Housing Zurich tips & tricks

Accomodation, House and Garden
1
Hi All, it will be my first post in general.

Maybe, I will introduce myself a little bit. I've lived in Bern since 02.2020 for 2 years (permit B) and I got new job in Zürich starting on 08.2022 (up to now I worked for other company no break between jobs).

So far, so good.

As my workplace in Zurich is quite far to reach from my current living place (1.5 hour by train and trams), I started applying for ads in wgzimmer to Zürich. Few times I got contact requests, more times I applied myself.

No response at all after reach them out.

My living situation is not bad after all. I am software engineer who worked for pretty good companies (maybe not faang but still big ones and with reputation). Up to now I earned circa 110k in Bern, starting at new job circa 125k. I was looking for 800 - 1.2k CHF room.

From circa 8 contact requests, only I got one response (rejection). The same for me sending contact requests. I thought maybe I am too late simply - few people mentioned here 48 hours is too late.

Maybe, it's true. Maybe, it's not.

I got one contact request at 23:20 and replied within 1 hour. Still no response but who could be before me at that unusual time :-) ? I am pretty sure that there are very few people replying on wgzimmer contact requests at that time.

Any idea what could I have done incorrectly? I started thinking about looking in Aargau - Aarau / Lenzburg and offering paying 1 year in advance (I can afford it but yeah it sucks anyways).

2
You earn too much and wouldn't easily fit into a place for CHF 1k when you earn CHF 125k.

Landlord probably think you want it for other reasons such as house for working ladies or similar

3
Why not take on a larger place yourself and then sublet a room ? You clearly have the budget to do that....

Zurich is very tight for cheap places. There is not a lot of tolerance to people who want to live cheap but can clearly afford much more.

There may also the attitude that you will only want something cheap for a short time before you find something better....

4
Also it is internships & summer visits season. Many will be looking for temporary WGs.

5
I guess, I'll focus my searches on neighbouring to Zurich cantons like Aargau then.

If I was keen on such activities, I would surely buy as big flat as it's possible because bigger flats are usually cheaper per square meter and "working ladies" need only one room usually.

What's the difference between me and an average student who is short on money? Income only?

I guess every landlord would tell you why... If you're subletting the flat, you still pay the landlord the same rent - your rent agreement is still active and on you.

If any of subletting rentees defaults or doesn't pay, you bear the responsibility for paying his/her part.

I've not yet started my adventure with real estate business but maybe in the future.

You can say it about every student in Zürich but they still get the flat.

I guess this is the answer to my problem. Any ideas what's the best time for searching for flat?

I am just curious about the main reasons you hinted:

- too much income

Well. Software Engineering as a job has up and downs especially when you're in the consulting companies like most SE devs in CH - that was the case for me. There is no guarantee that you won't be layed off on the spot any time and you need to be prepared for this. In this context such high salaries don't make impression if you know that searching for it jobs may last in CH even 3-4 months. That's why I've been leaving 'on the cheap' even in my own origin country.

It's not America where you have 'at will' employment, speedy recruitment 2-3 weeks max and lots of good companies (CH market is very small and consolidated for IT).

Well, what I can say - both real estate and job market in CH sucks. I've had multiple background checks (Finance & Government) in my life - debts, criminal records, security clearances but well luckily IT employers are apparently more reasonable than CH landlords.

-- end of rant --

As mentioned, need to focus myself on Aargau and adjust my pain threshold :-)

6
Evidently you know best.

Having several ladies in the same apartment would mean it would be classed as a white house which is illegal.

Having a single lady in a small apartment is fairly common and if she is independently plying her business, then that is her affaire

You understand the difference ?

7
Students can‘t afford to pay more, you can.

And the salary is apparently nice enough for you to stay here.

8
My intent wasn't to offend you but mention that it doesn't make sense (especially economical one) even if somebody was intending to do so. I guess such a person doesn't bother himself / herself whether it's legal or not.

Imagine yourself uncle / or any relative signing flat rent agreement in the name of his younger relative but the younger relative will be paying. Is it a crime? It's a common thing because young people don't have stable financial situation - thus co-signing schemes etc.

The matter of price per square meter is a obvious thing - the most pricey flats are the smallest - everywhere in the world.

Nope, I don't know the best. Once again, I had no intent of offending you

9
The price scale where you are looking (800-1200 sfr) is where the biggest pressure on the market reigns.

I was once in schwamendingen to visit a flat for around 1000 sfr per month, in 30 min around 300 people showed up to visit the flat.

When you look for around 1500 sfr for a 1.5 room (around 42 sqm) flat, you get your own washing machine and tumbler, under floor heating and minergy standard aswell

the fiber internet, the competition will be less fierce.

10
300 people during one vist sounds apocalyptical :-) Yeah, I will try to wait it out until Oct-March and maybe for bigger rent.

Anyways, I would like to thank you all for all remarks & comments

11

Yeah, it shocked me how many tiny 1.5 room flats are in ZH, thus I always set minimum 30 sqm in the search parameters.

12
On wgzimmer.ch, you can set a parameter "No rooms for students / trainees". If you do that, you're likely to find more places shared by working adults, rather than by students. For such hosts, your application might be more appealing than those of poor students.

Although I find your financial caution laudable, if you could be prepared to increase your rental search to, say, minimum Fr. 1000 or Fr. 1'100, then that, too, would probably increase your chances, since you'd be taking yourself out of the bandwidth of the most intense competition.

13
Yes, but true.

Those who advertise [shared] accommodation receive dozens if not hundreds of applications, so they're more likely to bother with those which demonstrate that they've fully understood the ad. Any application which says merely: "Hi, is the room still available?" is likely to be ignored (and the applicant perhaps blocked).

In your applications, be sure to describe yourself, your interests, and your ideas about sharing accommodation. Then personalise what you write, to connect in some way to their full description of themselves, and the apartment.

If you have previous experience in shared accommodation, be sure to mention that, too.