Finding an apartment in Berlin or Potsdam

A guide for non-Germans looking for an apartment in Berlin or Potsdam.

General hints for a successful apartment hunt

• You are probably looking for a "Mietwohnung", i.e. an apartment for rent. You will find it in newspapers under the title "Immobilien". New apartments are announced on Saturdays.
• Various internet search agents and newspapers mostly, but not always, advertise the same apartments, so you can in most cases stay with your favorite search agent once you found one (see below).
• All those abbreviations makes anyone new to the subject confused. The Immobilien part of TagesSpiegel has a very useful legend.
• The kitchen – You may want to look for an apartment equipped with an operational kitchen. In this case look for "Einbauküche" or the abbreviation "EBK". Unless you plan to buy cupboards, a refridgerator, a stove... and mount everything yourself of course.
• The total rent of the apartment (Warmmiete) is the sum of the "cold" rent (Kaltmiete) and additional expenses (Nebenkosten || Betriebskosten). The additional costs include warm water, garbage handling etcetera. In many cases it also includes heating (Heizung). Electricity is generally not included (is it ever?). A resonable additional cost should be about 2.00Euro/m²/month or more. If it is too small you may have to pay an additional charge at the end of the year.
• The deposit (Kaution) can at most be three "cold" rents (Kaltmieten). Although you are not told, you have the right to pay the deposit at the rate of one monthly rent per month.
• In many cases the agent wants a provision on signing a contract. This provision is at most 2 "cold" rents (Kaltmieten) plus VAT (MWST); often written "2MM+MWST" or "2.38MM" or "2 Kaltmieten zzgl. 19 % Mehrwertsteuer" (in April 2010 when the VAT was 19%). The provision is deductible from your income tax. For 2005 this cost could be inserted in the attachment called "Überschussrechnung" (it probably still can).
• If you do not want to pay a provision, then your best bet to find an apartment is to look in the newspapers; look for the term "provisionsfrei".
• To my own experience it seemed to be easier to get to see an apartment with a provision, these agents appear to be less picky with how perfect your German is. It may turn out to be fruitful for your search if you ask a friendly native German speaking friend or colleague to make the initial call to the house owner/company for you.

Search agents, most cover Berlin as well as Potsdam:

• Berliner Morgenpost: Wohnungsmarkt link. Excellent service!
• BerlinOnline: Mietwohnungen link.
• Immobilien Scout24 link. Excellent service!
• Studenten-WG.de link. Useful if you want to share a flat with other( student)s.
• WG-Liste link. Useful if you want to share a flat with other( student)s.
• TagesSpiegel: Immobilien Berlin link.
• Immobilo link. Searches several online sites (including the ones listed above).

Furnished apartments; also useful for a short-term stay while you are looking for a long-term apartment:

• City-Wohnen link.
• Coming Home link.
• HomeCompany | Berlin link.

Berlin – some individual agents

• Beta link.
• Dipl. Ing. Kühne.net link.
• City-Rent link.
• Domizil Property Management GmbH link.
• Harry Gerlach link.
• Immobilien – Wolff & Wolff link.
• Immotek link.
• ISB link.
• Koletzki link.
• Mukas link.
• Nixdorf link.
• Prints link.
• rbb link.
• TiB link.
• Vermietungs-Center link.

Potsdam – some individual agents

• AStA Wohnungsbörse link.
• GEWOBA – Die Nr. 1 für Wohnen in Potsdam link.
• Hans Grewe Immobilienvermittlungs GmbH, Potsdam link.
• Kirsch & Drechsler Hausbau link.
• PWG link.