Apartment or house rental in northern Spain for several months

Just gotta ask.

How many are several months?

Have you worked out the Schengen issues yet?

Get started on your visa -- it is not easy to get a visa that takes you beyond the 90 days allowed for Americans; it took us many months and incredible amounts of documentation and because of my profession I was able to use the 'student or academic professional' category for what was classified as a sabbatical. To get a visa as a retire to live there for many months requires acquisition of rather expensive health insurance, proof of wealth, sometimes a sponsor, etc etc.

The difficulty with rentals is that a few months is neither short nor long term. I'd start with VRBO and see if there is someone willing to do such a rental.

Ditto about the visa. For any time beyond 90 days in Europe, you will need a visa. This is a valuable web site: http://www.schengenvisa.cc/.

For renting a home, villa, or apartment, we have compiled a list of different companies and individuals that rent rooms, apartments, villas and even castles in Europe and specific countries. We do not specifically recommend one of these companies over another. In fact, many of these suggestions have been recommended to us by our readers.

GENERAL EUROPE (Reader Recommendations)
Holiday-Rentals.com lists thousands of vacation rentals by owner in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Florida & worldwide. Book villas, apartments, cottages, ski chalets, golf holidays and bed & breakfast direct with the owners for great value! http://www.holiday-rentals.com
Apartment rentals: http://www.vrbo.com/ (vacation rentals by owner)
Home Away is at www.homeaway.com .
www.homeatfirst.com
http://www.rentavilla.com/ Seattle based company that rents properties in Italy, France, and Portugal. This “local” Seattle company offers rentals to a more “upscale” clientele; in other words, its properties are more expensive. Their reputation is excellent!
www.castlescottages-flats.com - rents castles and cottages in England, Ireland, France, Spain and Portugal
www.interhome.com - Europe – not the most user-friendly but has some great options for lots of small towns in Europe
www.cyberrentals.com - Europe, villas, homes, and apartments
www.holidayapartments.co.uk - Europe apartments
www.overseasvillas.com - Europe – but they require you to “sign up” for free to become a member in order to search
www.villeetvillage.com France, Italy, Spain, Portugal – villa, home and apartment
www.europeanhomerentals.com - European Villas
www.europeanescapes.com - Europe apartments and villas
http://www.vacationrentals.com/ Europe, villa, home and apartment
www.rentvillas.com - Europe
www.flipkey.com – Europe and beyond

SPAIN RENTALS
One of the ETBD Spain tour guides owns a company called Letango that also rents out some apartments in Madrid—please see http://www.letangospaintours.com/spain-travel-services/spain-apartments.html
And here’s a tourism company based in Barcelona called Barcelona-home / All Spain Guide. (You can view their webpage here: http://www.barcelona-home.com/ ) They deal mainly with helping people to find accommodation whether it be in a private flat, a shared flat or with a host family. They say they have quality, affordable accommodation options to suit all tastes and budgets not only in Barcelona but throughout Spain.

Here are the names and numbers of a few other rental agencies we know of (but haven't used firsthand) which you might contact:
Families Abroad 212/787-2434
Hideaways Int'l. 1-800-843-4433
You do usually pay a fee for the help of a rental agency. If you don't mind doing the legwork yourself, you can usually find a great rental property on your own. You may also want to check classified ads in alumni and club magazines, the Sunday travel section of major newspapers, the New York Review of Books, etc.

Cities with universities, such as Santiago de Compostela, may have both official and unofficial student housing that's available in the summer, as well as summer language programs. Also, on Santiago's tourist office web site you can choose "other" under the accommodation search and get a few Tourist Apartment results. This is another language-learning opportunity in Comillas: http://www.fundacioncomillas.es/en/.