REALTOR® Membership in Spain (SIRA) – Villas al Sol

Registered API estate agent (No. 1197) | RAICV 0122 |
Certified REALTOR® (SIRA / National Association of REALTORS®)

What This Means for You as a Buyer

REALTOR® ethics translate into four commitments. Villas al Sol advises you, not the seller. Your interests come first. You get facts about a property, not sales talk. Known risks get disclosed, not buried. And the same standard holds from your first viewing to the final signature; nothing loosens once your offer is in.

 

These commitments matter most when you feel most exposed: negotiating price, reading a survey report, deciding whether to walk away from a property with a hidden problem. When a survey turns up an unregistered extension, for instance, an ethical buyer’s agent explains the legal exposure and tells you honestly whether renegotiating, or walking, makes sense. That’s the difference the ethics code is meant to make.

Credentials and Verification

Villas al Sol is licensed to trade as a real estate agency in Spain. Founder Caroline Bjälstam holds two Spanish registrations: COAPI Alicante and RAICV (Registro de Agentes de Intermediación de la Comunidad Valenciana). Together they give her the legal right to represent buyers here.

 

Each credential does a different job. Spanish registration makes the agency legal. SIRA connects it to an international network. REALTOR® status adds an ethics code on top of both. If a dispute ever arose over disclosure or conduct, that gives you three separate standards to point to, not one.

All memberships and licenses are public. You can verify them yourself:

 

• Spanish International Realty Alliance (SIRA): siralia.com
• National Association of REALTORS® (NAR): www.nar.realtor
• COAPI Alicante: www.apialicante.com
• RAICV Registry: Verify Villas al Sol’s registration – RAICV nº 0122 (Alicante)
• View International REALTOR® Membership Certificate

Listed as BJALSTAM, Caroline — COAPI Alicante Nº 1197, Province of Alicante, Alfaz del Pi.
Registered under BJALSTAM, Gertrud Caroline — RAICV nº 0122, Av. País Valencià 43B, 03580, Alicante.

The Spanish International Realty Alliance (SIRA)

SIRA administers REALTOR® membership in Spain and gives member agencies access to NAR’s ethical guidelines, oversight, and continuing education. It doesn’t grant a license to practise real estate. That authority comes from COAPI and RAICV alone. What it adds is a second layer of accountability: an ethics body Villas al Sol answers to beyond Spanish regulation.

REALTOR® Code of Ethics (Reference)

NAR wrote the REALTOR® Code of Ethics. Seventeen Articles set out duties toward clients, the public, and other agents: fiduciary duty, accurate representation, disclosure of material facts, written agreements. SIRA enforces this code for members working in Spain, alongside Spanish law rather than in place of it.

In practice, that Article structure gives you something to hold the agent to. It’s a documented duty to disclose a known defect, not just an informal promise. We regularly advise buyers to walk away from a purchase when a survey turns up problems that don’t match the asking price, several a year, typically. That’s the ethics code doing its job.

 

Read the full National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) or the SIRA Código Ético for Spain.

See how Villas al Sol applies these standards day to day in our Professional Memberships & Ethics Policy.

Global Real Estate Standards and Education

REALTOR® membership links Villas al Sol to NAR’s network across more than 70 countries, applying shared standards for due diligence, valuation, disclosure, and transaction documentation. SIRA layers these on top of Spanish legal requirements. The framework sets the standard; Spanish law sets the legal floor.

Through SIRA, Villas al Sol also completes ongoing training: anti-money-laundering compliance, cross-border transaction management, professional ethics. If you’re buying from abroad, this is the same compliance process that keeps your funds and paperwork clean under international scrutiny, not just Spanish.

Certification

Caroline Bjälstam completed the REALTOR® Code of Ethics Course, verifying her understanding of NAR’s standards and her ability to apply them.

View REALTOR® Code of Ethics Certificate (PDF)

How These Standards Affect Every Purchase

Ethics standards mean little until you see them applied. Here’s what they look like in practice, at four points buyers commonly hit.

 

Survey issues. A structural survey flags an unpermitted extension. An agent working only for the sale might downplay it to keep the deal moving. Villas al Sol sets out the legal exposure plainly: what it costs to legalise, what happens if you don’t. Then it lets you decide with full information.

 

Valuation concerns. A property is priced above recent comparable sales in the area. Rather than defend the asking price, Villas al Sol shows you the comparables directly and explains where the gap comes from, whether that’s genuine added value or simply an optimistic seller.

 

Negotiation advice. A seller pushes for a fast, non-refundable deposit before survey results are in. Disclosure duties mean you hear the risk of that timeline upfront, not after you’ve signed.

 

Disclosure of defects. A seller mentions a past damp issue in passing, treated as resolved. The Code of Ethics requires that fact to reach you in writing, with what was done to fix it. It can’t be left as a verbal aside, easy to forget once contracts are drawn up.

 

None of this is unusual for a REALTOR® member. It’s the standard doing what it’s designed to do: turning a written code into decisions you can actually see and check.

Summary

This page documents Villas al Sol’s professional memberships and registrations. COAPI Alicante and RAICV give Villas al Sol the legal authority to practise real estate in Spain. REALTOR® and SIRA membership add an ethical framework on top, governed by NAR. Every credential here is publicly verifiable through the organisations linked above.

 

Want to see how this protects you step by step in a real purchase? Read our guide How to Buy Property in Spain as a Foreign Buyer, or go straight to Buyer’s Agent Services to start your search with independent representation. For background on the company itself, see About Villas al Sol.

 

Villas al Sol is a licensed buyer-side estate agent, regulated in the Valencian Community, providing independent property buying representation across the Costa Blanca. API Nº: 1197 | RAICV: 0122. Professional memberships include REALTOR® (Spain) via SIRA.