I am confused. Many websites say that, in order to avoid scams, never rent until you physically see a place. But I am in the USA and want to secure a rental in advance. Those two things are mutually exclusive...can't do both.
How do people do this? Do they book a short stay at a hotel, and look for the rest of the stay (in my case, a three-month stay) once they have feet on the ground in Spain?? That's seems very last-minute; who knows if anything would be available
Or, alternatively, do they just use Idealista and secure the rental from abroad without seeing the place in-person? That seems prone to all the scams the Internet says on-site inspection is meant to avoid.
Or is there a method I am not thinking of?
(We've been to Spain several times on holiday-- Costa Brava, Valencia, and Andalucia-- but only for a week or two, and stayed in hotels. We love Spain, and we're immigration-curious, and this planned 3-month holiday is really a trial run to see if we eventually want to come back and try to immigrate... but that would be a couple years from now.)
I'd rather not use AirBnB or VRBO or any other method that adversely impacts the locals. But if that ends up being the only way, I guess I'll have to capitulate.)