I’ve obtained a pretty good job in Madrid, so now my next step in moving there is to find a place to live.

My monthly budget is 500-650?, what kind of place can I expect for that price (especially in Salamanca)? Having spent a month at a friend’s place in Paris, I’m wondering if with that kind of budget I can get some breathing space or only a tiny hole in the wall like him :D

As for actually finding a studio, are there any specific agencies I should contact once I’m in Madrid? My Spanish is far from great (workplace operates in English), so I feel like it’d be easier to let an agency deal with the search and landlords. A friend tells me that there are very few agencies in Madrid now due to the economic crisis and that they mostly focus on houses; any truth to this?

If agencies are not the way to go, then what about sites like Idealista. Do the offers on such sites get snapped up instantly? I know that for shared apartments this can be a problem due to the high demand, but what about individual studios?

Hopefully someone can help shed some light on my questions! I’ve never been to Spain before, so I’m quite excited to be moving there for a while; it should be rather interesting.