So I finally made it across the Border, commenced working last week

This weeks benchmark was to find an apartment in Basel. I Found a couple of places I wanted to have a look at online, Picked up the phone during my lunch-break and called the estate agent in order to arrange a viewing, all went smoothly, and I found myself with an appointment for my first viewing same late afternoon/early evening. so far,all good

found my way to the apartment , using the Tram system in Basel, Great way of commuting, arrived 10 minutes early, thought better to be punctual in the land of koo koo clocks.

Found the right apartment entrance, only to see 40 or so more or less hopeful new tenants also waiting for a viewing of aforementioned apartment.

Thanks to EF I had heard that this way of viewing an apartment is commonplace in Zurich, I did not let this defeat me, and desided therfore to wait patiently with my newfound flat hunting colleagues/or competitors depending on how you want to look at it.

10 minutes went by, another 5 went fast and after about half an hour of waiting still no sign of the agent anywhere, there were no response from the apartment at all. fortunately i had nowhere else to be, so i decided to hang around for a bit longer, cheeplishly noting to myself, that as people were leaving, there would perhaps be a better chance for me to get the apartment, that being, IF someone would eventually show up at all..

Finally, to my great surprise a little but yet bulky man appears from, it appears, nowhere, with keys in his hands, eager to show the long anticipating,now not so large crowd around in the apartment. all very exiting ..

To my greatest surprise, I enter the flat, and realize rather quickly, that the apartment does in fact not correspond with the one advertised and described online, the layout is different from the plan drawing, the kitchen is approx 20 years old, albeit the pictures on the web illustrated a nice modern kitchen with room for a table and so on.. the balcony had somehow also dissapeared from the apartment..

The Guy with the keys was not too alarmed of the meta-morphing livingspace in which we were present, and did not find it odd that the kitchen and balcony was not as it was supposedly expected to be. when approached about the matter, he just schruck his shoulders and said he did not know anything about that...

My fellow colleagues in the apartment was also noting the discrepancies and were not all to impressed either..


Is there perhaps Anyone experienced anything similar in Basel?
I mean, is this a common thing or perhaps, just a one of these things that can happen when you are unlucky now and then..

I've never experienced this in Basel and I have moved a lot since living here

Sounds like you were just really unlucky on this occassion.

Good luck with the apartment hunt!

That'd be the Tyrol or the Black Forest, not Switzerland. The Swiss make the mechanisms, which is why you have to be punctual.

All I found odd about apartment viewing (albeit ten years ago), was the grubiness of the places. We were always assured that it would be cleaned up before we moved in. In the end, we took one already cleaned.

We are getting the keys to our new apartment in Baselstadt today. When we went to view the apartment we were the only ones with that appointment time and the place was just like the pictures. We were shown the apartment by the tennants - not an agent - and they told us about 6 people had viewed the apartment. We also looked at 3 others before deciding on this one and never had a group viewing. Maybe it depends on what area you are looking in?

Our current apartment in Basel that we are leaving was fully furnished so it is a bit of a shock to have to get light fixtures, window treatments (although reading this forum did prepare us) and the previous tennants didn't have TV so we need an electrician to activate or install a point for Swisscom??

So when you do view other places make sure to find out exactly what is staying and what you'll need to do to once you move in!!!

+3*

*number of times I've moved, so consider the amount of flats we check out for each move: about 25-30.

You can have mine.
Just moved in this last Weekend and on Monday I hear that the company has been sold.
With a bit of luck I may have a job in Belgium, I am not even going to bother unpacking the boxes.

LOL. Sorry to laugh. It's in good fun.

But, no. This is not common. In fact it's the first time I've ever heard it. I'd just guess there was a mix up some where at the management company. Someone was probably waiting at the other apartment and wondering were everyone on was.

Good luck with your house hunt.

I have noticed that some agencies will use a "standard" picture set for their listings and this becomes apparent when you start to look at all of their listings. You really have to pay attention to the descriptions.

I have never run into the problem of a mob waiting to view the apartment at the same time though. In fact the oddest thing I ever encountered was a tenant looking for a nachmieter who kept harassing me to take her apartment. I kept telling her I liked it but I was still looking at other places, and in the end I told her I found something else closer to work. Then she went off the deep end like we'd been dating for a year and I just dumped her for some 18 year old with large breasts or something.

Doh. Sorry to hear that Slammer. Good luck finding something.

We are hoping to move into Basel from over the border in France.I'm glad to hear I won't be met by the masses with every property viewing. Ritz.

Hi Slammer Sorry to hear about your present situation,will keep my the fingers crossed that you find find a suitable solution to your work situation.

should your situation however not improve and you still need to get out of your flat at some point, please feel free to PM me, as i might not be settled for a while..

Intencifying my flathunting efforts over the past weeks have finally paid off, the last few viewings were not as dramatic as my original experience and I am now in possesion of a rental agreement for a 2 room apartment in Basel.
The flat actually fits the description given by the letting agent so I am now looking forward to receive the keys early next week.
(panic state officially over)

the next task will be to furnish the place from scratch.. .

any good pointers to reasonable prised stores are welcome. IKEA style furniture will do just fine, me being Scandinavian.

Will there be a lot to save heading across the border to by furniture ?

Any advise or even examples or pics of what colours/styles actually fit with this standard swiss parket floring that seem to be found everywhere ?

Look at the adverts on this forum. The stuff is never old, and can be picked up for a good price.

There are loads of secondhand shops in Switzerland, Brockenhaus or Brockenhäuser http://yellow.local.ch/de/q/?what=Br...id=directories

You can rent a van at Pratteln quite cheaply, http://www.ottos.ch/de/index/mietwagen

I think that these floors are so neutral that almost anything fits in - I have seen one room that is all black and white; another that is turquioise based; those that have huge indoor plants; cane furniture; white furniture with accents of colour; variations of big, small or no floor mats. From the photograph, your floor looks darker than some, so I suggest keeping furniture to lighter colours to keep the place from looking dark or dreary.

The only thing that jars with me, is walking into an apartment, or house that is crowded with furniture and stuff. I like to see the spaces in between and feel more relaxed when places are not overfurished. ( still not used to living in small apartments I guess.)

Now been in the flat for 2 months and got it all furnished and kitted out.. actually come to really like the wooden floors, is it the air here in switzerland or perhaps something in the water...

So now you are ready to invite us all around for an aporo evening?