Today, almost no street trade operates in the poor neighborhoods of Madrid. The clearest exception are real estate agencies. In 700 meters of the oldest area of ​​the Simancas neighborhood, in the east of Madrid, nine establishments of this type operate, each one with a handful of salespeople on staff. They are the young men who wear jackets and ties, the most elegant job for miles around. They are trained to smell the business in the small details of everyday life: an ambulance that stops in front of a doorway, an obituary in the newspaper, a grandmother who stopped taking her morning walk a long time ago... Because in the most In Simancas, as in other areas of Madrid outside the M-30, the generation of owners who received the keys to their home from Franco's Ministry of Housing is dying. Its old, dilapidated and very cheap apartments are a succulent product for investors from outside the neighborhood who later rent to immigrants, the new residents of working-class Madrid.

Each commercial has its techniques to find the next grandparent interested in selling. There are those who ring bells as if they were Jehovah's Witnesses, says Sara Blázquez, with 21 years of experience in the trade. She prefers to make friends with the bar owners. Over coffee in the morning, he learns the gossip: who has died, who has gone bankrupt. The church is another useful point and also what revolves around it: “The other day I passed in front of a doorway and saw a paper announcing a mass for Doña Francisca. You think 'poor thing', but at the same time it comes to your head, 'free floor'.

So much interest is justified because Blázquez has an agenda on his phone with about thirty investors wanting to find bargains. The worse the floor, the better. One of the secrets of the real estate business in working-class neighborhoods is to buy low and then rent high. And in Madrid it is not difficult to find tenants. “Everything is for rent!” says Sara. Rents in Simancas are around 700 euros for two-bedroom apartments. If the buyer paid between 80,000 and 100,000 euros, he will soon recover his investment.

There are small savers in Madrid who see these apartments as an opportunity to get started in the real estate market because the barrier to entry is very low. Others are large holders that control dozens of flats in Simancas and similar Madrid neighborhoods. Many times these homes need what is known in this world as "a face lift", that is, an update to the 21st century. Sara talks about “yeyé floors” that take a leap into the present with reforms that usually include a laminated floor, smooth walls, a shower tray and Ikea furniture.

She is a 42-year-old from Madrid who throughout her career has seen that the real estate market is a roller coaster. The coronavirus pandemic has not curbed investor appetite for cheap neighborhood apartments. He has been working since April for Alamia, a young agency that has specialized in working-class neighborhoods in Madrid. His boss is Miguel Quintana, a 36-year-old Peruvian who has in his office a couple of statuettes from his previous company, Vivienda Madrid, where he was recognized as the second best commercial in 2017 and the best in 2018. At that time he worked in the district of Vallecas, in the south of the city. After these successes, Alamia opened in 2020 with a couple of partners. “We focus on these neighborhoods because they have a better outlet,” he says. "If we find a flat here for less than 100,000 euros, we just have to make a call and it's sold in a matter of hours."

Two years ago, the Madrid City Council published a study that estimated that 69% of Madrid residents live in owned apartments. It is a heritage from Franco's times, when the motto was "a country of property owners and not of proletarians." Francisco Franco took a mass bath in this area of ​​Madrid, San Blas, when in 1962 he handed over thousands of these flats that had been raffled off as social housing. Many were solemnly poor to whom the good news came in a letter. But Spain is changing because many immigrants and young people of Spanish origin find it very difficult to access home ownership. In the working-class neighborhoods, tenancy is already in force.

The head of Alamia estimates that close to half of the residents of Simancas are owners and the other half rent. He calculates that in some Vallecano neighborhoods such as Portazgo or San Diego, 60% or 70% of the apartments are inhabited by tenants. Other real estate agents in the area, who know the land like the back of their hand, agree with those estimates.

Everything is easily rented, even the commercial basements that were formerly occupied by video stores, groceries, haberdashery, shoe stores or bars and are now used as homes. Simancas is running out of trade. You'd be left in the dark if it weren't for the real estate agents, who have the brightest lights in the neighborhood.

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— Gemma Roberts Sat Apr 09 02:34:01 +0000 2011

Upon entering Tengo tu Casa, five salespeople raise their heads from their desktop computers and greet the visitor. This afternoon they have work on the phone. They have databases with the information they have collected from each neighbor. They know who lives behind each door.

“This entire neighborhood is for sale,” says salesman Patricio Bernini, a 34-year-old Argentinian who knows Simancas inside out because he has been working in this office for the last five years. Tengo tu Casa has 10 offices in the working-class districts of Ciudad Lineal and San Blas. They are specialized in this market because they believe that the key is to know the terrain in depth: "Those who cover a lot, squeeze a little," explains Bernini. "If you ask me about the mountains, I don't know how to tell you, but here it is something else."

He leads the journalist to the entrance of the business, where they have placed a mannequin wearing a suit and tie as if it were Massimo Dutti, only this one has been tied up with a chain and padlock. From there Bernini points with his index finger to the flats of the nearest block. "Reformed, reformed, reformed." Many have been "facelifted", which gives an idea that there was a recent change of hands in the property.

Commercial agents have all kinds of tricks to extract information from each home. A good tactic is to make friends with the presidents of the community, because the fact that your neighbors don't know you in Madrid is relative. Another trick is to throw a bait to see who bites, as has happened to José Luis Murciano, a 70-year-old neighbor: "They call you and tell you 'I've heard that the one in the room sells' and it's all a lie." Of course, as in any profession, some go with honesty in the face and others give themselves to the picaresque.

Going in a suit and tie is a double-edged sword. They say that investors like it, but a neighbor who goes around his humble neighborhood in jeans and sneakers is suspicious of being approached by someone he dresses like a paintbrush. It is certainly not an easy job. Bernini says that older people like the suit. He, who is of Argentine origin, tries to soften his accent and make use of his people skills: "You treat them like you, you tell them a couple of things and you already have them won."

But it's hard to find a good commercial, according to the Alamia boss. Many give up too soon. "Don't expect them to agree to sell you the apartment as soon as you open the door," he recommends. “If you go to a flat 20 times and throw in the towel, maybe you are losing an opportunity that was going to materialize in the 21st visit”.

Whoever works it can have great rewards in the form of commissions. “We pay the basic salary of 1,050 euros per month, but if you come just for that, it's better to go to a Mercadona. Here you can earn whatever you want. Up to 6,000 euros per month”. This market is on fire and you never know when a major will be ready to sell his apartment.

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