After the arguments over whether we should have listed a property (which we essentially called overpriced and not worth it) I thought it time to give you an update of Valencia Property's rules for listing properties.
Now we are no ordinary estate agent, as I explained in the article about why we listed a particular property. Our regular followers continue to be regular followers because of our honesty, general vibe of the listings and heavy sarcasm/sense of humour (Delete as appropriate) as well as the fact that they are interested in moving to Valencia. You can read the article about why we listed a particular property on our Substack (And maybe subscribe while you're there, we'll wait here for you to read it on the new tab and come back to continue here)
Now there will always be trolls, especially for estate agents, it comes with the territory, and new readers may be shocked or even spellbound by what we do and what we can get away with. (This week people took issue with us calling a place affordable) However, those who know us and our 26 plus years of history here in Valencia will know one thing, what we do works! So today here are the rules for listing. The style guide, the reasons why things aren't listed and maybe, just maybe, the reasons we do list some things and how we do it.
While reading this bear in mind one thing*, primarily we are buyers' agents and work to find our buyers the best deals and the best places at the best prices. Often we list properties that owners have given us and they often tell us to go to town on the description because they don't want anything that resembles magnolia paintwork or wallpaper. Life's what you make it remember and they want interest in their property. How do we create that interest? We use the following rules.
*Or maybe two things. We have placed a load of references to 80s and 90s song titles in this article as I wanted to entertain myself while writing it. How many can you spot?
The Reasons We Don't List Things
We'll start with the reasons that we don't generally list things. Many agents are mostly desperate in this market and will list anything. We won't. If we list something massively overpriced it's a sin but it's done for a reason and that is to emphasise what's out there in the market that maybe doesn't compare well with something we already have listed. However, generally the things that stop us listing are as follows:
Main Roads
If a property is on a road with heavy traffic and on a low floor then it's unlikely you'll see it on our site. We are constantly sent properties by clients saying this one looks good and receiving a link from Idealista or one of the other property portals. In 90% plus of those cases we will say "Nah it's rubbish". One in ten are good, and one of the main reasons might be a first floor on a heavily trafficked road. It might be quiet and unpolluted if you close the expensive triple glazed windows but needing to close them isn't ideal in a country where you want the cross breeze cooling your apartment down in the late afternoon rather than diesel bus emissions filling your home. Now this will change in the future as more and more cars, motorbikes, personal transport and buses go down the electric avenue; less noise, less pollution, less dust... but this may take some time.
Darkness
If you believe in a thing called love then you want sweetness and light coming into your home. An interior cave on a narrow street, even if there is no traffic, doesn't generally cut the mustard. Having artificial lights on all day in your apartment as the sun blazes outside isn't great despite the fact that in the days before air conditioning windows were smaller to stop heat coming in and at the same time lose that excessive brightness. If all of the lights are on in the photos then get the message that the flat is dark. Many listings are getting away with it without mentioning the lack of light.
Optimistic Pricing
This is one of the reasons you won't see many new builds or modernizations on our site (You'll see some). Most developers want to make as much as possible from the new build or modernisation that they have done and price accordingly. They want money for nothing (That was an easy one). You often see this in similar properties in similar areas where a modernised, ready-to-go apartment will be 250k more expensive than something you'll have to do the work on. You can do a lot of work with 250k. You can actually do all of the work generally for a lot less than that. Get the work done for you and you get what you give in the plans, not the quick lick of paint and new kitchen table of a "full reform" seen online. Let those properties rot on the portals through this long hot summer and into New Year's Day 2026.
Bad Location, Location, Location
Where is the property? The best price, looks and apartment/house in the World looks a lot less appetising if it's surrounded by an iffy area, is in a questionable building or not in an area you are interested in. Bad locations do exist in Valencia, they are rare but they exist, and many properties you see for sale might well be in those buildings or areas that we have discounted when you told us your requirements. The closest thing to heaven for you is unlikely to be in the worst areas.
Too Far
Related to the location issue is the "too far" issue and again it comes down to your requirements because you have to answer the question too far from what exactly? In a ghost town somewhere?
We are Valencia Property of course, the clue is in the name, and we work in an area in and around Valencia, essentially Valencia and its suburbs. Those suburbs extend out in three directions, north, west and south, not much point in looking east really is there? You'd definitely have a damp issue. Where do those suburbs end? Well, they end when it's too far from Valencia as that's our area. You're in a big country when you're in Spain!
Ask me about Gandia, Cullera or Denia and I'll give you an answer, they aren't too far. Ask me about Requena, Catadau and Alginet then they are too far, they are closer than Gandia and Denia geographically but at the same time they are a half a world away.
Money In B
We are just not interested. There are many properties you see advertised and for some reason they don't sell. They look great value but something is stopping them from selling and you might not be able to put your finger on that thing. We can. In many cases it's because the owner wants a lot of money in B. They can't advertise this but you'll find out when you visit. What does that mean? They want to sell it to you for 300k but on the deeds they want 200k declared and you pay them 100k in B (Cash) DON'T DO IT! You can ask me why if you want, apart from the obvious illegality. I'll explain over a coffee.
Comparatives
If there are better things available locally that offer better value for money, better locations or are just simply better then why list something that is inferior. Our client, the buyer, will always choose the place that is simply the best.
Something Special
This is the opposite of all of the previously listed reasons. This is why we will list something. It's a castle, it has the best views of anything ever, it's an amazing building, it's the best location in ... (Insert as applicable) it has an amazing terrace... You get the idea. If a property has a certain "Je Ne Sais Pas" then it might get listed. We have some decent examples outside of our normal areas on the main website. They are listed for a reason.
Noise
We talked earlier about first floor flats on main roads and that's a given for noise but have you ever heard of a "Casal for the Local Fallas Association", or more obvious noise hazards such as a car tuning garage, a disco, the local late night cocktail bar or even the local church with its bells and constant Mascletas for every celebratory event in the calendar (And there are a lot of them) Valencia is noisy. To cut a long story short, trust us when we tell you that you don't want to see a particular property if you have previously told us you don't want noise. There's a reason and it's usually a very noisy one.
Non Modernised Modernisations
Have you ever heard of the word "render". It's endemic in property images. The place looks great but unfortunately the images are not reality. This is what you "could be buying" if you use their building company and pay for the modernisation. AI and renders are excellent disguisers of reality these days so be careful because it seems that developers just can't get enough of renders. There are so many places we don't list because they just don't exist. Except in the eye of the architect or developer they are not there. (Go on admit it, you expected Eye of the Tiger there didn't you?)
From a Certain Reformer That Shall Remain Nameless
If it looks great on the photos, the price is high but that's justified by the "Quality" on offer, and it's recently finished then great... or perhaps not. It ain't what you do it's the way that you do it you see! There are a lot of companies buying up properties to modernise in Valencia and then quickly flipping them after doing a modernisation that looks good but "never mind the quality, feel the width". They just see opportunities, let's make lots of money.
Because yes, there are companies who are shall we say less than honourable in their finishings and post purchase support. They promised you a miracle and are supposed to have a guarantee on their work. Some don't honour their guarantees. Some agents can't say "we close our eyes" to these types of reform merchants. We can. I'll only tell you the names face to face though over a coffee though as one of them once tried phoning me to see if it was them I was bad mouthing. It was, but I recognised the number they used ;-).
When The Listing Agent is Dodgy
Not all listing agents are honourable. No sh*t Sherlock. Some listings are awful, some are just pure dishonesty disguised in corporate green ties (Other tie colours are available) some are designed to deceive. Our listings are always the whole unvarnished truth about a property, warts and all, and If it's good enough for you it's good enough for me.
I've mentioned on these pages before an owner complaining about our description of their scary staircase. This staircase was scarier than anything seen recently at Halloween and it never wanted to leave, becoming an aggressive spiritual presence in the house. What are we gonna do? Ignore it and hope nobody notices when they visit or even after purchase? It'd be a total dead giveaway. Don't believe the hype. If we flaunt the imperfections in the descriptions then the houses will sell themselves on their merits or otherwise.
The Style Guide
So what makes a great property description here at Valencia Property?
- The Hook. What are we going to write about? Obviously we have to write about the house but the hook is going to be something else whether that’s some little known fact about Valencia, the latest mad ramblings from that idiot (Yes, you know who I mean, I don't even have to mention his name), the songs of Coldplay, the words of James Joyce in Ulysees or even just something random and stupid that comes into our heads after taking a look at the property (After all I had an idea in this post to post random 80s and 90s song references everywhere and this isn't even a description)
- The Wink. We write for ourselves, for our audience and to make it interesting. There is a wink to the interests of our audience, you dear reader, to popular culture of the past and to anybody who knows what we are on about. If you send me a message saying there’s “some profanity in one of our property titles” because you are worried we have been hacked, don’t worry, we haven’t been.
- The Basics. Despite the theme “Don’t be boring”* we still give you the meat and potatoes of the property, the size, number of rooms, location, special features etc… However this doesn’t have to be presented as above. Let’s make it interesting. People are reading a lot of property descriptions when 95% of property searches start on the internet. Make it worth their while and they keep coming back.
Being boring is this:
”A two-bedroom apartment is available for purchase. The unit includes two bedrooms, one full bathroom, and a functional kitchen with existing appliances. The main living area is a standard size. The apartment has neutral interior surfaces and includes one allocated parking space. The buyer will assume responsibility for all utility costs. A down payment will be required. This property is conveniently situated for access to local transport links and is located in the vicinity of local retail and other establishments. The apartment is available immediately. Contact for further details and to arrange a viewing. (Let's face it you just skim read that bit and almost clicked off)
Our differentiating factor is not being afraid to maybe quote Franz Kafka, to criticize the Fanta Fuhrer or to keep banging on about the self harm that was Brexit among any other number of themes we return to again and again and again. That’s our filter. Those who don’t understand it don’t come to us. Those who get it will. We are quite happy with that choice.
Newsflash: Asking For The Impossible Doesn't Create Properties
We are in the final countdown of 2025. We have had a decade of price rises in the whole of Western Europe. We had a pandemic that meant huge printing of money and this, allied to low interest rates, pushed housing prices higher as the rich and investment companies bought up everything they could get their hands on. As a result prices that used to exist have flown. Some people still don't realise this.
Last week we had an enquiry that they wanted to be walking distance to everything in Valencia or in L'Eliana or Campolivar but at the same time wanted to be in a gated community for some reason. Now I can think of five gated communities around Valencia off the top of my head but the closest to the centre of Valencia would be around 11km away and that's more than the walk they wanted for sure. Campolivar has a couple that are sort of gated communities so that's ok but then... Oh... they also wanted to buy a house with a garden or a ground floor apartment with garden, it had to be new or still under builder's warranty (Maximum ten years old therefore), on an urbanization with facilities such as gyms, playgrounds and common spaces with, get this, a maximum budget of 200k (that's the killer)
You know this before I tell you but... surprise surprise, you cannot get all of that for that price. Or even close to be honest. It's as if they were oblivious to the market whereas we have an obsession with what's happening. Wishing on a star doesn't make things happen.
Answers
I got a few 80s and 90s song references in here today. I'm sure if you are of a certain age you spotted them, especially in that last paragraph where I really thought it was time to go into the valley and over the top, but how many did you get? If you want the answers then maybe I'll put them up in next week's blog. Message me on Bluesky with your answers if you have spotted a lot or even just to talk about late twentieth century music ;-). Let's hope the search has put some interest into your Blue Monday (Ed: Just stop it now!)
Property of the Week in the Cabanyal
Sometimes you see a property and you know it just ticks all of the boxes. Everything in it's right place, at the right price being sold for the right reasons and it just feels right. This could well be one of those.
Set on the third floor with lift of a block in central Cabanyal near to both the beach and Marina, this excellently modernised property is ready to move into straight away as it comes fully furnished. Currently, it has two bedrooms and a large dressing room which was converted from a third bedroom but could easily be converted back if you require that third room as a bedroom or office, You have an extremely large and light living area with incorporated kitchen and dining area, bathroom and utility room.
The only things you need to think about on buying this property would be what your lifestyle near the beach in Valencia looks like. Get up and take a stroll along the promenade in the morning, a visit to one of the local hipster cafes for breakfast, cross the road to the sports centre for gym time or tennis, some work perhaps, roller skate around the Marina while checking up the start up culture in the Lanzadera, Lunch and maybe take in some music at the Fabrica de Hielo if it's a weekend, stock up at the local Cabanyal market with gorgeous fresh food that changes all year round and then out for drinks with friends in the evening after the obligatory Spanish classes. It's not a dream, it's the Valencia lifestyle for many.
Take a look at the images and floor plan and contact us to reserve your viewing.
Stepping Stone Rental of the Week
Live the vibe in our 2 bedroom Russafa Stepping Stone property which is now ready to go!
Wake up in the heartbeat of Russafa: bright, bold and utterly Valencia. This charming 2-bedroom (master + a sofa-bed room) apartment sits on the fourth floor of a beautiful and classic lift-equipped building and boasts four balconies, high wooden-beam ceilings, hardwood floors and sweeping external views from each room.
Coffee in the morning? Step out and you’re immersed in cafés, restaurants and vintage-shops. Want green and calm? A short walk to Parque Central de Valencia. Need transport? Minutes to the train station and the city trunk-lines. All in a safe, energetic but livable neighbourhood.
Furnished, with A/C, double-glazing, WiFi and a proper balcony for your mid-day sun-break.
Stop scrolling—send your enquiry and this little Russafa gem could be yours for a few months.
If You Liked This...
Then there's so much more. Just click on the images below to be taken to many more of our articles, properties , podcasts and socials.
Latest Stepping Stone Rentals will be up in the next couple of days. They are not bad looking I think you'll agree. One in central Valencia and one in La Cañada
— Graham Hunt (@grahunt.bsky.social) October 30, 2025 at 12:51 PM
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The stories here are harrowing. In Spain I pay for 11 people between family and those who work with me and it comes to 550 per month with no deductibles. Even without private provision the state health service is free at point of use and excellent You are getting so ripped off #ThirdWorldUSA
— Graham Hunt (@grahunt.bsky.social) October 27, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Cool Cabanyal Casa 385K
That rarest of species, the lesser spotted Whole House in Cabanyal, in a decent condition and at an interesting price, ideally set on a corner for ventilation, facade, windows and more light than you would usually expect to find, the plot to the rear is also available* so here's an opportunity for house with garage, garden and pool or even to construct a separate build for your growing family, social circle or to create some passive income.
Built in 1914 and set over three floors the property has an Open-Plan Living and Dining area with Integrated Kitchen, moving up to Two Bedrooms, Two Bathrooms, and on the top floor, Office-Study-Storage space and a wonderful rooftop terrace, perfect for enjoying Valencia’s blue skies and enviable all year round climate.
A short walk to the Beach, with an infinite number of bars, restaurants and local amenities which make this area such an inviting prospect for many of our clients.
*Ask for more details
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