Gonzalo Olmos is Spain's youngest registrar, 25 years old

On Tuesday, October 17, 2023, at 00:30, Gonzalo Olmos Gil of Guetho, Spain, became the youngest real estate registrar in Spain this year. He is just 25 years old and in two and a half years he has overcome a tough challenge that usually takes five to ten years to prepare for.

"To prepare for the last stage, I got up at 5:30am and didn't stop until 2pm. Had lunch in twenty minutes and continued until 9:30 pm. The only breaks were for two minutes, total madness," he says.

Now, after having "had to sacrifice a lot in communication," he is preparing for his trip to Cangas de Onis (Asturias), which will be his first job. "It was always hard for me to see my friends enjoying life, going out at night, planning together, and even starting work, while I stayed home and studied. Now it's time to catch up!" - he declares enthusiastically.

His vocation, however, was not to be a registrar, but a doctor. "My freshman year of high school, even though I had a very high GPA, it didn't seem like it was enough and I decided to put it on the back burner. As time went on, law began to appeal to me and I enrolled in law school at Deusto University," he says.

His brother also started the same career, but had no intention of following in his footsteps. "Everyone said he had the gift of persuasion, of negotiating with the devil, and I didn't, that I lacked the maturity to do it. So I chose economic law, knowing that I would be studying for the exam after I graduated. "

"The "serenity" with which he began his career quickly disappeared as he began intensive preparation in his final year. His first choice was notary public, but he was unable to pass the exam despite "being able to graduate on time." "With the failure I was very upset, not achieving your goals always hurts and I also took the pressure off myself as there was no other exam date.

A few months later, the date for the registrar's exam was held and he appeared for it. "I never stopped learning for a single day. In fact, I studied 15 hours a day for several months in the first stage of the exam and ended up getting 19.20 out of 20," he says proudly.

How did you cope with so much studying?

Every person is unique. In my case, I have a very high work capacity. Studying for so many hours bore me so much that when I went to bed, I would fall asleep in a minute. However, I believe the key to success is to disconnect during breaks. Don't think about taking the exam. For dinner we talked about other things, and sometimes I even went to look at the Ereaga beach from Maria Cristina to distract myself.

Tough moments With victory in hand, he admits he experienced "real tough moments." "After completing the practice assignment - the last test - I had the toughest week. I went to bed in doubt, woke up the same way. I tried to exercise even five hours a day to distract myself, watched TV series to keep my mind off anything, but when it was time to sleep, I had unbearable insomnia that wouldn't let me stop thinking whether I had passed or not," he details.

His constant anxiety ended in May when his preparer confirmed that he had secured one of the 47 available places. He believes young people - his group claims an average age of 29 - are increasingly taking exams "because of job stability and work schedules," and he encourages anyone in the process to keep pushing forward "regardless of the difficulties." "I advise them not to get discouraged because failing the exam doesn't mean the world has ended," he adds.

After securing a place, he doesn't rule out new challenges and becoming a preparer of future candidates, which he already does, or even a university lecturer.