BEWARE OF Unlicensed Estate agents:

Unfortunately since the deregulation of the Real Estate industry in Spain in 1999 hundreds of agencies have sprung up like mushrooms, on the Costa del Sol fewer than 5% of agents are licensed or have any qualifications what so ever.
It is no longer required that a Real Estate agent in Spain should be qualified, licensed, registered, or bound by the strict codes of practice as laid down by the professional associations of GIPE. and API as they were previously.
Licensed agents like lawyers and other professionals are regulated and you can claim against the governing body if your are dissatisfied in any way, if you choose to work with an unlicensed agent, then you will be on your own should anything go wrong!
This particularly applies to the new large Real Estate companies that have sprung up here since 1999 when a "Cooling of period" was introduced by the Spanish Government to protect time share purchasers, who are now better protected the real estate investors!