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ricky wrote:

Sounds a bit unusual!

Is there something about your requirements that might make it difficult? What exactly are you looking for ( size,area,price range and so on)?

The only unusual part I could think of is giving them only my email as I have not yet a local telephone number. Region mentioned was pauls bay or mellieha. Concerning size i only mentioned it should have one bed with price range around 400.

About the internet I wasn't sure if its everywhere available but good to know.

Is concerning agent anything special to consider or is it better to search without agent?

Duxx wrote:

i'm searching for the apartment for 3 weeks now, and I tend to agree with miker that real estate agents are ***xyz

i contacted:
dhalia, remax, bel air, jk properties, sara&volker, exclusive,choice,ben estates, pierre faure,frank salt and couple of more (cant remeber all names)

I can divide them in 4 groups:

1) the ones that didnt even responded to my email, some I even met in person and then never got back to me
2) the ones that responded and sent me pics of totally opposit of what I'm looking for
3) the ones that showed me some apartments, and after  I said no for all of them they never ever called back with anything new, some even didnt respond to my mail is their anything new
4) the ones that are trying - and that is only 2 of them - dhalia and remax

agents under 3 are the type "I'll show him anything, maybe I close the sale"

if I look for modern 2 bedroom apartment, with lots of natural light, how can you offer me semi-basement apartment, with furniture from 30 years ago? for someone that is ok, but I specificly told everybody it is just not me

even some people who are renting are totaly unrealistic - for expl. one women wants 700e for 3 bedroom apartment, in 2 bedrooms there are fungi (moles, dont know exact expresion) on the walls, cooker has all 4 cooking panels rusted, part of furniture is broken... and she gets mad when I tell her that that is a problem and is she willing to paint the rooms and fix/replace the cooker - instant walk away for me

another problem is price:
most apartments is rented trough out several agencies
so far we had 3 cases that the price is not the same:
1. 1 agent says to my wife 500, another second day says me 550, and I find the place direct from owner for 500
2. 1 agent says me 575, another agent says 600 and after getting landlord's phone number I heard the right price 550

Maybe today I found the place,  but there is a catch, I will need to extend my current lease for 20 days - let's see how that will go

After I move and settle, I really plan to write a few words for every agency with whom I contacted

P.S. sorry for long post/or if you thing it is not in the spirit of the topic

Good to hear someone else having that experience. I was already pondering if they don't want to do business with foreigners, if they are only interested in selling or if its some other strange issue I'm overseeing.

Remax is one of the two agencies where I was in person and they didn't contact me since giving them the details. Probably the specific office is also relevant.

miker7 wrote:

Good to hear someone else having that experience. I was already pondering if they don't want to sell to foreigners

That can be a problem but in my experience usually not for Germans. (Your profile says you're currently in Germany so I assume you're German, sorry if that's not the case).

One thing I would certainly NOT do is to have an agent show me an apartment, then contact the owner directly. Do one or the other but never both..

danex2 wrote:

First of all, get a local number, it will make things much easier. It will also give you a way of contacting owners who advertise in Times of Malta or on maltapark.com. Go to Vodafone/Melita/GO and ask them how much they charge for a prepaid SIM card. I think GO was 20 Euros, of which you get to use 15 Euros for calls but I can't recall Vodafone/GO.

miker7 wrote:

Good to hear someone else having that experience. I was already pondering if they don't want to sell to foreigners

That can be a problem but in my experience usually not for Germans. (Your profile says you're currently in Germany so I assume you're German, sorry if that's not the case).

One thing I would certainly NOT do is to have an agent show me an apartment, then contact the owner directly. Do one or the other but never both..

I got today a local number didn't know its that easy. Was also at two other agencies and will wait for them to contact me. There is now only one left around here I know about at the moment.

Concerning Germans: My guess was rather in the direction of western foreigners being generally picky or less likely to rent one of the first couple apartments and that being a possible reason for them to prefer local customers. With the number of agencies around here I can't explain otherwise their seemingly low interest in doing business.

@redmik:
Yes I contacted him after seeing your post in another thread. He is so far the only one who wrote back asking what exactly I search.

toonarmy9752 wrote:

just make sure you are on the residential utility tariff and NOT ON THE DOMESTIC one preferably before you sign the lease - THERE IS A DIFFERENCE - do not accept it if they say its normal it isnt

if its not try and get them to agree to endorse FORM H and have it included a a condition in the lease that they will do so once you apply for it......

Thanks for the tip, didn't know about this two tariff system.

toonarmy9752 wrote:

just make sure you are on the residential utility tariff and NOT ON THE DOMESTIC one preferably before you sign the lease - THERE IS A DIFFERENCE - do not accept it if they say its normal it isnt

if its not try and get them to agree to endorse FORM H and have it included a a condition in the lease that they will do so once you apply for it......

Hi Toon
Still a bit confused over the tariff situation...........can you only get the residential tariff once you have applied/got residency? As someone who only arrived last week would it have to be the Domestic tariff until i've got residency?
Sorry if i'm being a bit dim here.......

Kerry