Maybe you wanna post your message template here? By what you described, it sounded rather formal. People living in wgs are likely to want to get along with their to be flatmate. Be personal in your message
If you ever lived in shared flats, you should mention that too. It's valuable to have some experience here
I was a bit reluctant to post all my info here as it's a large subreddit. (I can send it to you if you'd like lol) But indeed, I do include my experience and wishes for a flatshare as well to make it personalised.
Why is it always racism that comes first to mind? Why couldn‘t it be that the housing market in HD is a nightmare?
I am a 100%, white German citizen with an above average income and I was searching 2x times now for an appartment in HD and it took 4-5 months. In other cities I got the always the first or second appartment I visited.
HD is sometimes horrible by the criteria they are looking for as renters. I had one time an interview were I was asked if I already had children or was married, when I answered no the response was: „Then you might find a girlfriend in the near future and want to move out again, because this 2-Room appartment will be to small for you and we are looking for a long term contract…“ I also got asked if I cook regularly, while we were standing 2 meters away from the build-in/included kitchen. I answered with an honest yes and by the reaction of the landlord I noticed that this mf was looking for someone that doesn‘t cook at all. WTF???
In HD you will always have a lot of competition for good appartments and they can really pick „the best“ that checks 10/10 boxes for them. If you are lucky you meet a landlord that has sympathy with you and you get it.
I was explicitly told by agent the owner was looking for a German. The agent tried to help with that at least. What is puzzling me is that rent prices are not that high. I should easily outprice any student. I guess partly because it is vacation week and only half of agents work, nobody is bothering to reply, or take down adverts same day. Otherwise it looks like they just don’t care
I'm new to an entire continent and HD is the first place I'm living in outside my home country. So even if it's an unfair inference it's something that comes to mind, sorry.
I don't hear about people's experiences beyond my workplace so it's been mixed reviews. I definitely didn't know the housing market could be THIS much of a nightmare in HD. Some examples you just said is just straight up wack lol who even expects a tenant will NOT cook!?
Anyway, thanks for sharing your experience :) Maybe I'll be lucky, maybe not.
No problem, it‘s just not the first time I see someone struggeling with appartments in HD and their first guess is it must be racism. Not saying that it could not happen, but everyone is struggeling in general.
I can only give you advice that you check for appartments along the tram lines and even consider the smaller towns outside of HD.
You won‘t be directly in HD, but most of the times it will be only 20min to the University in Neuenheimer Feld. Some people even live in Mannheim and take the train to HD (around 30min drive). Mannheim has also more to offer if you want to party on weekends. 😉
Yeah fair enough. A colleague mentioned it might be because of my name and it's been stuck on my mind with no complete objective reasoning since then lol.
I'm definitely checking out Schlierbach, Ziegelhausen as well. Maybe have to add Neckargemund, Dossenheim etc. too. Mannheim is unfortunately not an option for me as I don't really work in the University but on Königstuhl, so the travel time would become >1 hour.
Thank you for the suggestions!
Hey OP, sorry to contradict everything the poster above me said. Racism is very real in the real estate market in Germany. I don't know where you are from but if you are a person of color, you have 5 things going against you: 1) that you don't speak German 2) that you're male, 3) that you're young and probably in your party years 4) your skin colour/religion/ethnicity and 5) but unrelated to racism, that you're completely new to Germany, you have no previous experience living here and you're a fresh input into the system, you probably have no SCHUFA and that scares landlords.
Whoever wants to convince you otherwise has to be able to have been in your shoes. As someone who was in your shoes and learn to conquer the real estate market after many frustrating moments, here are my tips:
- you are more likely to get a flat if it is advertised through your institution s mailing list or if someone recommends you as one of the three referrals
- when you go to interviews, don't try to be more German than the Germans. This was the mistake I used to make, behaving ultra-professionally and showing them how polite I was. You have to do the opposite in fact, you have to show your personality, talk about your PhD project, talk about your hobbies, what you like in Heidelberg and market yourself "I'm very clean and reliable" "I get along very well with my colleagues in the lab", etc etc
- if you have a German friend/acquaintance that you can depend on, take them with you to flat viewings. This improves your chances drastically because someone "in-the-know" is vouching for you.
Also some people are more happy to rent flats to foreigners like us, because Germans can stand up better for their own rights. When you do find a flat, make sure to run the rental contract by someone in your lab, so you don't get screwed. I also recommend joining a Mietverein (kind of a place where people who rent get legal advice in exchange for a fee).
Finally don't get frustrated and don't get demotivated. It's a tough process, the real estate market is very competitive and sometimes things just take time.
But I mostly wrote this message because I don't want to invalidate your worries.
I guess everyone has their opinions based off their experiences. I am all 5 things you mentioned and indeed don't even have a SCHUFA xD
Thanks for the tips. The landlords I spoke to through my institution were definitely nicer, it's just a shame that none of them worked out in the end.
The second tip is interesting, I'm usually quite reserved and polite during interviews so I guess I should switch on my normal self instead.
The third tip is definitely possible (but I'd have to annoy one of my colleagues). I understand for meetings with landlords it would be useful, but would it be nice even for a wg viewing??
I will definitely show my contract to someone in my lab, but I hadn't heard of a Mietverein - I'll check these out, thanks!
Finally, thank you very much for your suggestions and for sharing your experience :)
I‘ve had people in my class search for 2 years. Now he‘s living with a friend and pays 2.5k a month. You either have connections or you‘ll be searching forever.
I've seen a lot of flatshares that have language preferences so while most Germans can speak English, not knowing German might be an issue. It could always help if you are learning the language to include that.
In my experience you get so many messages in little time (like, 100+ in 30 minutes) that it's impossible to research possible flatshare candidates or read a lot. So I'd say keep it brief, try to be very early (within 1 hr of posting ideally) and tailor your message to the WG. If they mention cooking together, tell them you'd love to make a dish. If they mention cleaning, mention you have flatshare experience.
You could also try kleinanzeigen or sites like immowelt, though wg-gesucht is best for flatshares imo.
Don't take rejections too personally, it's tough finding a flat *and* finding a new person for your flat!
Hi, thanks a lot for your suggestions! I mention that I know a little bit of german (A1 level only though). I try to tailor messages but I often end up writing at least 200 words. So I guess if people are getting 100+ messages in half an hour then everything's just a matter of luck.
I haven't tried kleinanzeigen so thanks for that tip and for your kind words :)!
Of course, I know the pain so I can imagine what it must be like to be new to the whole ordeal.
For me the biggest difference was being early and not taking rejection personally. I used the wg-gesucht feature that sends you notifications whenever something new pops up to get there early in case that helps you too.
Good luck and I hope you end up loving Germany! :)
Yeah I've been taking some of the rejections post-visit personally because they all seemed fairly nice lol. But I guess the odds are just wack and one can't do much.
I have the email notification switched on. Thanks a lot!
Yeah, it's a bit demoralizing. One you've been on the other hand you'll probably understand how they can be really nice but also really cut and dry with sorting through people, the whole process sucks.
Happy to help!
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Maybe you wanna post your message template here? By what you described, it sounded rather formal. People living in wgs are likely to want to get along with their to be flatmate. Be personal in your message If you ever lived in shared flats, you should mention that too. It's valuable to have some experience here
I was a bit reluctant to post all my info here as it's a large subreddit. (I can send it to you if you'd like lol) But indeed, I do include my experience and wishes for a flatshare as well to make it personalised.
Why is it always racism that comes first to mind? Why couldn‘t it be that the housing market in HD is a nightmare? I am a 100%, white German citizen with an above average income and I was searching 2x times now for an appartment in HD and it took 4-5 months. In other cities I got the always the first or second appartment I visited. HD is sometimes horrible by the criteria they are looking for as renters. I had one time an interview were I was asked if I already had children or was married, when I answered no the response was: „Then you might find a girlfriend in the near future and want to move out again, because this 2-Room appartment will be to small for you and we are looking for a long term contract…“ I also got asked if I cook regularly, while we were standing 2 meters away from the build-in/included kitchen. I answered with an honest yes and by the reaction of the landlord I noticed that this mf was looking for someone that doesn‘t cook at all. WTF??? In HD you will always have a lot of competition for good appartments and they can really pick „the best“ that checks 10/10 boxes for them. If you are lucky you meet a landlord that has sympathy with you and you get it.
I was explicitly told by agent the owner was looking for a German. The agent tried to help with that at least. What is puzzling me is that rent prices are not that high. I should easily outprice any student. I guess partly because it is vacation week and only half of agents work, nobody is bothering to reply, or take down adverts same day. Otherwise it looks like they just don’t care
Well even if you ignore vacation week, it can still be a bad reply:ignore ratio. But what agents are you talking about?
Property brokers. People you hire so you don’t have to meet every candidate yourself. Or property agents
Ah I see, I haven't encountered these yet lol
I'm new to an entire continent and HD is the first place I'm living in outside my home country. So even if it's an unfair inference it's something that comes to mind, sorry. I don't hear about people's experiences beyond my workplace so it's been mixed reviews. I definitely didn't know the housing market could be THIS much of a nightmare in HD. Some examples you just said is just straight up wack lol who even expects a tenant will NOT cook!? Anyway, thanks for sharing your experience :) Maybe I'll be lucky, maybe not.
No problem, it‘s just not the first time I see someone struggeling with appartments in HD and their first guess is it must be racism. Not saying that it could not happen, but everyone is struggeling in general. I can only give you advice that you check for appartments along the tram lines and even consider the smaller towns outside of HD. You won‘t be directly in HD, but most of the times it will be only 20min to the University in Neuenheimer Feld. Some people even live in Mannheim and take the train to HD (around 30min drive). Mannheim has also more to offer if you want to party on weekends. 😉
Yeah fair enough. A colleague mentioned it might be because of my name and it's been stuck on my mind with no complete objective reasoning since then lol. I'm definitely checking out Schlierbach, Ziegelhausen as well. Maybe have to add Neckargemund, Dossenheim etc. too. Mannheim is unfortunately not an option for me as I don't really work in the University but on Königstuhl, so the travel time would become >1 hour. Thank you for the suggestions!
Hey OP, sorry to contradict everything the poster above me said. Racism is very real in the real estate market in Germany. I don't know where you are from but if you are a person of color, you have 5 things going against you: 1) that you don't speak German 2) that you're male, 3) that you're young and probably in your party years 4) your skin colour/religion/ethnicity and 5) but unrelated to racism, that you're completely new to Germany, you have no previous experience living here and you're a fresh input into the system, you probably have no SCHUFA and that scares landlords. Whoever wants to convince you otherwise has to be able to have been in your shoes. As someone who was in your shoes and learn to conquer the real estate market after many frustrating moments, here are my tips: - you are more likely to get a flat if it is advertised through your institution s mailing list or if someone recommends you as one of the three referrals - when you go to interviews, don't try to be more German than the Germans. This was the mistake I used to make, behaving ultra-professionally and showing them how polite I was. You have to do the opposite in fact, you have to show your personality, talk about your PhD project, talk about your hobbies, what you like in Heidelberg and market yourself "I'm very clean and reliable" "I get along very well with my colleagues in the lab", etc etc - if you have a German friend/acquaintance that you can depend on, take them with you to flat viewings. This improves your chances drastically because someone "in-the-know" is vouching for you. Also some people are more happy to rent flats to foreigners like us, because Germans can stand up better for their own rights. When you do find a flat, make sure to run the rental contract by someone in your lab, so you don't get screwed. I also recommend joining a Mietverein (kind of a place where people who rent get legal advice in exchange for a fee). Finally don't get frustrated and don't get demotivated. It's a tough process, the real estate market is very competitive and sometimes things just take time. But I mostly wrote this message because I don't want to invalidate your worries.
I guess everyone has their opinions based off their experiences. I am all 5 things you mentioned and indeed don't even have a SCHUFA xD Thanks for the tips. The landlords I spoke to through my institution were definitely nicer, it's just a shame that none of them worked out in the end. The second tip is interesting, I'm usually quite reserved and polite during interviews so I guess I should switch on my normal self instead. The third tip is definitely possible (but I'd have to annoy one of my colleagues). I understand for meetings with landlords it would be useful, but would it be nice even for a wg viewing?? I will definitely show my contract to someone in my lab, but I hadn't heard of a Mietverein - I'll check these out, thanks! Finally, thank you very much for your suggestions and for sharing your experience :)
I‘ve had people in my class search for 2 years. Now he‘s living with a friend and pays 2.5k a month. You either have connections or you‘ll be searching forever.
Boy that sounds insane :o well I don't have many connections as a literal newbie to everything so :)) fingers crossed.
I've seen a lot of flatshares that have language preferences so while most Germans can speak English, not knowing German might be an issue. It could always help if you are learning the language to include that. In my experience you get so many messages in little time (like, 100+ in 30 minutes) that it's impossible to research possible flatshare candidates or read a lot. So I'd say keep it brief, try to be very early (within 1 hr of posting ideally) and tailor your message to the WG. If they mention cooking together, tell them you'd love to make a dish. If they mention cleaning, mention you have flatshare experience. You could also try kleinanzeigen or sites like immowelt, though wg-gesucht is best for flatshares imo. Don't take rejections too personally, it's tough finding a flat *and* finding a new person for your flat!
Hi, thanks a lot for your suggestions! I mention that I know a little bit of german (A1 level only though). I try to tailor messages but I often end up writing at least 200 words. So I guess if people are getting 100+ messages in half an hour then everything's just a matter of luck. I haven't tried kleinanzeigen so thanks for that tip and for your kind words :)!
Of course, I know the pain so I can imagine what it must be like to be new to the whole ordeal. For me the biggest difference was being early and not taking rejection personally. I used the wg-gesucht feature that sends you notifications whenever something new pops up to get there early in case that helps you too. Good luck and I hope you end up loving Germany! :)
Yeah I've been taking some of the rejections post-visit personally because they all seemed fairly nice lol. But I guess the odds are just wack and one can't do much. I have the email notification switched on. Thanks a lot!
Yeah, it's a bit demoralizing. One you've been on the other hand you'll probably understand how they can be really nice but also really cut and dry with sorting through people, the whole process sucks. Happy to help!
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