Estate agents

Torre del Mar supports twenty-two estate agencies inside roughly one square kilometre, which for a town this size is remarkable and tells you how active the market is. Several work specifically with foreign buyers, including Nordic and central European markets, and eight of them are on the same avenue.

Three checks before you pay anything

• Ask for the nota simple from the Land Registry before the deposit. It states who actually owns the property and what charges sit on it. It costs very little compared with what it prevents.
• Agree the commission in writing. The seller normally pays it here, but terms vary and it belongs before the signature.
• Budget the real cost. Transfer tax, notary, registry and administrative fees all sit on top of the asking price. Ask for that breakdown in writing.

Use the concentration

With eight offices on one avenue, you can ask several agencies for a valuation on the same day and compare while it is fresh. That is unusual and worth taking advantage of.

This site does not list individual properties, because they change daily and any such list is out of date within weeks. What it documents are the agencies themselves.