Up until then, if you wanted to sell property, you had to be a member of one of Spain’s two professional real estate associations – API or GIPE.

Types of Real Estate Agents in Spain
Buying property in Spain is ordinarily a very straightforward and safe process. Nevertheless, there are a few sharks out there, so you have to be careful. Your biggest risk might come from your choice of estate agent, whose levels of competence and ethics can mean the difference between a happy and unhappy investment.

That’s not to say that they are all bad. On the contrary, there are many very highly trained, very competent and caring agents in the Spanish market. The challenge is choosing the right one for you.

Before choosing the type of agent you want, it’s a good idea to get an overview of the different types out there. There are a number of different agent set-ups, all quite distinct from each other.

Foreign Estate Agents
There are hundreds of foreign estate agents set up in Spain and on the Canary Islands – English, Irish, German, Dutch, and French etc…

Normally their target market will be buyers from their own home country. The Irish will try and sell to the Irish, the English to the English and the Germans to the Germans etc. It make sense really, you feel safer with what you’re familiar with.

In most cases, foreign agents will operate through English as their primary language, but will speak numerous other languages.

Since deregulation, no qualifications are required to set up as an agent and the barriers to entry are low. The result of this has been an influx of unprofessional and sometimes unscrupulous agents operating in the very touristy parts of Spain – like the Costa del Sol, Costa de Almeria, Costa Calida and Costa Blanca.

In some cases, they’ll try and charge outrageous commissions while at the same time offering a very low level of service.

Many are ex time-share and still use aggressive sales tactics, which sometimes extend to telling the clients half-truths; anything to close a quick sale.

Unfortunately, such organizations still exist in Spain and on the Canary islands. Thankfully though, these are in the minority – the majority being very professional, offering excellent levels of service.

Spanish Estate Agents
Most of the Spanish agents are affiliated with the API or GIPE professional associations. This indicates a very high level of training and professionalism. Sometimes though, these titles can be abused, making it hard to judge their genuine level of professionalism.

Spanish agents usually sell property within their local area. Some of the larger agents have chains and networks stretching all across the country.

Up until recently, most of the Spanish agents didn’t speak English. Nowadays however, there are more and more Spanish agents who speak English and various other European languages. They’re mostly in the popular coastal areas, like the Costa del Sol etc.

Estate Agents Based in the UK
The UK agents infiltrated the Spanish market after seeing the huge numbers of UK buyers looking for property in Spain. They were also lured into the market by the very generous commissions. The obvious advantage for the buyer is that you can do all the research with an English-speaking agent right on your own doorstep.

Inter-agency Networks
This is a convenient way of matching buyers and sellers with appropriate properties. Groups of foreign estate agencies come together and set up a network where they can share clients and properties as well as commissions.

It’s mutually beneficial for both agents. One might have a buyer looking for a certain property but not the correct property while the other might have the right property but not the buyer. Everyone wins!

The only problem is that although they are meant to split the commissions, what they often do is increase the commission. So, although you might get the property you’ve been looking for, you end up paying more.

With a little extra effort you could have probably found the property yourself – without paying the extra commission.

In Spain, you’ll often see the exact same property advertised at completely different prices from different estate agents. This is largely down to these agency networks. Here’s an example.