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One of the most soul-crushing periods of my life was my relentless search to find an apartment in Berlin. I know I sound dramatic, but this was how I sincerely felt after searching for 4 months to no avail. After getting together with my boyfriend (now husband) in Spring 2017, we decided that we’d get married the following year, and my 1 person studio-esque flat simply wouldn’t work for the two of us.

Websites introducing newbies to the Berlin apartment hunting scene will yield the usual suspects:

WG Gesucht (I actually found my first Berlin apartment through this website, back in 2015) IMO, the site has much less offerings now. Everything is so overpriced.

Wunderflats is actually a great option for expats and individuals with higher budgets. The great thing is that everything is included, from furniture to utilities, to a final cleaning fee. Since Wunderflats takes a 10% cut, prices are relatively high.

Immobilienscout 24 is the website for all property related ads, from rental to purchase. Lots of options, updated daily, but competition is intense. Also, you’re likely to get bare-bone apartments, with no kitchens and no flooring. (seriously, this happens more often than you think!)

What eventually worked for me was:

Ebay Kleinanzeigen New flats updated every few minutes. Competition is intense. Keep looking and write to the poster as soon as something catches your eye. This was I eventually found an apartment, at 500EUR monthly for a two-room apartment, the rent was a steal! I made a deal with the previous tenant to purchase the flooring for 1000EUR (I also wrote to him within 10 mins of him posting, he took down the ad an hour later because he was inundiated with requests).

In my case, I eventually found a flat in December, after 20 rejections and 5 months of searching and apartment viewing. This is quite normal in Berlin. I think what helped in the end was that I was really, really enthusiastic about the flat and called to follow up.

In general, the Berlin rental market is a tough world. It’s a challenge for Germans, and foreigners face even more obstacles. Take heart, all the best and don’t give up!