I am moving to geneva in Feb and have only been there once for 3 days so I have no clue if there are bad areas or places I should be aware of. Also, can anyone suggest a site for finding flatshares.

I am 25 and looking to live in the city and having a flatshare. I dont need anything fancy but I would like clean! Any help or suggestions??

Yes. Rent in Vaud. Seriously.

Or consider living in neighbouring France, but then you will need a car or moped etc.

I agree with previous posts. If you are not staying on the D permit, then go for Vaud. It's cheaper - rental and the various monthly fees you have to pay when employed.
And living in France while working in Switzerland may not be that easy from the tax point of view.

Happy reading .... a fun filled selection of resources : Resources for those living in or moving to CH...

Actually nigh impossible for a US citizen under normal conditions.

post on www.glocals.ch expat site.

Hello Everybody!

I am fairly new to this forum, I have seen already a lot of posts on this issue but I wanted to get an up-to date picture of housing in Geneva.


My wife, our child and I are relocating to Geneva on November 2008. I have already gone through several canonical websites such as homegate, immostreet immoscout and seen very few places (only 2) in my target area (post codes 1207 and 1208) plus they are available too soon. Would you recommend to contact the regies in order to get more infos? do I have to pay them? Is there a website where to get in touch directly with property owners? Is it too early now to look for an accommodation for November? How is, in general the accommodation market in Geneva? The only thing I am sure about is that I want to be at walking distance from area 1207 where the job will be…

Many Thanks for your help

Cecco

Cecco,

Your situation is extremely similar to mine. Only difference is we're coming in a month or so.

Would be interested in any feedback you get.

Hi Zonker

...and have you found accomodation yet?

Please let me know how it did go

Cecco

Cecco,

No, no, quite the contrary. I'm hoping to take advantage of the info you get. Which so far has been very little...

You are asking a lot of questions, some of which have already been answered before, see below also for other useful information:

Housing crunch in French-speaking Switzerland

How are rooms/pieces counted in home adverts?

Multiple applications to same Regie?..

What happens if I say no to an apartment offer?

Questions about moving to Geneva

Basically, housing market in Geneva is incredibly tight. Occupancy rate is very low, this is why there are so few flats available in the whole canton, let alone in the areas where you want to live. This is why, if you restrict yourself to areas 1207 and 1208 you will probably either have to be extremely lucky or wait for months to get something that suits your needs.

You can contact the régies, but they will not be very helpful. They will most likely simply give you lists of flats that are already on homegate/immostreet or refer you to their internet sites. They are unlikely to give you any preferential treatment. Bribing is not a widespread practice here and beware of 'agencies' that offer to find you a flat for a hefty fee.

Homegate is usually the place where owners themselves advertise, but there are very few such ads. Most rental flats in Geneva are owned by either companies or very wealthy individuals (who often live in London, for example), so régies are in charge of advertising and processing applications.

You can not really start looking until you move here because you have to submit copies of your permit as well as documents from your employer (copy of contracts, salary statements) with your application.

Dear Zonker and Cecco,
I noticed you didn't thank for or otherwise respond to the advice given which was obviously provided with care and attention.

I'm curious, was it:

-unusable?
-ununderstandable?
-unappreciable?
-an question of sense of entitlement?
-something else?