Hello! I am moving to Zurich and need to rent an 2 - 3.5 room apartment preferably in Enge or 8002, 8003, or 8038 (close to the Wollishoffen train station). I have a budget of up to 2000CHF/month incl NK. I need to move in at the beginning of August. I know the market is really tight at the moment but any help would be so appreciated!

I live in Ulm (I am Canadian though), only 3 hours away so I can come to view any apartments on a Sunday.

Thank you so much for the help! So looking forward to living in Zurich!

Varekai

The first thing you "need" to do is relax some of your "needs". The market here is not like Ulm or any market in Canada, save perhaps for prime location in Vancouver back at its peak.

Your budget and requirements, unfortunately, are at a point where many people find themselves and you will have plenty of opportunity to meet people and make friends when you go to see an apartment, which brings us to the next problem - you will not go see many apartments. IMO, you can pretty well forget Enge altogether (i.e. 8002) and you should focus your search on 8038 and perhaps 8045, both of which have more in terms of the type of flat you are looking for. The area around Wollishofen train station is prime real estate, close to transportation of all sorts (highway, train, tram, bike paths, etc), close to the see, close to the Uetliberg, so do not hold your breath re finding something there. The last thing is, as described in many posts here, you have several disadvantages in trying to find a place, i.e. you are not Swiss and you are not here. i have yet to see a viewing scheduled for a Sunday. You might consider finding an agent to help you... good luck either way.

What Ratbert says is true.

The area where you are looking for is one of the more difficult to get nowadays.

I got an appartment in Enge, 8002, 2 blocks from the train station, 1 block from the lake, in direct line with the tunnelstrasse to get the highway. One that fills all my wishes and needs.

But I was extraordinarily lucky to get it.

First of all I had 11 years in Switzerland, with a clean credit/renting/banking history.

I moved first to a village where I got a room. I work on the right side of the Zürichsee so I needed something in the city and near to the train station/highway. And near to the water.

I looked everyday for places to rent in Enge and Wollishofen, there were not much but I visited all of them, sometimes 3 per day, sometimes none for several days, they set up the visiting meetings at capricious times, so I had to take times off at work often and go there ( 25 minutes trip ) just to see the appartment for 3 minutes, together with some 20-30 other people.

The appartments in Enge were the most expensive, ( 2000 and up ) and scarce. The ones in Wiedikon were good priced but you'd meet a big crowd when visiting.

So, to make the story short. I was doing this steadily for 3 months. that is searching everyday, visiting almost everyday, being rejected almost everyday.

Until one day I visited another appartment in this building where I live now, 20+ people visiting. When leaving I found a man in the elevator and we were talking about it, I told him how I was searching for a long time a place near the lake and the city etc. etc. needless to say, I didn't got the appartment I had just visited.

It happens that the man, just found another place to move the next month, as they just had a baby they were searching for another bigger flat. And he called the administration and told them about me and that he would like to pass me the appartment. The building administration had my papers and just decided to do it.

That is how I got it. A lot of luck, some human compassion and empathy.

On the other side, A swiss girl ( she is from Bodensee ) I met around May 07, was also looking for ther same thing as me. When I got it we were joking about how jealous she was of me, ( she told me she wanted to steal it from me, I was telling her that she could also have it, she only had to move with me etc ), well she found an appartment just 2 months ago.

So she being swiss and profesional have been searching for 10 months before finding something, and she found it in Wollishofen not Enge, and not near to the lake or train station anyway...

This will give you an idea of how hard it is.

I think I just found my new signature

Seriously though, I have been looking every day, as in e v e r y day since December and we have only seen 5 places or so. There is a lot of luck and patience involved and as per above story (good one, btw) you need to find some way to bond with the decision maker. If you don't, someone else will and then, guess who gets the flat.

Hello,
You may want to keep checking Homegate.ch. But I don't think that 2,000 per month will get you a place in Enge-not 3 rooms anyway. I live in Enge but the relocation company told my employer that I could only stay until the end of the Summer. I got lucky and found a nice apartment in Enge (homegate.ch) for the time I needed. To make it easier my company is signing the lease and paying the owner directly. Perhaps your employer can help you.

Good luck and keep checking homegate.

Just taking my new signature out for a test run.

Any suggestions for a foreigner on how to "bond with the decision maker"?

Having got only rejections for the apartments I applied for till now, it was all so formal - mostly I filled the form and after a while was informed the apartment was let to someone else. I have the feeling that if the decision maker meets me face to face it may help, and as soon as I move in (in just less than two weeks), I can actually meet people there and not just be in remote contact. But not sure how to arrange it at all - I usually don't even know who the decision maker is, the apartment being let by some impersonal agency, and after sending the forms, I don't suppose it'd make a good impression if I just pop up at the agency and say "hello, I applied for one of your apartments, I wanted to meet you so you can see what a nice guy I am".

-- Tom

Tom you hit the nail on the head. You pretty well have to do whatever it takes and a lot of the time you will not have any influence over the situation and will have to wait patiently for what will usually be either nothing or a rejection.

I think this has been mentioned by yourself or another poster, but being Israeli will make your job more difficult in certain parts of Zurich. Sorry, just being honest. I once had a mature, seemingly professional female shop keeper ask me how it was to live in Enge with "all the Jews" . I suggest you use this to your advantage and try to network within the community. Aside from that, speaking German is an obvious "must" and consider hiring an agent to do all the dirty work for you.

Your message matches the feeling I got so far looking for a home in Zürich.
It's really frustrating, considering that after I move in I need to find something within a month (then my temporary accommodation runs out). I'm hoping for one of those apartments which will be advertised as available immediately - maybe there will be less competition for them.

Even having heard that it's difficult to find something in Zürich - I was amazed how much more difficult it was than I expected. My problem wasn't even finding something - I'm not very picky at this stage, other than about the location (don't wanna end up in Altstetten or Affoltern or such a remote neighbourhood), and applied to most apartment I've seen in my visit there. The problem is getting any one of those apartments which you found and are available. I wouldn't expect that someone who has sufficient income to pay for the apartment, a stable employer, reasonable profession, no criminal or troublemaker impression, etc. would not get any of 11 apartments he applied for.

To contrast this with the situation one would have anywhere here in Israel - you want an apartment, see an advertisement, come to visit the apartment. The landlord meets you there when you visit, you see the apartment. If you're interested, you tell him you'd like to rent it - if you don't make a bad impression on him (reasonably polite, not a drug dealer or anything), give sufficient documentation proving you will not have a problem to pay, pay a deposit, and sign the contract on the spot. The landlord is happy he has a tenant and doesn't need to keep dealing with renting that apartment out, and remains happy as long as you don't ruin the apartment and always pay on time...

But what is "whatever it takes"? As you said before, it takes more than just filling the forms.

True so far. There was one apartment that I would likely have got had I been there then, I even got a draft contract, but the landlord couldn't meet me and therefore decided to let it to someone else. But that landlord was a private "family agency" owning a few apartments. For most apartments I don't even know who it is who decided I'm not worthy.

Happen to know in what parts?

Well, I learned enough German to be able to understand day-to-day conversations and most texts, and can mostly express myself in German too, although not good enough to sound like a native German speaker. And no Swiss german anyway...

Do agents have any advantages in applying for apartments (from the landlord's side, using connections, or so), or is it just that they handle the formalities?

Thanks for your honesty
-- Tom

Just to try and answer your questions quickly:

• That is the question, isn't it?
• Any parts where you find ignorant people
• Israeli probably better than German, you are right, they sometimes do not exactly love the Germans
• I believe the Hasidim are mainly in Wiedikon but there is a large Orthodox community in Enge (but my knowledge of all things religious is imperfect at best...)
• I am pretty sure that here, like most places, you will find a Reform/liberal community once you get on the ground
• I haven't used an agent but I suspect they do most everything for you, including "speaking the language"

Again, good luck.

Hi again!
Wow! I didn't realise I would get such a response!! Thanks for all of the advice and tips. I know that I have to take almost "anything" but I have the problem that I need to be withing walking distance of a synagogue on Shabbat. The (religious) "Jewish" area is mostly centred around Enge and Wollishoffen, so I am really limited with the areas that I can choose from. Just came back from Zurich today after seeing a fantastic flat but it was too far away to walk (about an hour) - uff!

Anyway, I am becoming a true "Homegate groupie" and visit it more often than I do email!!!

Have a great week everyone!
Varekai

Do as you like, but perhaps using this signature will do more harm than good to your image in the forum

The goal of having intermediary administrations companies is exactly that.

To keep the riffraff like us far from the owners.

Now, seriously, It is a matter of a lot of luck luck and empathy.

I got in contact with the owner of my appartment in Geneve where I lived for 9 years. a 2 rooms at the Pâquis 2 blocks from the lake.

I got first a 1 room flat on the building and was desperately searching for a 2 rooms because that one was too small for me.

needless to say, it was nearly impossible to find a similar appartment in the same neighborhood for a payable price.

So one day my neighbor, just in front told me he was moving out. He had a two rooms.

I contacted the administration to request to be considered for the appartment.

They in a very impersonal and cold way, told me that it was not possible. The owner had reserved it to give it to somebody else.

But the girl on the phone let escape the name of the owner. I looked at the phone book and there was only one guy with that name.

So I wrote him a letter, told him that I was living for 4 years in that appartment, never had problems in it, and that I needed the one that was just free, and that it would be great for me as I wouldn't have to move far, just door to door, that I knew he had reserved it for someone else but I wished to be considered in the decision.

He called me the next day. And asked me who I was, as he had a peruvian friend, he sympathized with me, we talked a bit about his friend and how he had visited Peru in the past, then he asked me which appartment I was talking about, "mind you, he told me, I own near 200 appartments to I don't know who was this reserved for". So I told him, and he remembered and told me, "it is ok you can have it, I'll give another to my friend". The administration company contacted me the next day to give it to me.

And that was it. he gave me 1 month to move from door to door and 1 month rent free.

I sent him a nice bottle of Pisco (a typical peruvian liquor) as thanks and he wrote me back a nice letter.

I lived happily on that appartment the following 5 years.

So, in conclusion, they are as human as us, but I imagine you have to be veeeeery lucky to have the opportunity to approach them. And for sure they want to keep their privacy as if they were importuned by every renter or sollicitor, then they'd have no peace.

Then you'd be better living in Wiedikon where the synagoge is and where the ortodox jews live.

It is much more easy to get something there than in Enge or Wollishofen