Looking for an apartment and have two very young children. Budget of up to 3500 CHF per month (wd prefer closer to 3000 CHF) and would prefer 3 bedrooms (4.5 rooms) and a ground floor. Enjoy city living (spent time in London and NYC) and would like to be beside good pre-school programs.

Also, close to cultural stuff, English-speakers and grocery shopping - my wife may be becoming a SAHM . I work near the Hauptbahnhof and don't want a monster commute and would love to dispense with our car.

For the right location, would do a 2 bedroom (3.5room) but need 90 metres squared minimum.

We're working with a relocation agent. Currently, living in seefeldstrasse in corporate apartments. We love this neighborhood - and I think my family would be happy there. Hottingen seems very nice too.

We've been shown apartments in areas such as Birmensdorf, Alstatten, Oerlikon, Ober- and Unter- entstringe and Dietikon. Quite liked Oerlikon/Seeback - which has a city feel (if a bit edgy). But the rest seemed really depressing and sterile for us.

We went to the west bank of lake and it seemed nice but a bit dead. Likewise for beyond Tiefenbrenen

We've pushed to see stuff in Kreis 8 and more classic kreis areas but have had major pushback from our agent. Arguments, For example, include -
* These places are outside our price limit,
* Don't have lifts
* They won't rent to us as we have children and are foreigners (I am an exec for a large well-known German firm and on a good salary.)
* They'll be 20 applicants for every apartment

I'm wondering if our agent is pushing us towards areas that are easy to get apartments so we can be checked off his list quickly and easily. Even if this means us living among a bunch of non-English speakers. (We have 4 months to find somewhere??)

It's not impossible but it is difficult. Your agent is on your side but ultimately your suspicions are probably correct. I recommend making use of the local stores in Seefeld, where by now you *should* be on nodding terms with the staff, and ask them directly. They will be more likely to put your 'Wanted: 3 Zimmer Wohnung' advert up in their window and remember you if they hear anything.

Of course, you being a foreigner shouldn't make any difference - but it might with some landlords, who often have 20 Germans demanding to live there and 1 Swiss person asking quietly. It can be time consuming (I took 45 visits over 12 months before hitting gold) but you are being quite specific in your requests. I don't think it should make too much of a difference you having a family, there aren't enough in Seefeld in my opinion.

It's a nice enough area to live in, although the night life is kinda reserved. Search the Forum for similar threads on the issue. Good luck.

There are most likely 20 applicants or more for every apartment in Zurich City so that isn't any excuse. A lot of them will be foreigners.

If you have children an apply for a place in a non-child friendly block, you will for sure be turned down, so there is no point. The converse is also true - if you don't have children you can be (and I have been) rejected in a family block just on that ground.

Who is your agent working for? If you are paying, sack them and get someone who will listen to your requirements properly. A good agent should be able to negotiate on your behalf and get you near the top of that list of applicants, in the area you want. If your company is paying, talk to them as ask them to provide a more suitable one.

We are living 'up the hill' from Hottingen (Witikon) and we find it pretty good - there are lots of families up here - and if you follow the 34 bus to Kienastenweis there are quite a lot of newer apartments with lake views...The bus runs less than every 10 minutes...we don't find changing at Klusplatz a big deal, and from there you have the 3, 8, 15 tram and the 32 bus...the advantage of being just a little outside the main city is that the apartments are generally just a bit bigger...

From our place which is just up from Loorenstrasse (which has a Coop and Denner)...I can be in the hauptbahnhof within 30 minutes on weekdays guaranteed, and allow a few extra minutes on a weekend...

Have you checked out homegate ? you need the postcodes of the areas you want to really be able to skim through - there are definitely places that come up regularly on the 8053 code that would fit your requirements.

I'd definitely put a 'wanted' notice in the local coop and in the local community magazine - maybe also the local libraries ?

From walking around, the Hottingen area is definitely high-demand - because of the close proximity to ETH, Uni Zurich, Kinderspital and Unispital a lot of what appear to be 'apartment blocks' on closer inspection have commercial/medical/professional offices in them - particularly the ones on the bottom floor - physios, therapists of all types, medical specialists etc...

Apart from the issue about being a foreigner, all those points are very valid, even the one about the children. Finding something big enough for 3'000 in Seefeld is close to impossible.....

Hello,

Thanks to everyone for your very insightful help!!!

Any insights on finding good sessional pre-school in the areas your mentioned? Preferably bi-lingual?

that would depend on how much you want to pay and how long you want their days to be..
I think there are two years of 'preschool' in the public schools...

There are at least 5 that I have seen between Hegibachplatz and Kreuzplatz...again, postcodes I think are your key to doing a 'yellow pages' type search, and word-of-mouth is usually the simplest way to find something - maybe ask around your work colleagues

A lil' one close to my heart goes to the 7 Bears on Bellerivestrasse, which is bilingual and yes, they have free places