I’m a big fan of House Hunters. [Yes, I know that the show is totally staged. That doesn’t stop me from loving it.] As an avid traveler who has long dreamt about moving abroad, I’m especially a fan of the International version. I love seeing the apartments in foreign cities and picturing myself living there. Though, I always yell at the clients because they approach their agent with completely unrealistic expectations.
“We must have a washer & dryer, 5 spacious bedrooms, and dedicated parking. But, we will not live farther than two blocks from the city center that was built hundreds of years before cars were invented. “
Have these people ever even visited Europe?!?!
I obviously began to think about our apartment search in 🇪🇸 as if we were being featured on an episode of House Hunters International. What’s on our Wish List? Do we agree on the non-negotiables? Are our expectations reasonable?
In the end, we formed a fairly simple Wish List. [Though we didn’t get to review this with our agent in a bar.]
- Furnished: We’re not sure how permanent this move will be. We don’t want to spend money on furniture (or time shopping for it). The apartment must be furnished.
- Budget: We’re living off of savings for a while, so affordability is critical.
- Size: While we only need one bedroom, we both may be doing some contract work and taking online courses. We’d like to be able to spread out a bit so that we don’t annoy the hell out of each other.
- Location: We’re living a car-free life and we didn’t move to Spain to sit in an apartment all day. Our home needs to be walkable to shops and restaurants. I also need to live in a neighborhood where I can run easily.
- Outdoor Space: I try to spend as much time outside as possible, so I would love a balcony or a terrace.
When we arrived in Bilbao I started perusing idealista almost immediately. Fortunately, my search parameters returned a sizable number of results. Unfortunately, most of the listings required tenants to provide an employment contract, which our Non-Lucrative Visa does not allow. For every five listings that met my initial criteria, at least three included this requirement. This dramatically limited our options.
I sent requests to view at least 20 apartments. I only received a response to six of my inquiries. One of the listings for which I received a response was soon flagged as fraudulent. [This seems to be quite common on idealista.] One of the apartments wasn’t available soon enough to meet our visa requirements. Another would only work with us if we signed an 18 month lease. Yet another required the employment contract, even though the listing hadn’t stated so. This left us with two options. [I know, they consider three options on every House Hunters episode. I didn’t get enough responses!]
We made appointments to view each apartment the following week. Both of the apartments were furnished and well below our top budget. Here’s the House Hunters-style summary of each.
Apartment #1
Size ✅
Location ✅
Outdoor Space ❌
The apartment is in an ideal location. It’s on a quiet, mostly pedestrian street near the train station. There are a few bars and cafes right outside the door. I can easily run along the river and a bridge into Casco Viejo is only a couple hundred meters away. The kitchen and the living area are completely separated and each has a dining table. This would allow both of us space to work or take classes without bothering the other person. It doesn’t have any sort of patio or balcony.
Apartment #2
Size ✅
Location ❌
Outdoor Space ✅/❌
This apartment is far from where we want to live. It’s a 30 minute walk up a steep hill from the edge of Casco Viejo. There is a closer area with bars and restaurants, but that is still a 15 minute walk. While there’s a sizable park nearby where I could run, it’s quite hilly and wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable as a run along the river. It had a second bedroom, which the owner used as an office space, along with the dining table, which would meet our needs for separate work areas. While it did have a balcony with a nice view of the nearby mountains, it was tiny. We wouldn’t even be able to fit two chairs on it. Does that even count as outdoor space?
While we waited to meet the owner of the second apartment, I received an email from the agent who’d shown us the first the day before, saying that we’d been approved and providing the steps to move forward. In true House Hunters style we went to a bar after viewing the second apartment and debated our options.
Staying true to the House Hunters theme, neither apartment satisfied my entire wish list. However, we needed to sign a lease to move forward with the residency process. We knew that we couldn’t turn down a sure thing, given how few responses we’d received. We’ve also quickly come to appreciate that you we don’t need our own balcony to spend quality time outside. Every bar and cafe in Bilbao has tables outside. [And when they don’t, the patrons still bring their drinks onto the sidewalk.] Plus, there are parks and public spaces aplenty [and you’re welcome to BYOB to any of these]. The decision was easy.
We chose Apartment #1!
Due to some changes in the law that had recently taken effect, it took a few days to get the contract sent to us by the agent. However, we soon met the landlord, a charming older man who now lives in Madrid, paid the deposit, and signed the lease. We get the keys next week!
While the apartment is furnished, we will need to equip it with a few things [bedding, towels, cookware, etc.] We’ll have a week between when the lease starts and when our initial Airbnb reservation ends. This will give us time to buy what we need and get settled in. Check back in a couple of weeks for more details about our new home. [I’ll leave you with this picture of its very blue bathroom, just to pique your interest!]
I love it already…has the blue bath fixtures which I have waited a year for my kitchen!
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