Piso Hunters: Pt. II

Welcome back to Piso Hunters! When we left off, our new Madrid residents were in the midst of their piso hunt. Now, in part two, they have found a place to call home! However, the lessons keep coming…

Agencies.

There are pros and cons to going through an agency. Pro: they are a point of contact between you and a landlord. They make sure everything is kosher and 100% legal since they are a business. Con: more money. Most agencies will have an additional one-time fee that needs to be paid at some point, most likely when you sign the reservation papers.

Fees.

If you go through an agency there will most likely be that one-time agency fee. For us, it was equal to a month’s worth of rent. We are also paying a security deposit and a prorated rent for the month of September since we will not be living there for the whole month. Even if you are moving in a few days into the month, make sure to ask about this! It can save you money. The security deposit, much like in America, is generally equal to a month of rent. Additionally, we are paying a “special deposit.” It sounds sketchy, but the reasoning behind it is because we have not started working yet. We made a deal with the agency that, since we were essentially paying 3 month’s rent right away, we would pay the special deposit fee in October in order for us to budget and spread out our large expenses. The special deposit is also equal to one month’s rent.

When you ask about the security deposit, make sure to use the word “deposit” specifically. When you ask about fees, make sure to use the word “fee” specifically. Also make sure to ask what needs to be paid at the time of signing, what can be paid later, and what needs to be paid in order for them to give you the keys. If you go through an agency, the agency fee will need to paid at the time that you sign your reservation paper. For us, it was cash only. Before you meet at the agency to sign, find out what kind of payment they accept. Some American banks only let you take out a certain number of euros per day, so that is why it is important to find out what kind of payment method you need to use. In terms of when things need to be paid in order for you to get your keys: this is obviously very important. For us, we need to have the agency fee paid, the security deposit paid, and the rent paid. For our friends, they just needed to show receipt that the money was being transferred and they received their keys.

TransferWise.

You will hear about this a lot once you get here. It’s sort of like Venmo and PayPal, but it’s a way to connect your American bank account to your Spanish bank account. In our case, our security deposit and first month of rent could only be paid Spanish account to Spanish account, NOT American account to Spanish account. Still following? It’s confusing. I can’t speak too much about TransferWise yet because I’m still waiting on money from my American account to transfer into my Spanish account. If I’m being honest, I’m not entirely sure if I did it correctly. Some of our friends, though, have just been able to pay their deposits through TransferWise. Make sure to ask about how rent needs to be paid.

TransferWise does not do free transfers, and it can take a few days to transfer money back and forth. I put a transfer through on Thursday September 7th, and it isn’t expected to arrive until Tuesday September 11th. Granted, it was a larger sum of money since I have the primary account for rent and utilities. However, I also put a smaller transfer through that same day, and it was expected to arrive the next day, but it still has not gone through. Basically, don’t expect your money to be there the next day and don’t expect a free currency transfer. Budget longer than you need for the transfer to process.

This was not the most exciting episode of Piso Hunters, but I hope it was at least somewhat helpful! Finding a piso in Madrid is quite the process, and sometimes knowing what you’re getting into can help calm the anxiety around it.

Stay tuned for Piso Hunters Pt. III...