How to list your home on idealista and fotocasa as a private seller

You can reach the same buyers as an agency — if your listing is as good as theirs. What to prepare, how to build the listing and how to stay safe.

General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules differ by region and municipality and change over time; have your own situation checked by the notary or a local adviser.

Most people who buy a home in Spain start their search on idealista or fotocasa, the two largest property portals in the country. Both accept listings from private owners (particulares), not only from agents. That means you can reach the same buyers an agency reaches — if your listing is as good as theirs. This guide covers what to prepare, how to build the listing, how to handle enquiries and how to recognise the scams that target private sellers.

Before you publish

Energy certificate. Under Royal Decree 390/2021, anyone who publishes a home for sale — explicitly including property portals and websites — must include its energy rating. Get the certificate made and registered first; the portals ask for the rating when you create the listing.
Nota simple and Catastro. Check the registered surface area and description. Buyers compare your listing with these documents, and differences cost trust.
A realistic price. Do not copy the asking prices of similar listings; many have been online for months. Look at what actually sold. The Spanish notaries publish real sale prices from deeds, free of charge, by municipality and postal code on their statistics portal (penotariado.com). That gives you a much better anchor than asking prices.
The conditions of each portal. Idealista and fotocasa both let private sellers place a listing, with paid options for more visibility. The number of free listings, the duration and the prices of extras change; check the current conditions for private advertisers on each site before you start.

Photos: the part buyers look at first

On a portal, your photos do most of the selling. Buyers scroll past dark or cluttered pictures within seconds.

Shoot in daylight, with all curtains open and all lights on. Mid-morning or late afternoon usually gives the softest light; avoid harsh midday sun on the facade.
Take horizontal (landscape) photos, holding the camera at chest height and straight — no tilted walls.
Tidy up thoroughly: clear surfaces, remove personal items, family photos, toiletries and pet bowls. Make the beds.
Photograph every room, plus the exterior, the terrace or garden, the view, the pool and the shared areas of the community. Buyers from abroad want to see everything before they book a flight.
Choose the strongest photo as the first one: usually the living room with the terrace, or the view.
Consider a short video or virtual tour. It helps buyers who live far away decide whether a viewing is worth the trip.

Floor plan and surface area

A floor plan makes a listing more complete and filters out buyers for whom the layout does not work. A simple, clear drawing with room names and approximate dimensions is enough. Be precise about surface area: Spanish listings distinguish between metros construidos (built area, including walls and sometimes a share of common areas) and metros útiles (usable floor area). Say which one you use, and make sure it is consistent with the Catastro and the registry.

The description

Write the description in Spanish and in English — and in Dutch, German or French if buyers from those countries are common in your area. If the portal does not offer a separate field per language, put a short English summary below the Spanish text.

Title: type of home, main strength, location. For example: "Bright 3-bedroom apartment with sea view, 5 minutes from the beach".
First lines: what makes this home special — light, view, quiet, location.
Facts: bedrooms, bathrooms, surface area, floor and lift, orientation, heating and air conditioning, parking and storage room, community facilities, energy rating, year of construction.
Surroundings: distance to the beach, shops, schools, the airport, public transport.
Honesty: mention what needs work. A buyer who discovers it at the viewing feels misled; one who read it beforehand came anyway.

Do not promise things you cannot guarantee, such as rental income or a tourist rental licence that the new owner can keep. Those rules depend on the region and the municipality.

Handling enquiries

Once the listing is live, respond quickly: buyers contact several sellers at once. Both portals let you manage messages in your account area.

Ask a few questions before arranging a viewing: when do they want to buy, how will they finance it, have they seen other homes in the area?
Plan viewings in blocks, and do not show the home alone if you can avoid it. Put away valuables, documents and medicines.
If you live abroad, arrange for someone you trust locally to show the home and hold the keys.
Keep a simple record of who has viewed and what they said. It helps when you negotiate and when you decide whether to adjust the price.

Recognising scams

Private sellers are an attractive target. Idealista's help centre describes several common tricks aimed at people who advertise a property:

The "rip deal": a supposed foreign investor accepts your price without seeing the home or negotiating, and then proposes a meeting — often abroad — to exchange cash or discuss an "investment". Walk away.
Phishing: emails or messages with the portal's logo asking you to log in to your account through a link, on a page that looks almost identical to the real one. Always type the address yourself and check that it starts with https://www.idealista.com/ or https://www.fotocasa.es/.
Codes and passwords: never share your password or the SMS verification codes you receive — not even with someone claiming to be from the portal.
Upfront payments: never pay a "fee", "tax" or "transfer cost" to receive a buyer's money.

The golden rule: money only changes hands through a written arras contract and a bank transfer, and the sale itself is completed at a notary. See our guide on the notary and the sale process. If you are targeted, report it to the portal and to the police; INCIBE, Spain's national cybersecurity institute, also offers help to citizens.

When you have a buyer

Deactivate or mark the listing as reserved once the arras contract is signed, so you do not keep receiving enquiries — and so you are not tempted to accept a second offer, which can have legal consequences under the arras contract. Then gather the remaining documents, and if you live outside Spain, read about tax for non-resident sellers.

Prefer help with the price, the presentation and the texts? That is exactly what we do — see selling your house in Spain.

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Tell us about your home. We look with you at a realistic asking price, the documents your home needs and the steps up to the notary — also if you do not live in Spain.

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More guides for selling in Spain

Documents you need to sell a home in Spain — Nota simple, escritura, energy certificate, habitability, IBI, community certificate and NIE.
Selling in Spain as a non-resident: tax and the retention — The buyer's retention (form 211), your own return (form 210) and the municipal plusvalía.
The notary and the sale process in Spain, step by step — From the arras contract to signing at the notario and registration in the Land Registry.
Sell your house in Spain
Selling an inherited house abroad

Sources

Consulted on 30-09-2026. Always check the current version at the source.