Find an apartment in Munich — the very best tips
Munich is the most difficult city in Germany to find a suitable apartment (Hamburg comes second) . There are however a few tricks that can help you increase your chances of finding a nice place to live:
Use your personal network:
Let everyone you know you are hunting for an apartment. If someone knows you are looking, someone might remember you if they find out about a free apartment. For a complexity of reasons, apartments for rent in Munich are like gold-dust, and unless you’re a seasoned prospector you’ll likely come up empty handed, and in frustration grab the discoloured nugget you stumble across.
Offline Media:
Newspapers and classifieds markets are a good resources that often goes untapped by the majority of flat hunters. This creates the potential for under-the-radar finds. The competition is many times smaller, and it is still a preferred medium for advertisements from the older generations, who are often also the real estate owners.
You could even go one step further and place an advert in the real estate part section of a local paper or magazine, or perhaps in the “kurz and fundig”.
Hunt around town
If you already live in Munich then you have an advantage. Get out and walk or cycle around areas you like, and keep an eye out for adverts that are actually seeking renters.
People often place offline media within a small radius from the place they want to rent. Just check out lamp-posts near the U-Bahn, supermarket billboards, notice-boards outside children’s playgrounds, and you will find pieces paper that advertise some really nice places.
You have to be quick to arrange a viewing because these adverts don’t hang around long, and the downside is you will have to visit in person in order to have any real idea of what the place looks like.
Another tactic used by flat-hunters is to advertise themselves to interested parties. This is quite a time-intensive strategy, as you have to physically go around attaching your plea for housing to (generally) lamp-posts.
Online Media
Chances are your search will take you online. Unfortunately, everyone else in Bavaria had that brainwave, so you need to have a few tricks up your sleeve. A short search on Google brings a ton of hits. However, its rare to visit an apartment with less than 20 other flat-hunters. The cunning landlord will have corrected the price to reflect strong demand. Nevertheless, you’ve got to play the game, and from time to time we hear from friends and acquaintances that they’ve found a good and affordable apartment on the relevant pages.
You can increase your chances by preparing yourself (mentally and physically). Due to high competition, it is very easy for the real estate owner to be very discerning. But if you arrive on time (Germans love punctuality), with a copy of your last salary receipt and a couple of good character references from ‘responsible persons’, then you’ll be off to a good start.
You should also have a quick answer to the inevitable question ‘How long to you intend to stay? Don’t feel pressured into saying ‘forever and ever’ — a maximum of a couple of years is all they are looking for.
There are different platforms for different groups. Students / 1-room apartment seekers should check out:
Those looking for fully furnished places would be advised to check:
These are usually a bit above the market rate but are often very comfortable and sometimes luxurious places.
The big hitters in the online property market include:
immobilienmarkt.sueddeutsche.de
Make a profile on each of these sites, and set up alerts to notify you of properties that tick your boxes.
In the end, you have to be persistent, and unless very lucky, accept that this is going to be taking up a good few hours of your precious time. The average hunter looks for between 2–3 month until they find something they like.
We can’t speed up your search, but we can certainly speed up the actual process of moving. The only thing more tiring than buying a place is hauling all your stuff across town!
Here at SMOOVER we’ve got your back — just fill in a few details about your move, and then use your smartphone to film what you need to move. We’ll connect you with the best local companies in the Munich area for low rates!
Enjoy the beautiful city of Munich, wherever you end up!
