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Thanks, you should tell EVERYONE you know. In seriousness though, while we do try our best (not just in Germany, but eight other countries as well), the situat

Thanks, you should tell EVERYONE you know. In seriousness though, while we do try our best (not just in Germany, but eight other countries as well), the situation he describes is one that the internet doesn't do a good job of solving. Basically demand way outstrips supply in cities like Munich. As a result, if you have a good flat or house you want to rent out, really all you need to do is tell 5-10 people and via word of mouth you'll very quickly have more than enough high quality applicants. You really don't need online tools. An interesting result is that we're now starting to see start-ups that reverse the model. In Köln/Düsseldorf there is https://salzundbrot.com https://salzundbrot.com (a Nestoria partner) who are free for owners/landlords, but charge applicants a small fee to make contact. Will be interesting to see if it catches on. The reality though is there is just way more demand than supply. Normally that would be solved by price rises, but the rate of rent increases is reguated by law. All that said, while I have sympathy with Munich renters, I now live in central London, where the problem is at another order of magnitude. As I always say "London isn't expensive, the rest of the world is cheap".

ido 12y ago
Sounds like we really have it good here in Berlin, even though everyone is still complaining...
ryanjshaw 12y ago
As somebody unfamiliar with London but considering moving there, it would be great if instead of specifying a geographical radius for the search I could specify a commuting time radius with respect to the City. This would probably be useful even to natives, as I'm sure there are probably many areas where people overestimate commuting times and consequently avoid an area that otherwise should see greater housing demand (thereby levelling out demand and prices, in time, in other areas). Of course I understand implementing something like this is quite complex, and you'd most likely have to precompute these things and limit it to a few common business centers as destinations, but it would be really preferable to my current strategy of "look for something that seems reasonably priced and then use another site to figure out if it falls within the 1hr commute window I'm looking for".
- kalleth 12y ago
  www.findproperly.co.uk
  - ryanjshaw 12y ago
    Perfect, thank you!
- freyfogle 12y ago
  This gets asked for occasionally. The thing is though, there are not that many people who truly have no idea where they want to live. Most people have at least some idea based on where their friends already live, where they will be working, etc Over the years I have seen numerous services that allowed people to search the way you describe. They all typically die out after a year or two, as all evidence suggests there just isn't enough volume of people searching the way you describe to sustain them. So it's not something we'll focus on. Sorry, I know that's probably a frustrating answer for you. Good luck with your hunt.
  - ryanjshaw 12y ago
    Thanks for the insight!
darklajid 12y ago
Checked out Salz und Brot - Cologne's where I lived for quite some time and where I'd like to return to in the future. Family just didn't make it viable - the rent is just too high/we can't afford it and moved elsewhere. And just to confirm the craziness the first apartment I checked out in Cologne [1] (for fun, not seriously planning to move atm) requires you to pay 1300 EUR for the kitchen (sure, makes sense), a bit of furniture (common) and - I wonder what they're smoking - the floor (Echtholzboden). You're "buying" the floor in a rented apartment? Look at the pictures. Are you going to take that with you when you move out? Not sure if that's something you care about, but you mention that this site is a partner of yours. The UI's broken in my browser (Aurora/Firefox Nightly) - if you got contacts that might be something to look into? [2] 1: https://salzundbrot.com/suche/#!search={"f2":1000}&x=1&view=infotiles&object=4974 https://salzundbrot.com/suche/#!search={"f2":1000}&x=1&view=... 2: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1194203/SalzUndBrot.png https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1194203/SalzUndBrot.png
- freyfogle 12y ago
  thanks, I've passed it on.

ido 12y ago

Sounds like we really have it good here in Berlin, even though everyone is still complaining...

ryanjshaw 12y ago

As somebody unfamiliar with London but considering moving there, it would be great if instead of specifying a geographical radius for the search I could specify a commuting time radius with respect to the City. This would probably be useful even to natives, as I'm sure there are probably many areas where people overestimate commuting times and consequently avoid an area that otherwise should see greater housing demand (thereby levelling out demand and prices, in time, in other areas). Of course I understand implementing something like this is quite complex, and you'd most likely have to precompute these things and limit it to a few common business centers as destinations, but it would be really preferable to my current strategy of "look for something that seems reasonably priced and then use another site to figure out if it falls within the 1hr commute window I'm looking for".

kalleth 12y ago
www.findproperly.co.uk
- ryanjshaw 12y ago
  Perfect, thank you!
freyfogle 12y ago
This gets asked for occasionally. The thing is though, there are not that many people who truly have no idea where they want to live. Most people have at least some idea based on where their friends already live, where they will be working, etc Over the years I have seen numerous services that allowed people to search the way you describe. They all typically die out after a year or two, as all evidence suggests there just isn't enough volume of people searching the way you describe to sustain them. So it's not something we'll focus on. Sorry, I know that's probably a frustrating answer for you. Good luck with your hunt.
- ryanjshaw 12y ago
  Thanks for the insight!

darklajid 12y ago

Checked out Salz und Brot - Cologne's where I lived for quite some time and where I'd like to return to in the future. Family just didn't make it viable - the rent is just too high/we can't afford it and moved elsewhere. And just to confirm the craziness the first apartment I checked out in Cologne [1] (for fun, not seriously planning to move atm) requires you to pay 1300 EUR for the kitchen (sure, makes sense), a bit of furniture (common) and - I wonder what they're smoking - the floor (Echtholzboden). You're "buying" the floor in a rented apartment? Look at the pictures. Are you going to take that with you when you move out? Not sure if that's something you care about, but you mention that this site is a partner of yours. The UI's broken in my browser (Aurora/Firefox Nightly) - if you got contacts that might be something to look into? [2] 1: https://salzundbrot.com/suche/#!search={"f2":1000}&x=1&view=infotiles&object=4974 https://salzundbrot.com/suche/#!search={"f2":1000}&x=1&view=... 2: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1194203/SalzUndBrot.png https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1194203/SalzUndBrot.png

freyfogle 12y ago
thanks, I've passed it on.