'Always be vigilant': Expert tips for finding an apartment in Berlin

To describe the Berlin housing market as “tight” feels like a massive understatement. 

Asking friends, or even strangers, if they have heard of any available apartments has become an unfortunate cliché, as have social media posts broadly seeking leads. 

Securing housing in Germany’s capital city is a Sisyphean task, in which applicants compete against hundreds of others for the same rentals, and the use of online tools – like bots that alert you immediately about new online listings – has become commonplace.

Even the best qualified applicants can expect to search for months before securing a suitable offer, and for those who face additional barriers (such as having little to no German skills, or having employment that is seen as less secure) the task looks next to impossible.

All of that said, those who have either just landed in Berlin or need to move for any reason, can’t afford to give up.

The Local spoke with two experts about some best practices to apply to your housing search, be it in Berlin or another German city.

Kevin Hiller, is a Berlin native and founder of Get the Flat, a service designed to help customers cut out the busy work of house hunting by applying to apartment listings on their behalf.

Graham Pugh has lived in Berlin for seven years and helped clients relocate in Berlin for the last four. He founded BerlinRelo which helps a limited number of customers to complete the entire apartment finding process.

Here are their top tips for maximizing your chances of success with your house hunt:

Set a realistic target

They say beggars can’t be choosers, and in Berlin’s housing market, everyone’s a beggar.

That’s not to say that you shouldn’t hold out for an apartment that meets your needs and expectations. But if you wont settle for anything less than a beautifully renovated Alt-bau in Prenzlauer Berg at an affordable price… Well maybe that apartment is waiting for you in the afterlife.

“We try to educate our clients that there’s more to Berlin than Kreuzberg, Prenzlauer Berg, Friedrichshain and Mitte,” Hiller told The Local. “There are also good options which are very well connected to the central regions, but the competition is far less.”

If you want to live near Prenzlauer Berg, you may find many more options not too far away in Pankow, for example. Next to Mitte there is also Wedding or Moabit.

READ ALSO: 'Tense housing situation' - Why a Berlin renter can't be evicted for two years

It may be helpful to think about the kinds of apartments that are more or less in demand.

Pugh says that 3-room flats are “a nightmare to try to find”, adding that while they make up about 23 percent of the listings on offer virtually everybody wants one.

Since working from home has become common, virtually every couple wants three rooms, he adds, including couples with a kid or couples with a dog, and also just high-income single people who want an office and a living room in addition to their bedroom.

On the other end of the spectrum, one room apartments and studios make up the majority of the market, Hiller suggests, largely because they tend to be rented by students or young professionals that tend to move around more often.

Be the applicant that ‘makes sense’ for the apartment

No matter what kind of apartment you’re seeking, ultimately you’ll be compared with several (if not dozens) of viable applicants. So you need to find a way to present yourself as the applicant that a landlord thinks is the best fit for the apartment.

Pugh says as an applicant you should ask yourself, ‘Do I make sense as the person most likely to rent this place long term?’

To that end, he recommends avoiding applying to apartments that aren’t aligned with your income level. German landlords generally won't consider anyone earning less than three times the rent monthly.

“Don’t even go to the viewing [if your income isn’t three times more],” Pugh told The Local. “You’re not getting the apartment and you’re wasting time.”

But he says you may also be ruled out for earning too much. If your income is significantly more than three times the monthly rent, landlords might assume you are more likely to move out soon for an upgrade. Put simply, your chances are best for apartments priced right around 30 percent of your income.

READ ALSO: Munich vs Berlin - What's considered a good salary for foreign workers?

Present yourself well

Of course you’ll want to be mindful of how you are presenting yourself, from your initial message to landlords through to the viewing and any follow up communications as well.

“Around half of the apartments in Germany are rented out by private landlords,” notes Hiller, “So it means they are actually interested in who this person is that's going to be renting their property.”

He says it helps to include a personal note in your introduction message: “It doesn’t have to be an essay, but having a sentence or two about what you're doing outside of work can help.”

He also suggests personalizing the message just enough to make clear that you actually read the listing, and are not just sending a generic copy/pasted message.

When you are invited to a viewing, dressing up a bit is a good best practice.

Hiller says you should try to ask meaningful questions: “You can ask, for example, ‘What kind of other renters are living in this property?’...Don’t just ask, ‘Where can I send the documents?’”

Put your weaknesses up front 

It may seem a bit counter intuitive, but leading with any potential weaknesses in your application may ultimately be to your benefit. 

Pugh shared the story of a woman who had done everything right in her interaction with a landlord at the viewing, but then asked at the last moment if it would be fine for her to bring her cat. She didn’t get the offer.

“My advice would be to put the cat in your profile picture,” Pugh says.

Of course, this may prevent you from landing as many initial viewings, but in the end it's saving you time that you can put toward flats where you have a fighting chance.

Be mindful of scams

Especially on the Berlin housing market, renters do need to be aware that scams are rampant and you’re bound to come across a few during your search.

The most obvious one to look out for is anyone asking you to send any amount of money before you have seen the place and signed a contract. The keys are NOT coming in the mail!

But some scams involve simply collecting peoples’ personal documents.

“We recommend very strongly never to send your personal documents before you’ve seen a place and are relatively confident it’s a real offer,” says Hiller.

READ ALSO: 10 essential tips for avoiding rental scams in Germany

He adds that it is common to be asked for some personal information before a viewing, such as needing to fill out application forms, but copies of your passport, ID, or payslips aren’t usually required before you’ve been to a viewing. (You may also want to watermark the digital copies that you share.)

“Always be vigilant because there are people trying to take advantage of the desperate housing situation in Berlin,” Hiller adds.

‘It’s a full-time job’

Finally, be prepared for the long haul – house hunting in Berlin tends to be a marathon, not a sprint.

“It's a full time job,” says Hiller.

He added that it’s important to set a pace for yourself that can be maintained rather than going all-in for a couple weeks and then burning out.

READ ALSO: How the price of student housing compares across Germany

Pugh compares the Berlin house hunt to a pie chart with portions representing time, money and luck – if you have more of one of them then you need proportionally less of the other two.

“So if you have all the time in the world, then you can have a really low budget and you don’t even need as much luck,” he says. Alternatively, people with a lot of luck may find a flat through a friend or otherwise without spending much time or money at all.

“Strategy shrinks the whole pie chart,” Pugh says, adding that he effectively sells strategy.

The advice contained above will hopefully give readers at least a little bit of a head start in terms of strategy.

But you may also consider services like those offered by Get the Flat, BerlinRelo or others to make your flat hunt more strategic and therefore, hopefully, a bit less painful.