Finding A Place to Live in Munich

My husband had his own take on setting up our living arrangements in Munich so I decided to interview him on our approach on finding our home away from home.

What housing sites did you visit?

Because we needed to be in Munich for three months, we looked at lots of different sites that included short-term apartment rentals in addition to hotel sites.

The problem with three months is that we were too short for apartment sites (e.g., Mr. Lodge which has a six month minimum). But were also a long time for VRBO and Airbnb, some of the places we liked had renters for like two nights around Easter, which blocked them from being options.

We also found that places that said they were listed as kid friendly turned out not to be that when we inquired.

In addition, we posted that we were looking for a place on an international Munich parent Facebook group and also had a local synagogue send out an announcement/request.

In the end we found our apartment through a site called Homelike.

How did you limit the search? Criteria, how many beds, location, etc.

Price and location were major determinants. We wanted something that would be an easy commute to the university where I would be working. We hoped to find a 2-bedroom apartment but quickly found out that there were only a few of them and the ones there were available, were out of our price range.

How did you come to a decision?

We had a couple of local contacts that we asked for advice. They were invaluable to help us determine which neighborhoods were better for us. They also helped out to read the lease because it was initially sent to us in German.

How did you contact the hotel or rental?

Contact was through the website and then emails with the customer service representatives.

Did you ask questions prior to booking the place? What were they?

We asked about laundry, there were also needs to adjust the dates. That made things a bit tense because we were afraid we might lose the apartment and had already tried to arrange several rentals before this that fell through. Fortunately, we felt this one was better, but we were concerned about what would happen if we didn’t secure it.

What did you do to complete the transaction?

Signed a lease and paid a one month deposit arranged by email. Then had a quick email exchange with the actual owner of the unit to introduce ourselves.