How We Rented Our Apartment in Spain

Now that you've moved to Spain on an NLV, it's time to find a place to live.
Here’s how we found our first Spanish apartment, as well as some of the challenges we faced, and what we learned about signing a one-year lease on a non-lucrative visa in Spain.
Want to move to Spain?
🖐️ How to Move to Spain: Non-Lucrative Visa (NLV) FAQ w/ a Visa Expert: • How to Move to Spain: ...
🇪🇸 How to get your Spanish Visa (NLV): Costs, Paperwork, and Timeline: • How to get your Spanis...
🪪 How to Get Your TIE for the Non-Lucrative Spanish Visa (NLV):
• How to Get Your TIE fo...
💻 How to Live and Work in Spain: Digital Nomad Visa FAQ w/ a Visa Expert: • How to Live and Work i...
✈️ How to get your Autorización de Regreso: • How to Get Your Regres...
🩺 Answering your Healthcare and Health Insurance questions: • Health Insurance for E...
🛜 How to renew your NLV online: • How to Renew your Span...
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[@dinaflores]

We spent 12 months in Spain on the NLV. Just outside of Madrid €700 month. We loved our time there. My family is Spanish and I’ll get citizenship and come back and live there again.

[@DaysWeSpend]

Amazing! It’s so nice when you can connect with a part of Spain and you can’t wait to come back. Good luck!

[@GoodLifePilgrim]

A little vermut to make the decision, and then a little more vermut to celebrate. Your bringing back Camino memories... We were introduced to vermut in a bar in Burgos last September. The sign read, "La felicidad es encontrar aceitunas en el vermut." Yup, I'm willing to walk all day for a little felicidad!. Sign me up!

[@DaysWeSpend]

We were introduced to vermut in Burgos, too!! This adorable bar, Casa Minuto right next to the cathedral. It was incredible. That sign is perfect.

[@GoodLifePilgrim]

@@DaysWeSpend Es lo mismito barcito! A little Camino magic playing out in a KZbin chat stream. Who would have thought?

[@DaysWeSpend]

@@GoodLifePilgrim WOAH!!! That's so cool.

[@TheKeenerJess]

I had so many of the same challenges getting an apartment in Portugal, and it ended up taking me 7 months. Proud of you for getting through the whole process so quickly and not too many hiccups!

[@DaysWeSpend]

Thanks Jess! I’m so glad you got your place, too.

[@thesmithsmaf]

What a lovely little film - I am relocating from the UK to Spain - somewhere in between Valencia and Barcelona next year - I am a little anxious as I will be on an NLV but I do have a monthly income from my pension and rental of property in the UK ( evidence that I will show for my visa application) so hopefully the agents and landlords will be okay with that. I guess its all part of the adventure. Good luck to both of you x

[@DaysWeSpend]

Thanks so much! Good luck with your relocation and enjoy the adventure!

[@tombattisti8682]

We moved from Washington State to N. Ireland for a year with our two school age children. We secured places for them in a great school. For accommodation we had to pay the full year of rent in advance. We weren’t working but we’re fortunate to be able to do this. For transportation we bought an old diesel VW minivan for £1000 (sold it for £500). Auto insurance tripled the cost though 😖

[@DaysWeSpend]

Wow. Thanks for sharing your story. The cost of auto insurance is crazy!

[@John-Val056]

Thanks for sharing your experience. Apartment 3 was really nice. I loved the kitchen.

[@DaysWeSpend]

Apartment 3 was pretty nice but it only had one shower and it was through the largest bedroom. Since it was the most expensive, we didn't chose it.

[@fazbell]

Apartment is not a bargain. What some people consider affordable is amazing.

[@DaysWeSpend]

Fair enough! We’re just happy to be here I guess. Thanks for watching.

[@teleopinions1367]

I am a nervous wreck when I go there and I speak Spanish and Portuguese. I suppose you'll have to learn Galego as well. In my next trip to Spain I will go to Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Pais Vasco. I have pretty much done most of the country. But, Galicia and el Pais Vasco are high on my list. Glad you guys found your apt. I was thinking that you might fit there really well bc they are Celts as well.

[@DaysWeSpend]

Sounds like you have a fun trip planned. Those are beautiful areas. We've picked up a little Gallego, but everyone in the city speaks Spanish, too.

[@sergiolluzunaris5918]

Thanks for sharing your story. Buena suerte!

[@DaysWeSpend]

Thanks for watching!

[@RasielSuarez]

Can't get over how fugly most Spanish apartments are when it comes to interior decoration. I get the feeling that the task of furnishing always goes to the resident grandmas lol. The layouts too are claustrophobic with long narrow hallways and tiny rooms. New build villas though are the opposite. Ugly Legos on the outside but totally modern and spacious on the inside 😅

[@DaysWeSpend]

Spain isn’t for everyone!

[@dinaflores]

@@DaysWeSpend The one thing we always laugh about with my family from Spain is the sheer number of doors in an apartment. Everything is so closed off! But they tell us they like a door to close off the kitchen so smells don’t get to the rest of the apartment and when you have mini splits to cool spaces it’s easier to to shut the door and turn on a mini split to just the living room or bedrooms. In the US we like open plans but in Spain they prefer to have each space separated.

[@DaysWeSpend]

@@dinaflores Yup, the way apartments are set-up is definitely an adjustment!

[@LuisCrown]

I wonder how many real estate employees in the United Kingdom will speak Spanish

[@elenaleeming7199]

Thanks guys..love your videos

[@DaysWeSpend]

Thanks for watching!

[@2minutes2travel]

Great video thanks for sharing! Did your apartment include furnishings or did you guys have to purchase all the furniture?

[@DaysWeSpend]

Thanks. Fully furnished! A lot of places are furnished. Good luck.

[@danielalonso197]

Loved your vid. Quite the experience moving to a new country. Was looking about Castellon de la Plana and how safe it is for college level students. My son is considering moving there.

[@DaysWeSpend]

Thank you!

[@anabellabella2266]

Congrats guys!!!! Thanks for the info.

[@DaysWeSpend]

Thanks, we love it here!

[@me-lg1yw]

Congratulations! What are your plans for your year there?

[@DaysWeSpend]

Thanks so much! We're planning to walk lots of Caminos, practice our Spanish, spend lots of time in the thermal baths. :)

[@bikramneupane557]

Hlo sir How to get room for rent in spain ? Tell me little bit information pleasle🙏

[@Daniel-xd6us]

Please me and my wife we are in need of apartment please with contract registry so we can be able to process family unificación visa please

[@ElCuervodeSanlo]

In USA you must have some type of credit scoring to rent a house, if not it happens like you experienced. And considering that in Spain is much more difficult to reject a tenant if he doesn´t pay, you were somehow lucky. Good for you. How did you choose Ourense, and nothing on the coast of Galicia?

[@DaysWeSpend]

We were very lucky. Finding the right realtor made all the difference. Ourense is much more affordable than the coast and connected to Madrid with a speed train (we have family in Madrid).

[@shaunminehan]

Well done ! Love how the agents are just closed all the time - how Spain is that. Isn’t Ourense a stop on one of the Camino trails? I thought it was . Anyway, good luck - hope you have a wonderful 12 months . Go well .

[@DaysWeSpend]

Haha yeah it was an education for sure. Ourense is the start of the last 100km on the Sanabres camino, so you can walk from here and get your compostela!

[@JV-pd8wg]

I wish you covered the names of the neighborhoods.

[@DaysWeSpend]

We saw places in Centro, Couto, and Casco Viejo. Thanks for watching!

[@elbener100]

How much is rent?

[@DaysWeSpend]

600 euros a month, not including utilities.

[@bradleyredmond7850]

@@DaysWeSpend For 3 bedrooms?

[@DaysWeSpend]

@@bradleyredmond7850 All of the apartments were between 500 and 700 Euros a month.

[@JM-tm4hb]

I wondner how you managed to convince the people at consulate to give you this NLV as you don't look old enough for retirement ?

[@DaysWeSpend]

The NLV is for anyone. It’s just nicknamed the “retirement visa.” If you’ve got enough savings you’re good to go!

[@jamiebrown6194]

I've just got my NLV and i'm only 40.

[@porsche605]

Can you please share the contact information for the realtor that you used. Thank you.

[@DaysWeSpend]

Hi Todd, send us an email through our website, days we spend.com. We used Centro Inmobiliaria. I think all the realtors in our area are hyper local. Not sure if it will help unless you are moving to Ourense area.

[@joseestupinan4484]

Hello! Thanks for the video and all the detailed info. My wife and I are planning to move to Spain in a couple of years. I have always wonder about Galicia (we love nature and Galicia looks promising). I wonder though what do you think about the weather, specially rain. Is it too much? Thanks

[@DaysWeSpend]

Thanks for watching. It does rain a LOT here. We've kinda gotten used to it.

[@DeanRamser]

Buenos dias. Thank you for an excellent video. We are retired educators (with Social Security & teacher's pensions) planning on applying for the NLV and then moving to southern Spain in the fall. Do you recommend renting for a year first? Airbnb then rent, as you did? Airbnb then buy? We love a walkable and accessible city. A sea view is a must for us. Healthcare, transportation, safety, and reliability are our concerns. Gracias! Dean & Cindy

[@DaysWeSpend]

Hola! We definitely recommend renting first. Start your first month in an Airbnb while you look for a place with a lease (leased places are much cheaper than Airbnb and you’ll need a legal lease for your Empadronamiento). We don’t recommend buying until you’ve lived in the area for a while first. It takes a while to learn a city and which neighborhoods you might like to live in long term. Good luck!

[@thelastsurvivor11]

I'm moving to Spain in October and very worried about not being able to find housing. Did your inmobiliaria make you pay insurance?

[@DaysWeSpend]

Nope. I don’t even know what that insurance would be. We paid a security deposit, but that was with the landlord.

[@ybnz.m]

Hello! Thanks for this video, super helpful! Have a couple of qs if you dont mind. Planning to move to Spain (fingers crossed) via the Digital Nomad visa as a remote employee. Do you think they will accept pay slips from foreign income sources? How long was your initial contract for,just a year or minimum of x months & indefinite?

[@DaysWeSpend]

Hi Michelle, We don't have any experience with the Digital Nomad Visa. Every realtor is different. Keep going to them until you find someone who will except your foreign income pay slips. You'll be fine. :) Our rental contract is for one year - the length of our visa.

[@carlobiorggio8685]

Great video, Congrats for finding a place. Now I'm gonna be in the same situation. I have a visa no lucrativa arriving pretty soon. I hope I could find an inmobiliaria that works with me since I do not have an income and I can not work. If I do not find an apartment do you think I could use a friend's address for my TIE?

[@DaysWeSpend]

Thank you! Good luck finding an inmobiliaria. We don't think you can use a friend's place unless you've signed a lease and get an empadronamiento with your name on it.

[@KyivPodil]

Please open subtitles for us

[@DaysWeSpend]

Which subtitles do you need? We have english ones on the video already with the CC button. Thanks for watching.

[@EfficientMeditation-ld1yw]

Great video. Can you please share contact details for the agency? I’m looking for a place myself now (not very successful😢)

[@DaysWeSpend]

We worked with Centro Inmobiliaria. They’re based in Galicia

[@EfficientMeditation-ld1yw]

Is this for Barcelona apartment?

[@DaysWeSpend]

@@EfficientMeditation-ld1yw No, we live in Galicia.

[@FindFlatValencia]

Great video guys! If you will decided to buy your own one, we are he to help you!

[@DaysWeSpend]

Haha thanks. We’ll definitely keep you in mind!

[@najwamohamed2825]

Hi I am looking for house rental with nlc

[@josernben]

I'm thinking of living in Spain on a Digital Nomad/Telework visa. Are the prices on idealista pretty accurate? No hidden fees? How much was the realtor?

[@DaysWeSpend]

We found the prices on Idealista to be the same as what we saw. Our realtor was paid by our landlord. Not sure how much that was. Each region and city is very different though. In popular place (like Madrid or Barcelona), you may see some price discrepancy.

[@najwamohamed2825]

Hi you know any realtor I want house in spain I am coming with nlv thanks

[@bradleyredmond7850]

Wow, how much was the 2 story one?

[@DaysWeSpend]

All of the apartments were between 500 and 700 Euros a month.

[@Sweetgirlsofia]

When you are owner of appartement in Andorra you are not protected by law and police from non legal occupant , which is can brock the door and live in your appartements many years withount paying anything, till you wanting justice answer from remove them out of your appartement !

[@DaysWeSpend]

That sounds rough. We’re still learning about Spanish real estate. Thanks.

[@christinadranchuk4768]

We are a Ukrainian family of 3 people (mom+2 daughters) struggling to find a place in Valencia starting rent from April... We can pay, but don't have Spanish documents yet, so the housekeepers are afraid to rent for us. Can you please share the name, email, or phone number of the realtor to talk to?

[@DaysWeSpend]

We used Centro Inmobiliaria in Ourense. They’re local to our city, so I don’t think they can help in Valencia.

[@christinadranchuk4768]

@@DaysWeSpend well, then we will try to find something similar there in Valencia ..Thank you so much for responding ❤️Wish you a good luck!

[@EMVelez]

You have enough money to live there but neither of you work?

[@DebbiePotter-xh7kv]

Some people have money?

[@MrEAA-b1t]

They won the lottery, was about 5 million dollars

[@ComradeLeonTrotsky]

So, if I were to be working for a company in America remotely this does not count as proof of income ?

[@DaysWeSpend]

That would count as proof of income. To do that, you need to have the Digital Nomad Visa. You can show your paystubs to help you find an apartment