does anyone have tips on finding a cheap 4 bedroom family apartment in Zürich?
Perhaps private clubs, societies,.....
serious musician,
Kastel
Dear Forum,
What do you mean by "cheap"?
I don't think that "Zurich" and "cheap" is realistic. Perhaps you could state your budget.
Cheapest possible apartments to be had are either subsidized by the city: https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/fd/de/i...mietungen.html , you must meet income and family size restrictions to qualify.
Or rented at self cost basis from various non-profit Baugenossenschaften. Naturally, these are usually high in demand and rarely appear on the market. Currently there's a big construction project going on in Manegg Areal where some big ones participate and there are still some free apartments to be had there, get them while you can: http://www.greencity-genossenschaften.ch/vermietung
Alternatively, if you have the cash, just buy something. Mortgage rates are all time low.
You are totally right about mortgage rates!! The question is how long we will be in Zürich but THANK YOU for the helpful tips and sites.
Cheap and Zurich simply don't go together. What is "cheap" in your world? Anything under 2k - forget it.
If you want a cheapish apartment, move out of the city.
Same idea as above. Our "cheap" 5.5 room apartment is in Adliswil. We really like the area. it's much more 'young' and 'diverse' than some other areas around Zurich.
Cheaper apartments will be found on the edge of Oerlikon, Triemli, Altstetten and Adliswil. Also Thalwil, Affoltern am Albis and Uster. All have fast connections to the centre of Zurich.
Basically, you won't get a 4 bedroom apartment, there are few built and they are hard to find. Our apartment has a small office (converted to youngest child's bedroom), dining room (converted to adult bedroom) and two proper bedrooms (used by two other children) - the apartment was not intended to be four bedrooms... but that's how we're using it. It leaves a not so big living room and a fairly good sized eat-in kitchen plus a central hall which is adapted to an office (basically you open the front door into my office area).
It works for us, but it's not conventional...
You need to search for a 5+ 'room' apartment with a good floor space (120 square metres +) .... around Zurich on the open market (eg. advertised on homegate.ch you're looking at 3000chf upwards. Under 3000 will be difficult and you won't get under 2000.
To find something under chf 3000 per month you would have look in Canton Aargau.
At the moment, there are only 8 apartments in Zurich with 5 or more rooms, for under 3000chf. Watch out as some may be short-term rentals, due for renovation, or scams.
We got our apartment directly from someone who advertised on the englishforum. It was never advertised. The landlord actually was not very keen to rent it to us as he thought it was not 'good enough' for a family. My employer (local, swiss) spoke to him and convinced him that it was good for us and we could not find something better...in May we will have been in the same apartment for 7 years! It's actually the longest we've lived anywhere. At the beginning the other apartments were rented by students, share housing, and a couple. Now all three apartments are filled with families, the two other apartments are slightly smaller than ours, and they have families with two children in each... seems our landlord worked out that families were good to rent to !
Dear Ivank, Mrs.Doolittle, and swisspea
THANKS for the tips. We continue our search=mission !!
Lots more helpful information in a Sticky Thread in this housing section
Hi Kastel
I've just been through my very own odyssey of searching for cheap housing in Zurich and wanted to share my findings. As ivank already meantioned there are various non-profit Baugenossenschaften and Wohngenossenschaften in Zurich. Even though they are in high demand and mostly full, many of them do keep waiting lists on which you can get for free.
You simply sign up a couple and when there's a vacancy they will contact you. As starting point, the site http://www.wohngenossenschaft.info (German only) provides an overview of most of them for all the large cities in Switzerland. Once you find something to rent you buy so-called "Anteilsscheine" from the Wohngenossenschaft for a couple of thousand francs - money to make the cheap housing possible - and you'll get that back once you move out again.
I hope this helps - happy apartment hunting!
kuglator