It all depends on circumstances. We have a property for sale in southern Spain, which has been listed on a number of “for sale by owner” sites for over six months, with very few enquiries. The property is appealing, is fairly priced (if not more reasonable), compared to similar in the area, but we’re in no rush to sell, as we’re staying in the same province.
Some people opt only for basic three or six month packages with some of these sites, if they don’t get any interest, they don’t renew the listings. I also know that in my immediate region, resale properties aren’t falling much in price, if at all, regardless of what’s mainly happening coastal areas. Best buys (biggest price decreases) are new builds, many of which are incomplete or have problems, thus becoming the responsibility of the new owners.
Such has been the fall in properties in certain areas, which I’m aware you understand only too well, that some are either riding out the bad times, cannot afford to drop their prices, so may not even list their property until the market improves. That’s certainly regarding other expats.
You may need to broaden your search to some of the Spanish “for sale by owner” sites, such as http://www.fotocasa.es/
There are more Spanish private listing sites for properties, amongst other things, so google.es is your friend here.
If you’re also touring the areas you’re looking in, there’s no substitute for a little Spanish practice, asking locals if they know of property for sale locally.
Finally, a Spanish friend of mine who works with one of the local banks, told me recently that there are record reposessions throughout Spain. Normally, he mentioned, bank employees apparently get the first look at buying repo properties. This year however, there’s over 250,000 (conservative estimate on his part) properties that have been reposessed, so the banks are struggling to shift them. The strange thing is though, certainly in my area (Granada), you never see any property auctions advertised. Don’t know about the rest of Spain, but property auctions are just something I’ve never come across in the last five years.
With that in mind, it could be worth a visit to local banks to enquire if they have a list of reposessed property available for sale.
