I am very excited to say that we ended up renting the apartment that I was hoping for .
Our agent, Anthony, was recommended by friends we've made on Valencia Expat boards. Jack and Maja have been in Valencia with their 7 children for about 18 months. Embarking on this journey for our family has been overwhelming at times, and I am in awe of Maja. If you want insight into what it would take to move a family of 9 overseas, you can follow the Burton's adventures on their blog, Big Burton Bon Voyage. Oh, and did I mention that you could see the Burtons and Anthony on an episode of House Hunters International? Well, you can.
Working with Anthony has been primarily via email with an occasional phone call thrown in. C and I gave Anthony our laundry list of things we wanted in our place and Anthony reviewed his listings for what might work. The real estate market in Spain works very differently than what we know in the US; there is no central listing system and your rental/purchase options are based almost entirely on the agent with whom you are working.
In late May, Anthony let us know that this apartment was coming available but it took an additional 2 weeks for us to see the pictures. The place is gorgeous, and has a flex office/guest space which is perfect for us when #1 comes to visit.
These are some of the notes that came from Anthony along with the pictures.
I have a few terrible pictures since the girls there are leaving and it was a mess.
The place is great though. not much of a balcony but one long narrow one outside 2 bedrooms and one small one on the front side so the dogs can go outside.
It really has 4 br as the room off of the living room that they used as on office can be a bedroom. It is on the 4th floor with a lift and there is a doorman. It has side views to Plaza de La Virgin.
Very big compared to the others [about 200m²].
They will put in 2 AC splits. One for the living room and "office" The other for the master bedroom and 3rd bedroom. One bedroom which is large won't have an AC unit.
I asked the owner to send a floor plan which will help you picture it. My photos will not help much so I made a rough very not to scale floorplan so you can get a sense of the layout
I can not stress what a great location this is. Right in the heart of the old city next to Plaza de La Virgin. 2000 years ago the location if the building was part of the Roman Forum. It still is where cultural, religious and civic events take place.
Pic 1 - main living space Pic 2 - master bedroom Pic 3 - master bath Pic 4 - hallway bathroom Pic 5 - large bedroom #2 (w/ a/c) Pic 6 - bedroom #3 (no a/c) Pic 7 - office/guest room (w/ a/c) Pic 8 - kitchen Pic 9 - in apartment utility room
Pic 10 - floor plan