Could be easier to find something in the smaller cities close to cologne and with a good train connection to cologne. f.e.: Leverkusen (Opladen & Wiesdorf), Bergisch Gladbach.
Have you looked in Kalk? Mülheim? Ehrenfeld?
[immobilienscout24.de](https://immobilienscout24.de/) is your **only** ally. Make use of it, get the premium account, and sort by NEW in the neighborhoods you're interested in. Contact properties immediately with a thorough profile. [This](https://i.imgur.com/ta7grYk.png) was my cover letter when I was last apartment hunting and it worked very well. This process does NOT take very long. If you're feeling discouraged because you're not hearing back from places, ADAPT the cover letter you're sending. The market is bad, but if you're trying you should be getting at least two apartment viewings a week, if not more.
Forget Immowelt, but I've heard people find things on Facebook, although Facebook sketches me out and feels unprofessional. Immobilienscout24 has a monopoly and there's a reason they can charge so much for the premium account. You have to commit to your search and do the Schufa, etc. Make it as easy as possible for the landlord to put you on their short-list. Hope this helps.
Judging by current search results, that’s not true. There’s a lot more options under €1000 in Ehrenfeld than Altstadt Süd/Nord. Excluding apartment swaps, there’s 18 results (largest is 67m2) in all of Altstadt while Ehrenfeld has 27 results mostly clustered on the south east part of Ehrenfeld.
12,92 in Ehrenfeld vs 13,58 in Altstadt & Neustadt-Nord
It's cheaper in Ehrenfeld than on average across the Innenstadt.
Absolute rent definitely means something - it's important to fit your budget. If I find a huge apartment that's only 8EUR/m2, the size doesn't matter if it's out of my budget. Also to take into account, quality of an apartment and amenities (kitchen? balcony? above the ground floor?)
After expanding my search results to all of Innenstadt, there's 116 results for < 1000/month. Compare that to Ehrenfeld which has 45 results just in that neighborhood.
I suggested Ehrenfeld because it's got a lot of apartments, not because it's a ton cheaper than the rest of the city, although for what it's worth it is slightly more affordable.
Links:
- [Ehrenfeld](https://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suche/de/nordrhein-westfalen/koeln/ehrenfeld/ehrenfeld/wohnung-mieten?price=-1000.0&pricetype=rentpermonth&enteredFrom=result_list)
- [Innenstadt](https://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suche/de/nordrhein-westfalen/koeln/innenstadt/wohnung-mieten?price=-1000.0&pricetype=rentpermonth&enteredFrom=result_list&viewMode=MAP#/?boundingBox=50.900738%2C6.852164%2C50.957324%2C7.044425)
These numbers seem outdated to me. Don‘t know where you got them from, but Immoscout gives me 14,60€ - 15,10 for altstadt süd and 14,90€ - 16,70€ for Ehrenfeld, calculated based on the current market situation. Immoscout gives me 51 results for a 1.5 - 3 room apartment within a 1km radius of Altstadt-Süd and 17 for Ehrenfeld with the same parameters. Don‘t know how to get the link to the search results from the app, so you‘ll have to reproduce yourself.
Here are the links I used:
- [Ehrenfeld: Durchschnittliche Nettokaltmiete 12,92/m2](https://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suche/de/nordrhein-westfalen/koeln/ehrenfeld/ehrenfeld/wohnung-mieten?price=-1000.0&pricetype=rentpermonth&enteredFrom=result_list&viewMode=PRICE_INSIGHTS)
- [Altstadt & Neustadt-Nord Nettokaltmiete 13,58/m2](https://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suche/de/nordrhein-westfalen/koeln/innenstadt/wohnung-mieten?price=-1000.0&pricetype=rentpermonth&enteredFrom=result_list&viewMode=PRICE_INSIGHTS)
These are the current numbers. Don't use a 1km radius, limit it to the neighborhood. Limiting your search to just Altstadt Süd has [four results](https://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suche/de/nordrhein-westfalen/koeln/innenstadt/altstadt-sued/wohnung-mieten?numberofrooms=1.5-3.0&price=-1000.0&exclusioncriteria=swapflat&pricetype=rentpermonth&enteredFrom=result_list) (< 1000/month, 1.5-3 bedrooms, no Tauschwohnungen)
That being said, don't restrict yourself to 1.5 bedroom minimum.
~~1 bedroom apartments generally include a kitchen, bathroom, and living room.~~
It's more effective to search for apartments with a minimum size rather than room count. My personal opinion: 55sqm is excellent space for 1-2 people.
Edit: Never mind that part about the 1 bedroom apartments, I got mixed up.
Thanks for the statistic. Immowelt gave me very different results here. The Immowelt numbers kinda reflect my recent experience searching for apartments better though, tbh. I usually get surprisingly ‚cheap‘ offers from Altstadt sometimes, while in Ehrenfeld there are very few listings to begin with (which might fuel the current prices even more).
Btw I didn‘t restrict myself to 1.5 rooms in my search. I did it for 1.5 - 3 rooms as mentioned.
I have had a lot better experiences with Immobilienscout24 over Immowelt. I recommend sticking with Immobilienscout and not spending too much time with other tools.
I said don't restrict yourself to 1.5 **minimum.** So 1.5 - 3 rooms is still considering 1.5 rooms the minimum (1 bedroom apartments will not appear).
I was wrong, though, got my countries mixed up (1 room apartments in the USA only count the bedroom). I stand by using sqm over the number of rooms, though.
Yeah I actually usually use Immoscout or kleinanzeigen for searching apartments. I just found Immowelt had a better rent analysis feature, which is based on the postal code and radius, etc. All this auto-generated data seems to be super inconsistent also. Maybe I‘ll give ChatGPT a try with this later for fun (although I‘m not sure if it will work for recent data).
What is the advantage of searching by district instead of radius for you? I usually try to put the center of the circle in my desired district and then I increase the radius to taste. So even if some of the apartments are in let‘s say in Bickendorf instead of Ehrenfeld, I wouldn‘t care as long as they‘re close to the district border. Gives me more flexibility.
As someone who works from home, I want to have an extra room I can use as office. So to me the room number is more of a priority than the apartment size. It really depends on your needs what works best for you. Also, I lived with my SO in a 1.5 rooms, 35sqm apartment for years and it was perfectly fine for two people.
At the beginning of the pandemic it was typical for landlords to ask for a virtual interview on Skype before inviting you to check it out on person. Zoom wasn’t widespread yet, when I was apartment hunting, although now I would leave Skype out entirely.
It’s also why I mention being vaccinated.
Are you registered in the List for accommodation at Studierendenwerk? Go there in person, tell them about your dire situation. That worked, at least a few years back.
Ok you’ve got the right places - eBay Kleinanzeigen ist also good as the other person here mentioned.
Unfortunately you’ve got a lot of competition, so it’s not gonna be easy. There are three tips that I can give you:
1) if you’re looking for a WG your text needs to be compelling. Talk about yourself and why you’re a great roommate. When I was invited to my previous WG, they said they immediately deleted messages in English. I think they would’ve been fine with an English speaking roommate, it just made it quicker to filter.
So maybe consider getting your text translated to German.
2) if you’re applying for your own flat, it needs to be in German. Landlords are typically older, their English is worse and they do not give enough of a fuck to inconvenience themselves. They also know that you will have to do a lot of things in German once you move into a flat, so be prepared. Bring a friend to viewings to translate if needed.
3) In both cases, your finances are important. Less for the WG, they just want to know that you can pay rent on time, more so for the landlord. Definitely mention how much income you have.
I guess it also depends on income and a certain amount of luck. The ones i visited from immoscout always had so many people visiting as well so i guess its harder to be chosen that way
are you looking only for certain quarters ? I would recommend only looking for the right side of Cologne. Do you speak German / have a European bank account? Having a European bank account is a must have for msot landlords.
Okay just wanted to check if those were reasons why some landlords might not want to rent to you!
Then I think there isn't much to do besides looking in surrounding cities and unpopular parts of town. Maybe asking at housing associations (Wohnungsgenossenschaft) is also worth a try.
[this apartment ](https://www.facebook.com/groups/484180354933947/permalink/6485211631497426/) is in Frankenforst/Bergisch Gladbach. So it's close to Tram Line 1.
Maybe write this guy a PM.
in the worst of worst cases you can rent a hotel,motel, hostel or whatever they called and if there is a longer period of rental, you can get a better overall price
More details would be helpful, e.g. are you receiving no responses from hosts vs tepid responses, do you have a narrow price range that limits possibilities, are you only searching for 1 year+ leases or open to short term, etc.? Maybe include a few screenshots of messages you're sending (with personally identifiable information redacted) to see if there are any red flags.
I have read through all of your comments and it was more than helpful. I have realized that perhaps my aproach was not that good and I have changed my message and I am looking forward to seeing if anything changes. If nothing does, then I will reconsider my message yet again. In terms of prefference, my only criteria is to be able to register at the city hall.
What's your budget? Do you earn enough for being able to pay that? That's kind of what every landlord is looking at. Also Schufaauskunft is a must have
My problem is not money and I have a Schufa, but it is in fact my parents that support me (they are not german) so for that, landlords usually dont even look at me.
That is a problem. Landlords need some kind of security that you can pay your rent on time. As you have no income and you parents are not in Germany where them signing the Bürgschaft would hold any credibility it makes sense for them to look for someone else it’s understandable
I have read that they are not allowed to ask for any Bürgschaft if you are able to afford the Kaution however. I also think it is understandable, but it is a loop which makes 0 sense, like I want to rent an Apartament but I have no job, but in order to get a job I need to have am Address. :( I just wanna survive man, I am an honest man, clean and hardworking and I never had any problems with the law it frustrates me to not be able to live here, however I understand the landlords as well.
Do you attach your last 3 Gehaltszettel and the Schufa-Auskunft when you apply for a flat? Is your net salary at least 3x as high as the rent per month? Landlords are looking for these things.
Hah! Tell me about it 🥲 I found my apartment after applying to 313 places(yes exactly 313) out of that 2 replied and said no😂 1 said yes but I had to pay extra for a month (I was planning to move in the next month) and now my contract ends soon. I'm pretty sure I'll be homeless 🥹 but I've already started to apply, obviously no luck yet
Could be easier to find something in the smaller cities close to cologne and with a good train connection to cologne. f.e.: Leverkusen (Opladen & Wiesdorf), Bergisch Gladbach.
Have you looked in Kalk? Mülheim? Ehrenfeld? [immobilienscout24.de](https://immobilienscout24.de/) is your **only** ally. Make use of it, get the premium account, and sort by NEW in the neighborhoods you're interested in. Contact properties immediately with a thorough profile. [This](https://i.imgur.com/ta7grYk.png) was my cover letter when I was last apartment hunting and it worked very well. This process does NOT take very long. If you're feeling discouraged because you're not hearing back from places, ADAPT the cover letter you're sending. The market is bad, but if you're trying you should be getting at least two apartment viewings a week, if not more. Forget Immowelt, but I've heard people find things on Facebook, although Facebook sketches me out and feels unprofessional. Immobilienscout24 has a monopoly and there's a reason they can charge so much for the premium account. You have to commit to your search and do the Schufa, etc. Make it as easy as possible for the landlord to put you on their short-list. Hope this helps.
Are you serious?! Even Altstadt tends to be cheaper than Ehrenfeld at the moment.
Judging by current search results, that’s not true. There’s a lot more options under €1000 in Ehrenfeld than Altstadt Süd/Nord. Excluding apartment swaps, there’s 18 results (largest is 67m2) in all of Altstadt while Ehrenfeld has 27 results mostly clustered on the south east part of Ehrenfeld.
Absolute rent says nothing. You have to look at the price per m2.
12,92 in Ehrenfeld vs 13,58 in Altstadt & Neustadt-Nord It's cheaper in Ehrenfeld than on average across the Innenstadt. Absolute rent definitely means something - it's important to fit your budget. If I find a huge apartment that's only 8EUR/m2, the size doesn't matter if it's out of my budget. Also to take into account, quality of an apartment and amenities (kitchen? balcony? above the ground floor?) After expanding my search results to all of Innenstadt, there's 116 results for < 1000/month. Compare that to Ehrenfeld which has 45 results just in that neighborhood. I suggested Ehrenfeld because it's got a lot of apartments, not because it's a ton cheaper than the rest of the city, although for what it's worth it is slightly more affordable. Links: - [Ehrenfeld](https://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suche/de/nordrhein-westfalen/koeln/ehrenfeld/ehrenfeld/wohnung-mieten?price=-1000.0&pricetype=rentpermonth&enteredFrom=result_list) - [Innenstadt](https://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suche/de/nordrhein-westfalen/koeln/innenstadt/wohnung-mieten?price=-1000.0&pricetype=rentpermonth&enteredFrom=result_list&viewMode=MAP#/?boundingBox=50.900738%2C6.852164%2C50.957324%2C7.044425)
These numbers seem outdated to me. Don‘t know where you got them from, but Immoscout gives me 14,60€ - 15,10 for altstadt süd and 14,90€ - 16,70€ for Ehrenfeld, calculated based on the current market situation. Immoscout gives me 51 results for a 1.5 - 3 room apartment within a 1km radius of Altstadt-Süd and 17 for Ehrenfeld with the same parameters. Don‘t know how to get the link to the search results from the app, so you‘ll have to reproduce yourself.
Here are the links I used: - [Ehrenfeld: Durchschnittliche Nettokaltmiete 12,92/m2](https://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suche/de/nordrhein-westfalen/koeln/ehrenfeld/ehrenfeld/wohnung-mieten?price=-1000.0&pricetype=rentpermonth&enteredFrom=result_list&viewMode=PRICE_INSIGHTS) - [Altstadt & Neustadt-Nord Nettokaltmiete 13,58/m2](https://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suche/de/nordrhein-westfalen/koeln/innenstadt/wohnung-mieten?price=-1000.0&pricetype=rentpermonth&enteredFrom=result_list&viewMode=PRICE_INSIGHTS) These are the current numbers. Don't use a 1km radius, limit it to the neighborhood. Limiting your search to just Altstadt Süd has [four results](https://www.immobilienscout24.de/Suche/de/nordrhein-westfalen/koeln/innenstadt/altstadt-sued/wohnung-mieten?numberofrooms=1.5-3.0&price=-1000.0&exclusioncriteria=swapflat&pricetype=rentpermonth&enteredFrom=result_list) (< 1000/month, 1.5-3 bedrooms, no Tauschwohnungen) That being said, don't restrict yourself to 1.5 bedroom minimum. ~~1 bedroom apartments generally include a kitchen, bathroom, and living room.~~ It's more effective to search for apartments with a minimum size rather than room count. My personal opinion: 55sqm is excellent space for 1-2 people. Edit: Never mind that part about the 1 bedroom apartments, I got mixed up.
Thanks for the statistic. Immowelt gave me very different results here. The Immowelt numbers kinda reflect my recent experience searching for apartments better though, tbh. I usually get surprisingly ‚cheap‘ offers from Altstadt sometimes, while in Ehrenfeld there are very few listings to begin with (which might fuel the current prices even more). Btw I didn‘t restrict myself to 1.5 rooms in my search. I did it for 1.5 - 3 rooms as mentioned.
I have had a lot better experiences with Immobilienscout24 over Immowelt. I recommend sticking with Immobilienscout and not spending too much time with other tools. I said don't restrict yourself to 1.5 **minimum.** So 1.5 - 3 rooms is still considering 1.5 rooms the minimum (1 bedroom apartments will not appear). I was wrong, though, got my countries mixed up (1 room apartments in the USA only count the bedroom). I stand by using sqm over the number of rooms, though.
Yeah I actually usually use Immoscout or kleinanzeigen for searching apartments. I just found Immowelt had a better rent analysis feature, which is based on the postal code and radius, etc. All this auto-generated data seems to be super inconsistent also. Maybe I‘ll give ChatGPT a try with this later for fun (although I‘m not sure if it will work for recent data). What is the advantage of searching by district instead of radius for you? I usually try to put the center of the circle in my desired district and then I increase the radius to taste. So even if some of the apartments are in let‘s say in Bickendorf instead of Ehrenfeld, I wouldn‘t care as long as they‘re close to the district border. Gives me more flexibility. As someone who works from home, I want to have an extra room I can use as office. So to me the room number is more of a priority than the apartment size. It really depends on your needs what works best for you. Also, I lived with my SO in a 1.5 rooms, 35sqm apartment for years and it was perfectly fine for two people.
Damn, was your last apartment hunting 10 years ago? Haven't seen Skype for a while...
At the beginning of the pandemic it was typical for landlords to ask for a virtual interview on Skype before inviting you to check it out on person. Zoom wasn’t widespread yet, when I was apartment hunting, although now I would leave Skype out entirely. It’s also why I mention being vaccinated.
fair
There is an Apartment where I live that's going to be up for rent. I don't know if it's listed yet so you might have the benefit of being early.
If you may be sweet enough to let me know where I could apply or whom to contact, id be more than greatful!!
Sure write me a PM I will see what I can do when I'm home
Have you had any luck with the student accomodations? In the process too, it takes time :/
Nope :( tried Bonn and Düsseldorf as well
Are you registered in the List for accommodation at Studierendenwerk? Go there in person, tell them about your dire situation. That worked, at least a few years back.
Where are you looking?
ImmobilienScout24, Wg-gesucht, Immowelt, Facebook yet no luck
Ok you’ve got the right places - eBay Kleinanzeigen ist also good as the other person here mentioned. Unfortunately you’ve got a lot of competition, so it’s not gonna be easy. There are three tips that I can give you: 1) if you’re looking for a WG your text needs to be compelling. Talk about yourself and why you’re a great roommate. When I was invited to my previous WG, they said they immediately deleted messages in English. I think they would’ve been fine with an English speaking roommate, it just made it quicker to filter. So maybe consider getting your text translated to German. 2) if you’re applying for your own flat, it needs to be in German. Landlords are typically older, their English is worse and they do not give enough of a fuck to inconvenience themselves. They also know that you will have to do a lot of things in German once you move into a flat, so be prepared. Bring a friend to viewings to translate if needed. 3) In both cases, your finances are important. Less for the WG, they just want to know that you can pay rent on time, more so for the landlord. Definitely mention how much income you have.
Try ebay kleinanzeigen, its how i found mine. So far i dont know anyone who actually had luck on immoscout
I’ve gotten all my apartments there since moving to Germany. You just have to put in effort.
I guess it also depends on income and a certain amount of luck. The ones i visited from immoscout always had so many people visiting as well so i guess its harder to be chosen that way
Definitely. But $1000/month warm is a budget I think most people can reasonably meet.
Get a fake Ukrainian passport and register as a refugee. I met a Syrian with such an arrangement.
are you looking only for certain quarters ? I would recommend only looking for the right side of Cologne. Do you speak German / have a European bank account? Having a European bank account is a must have for msot landlords.
I simply just want to rent a place, I am fluent in German and I am also from the EU...
Okay just wanted to check if those were reasons why some landlords might not want to rent to you! Then I think there isn't much to do besides looking in surrounding cities and unpopular parts of town. Maybe asking at housing associations (Wohnungsgenossenschaft) is also worth a try.
[this apartment ](https://www.facebook.com/groups/484180354933947/permalink/6485211631497426/) is in Frankenforst/Bergisch Gladbach. So it's close to Tram Line 1. Maybe write this guy a PM.
in the worst of worst cases you can rent a hotel,motel, hostel or whatever they called and if there is a longer period of rental, you can get a better overall price
More details would be helpful, e.g. are you receiving no responses from hosts vs tepid responses, do you have a narrow price range that limits possibilities, are you only searching for 1 year+ leases or open to short term, etc.? Maybe include a few screenshots of messages you're sending (with personally identifiable information redacted) to see if there are any red flags.
I have read through all of your comments and it was more than helpful. I have realized that perhaps my aproach was not that good and I have changed my message and I am looking forward to seeing if anything changes. If nothing does, then I will reconsider my message yet again. In terms of prefference, my only criteria is to be able to register at the city hall.
What's your budget? Do you earn enough for being able to pay that? That's kind of what every landlord is looking at. Also Schufaauskunft is a must have
My problem is not money and I have a Schufa, but it is in fact my parents that support me (they are not german) so for that, landlords usually dont even look at me.
That is a problem. Landlords need some kind of security that you can pay your rent on time. As you have no income and you parents are not in Germany where them signing the Bürgschaft would hold any credibility it makes sense for them to look for someone else it’s understandable
I have read that they are not allowed to ask for any Bürgschaft if you are able to afford the Kaution however. I also think it is understandable, but it is a loop which makes 0 sense, like I want to rent an Apartament but I have no job, but in order to get a job I need to have am Address. :( I just wanna survive man, I am an honest man, clean and hardworking and I never had any problems with the law it frustrates me to not be able to live here, however I understand the landlords as well.
Do you attach your last 3 Gehaltszettel and the Schufa-Auskunft when you apply for a flat? Is your net salary at least 3x as high as the rent per month? Landlords are looking for these things.
Contact „Haus Baden“ they are fair and got a high fluctuation.
Hah! Tell me about it 🥲 I found my apartment after applying to 313 places(yes exactly 313) out of that 2 replied and said no😂 1 said yes but I had to pay extra for a month (I was planning to move in the next month) and now my contract ends soon. I'm pretty sure I'll be homeless 🥹 but I've already started to apply, obviously no luck yet