It's 11pm. You've got a glass of Rioja, your laptop open, and you're deep into page 17 of Idealista, mentally furnishing a three-bedroom in Ruzafa. We get it. We've helped hundreds of clients who started exactly the same way.

And here's the thing: we're not going to tell you to stop. Portals like Idealista, Fotocasa, and Kyero are genuinely useful. They'll give you a sense of what €350,000 buys in the city centre versus the suburbs. They'll teach you the difference between a bajo and an ático, in fact they'll teach you loads of estate agent vocabulary. They're excellent for homework, and we're all for homework, language based and otherwise (But don't tell my kids).

But if you think you can buy a property in Valencia by browsing portals from your sofa in Chicago or Manchester, flying in for a week to view your carefully curated shortlist, and then heading home with keys in hand... you're in for a frustrating experience, actually no, you're ever more living a delusion.

There are plenty of reasons why. 

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The Ghost Listings Problem

Let's start with the most common complaint: you enquire about a property and discover it sold six months ago (Or as it gets explained to you, yesterday).

This isn't a glitch. It's deliberate.

Agents keep sold listings live because they have nothing else to show. That lovely apartment gets you to pick up the phone or send a contact message, at which point they tell you it's "just gone" but they have "something similar" available. They don't.

Then there are the outright fakes. Properties that don't exist at all, listed purely to harvest your contact details. The pricing is suspiciously attractive, the photos are generic, and the whole thing evaporates the moment you enquire. But now they have your email address for the next ten years to bug you into submission. 

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The Pictures Lie

That stunning open-plan kitchen with the marble island and designer lighting? There's a reasonable chance it doesn't exist.

AI renders and "virtual staging" have become disturbingly good. What you're looking at might be a computer-generated image of what the property could look like if you gutted it and spent €100K. Sometimes this is disclosed in tiny text. Most often it isn't.

Even without AI involvement, the photography is working hard to deceive you. Wide-angle lenses make 40 square metres look like 80. Photos were taken in 2019, before the water damage. The camera angle has been carefully chosen to hide the electricity substation outside the bedroom window. And those sunny terrace shots? Taken at the one hour of the day when light actually reaches it.

Then there's the stolen listing problem. Agents copy photos and descriptions from other agents, sometimes listing properties they have absolutely no relationship with. You contact them, they scramble to arrange access, and you've wasted a week while they pretend they were handling this all along. 

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You Can't See the Full Market

Here's something that surprises American buyers in particular. Spain has no MLS.

In the US, there's a shared database, the MLS system. Any agent can show you any property. The system is designed to give buyers access to everything available through their chosen agent.

Spain doesn't work like that. Each selling agent only shows you what they have, and each agent has very few properties for sale. To see the full market, you'd need to contact dozens of different agencies, create accounts on multiple websites and portals, and somehow keep track of which property is which when the same apartment appears seven times at five different prices.

Those listings at the top of your search? They paid to be there. The best value properties are buried on page 7, pushed down by agencies with bigger marketing budgets (And therefore higher commissions), not better properties.

And those duplicates aren't a technical error. Multiple agents list the same property, each adding their own margin and different main photo. One of them will have the actual relationship with the seller. The others are hoping to insert themselves into the transaction and take a cut. Good luck working out which is which. 

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Both Sides Pay, One Side Benefits

This is the part that really baffles people when they first encounter it.

In Valencia, it’s standard for 6% total commission to be paid on a sale, usually 3% each from buyer and seller. You read that correctly. You, the buyer, are paying part of the fee of the selling agency. But here's the catch, that agent was hired by the seller. They represent the seller. Their job is to get the highest possible price for the seller.

You're paying someone whose interests are directly opposed to yours. If you come with your own buyer’s agent, that 3% on your side goes to them instead of the listing agent. So you’re not paying extra to have someone on your side; you’re just deciding who earns the fee you’re already on the hook for even if you go directly to them.

Think about that for a moment. In what other transaction would you contribute to the salary of the other party's representative? You're handing over thousands of euros to someone whose professional obligation is to extract as much money from you as possible.

They have no duty to tell you the flat flooded last year. Or that the neighbours have been in a noise dispute for three years. Or that the building has a €40,000 derrama coming for roof repairs. Their client is the seller, and you're helping pay for the privilege of being kept in the dark.

A buyer's agent costs no more as when the buyer's agent brings a client the selling agent doesn't charge you. The downside? You might not get to see everything because some agents only want to get money from both sides. Some agencies insist on charging both sides and refuse to collaborate, which tells you a lot about their priorities. You can decide if that’s the kind of partner you want.

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The Bank Property Trap

Every so often, you'll spot a listing that seems just a little too cheap. A three-bedroom apartment at 30% below market rate. The photos look fine. What's the catch?

Often, it's a bank repossession. And often, there's someone living in it with no right to be there but who has no intention of leaving.

Spain's "okupa" situation is well documented if somewhat exaggerated in numbers. Squatters do however have significant legal protections especially if they are considered at risk or have children, and eviction can take years and cost thousands in legal fees. The bank knows this. They've priced accordingly. What looks like a bargain is actually a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Even without occupants, bank properties frequently come with complications: unresolved debts attached to the property, incomplete paperwork, legal disputes from complicated inheritance situations the bank never bothered to sort out. That "bargain" might cost you years and €30,000 in lawyer and barrister fees before you can actually get the keys and then you find out the state it has been left in.

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Agents and Their Silence

You contact and there is silence. Absolute, golden silence. Agents just don't get back to you. There's a reason. They're busy and you are not their priority. Clients on the ground are and their boss insists on them being out and about scouting for more properties to sell. A random enquiry from a portal is not considered urgent and often gets lost in the weeds. So many people tell us that they have been trying to contact agents and hear nothing back. This is why.

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What You Can't See From a Portal

A listing can tell you square metres (Sometimes), number of bedrooms, and whether there's a lift. It cannot tell you:

• Whether that street turns into a nightclub corridor at 2am on weekends
• Where the sun actually hits and for how long
• That the upstairs neighbour runs a flamenco academy from her living room
• That "street parking" means there isn't no parking

It definitely won't mention the building's upcoming ITE inspection that's going to require €50,000 of structural work, split between the owners. Or the fact that the community president hasn't spoken to half the building since the dispute about the portero and the pizza boxes in 2019. Or that the town hall has just approved plans for a six-storey apartment block on that lovely empty plot next door and work starts in a month's time. Or typically Valencian, that the Casal directly underneath is party central 300 days a year.

These things don't appear in listings. But they absolutely affect whether you really should buy.

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So What's the Alternative?

We're not going to pretend the answer isn't "work with us". It is. We're a full service estate agency, after all. But the point isn't simply to hire any agent. The point is to have someone representing your interests, not the seller's.

After more than twenty-five years in Valencia, we know which buildings have problems. We remember which streets flooded and when. We know which agents inflate prices by 15% as standard and we know which ones can be trusted to work with. We've sat in the community meetings and heard the arguments about the lift maintenance. We know what the town hall is planning before it hits the local newspaper.

We also hear about properties before they reach the portals. Owners who want to sell quietly, they don't want the neighbours to know. Off-market opportunities that never get photographed and listed. The kind of thing that only surfaces through local relationships built over decades.

None of that shows up on Idealista. 

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The Bottom Line

Use the portals by all means, they are an essential part of the puzzle but... use them to do your research. Use them to learn the neighbourhoods, to understand the pricing, to get excited about the possibilities. We genuinely encourage it, we'll even ask you to send us any favourites so we can see the type of things you are attracted to.

But when you're ready to actually buy, understand that those pretty pictures aren't showing you the full story. They can't. They're designed to generate enquiries, not to help you make good decisions. They don't include over 50% of the information you might need, and it's the important 50%+.

For that, you need someone on the ground who knows what questions to ask and, more importantly, what questions you don't yet know that you need to ask. That's what we do at Valencia Property, we are your guide.

Ready to have a proper conversation about buying in Valencia? Fill in the form below, tell us your budget and ideal neighbourhoods, and we’ll come back within 24 hours with realistic options and a plan for your first visit.

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Property of the Week

A property that proves there are still a couple of great places out there, even if you do have to wade through some rubbish to find them. Still, not your problem, that’s what we’re here for.

A top floor apartment in Carmen, but off the beaten track for tourists so nice and peaceful. And to be honest, you don’t really need to look through all the photos. Just check out the views from the terrace and the plan to see the potential that this penthouse has.

Currently 4 bedrooms, but a complete renovation is required here. Fortunately we have already had our Valencia Remodels team look at this, so we know exactly what is possible. My own preference would be to lose the small master bathroom, open instead from the main bedroom to the existing shared bathroom. Then open up all of the front bedroom, the living room and the kitchen, taking some of the kitchen space for a new second bathroom. There is even the option to put a second window in the main bedroom and another in the living room.

Leaving you with a large main bedroom with master bathroom, a decent sized second bedroom and a third bedroom/office space/dressing room. The kitchen living area would be over 50m2, and that still leaves the amazing west-facing terrace of 35m2. Oh yeah, and there is a garage space included in the price, in the same building.

The rough estimate for all of this work would be €120,000. From there you can move up or down depending on your choice of materials. The finished property will already be worth a lot more than that. I know because the property immediately next door, practically a mirror image of this one is on sale for €750.000, and it still needs quite a bit of work to modernise it. We won't be listing that one.

Like I said, its not about the photos, its about the numbers and your own vision for your new home in Valencia. And the downpipes obviously. 

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Stepping Stone Rental of the Week

Welcome to Miramar Cabanyal: La Casa. Located on Doctor Lluch in Cabanyal, this fully renovated apartment offers easy, modern living just a 10-minute walk from the beach. It’s one of two apartments side by side, and the larger of the two.

The space is open and full of light, with the kitchen, dining and living areas designed to work comfortably together. The renovation was done with care, focusing on good materials and a clean, timeless finish rather than anything overdone. Large doors open onto a spacious balcony with distant views of the sea and port, perfect for morning coffee or unwinding at the end of the day.
The apartment has central air conditioning and heating throughout and has been completely refurbished from start to finish. It’s practical, well laid out and easy to live in, with the beach, local cafés and transport all close by. 

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Check Out The Table

10 Things Idealista, Fotocasa and Kyero Won’t Tell You About Buying in Valencia

Use this checklist alongside your portal searches. These are the questions that listings won’t answer, but that can make or break your purchase.

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Then make sure to click through to these other posts and content. Just click on the images below.

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