices, while Kyero and several others only take estate agents' properties. With all these you can define quite specifically your requirements.

Happy hunting!


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