Spain- How to find places to stay

Milanuncios- I only just discovered this site and have sent a couple of emails on apartments just to check how it works. It seems like its pretty straight forward, but with this and the next one its not given that the owners speak english. Thank heaven for google translate, use it! 

Idealista- Here you can find some treasures but this is still a place where prices may be high because many tourists use it. I am using this now and the emails going back and forth from this service was very confusing since I had one agent dealing several apartments and it wasnt clear which one we talked about. It all cleared up when we moved our dialogue to whatsapp. What to be aware of is that most prices are without electricity and water. Internet is not a given and I had an agent now who on top of that wanted 20% in service fee. So what started out as an apartment as 700/month ended up at 930/month.

Airbnb- Here you have an option where you actually can get quite good offers if you read between lines. First, I discovered that some people add a deposit to the price presented to you. It usually says in the house rules.
If you firstly check for discounts for long term stays, you may save up to 70%. On top of that you are also able to talk directly to the owners and through that dialogue they can give you a special offer with even lower price. 
That said, remember that if you are going to change a long term stay (more than 28 days) with airbnb there are special terms for that. I had a situation now where I got a long term stay for a agreed rate that was much lower than the regular rate. Before we checked in at our place I had talked to the owners and asked about the possibility for changing our stay if something didnt work for us. And then that happened. 

With an open dialogue and lots of back and forth I was able to change my stay and at the same time keep my discounted rate. But it wasnt easy since we had to engage the support team in airbnb to get it all right in their systems.
Pros with airbnb is that you have electricity, water and cleaning included unless otherwise stated. 
Cons is that prices may be higher and that you have to pay service fee to airbnb. And of course that even though you make deals with owners its quite some fuzz to change a long term stay if you end up wanting that. 

Booking.com- or Trivago, momondo etcetc. We used booking.com for our trip to Malaga. What to be aware of is that you are not necessarily booking a hotel with a reception, and that you may get info about your stay in your junk mail. That is info about additional fees, deposit and who you need to call upon your entry. We ended up sitting at an italian place while waiting for someone who would give us our key. When we searched for a place to stay many places came up as the cheapest one, but that was before the fee for cleaning or something else was added. Then it suddenly ended up with double the price. 

Camping sites- seems like most spots are taken by regular customers here who have their caravan set up permanently. I talked to some of the camp ground before we came and the easiest way was via messenger. That said, they didnt speak english and wasnt that quick to respond. It is possible to camp on the beach, but many places that is illegal. I was thinking about driving the caravan down here, but because of the distance and heat I didnt. Still I recommend our friends coming from Portugal to get one. Lots of freedom and opportunity to experience many treasures. 

And at last, the most important tool that you wont discover before you are at the spot. Getting to know some locals and they will help out. I have already several contacts from talking to the bar owner by the pool and the service lady where we lived the first time etc. I also know that rates will fall when October is over so then there is space to negotiate them. If you have the nerve, only book for a month and then renegotiate if you dont get a super deal to begin with. 

Figure out what is important to you and your family to cover all your needs. We had already decided to be close to our friends, without a car and wanted a pool. After arriving we discovered that proximity to services and easy access to them without having to go too far was important too. When the winter comes our needs may change and I am prepared for moving closer to big town with playgrounds, parks and attractions if we get bored here we are now.