Apartment search websites charge a lot for an ad - is it worth it?

Accomodation, House and Garden
1

Hi,

I’m moving out and looking for a replacement tenant. I found that websites like https://www.homegate.ch/ and https://www.immoscout24.ch/ have a lot of traffic (I myself was using them to find my current rent), but they charge upwards of 70 CHF per week to publish an ad of a property.

Does anyone have experience with those paid ads? Are they effective? What strategy would you recommend when advertising (i.e. is one paid ad enough or do I need several on several different websites)? Any other websites to publish at?

I need to find a replacement relatively fast, within one month, to make it in time for the rental company notice period.

2
Post it - if possible - at your local Coop/Migros, ask your neighbours if they know someone who is looking, ask your colleagues?

3
Do they have announcement boards or something? How do I apply for those?

4
There are plenty of websites. I am subscribed to comparis - they send ads from a range of different websites.

Possible also to post here, anibis, tutti, facebook, etc.

Also many companies have internal ads services/forums/mailing lists

5
I've seen people list apartments for rent on tutti.ch before. I have no idea what tutti.ch charges for an ad, though.

But honestly, if you need to find some applicants that quickly, it's probably worth it to just fork out the money and put the ad on homegate, since that (and immoscout) are probably the sites that most people check here in Switzerland.

Good luck!

6
Post it on Facebook marketplace, you will have tons of applicants.

7
Tutti is free, though you can pay to boost your ad.

Urban Home is free and Comparis picks up ads placed there.

8
Make a properly infomative ad with a few good photos, print it out on paper and pop it in all the letter-boxes on a few blocks from the place you're wanting to get rid of. Ditto stick it on any noticeboards and give it to shop-owners nearby. Anyone who already likes living there may well have friends or family who might like to move closer to them.

9
flatfox.ch is free

10
I always posted for free and searched for apartments on Flatfox.ch.

11
I found my last apartment via Facebook Marketplace, and the couple was soo cool.

12
flatfox.ch worked best for me last time, it generated a large amount of views within a few days so I cancelled homegate within the first week as it wasn't really bringing much. It's free for the submitter and the seeker (I'm not sure really how they make any money on the service)

13

Same experience. Vast majority of traffic right now for us is coming from Flatfox, so going to cancel Homegate before the free period is up.