Berlin, day 31

August is ending and we were lucky to get the last bit of sun for the next six months or so. But, we are now on our third temp place. We landed on the most expensive Airbnb you can imagine, during the first 3 days. It costed more than half of our first months stay 💸 We stayed on a dear friend’s house 💕in Friedrichshain for the best part of August, and now moved to a lovely couple’s flat in Schöneberg 🥰. Elektra and Panchita are really happy here, though :) 🐈🐈‍⬛

Nothing is certain about finding a place to live in Berlin. We’ve sent so many applications there’s no point in counting; let alone the many, many messages on several apps.

Finding a place in Berlin is way more difficult than advertised.

Here’s what not to do, from our experience:

• Do not limit the search by speaking English, speak in German (of course, we can’t )
• Do not attempt to find a cat friendly place (as ou can imagine, we have two)
• Do not look for places without having a Schufa, that German credit score (we haven’t one)
• Do not be freelancers, a steady job goes a long way (we are freelancers)
• Do not be a couple, singles might get better chances, say, on a WG (we are a couple)
• Do not need Anmeldung (we need it for our Schufa, but most importantly, for our Visa)
• Do not have fast approaching visa expiration date (we have one, because we need Anmeldung to get it together)

So, how can one possibly find a place given this situation: in order to be considered for a place, you need a Schufa, but to get a Schufa you need Anmeldung, but to get Anmeldung you need a place, but to need a place you need a Schufa?

Anyhow, as a dear friend of mine said:

there is a place for everybody in Berlin

We can only hope so.

side note: if you know of someone leaving their place here in Berlin, let me know :)

I mean, there is even a game