Tips for seekers: How to find a new home despite the housing shortage?

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It has been difficult to find an apartment for some time now, and not only in big cities like Zurich or Geneva. The number of vacant apartments in Switzerland is also low in agglomerations and more rural communities.

It’s not easy for someone looking for an apartment right now. Béatrice Schaeppi (43), CEO of the family business Schaeppi properties in Zurich, also knows this. «Currently we have only 83 apartment listings on the portals. However, the impression that there are very few flat changes is misleading as many flats are sold quietly.”

It’s not just the limited selection of available rental properties on property portals that’s a problem for many apartment seekers. What makes the housing shortage even more difficult is that the few apartments available often include apartments only affordable to people with regular incomes. It is also expected that asking rents will continue to increase.

If you want to move to the same place of residence, you can try posting ads in local stores. If the change of residence is not urgent, it will be useful to inform the municipality about new building projects so that you can apply as the first tenant at an early stage.

If the change of residence is known for a long time in advance, it is recommended to enter a waiting list with housing cooperatives and administrations early.

Béatrice Schaeppi also recommends that apartment hunters create a search subscription on major real estate portals such as Immoscout.ch, Newhome.ch, Homegate.ch or Comparis.ch. Rather than simply searching for an apartment on online portals, it’s often worth checking out social media. New tenants are often sought for rental properties here, and the apartments are not even advertised by the administrations.

In the current tense situation, there must also be a willingness to compromise. For example, by increasing the search radius of the new place of residence by several kilometers. Or that you don’t have your own washing machine in your apartment and you only have one bathroom.

Vitamin B is always beneficial, so informing relatives, acquaintances or colleagues about your apartment search is another option. Often someone in the area will be aware of an available apartment. Béatrice Schaeppi confirms this: “To increase your chances, it may be useful to announce your apartment search among your friends.”

If you are seriously interested in a property after viewing it, Schaeppi advises you to act quickly: “As we are faced with a large number of applications, it is important that you apply quickly and with complete documentation after viewing. “We usually check the first documents very quickly and decide to whom we will rent the flat.”

Source :Blick