Finding an apartment in Granada. Things learned

Finding an apartment in Granada. Things learned

We’ve found an apartment in Granada! But it wasn’t easy.

In this post I’ll cover our apartment search, the various neighbourhoods of Granada, the difficulties we faced…and how we found our apartment.

I touched on some of the difficulties on our first Granada post: Can we live in Granada? Yes but…

I’m sorry, they’ll be a bit of a repetition here when recounting some of the issues. But I’ll cover what we went through in much more detail and I hope it helps others looking for an apartment, not just in Granada but in Spain (where it just feels like finding an apartment is just getting harder).

A video of our new apartment at the bottom of this post.

The Start of our apartment search: criteria

We basically knew within a week of arriving in Granada that we wanted to make the city our base. Lots of beauty, lots of geography, a good vibe with friendly people.

When we found our previous apartment in Antequera, we did it through Idealista. So that was the first place I started looking at ads.

Our Criteria

What we wanted: a 1-or-2 bedroom apartment, furnished, in the 650 – 750 euro/month range, with a balcony. We wanted something in good condition. We didn’t want to be on the ground floor. Importantly, we wanted to be ‘in the center’ of things ie. have all the conveniences nearby (shops, restaurants, transport options etc.). In Antequera we were a walk from everything. We didn’t want to have the same experience.

The above was, in theory, very doable. It’s always easiest to find furnished apartments in Spain (where almost all apartments are rented furnished). We didn’t need anything big, we had come to Granada very light. And the price we were looking to pay was at the top of the price range for a 1-or-2 bedroom apartment.

Neighbourhoods

I found this map on the neighborhoods of Granada (map credit) where I’ve added in the neighbourhood of Genil (which wasn’t identified on the map).

The reason I added Genil in was because we had a temporary apartment in Genil in an area called Bola de Oro – although the apartment wasn’t great, we loved Bola de Oro: we were right along the river and next to a sports complex. Close by is Avenida Cervantes, a pretty residential avenue of apartment buildings, trees and stores. And it’s all a 15-minute walk into the center. Really, it was the ideal location for us and where we hoped to find an apartment.

We kept our minds open for other areas, principally Realejo and Centro which are in the middle of everything (and which we were familiar with). After having spoken to a few people, we crossed Beiro off the list (were told that it’s low income and “things happen”) and Ronda and Zaidin which seemed a bit far from the center.

So Genil, Realejo and Centro were originally the top neighbourhoods on our wish list.

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Running into difficulties – week 1

Unlike in Antequera where there’s very little turnover, there were a lot of apartments coming up on Idealista in Granada. Unfortunately, after a week, I wasn’t getting any replies when replying to ads.

That’s when I noticed that at the bottom of every apartment listing there are statistics on visits to the ads and replies to the ads. There were hundreds upon hundreds of emails being sent on each ad.

I was also noticing that:

a) a lot of ads were aimed at university students (Granada is a University town so…)

b) very few ads were by posted by private individuals, almost all were by agents

c) many ads mentioned 11-month contracts. As I’ve read, 11-month contracts are technically invalid: some agents/landlords want them because they think it gives lessees less rights…in actual fact, if taken to court, they are thrown out and considered long-term contracts. See Idealista’s Top 8 illegal clauses for long-term rental contracts in Spain.

d) many ads mentioned the agent commission payable by the lessee (which is usually 1 month’s rent). According to the new laws (initiated in May 2023), landlords are supposed to pay the fee. Does this make sense since it’s a renter’s market? No. But it’s the law which it seems is not actually put in practice by many.

e) The “nómina”, or payroll in English. I started noticing many agents/landlords asking for payroll. As I mentioned in my prior post:

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When applying for an apartment here, landlords want to have copies of your payroll. Of course, as retired expats, we don’t have payroll. We have savings and in the past we’d show the same proof of financial means that we used to obtain our Visa. It was never an issue.

It doesn’t matter if you have a million euros in the bank. Landlords here have wanted to see payroll slips. And we questioned one landlord why the nomina was so important. The reason, he told us, is insurance. Many landlords take out renters’ insurance and one of the stipulations is that anyone renting out meets certain criteria, including payroll.

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Even when you have payroll, there are stipulations. As we would find out from one landlord, the rent cannot exceed 45% of your monthly pay as per the conditions of the insurance company.

But never mind any of that. Week 1, I didn’t get any agent or landlord answering my replies to their ads.

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Week 2 – changing strategies

I had decided that I would be much more aggressive week 2.

What I did:

1. I would only answer ads that had been posted in the last 24 hours. In Idealista there’s a search option (bottom left under filters), where you can filter ads by the last 24 hours. I would check early in the day and check regularly, trying to be among the first to apply to an ad.
2. I would personalize my replies in great detail, telling the agent/landlord that we were Canadian, that we were looking for something long-term, that we had no pets/no children/didn’t smoke. That we didn’t have payroll because we were here on a non-lucrative Visa but that we had demonstrable income and savings.
3. I also started looking at ads on Fotocasa and using the same strategy there (although I much prefer Idealista – I wasn’t able to figure out how to personalize requests on Fotocasa).
4. I reached out to a few people who lived in Granada and asked them for real estate agents. I got a few names. I also wrote on a Granada rentals Facebook page (which I got from our Airbnb host) and had an agent reply to me through there (Alina actually knows me from the blog. She was the most helpful of the agents I dealt with. If you need an agent in Granada: Whatsapp: 677219094, Email: [email protected] ).

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We got results!

• An agent consulted us through Fotocasa. But after a bit of back and forth, she confirmed that the landlord required a nomina.

• A private owner contacted me (from an Idealista ad) for an apartment just up the street (2 bedroom, 650 Euros). But she warned us that there was construction going on (we had seen a huge crane over the building) and that it would last until the end of the year. We had to say no.

• An agent contacted me for an apartment on Avenida Cervantes (2 bedroom, 720 Euros). We made an appointment for a visit. That night we walked by the address and saw that the apartment was directly above a restaurant/tapas bar. We cancelled the appointment.

• Alina (the real estate agent who contacted me on FB) had an apartment not far from us (2 bedrooms, 750 Euros). We went to have a look – but it was in a secluded section of Bola de Oro. And it was a ground floor apartment. It just wasn’t what we were looking for.

I had a few other agents who contacted me. I contacted them back but, even after 2 tries, never heard from them again.

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Week 3 – highs and lows

My strategy was mostly the same for week 3 except for one tweak. I mentioned that the previous week I had started personalizing my replies to ads in greater detail (almost like a job application) and that I would mention that we didn’t have payroll but that we had demonstrable income and savings. I went in even more aggressively, stating that we’d be willing to pay up to 6 months’ rent in advance.

On Tuesday I got a reply on an apartment located right next to Granada City Hall (2 bedrooms, 750 Euros). It had just come on the market, I had replied to the ad within 30 minutes of it being posted. We were excited, it looked perfect and was centrally located. We made an appointment with the agent for 12 noon the next day.

Wednesday morning, walking downtown, I received a text 20 minutes before our appointment: “sorry, the apartment was rented last night”.

 We were crushed.

Despite my more aggressive strategy I wasn’t getting replies on other apartments and started to get depressed. We had a temporary Airbnb apartment and we couldn’t stay there forever. We gave ourselves 2 more weeks – If we couldn’t find a place in Granada we’d have to start thinking of alternatives.

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On Wednesday we had another reply on an apartment in the Figares area of Centro, a small, modern apartment (1 bedroom, 650 Euros) a few blocks behind the Corte Inglés. We made an appointment for the next day. Again, we got excited.

Thursday. The outdoor of the building was the worst on the street. The paint was peeling on a yellow façade, one of the balconies on the 3-story building was dilapidated, neighbours had garbage on their balconies. A young real estate agent met us and led us into the building. The building was undergoing some construction work, everything inside was dirty and dusty.

The apartment itself was clean and mostly modern. But it was small: the 1 bedroom was small, the kitchen was a studio-apartment type of kitchen. It was nice…but everything was small.

Then the agent went into details: payroll needed, 11-month contract, we’d have to pay the commission. We didn’t like anything we were hearing but left it open pending her communicating our details to the landlord.

Leaving the apartment, the neighbour’s apartment opened up: 2 young guys with no shirts on, even a short glance showed an unkept, dirty apartment inside.

The first thing Lissette told me when we exited the building: “I’m not living there”.

10 minutes later we wrote the agent back saying that we weren’t interested.

Aside from these 2 experiences, we had nothing to show for week 3. Nobody else had replied on any of my responses to ads.

I had re-contacted a few of the real estate agents that we had been recommended but they told me they had nothing. One told me I should buy instead of renting (stupid. Maybe there’s a reason I want to buy and not rent? Ask me before you assume).

At that point, I was at my deepest low during the whole process. I almost felt read to give up.

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Week 4. Success!

Monday morning started off with me receiving an email on an apartment I had responded to the previous Friday (3 bedroom, 800 Euros). It was in Zaidin, a 10-minute walk from where we were. We agreed to see the apartment that afternoon at 5 PM.

We knew that the building was a high-rise and that the apartment was on the 10^th floor. We were honestly a bit unsure with the idea of living in a high-rise building but at this point we were going to explore all options.

It started well right off the bat. The agent was a professional looking lady in her 50’s. With her was a younger lady who was there to take photos – the apartment had just come on the market and the photos on Idealista were outdated (as we were soon to see, the apartment looked much impressive in person).

The lobby of the building was immaculately clean, obviously well-maintained. We took the elevator up to the 10^th. There we met the owners – a well-dressed, friendly couple in their early 60s. We hit it off the bat with them right away.

We also liked the apartment right away. Clean, bright, not necessarily modern but very functional and spacy. It had high end, traditional touches like thick redwood doors and tiled flooring. There was a nice cross-breeze coming through the apartment through the many windows. It was bigger than what we needed but we could live with that. It was perfect.

The apartment had been rented out to someone for 5 years but they had been negligent. Everything had to be replaced and we saw that: a new couch, 2 new lounge chairs, a new TV. They would be receiving a new bed and a washing machine the next week.

When we explained our situation to the owners they understood: the husband had worked in Spain’s immigration department. He understood why we couldn’t work with a non-lucrative Visa, he understood that financial requirements had to be met and that we weren’t bums.

We got lucky.

We told them right on the spot that we wanted the apartment, that it was perfect for us.

Me: “When will it be possible to move in? July?”
The wife: “Oh no! You can move in later this week”

That’s how quickly things happen sometimes.

That was Monday.

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Tuesday I went to the real estate agent’s office to go over the contract. We would have to pay 6 months rent in advance (as I had offered) and after that we’d pay month-by-month. There was question about the agent commission and I braced myself for a fight: but the agent called the owners and they said they would pay the commission. Finally there was one additional clause put in the contract: on the anniversary of the lease, the owners would inspect the apartment prior to agreeing to a renewal. No problem I said. Lissette is incredibly anal, they would find the apartment cleaner than how it was given to us.

Wednesday I went back to the real estate agent’s office. This time the owners were there. I had arranged the finances (transfer from Canada with Wise, who I use – and recommend – for all currency transfers). We signed the contract. And, right then and there, I transferred 7 months of rent (6 months rent + 1 month deposit) to their account. The agent printed out the receipt that I sent her. We were done.

Friday I went to the apartment and met the owners. They were installing a new bed and headrest which they had just received. We talked a bit, then they gave me the keys and left.

Then I shot this video just to record the moment

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A few weeks in…

We love our new apartment as well as the neighbourhood.

I haven’t mentioned the neighbourhood. We’re in Zaidin, close to the Hipica metro stop. It’s a vibrant neighbourhood that’s super well-connected. We can walk downtown in 20 minutes or we can take the number 8 bus and be at the Cathedral within 10 minutes. We have a large Mercadona close by and have tons of little stores/restaurants: a panaderia, a pescaderia, a carneceria, a China store, too many tapas restaurants to count, a place next door where I get roasted chicken.

With the lease, we made a reservation to sign up for the Padron. We have a local town hall 10 minutes’ walk away. A few days later we got copies of our new Padron (which you need for residency purposes).

We’ve made some trips to Ikea for odds and ends for the apartment. Taking the tram at the nearby Hipica metro stop, it takes 20 minutes to get to the Sierra Nevada shopping center. There they have an Ikea. We went to their restaurant and had Swedish meatballs. Sierra Nevada is a HUGE shopping center with almost everything.

When we start doing day trips (and we have a lot of daytrips from Granada planned), the tram takes us directly to the bus station and the train station.

Really, for us it’s perfect.

And remember in the beginning when I said that we love Avenida Cervantes? (where our ‘old’ neighbourhood was). Well, it’s a 10-minute walk away and sometimes we still go back there for a drink and tapa.

We’re still getting settled in and still have to figure out a few things, but so far both the apartment and the neighbourhood have been perfect.

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On Hard work…and Luck

I’ve mentioned the things I did to find this apartment. I think it takes a lot of time to find an apartment here in Granada, especially if you’re a foreigner without nómina (payroll).

One of the things I should also mention: people have told me that you HAVE to get on the phone and call agents/landlords otherwise you’ll never hear back. I have an aversion to the phone so that’s not an option (I hate talking on phones, even if it’s in English. A phobia of mine). But in addition to replying on Idealista or Fotocasa ads, I also used Whatsapp to text. Yes, If you can call on the phone you’re probably better off. But in cases where agents/landlords want contact by phone, Whatsapp texts also work.

But in addition to working hard in researching/contacting apartments, I really think we got very lucky. How lucky were we to meet owners where one of them worked in the department of immigration? He understood our situation.

So that’s how we found an apartment in Granada. I hope there are some tips in this post that can help others in their search.

Many thanks to all the people who left us comments on our Facebook group wishing us luck and sending their good vibes. We almost lost hope a few times and your words of encouragement really helped.

Related: Living in Antequera (compared to Nerja)

Related: Our experience renting an apartment in Spain