Need apartment in Berlin available at short notice for month-long rental

December 19, 2009 8:37 AM

I need an apartment in Berlin (Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg/Mitte) available at short notice for a month-long rental. I can't find anything on Google except expensive holiday apartments. I arrive in mid-January and can't visit Berlin in advance. Budget: €30/night or €900/month. Where should I look? Thank you.
posted by maryrosecook to home & garden (6 answers total)

Craigslist seems to be pretty active in Berlin.
posted by helios at 8:59 AM on December 19, 2009

WG Company is mainly for flatshares (Wohngemeinschaft) but often has whole flats too,

otherwise Zitty (Wohnungen auf Zeit biete) and you can also advertise

or Toytown

or exberliner

You certainly shouldn't need to spend anything like 900 a month, any more than half that and you're being ripped off!!

(feel free to memail me if you need more info/help with the sites)
posted by runincircles at 9:26 AM on December 19, 2009

Most people here find their apartments through wg-gesucht, which should be at least navigable (Zimmer means room, and you want an entire Wohnung, apartment) for an English-speaker, although the ads themselves may confuse you, or Craigslist.
posted by besonders at 9:29 AM on December 19, 2009

www.couchsurfing.com is full of people who are ready to help out... and if you are lucky, the city you're going to move to may even have, within its "berling couchsurfing group", a sub group for apartment sharing / renting / searching.. but you would have to join the network first in order to benefit from it :)

good luck !!
posted by Jireel at 10:24 AM on December 19, 2009

I rented my flat through City-Wohnen.de

http://www.city-wohnen.de/eng/berlin/flat-search/

This is their English-language search page; I ended up renting a furnished apartment on Potsdamerstrasse near Potsdamer Platz for probably 600 Euros/month.

Enjoy Berlin! Shoot me a message/email if you have further questions
posted by Seeba at 11:59 AM on December 19, 2009

Thanks very much for the advice, everyone. Craigslist is filled with potential places, and WG Company looks good, too.
posted by maryrosecook at 3:52 AM on December 20, 2009