A Guide To House Renting For Those Moving To Germany

Are you moving to Germany for work, school or any other reason? I suggest you start looking for a place to rent before getting there. In this article, we’ll show you how to easily find a home for you to settle into after your move.

Let’s get started!

Your First Accommodation

When you get to the country you’ll need a home for the first couple of weeks before you get a permanent place. You have several options such as:

– You could use an app like Rentola, which helps you find accommodation in major cities

– You could stay at a hotel. A hotel room in Germany will cost you on average about 90 euros per night.

– You could rent a flat for the short term.  A two or three room furnished flat will set you back roughly 500 to 1200 euros a month. You can rent one temporarily as you search for your new home.

– Get accommodation at a youth hostel which will cost you 20 to 30 euros a night.

– Rent a room, using online rental portals. This might be the cheapest accommodation you can get. It is also great because you get to meet local residents who can help you find a good place to rent.

Getting Your Own Rental

Most people in Germany prefer to rent than buy. This is because there is a large number of high-quality rental properties across the country at different price ranges. Depending on how much you want to spend renting you can choose from big villas with a garden or settle for a small flat.

A popular way of renting is called “Wohngemeinschaften”, or “WG”, in German. This is basically a situation where a group of people shares a house or apartment. Everyone gets their own private room but the kitchen and bathroom are communal. The rent, electricity, internet and other house costs are also shared among the tenants. WG is a good option if you want to save money on rent and also make friends quickly when you move.

If you feel sharing an apartment is for college students you’ll be happy to know a lot of working professionals do rent shared apartments. So if you’re moving to Germany because of work you can easily find other professionals you can move in with. Simply go online and search for the best option to live in Berlin for you.

Students travelling to Germany can find flat shares at their university notice boards. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) can also help you find accommodation.

As I said before you should begin looking for an apartment early. That way when you get to Germany you can, for example, immediately begin going to view rentals you identified if they’re still available.

Where to Look For Housing in Germany

You can find a lot of property listings in newspapers and on the internet. Hundreds of Germany real estate websites post almost daily rentals for you to browse. If you’re moving to a rural area competition for properties advertised is not tough. However, in the city, there is a huge demand for rentals. So you’ve to be fast in requesting a viewing because property managers usually receive multiple offers and operate on a first come first basis.

Getting yourself a new home will be time-consuming so be patient, and don’t rush into sign a rental lease you might regret it later.