Apartment Hunting

You can still find deals, especially on empty apartments, all around the city, but your best bet for low-cost still seems to be Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain. Don’t underestimate Northern Neukölln—it’s near the best parts of Kreuzberg and can be especially inexpensive.

It’s best to be open about where you want to live, as long as you have easy access to public transport.

It can’t hurt to look for a place to live in Berlin before arrive here. All of the Berlin newspapers have online versions, including classifieds:

• Die Berliner Morgenpost, with supposedly the largest real estate listings in Berlin
• Der Tagesspiegel and Zitty

We had great luck with the all-classifieds newspaper Zweite Hand. I placed an ad online which then ran for several weeks on the web and for one or two print editions. In the end we got three responses, one of which was just right.

The least appealing option is to organize a room through a Mitwohnzentrale. While it’s convenient because they match you up with appropriate offers, it is always very expensive. Their fee will be at least 30% of a month’s rent; on leases longer than 10 months it’s 110%! So beware.

Once you think you’ve found a suitable place, make sure you’re calculating your costs right. If the ad says “warm” or “inkl.,” you have a final price—otherwise you’ll have to calculate utilities and various other fees on top of the rent.

Some useful keywords:

• "mobiliert" means furnished. Be aware that many German apartments come without things like light fixtures, cabinets, etc.
• "1MM Kaution" means 1 month deposit, which might be negotiable.
• "Warm" or ("WM") means the price includes utilities, "kalt" means the price is without utilities.
• "OH" means "Ofenheizung" or "oven heating" which you shoud avoid since it means dragging blocks of coal up from the cellar into your apartment all winter, and maintaining a fire in a huge old ceramic oven in your apartment. It does make places cheaper though.
• "9/02 bis 10/02" means "from September to October"
• "absofort" means "available immediately"
• "WG" means "wohngemeinshaft" which is like a shared co-op. Usually populated by young students.
• "WaMa" means "Washing machine" which would be a clothes washer. A "spulmaschin" is a dishwasher.

You might be asked to be an "untermieter" which means a legal sub-leaser. If it's a short stay, try to avoid this, since it can be complex to set up.

(Please note: this site, the Berlin Guide, is not intended to help you find an apartment. Posting comments here asking for help finding apartments are a waste of your time. A better forum to post requests for apartments is Expatica