hey

i'm moving to Zürich in a couple of weeks' time: will be staying in a serviced apartment when i first arrive, but am trying to figure out what my options are regarding more long-term accommodation...

two questions really:
1) how easy is it to get rental agreements for < 1 year? (my initial contract is only for 6 months, although i'm expecting it to roll)

2) can anyone give me a steer on a general location? i'll be working in Otelfingen, so i guess i'm looking at somewhere between there and the Zürich central. ideally: 2/2.5 rooms, furnished, close to supermarket/gym/transport. i'm relatively easy on rent, but i'm looking around 1550CHF/month - this reasonable, or am i barking up completely the wrong tree? got loads of websites - just need somewhere to start!

i've read a bunch of the previous posts but not all, so apologies if one/both of these have already been covered.

any/all help very much appreciated
thanks...

Hey Kiki,

Do you know of homegate.ch? Take a look - should give you an indication of what to expect to get in terms of apartment size/price. Obviously the area matters.

Probably better to try to find someone to rent with for the later 6 months due to rentâl contracts. When you are here you'll have time to find something/where reasonable for yourself. And you will know roughly where you want to be (or should).

Try the following to find and see where you are in relation to ZRH. As you may??? want to be somewhere between otelfingen & ZRH presumably for social reasons??
http://map.search.ch/index.en.html

thanks bails - much appreciated

i've spent a couple of evenings checking out what's available on homegate / immostreet, but with no real experience of Zürich it's tough to know where to start. unfortunately, i suspect you're right - there's no real substitute for pavement pounding - but it's always worth a try

2 (more) queries then: firstly, homegate makes a distinction between 'apartment and house' and 'furnished dwelling' - does this mean that unfurnished is the default?

and secondly (just to get this straight), you reckon the way forward is to take a one year rental contract and then find someone to take it on if i move on within the year?

cheers

Unfurnished is definitely the default, furnished places are rare.
And unfurnished will probably mean absolutely nothing, no lightbulbs, cutlery etc.
I'd take what you can get to be honest.
good luck

'k. in that case, guess i'd better get posting and see if anyone's got a houseful of furnishings going spare

thanks for all your help - doubtless i'll be back in the not-too-distant future, with a whole new battery of daft questions...

seriously you'd be crazy to go for six months or more in a furnished place of your own - sharing or subletting maybe but you'll pay more in 6 months than you would if you got an unfurnished place and did a shrewd Ikea run

Sorry kiki I meant it would probably be better for you to find someone to share with for 6 months until your situation is better defined. Trying to find a contract for less than 12 months will be difficult (but not impossible)

I haven't checked out the prices but anyway...
http://www.aparthotel.ch/en/
http://www.hotels-and-more.ch/en/zue...part-hotel.php

There are also ad's on www.xpatxchange.ch at times for people looking for flat shares etc.

ok, good stuff - thanks. guess all this is going to keep me out of trouble for a while...

there are also places availablefor a limited amount of time. Many go on holidays and look for someone to sublet their apartments to.

Check out the posts on "temporary accomodation" or "student accomodation". They're probably pretty good websites to see if you can sub-let.

www.ronorp.ch also good but you have to know German.

Good luck.

~ Nanda.

Hello,

I have some interesting information on a superb apartment for sale in the region of Aarau. Extremly well located; from all major Swiss cities only half an hours drive. - The price is very interesting.

Looks like you are on the wrong thread - this one is about renting an apartment in Zurich.

Hi,

Try posting this under Marketplace/Apartments. Perhaps a bit more info wouldn't go amiss either.

Cheers,
~ Nanda.

Hi Kiki
My partner and I are in a similiar situation -moving to Zurich in 4 weeks to find something to rent furnished but it seems a long shot. Let me know if you had any luck with shorter rental times in terms of contract. I saw the mail that someone sent regarding maybe renting unfurnished and just getting the basics from IKEA...not a bad idea seeing how much you can save and it seems that generally....the Swiss taste is rather awful....
regards
Helene

Not in Zürich but close to it (on the S7 line) - I know of a 3 room furnished apartment available in Stäfa, which can be rented from April 19 to October 19. I am not the person offering it for rent (it's posted on our noticeboard at work) but if anyone is interested, send me a PM.

try the ETH pinboard: http://www.marktplatz.unizh.ch/index.cgi.
it's mostly offers for rooms in apartments, but also shorter or longer sublets (Untermiete) and regular rentals. Unfortunately, it's mostly in german.
I've found both the apartment I'm subletting now for 3 months (fully furnished) here (while I was still overseas), as well as the gorgeous 3 room apartment (for 1400 chf incl!) I'm moving into in April. Now that I found my place, I can spread the secret of this fabulous website...

I think 1500 chf is a reasonable price for a 2-2.5 room ap, especially since sublets are often cheaper than normal.
In terms of neighbourhood, there is quite a few that match your description: Wipkingen, Wiedikon, Altstetten (?), Oerlikon, Seefeld, Wollishofen, Albisrieden, ...

hope this helps and good luck,
v.