Tips on Getting an Apartment Abroad



Ah, the good old apartment hunt. Something that can be pretty difficult even in Boston definitely gets a little trickier when you go abroad for co-op.

Because it's risky to commit to an apartment you've found online without visiting it in person, I've found that most people who co-op abroad wait until they've moved to find an apartment. I think that this is the way to go so that you don't encounter any unpleasant surprises with your apartment or worse encounter an online scam.

So, what are you going to do in the meantime between arriving at your destination and finding an apartment? My best advice is to book an Airbnb, not a hotel room. I'd say it's a safe bet to book it for 7-9 days after you land, preferably ending on a weekend day. This will give you enough time to go on the apartment hunt, and by having your stay land on a weekend, it'll be easier to move to your new apartment without missing work.

My reasoning behind getting an Airbnb and not a hotel room is that in your typical hotel room, you'll at best have a mini-fridge and MAYBE a couch if you're lucky. When I got my hotel room in Spain for the first week it didn't even have a mini fridge, and I found myself eating dry cereal out of a plastic cup for breakfast (not exactly a high point in my life). With an Airbnb, you'll have a kitchen which will allow you to not have to go out for every single meal for a week. I seriously felt like I was starving my whole first week in Spain, which is not a great feeling for when you're adjusting to living in a foreign country! Besides the kitchen factor, you're just generally more likely to feel at home in an apartment. Also, Airbnbs are typically cheaper than hotel rooms, meaning you have to stress less about extending your stay in case you aren't able to find an apartment right away!

Now, how exactly do you go about finding an apartment in a foreign city?

1. The hard way: spend hours searching apartment listings online, call various realtors in a language you barely understand, and become so frazzled that you end up with a less-than-ideal apartment.

 This is what my inexperienced self went through when moving to Spain. The whole process was honestly bit of a mess--I accidentally blew off a realtor trying to meet me for a meeting because of a language barrier, got rejected a billion times by realtors who said a flat that was listed online was already rented, and ended up in an apartment without WiFi or air conditioning in daily 100 degree summer weather. I was so anxious to just get any apartment that I could that I just settled for the first okay-ish one.

2. The right way: Take advantage of the wealth of real estate-y people that Airbnb has to offer, and be proactive about it.

 Before you get to your destination, hop on Airbnb and message a handful of hosts in your city asking if they are renting any full-time apartments for 6 months or know somebody that is. Airbnb hosts are often owners of a handful of apartments or are at least somewhat immersed in the real estate world. Coming to Slovakia, I found the nicest, most helpful host that rented me his normal Airbnb for a week while he called up all his contacts trying to find me an apartment-for free. I ended up with the most beautiful apartment at a great bargain with minimal stress on my part! I'll be forever grateful to my amazing host, and think that this is seriously the way to go with the foreign apartment hunt.

My cute little kitchen! Note: it's not usually this clean.

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