How long to find apartment?

Sounds a bit unusual!

Is there something about your requirements that might make it difficult? What exactly are you looking for ( size,area,price range and so on)?

Internet will be available in every appartment but you will have to organize that yourself in most cases.

I just moved a few weeks ago and found my perfect new home through an agent within 1 day. I described what I wanted and was presented exactly that as the first one shown!

Cheers
Ricky

ricky wrote:

Sounds a bit unusual!

Is there something about your requirements that might make it difficult? What exactly are you looking for ( size,area,price range and so on)?

The only unusual part I could think of is giving them only my email as I have not yet a local telephone number. Region mentioned was pauls bay or mellieha. Concerning size i only mentioned it should have one bed with price range around 400.

About the internet I wasn't sure if its everywhere available but good to know.

Is concerning agent anything special to consider or is it better to search without agent?

i'm searching for the apartment for 3 weeks now, and I tend to agree with miker that real estate agents are ***xyz

i contacted:
dhalia, remax, bel air, jk properties, sara&volker, exclusive,choice,ben estates, pierre faure,frank salt and couple of more (cant remeber all names)

I can divide them in 4 groups:

1) the ones that didnt even responded to my email, some I even met in person and then never got back to me
2) the ones that responded and sent me pics of totally opposit of what I'm looking for
3) the ones that showed me some apartments, and after  I said no for all of them they never ever called back with anything new, some even didnt respond to my mail is their anything new
4) the ones that are trying - and that is only 2 of them - dhalia and remax

agents under 3 are the type "I'll show him anything, maybe I close the sale"

if I look for modern 2 bedroom apartment, with lots of natural light, how can you offer me semi-basement apartment, with furniture from 30 years ago? for someone that is ok, but I specificly told everybody it is just not me

even some people who are renting are totaly unrealistic - for expl. one women wants 700e for 3 bedroom apartment, in 2 bedrooms there are fungi (moles, dont know exact expresion) on the walls, cooker has all 4 cooking panels rusted, part of furniture is broken... and she gets mad when I tell her that that is a problem and is she willing to paint the rooms and fix/replace the cooker - instant walk away for me

another problem is price:
most apartments is rented trough out several agencies
so far we had 3 cases that the price is not the same:
1. 1 agent says to my wife 500, another second day says me 550, and I find the place direct from owner for 500
2. 1 agent says me 575, another agent says 600 and after getting landlord's phone number I heard the right price 550

Maybe today I found the place,  but there is a catch, I will need to extend my current lease for 20 days - let's see how that will go

After I move and settle, I really plan to write a few words for every agency with whom I contacted

P.S. sorry for long post/or if you thing it is not in the spirit of the topic

Duxx wrote:

i'm searching for the apartment for 3 weeks now, and I tend to agree with miker that real estate agents are ***xyz

i contacted:
dhalia, remax, bel air, jk properties, sara&volker, exclusive,choice,ben estates, pierre faure,frank salt and couple of more (cant remeber all names)

I can divide them in 4 groups:

1) the ones that didnt even responded to my email, some I even met in person and then never got back to me
2) the ones that responded and sent me pics of totally opposit of what I'm looking for
3) the ones that showed me some apartments, and after  I said no for all of them they never ever called back with anything new, some even didnt respond to my mail is their anything new
4) the ones that are trying - and that is only 2 of them - dhalia and remax

agents under 3 are the type "I'll show him anything, maybe I close the sale"

if I look for modern 2 bedroom apartment, with lots of natural light, how can you offer me semi-basement apartment, with furniture from 30 years ago? for someone that is ok, but I specificly told everybody it is just not me

even some people who are renting are totaly unrealistic - for expl. one women wants 700e for 3 bedroom apartment, in 2 bedrooms there are fungi (moles, dont know exact expresion) on the walls, cooker has all 4 cooking panels rusted, part of furniture is broken... and she gets mad when I tell her that that is a problem and is she willing to paint the rooms and fix/replace the cooker - instant walk away for me

another problem is price:
most apartments is rented trough out several agencies
so far we had 3 cases that the price is not the same:
1. 1 agent says to my wife 500, another second day says me 550, and I find the place direct from owner for 500
2. 1 agent says me 575, another agent says 600 and after getting landlord's phone number I heard the right price 550

Maybe today I found the place,  but there is a catch, I will need to extend my current lease for 20 days - let's see how that will go

After I move and settle, I really plan to write a few words for every agency with whom I contacted

P.S. sorry for long post/or if you thing it is not in the spirit of the topic

Good to hear someone else having that experience. I was already pondering if they don't want to do business with foreigners, if they are only interested in selling or if its some other strange issue I'm overseeing.

Remax is one of the two agencies where I was in person and they didn't contact me since giving them the details. Probably the specific office is also relevant.

First of all, get a local number, it will make things much easier. It will also give you a way of contacting owners who advertise in Times of Malta or on maltapark.com. Go to Vodafone/Melita/GO and ask them how much they charge for a prepaid SIM card. I think GO was 20 Euros, of which you get to use 15 Euros for calls but I can't recall Vodafone/GO.

miker7 wrote:

Good to hear someone else having that experience. I was already pondering if they don't want to sell to foreigners

That can be a problem but in my experience usually not for Germans. (Your profile says you're currently in Germany so I assume you're German, sorry if that's not the case).

One thing I would certainly NOT do is to have an agent show me an apartment, then contact the owner directly. Do one or the other but never both..

Duxx, I totally agree with you. I am going through exactly the same process at the moment and my requirements are exactly the same. But as you've already said, they absolutely ignore your requirements and waste your time with showing exactly the opposite of what you are after.

I don't know which Dhalia office you where using, but the one in St.Pauls Bay was useless for me.

Hopefully I'll sort it out soon

I arrived in Malta on Monday 24th February and i'd found my perfect place by Thursday! Moving in this weekend!
Maybe I just got lucky?

I've found my first apartment within a day. In fact, it was the first apartment I saw. So, I might have been lucky as well. But now I am really struggling to find what I want

OK, here is a personal recommendation. I have nothing to gain from this. What I will say is that I know this person and will vouch for his integrity. Try here:
http://www.quicklets.com.mt/
he is also here:
https://www.facebook.com/Quicklets.com.mt?fref=ts

Contact Steve and I am sure he will do his best for you.

I think the point is that is depends 100 % on the individual agent and maybe the circumstances or even the day you drop into an agency.

Don't even dare to think that the flats on the internet are available! They might have been available in the past and should only be taken as examples .Out of personal experience I know that the flat I lived in in and moved out was still being offered a year later , although the building had been knocked down! And the furniture shown was my furniture and did not even remain in the appartment. So - caution!

And also luck !

Cheers
Ricky

Redmik, I've contacted him few days a go and indeed he responded very fast. Unfortunately he didn't have anything suitable at the moment. But I can confirm that he was fast and offered me what he had at the moment. He also mentioned that he might have some new properties coming soon. We will see

Thank you maximus, if there is one thing I know about Steve is that if he doesn't have anything to meet requirements he sends out a search for something. Unlike others, rather than try to palm someone off with something he tries his best to meet what the client wants.

Most agents are sharks - beware!!! They work on commission so will promise you the earth and fail to deliver.
Ricky is spot on, we were very lucky as I dealt direct with the owner, over a period of time before we did our 'due diligence' visit. She is now  not just our landlady but a very good friend as is her family to us. Sometimes it just takes time and patience and a bit of luck. Steve will do his best, I know he will.

just make sure you are on the residential utility tariff and NOT ON THE DOMESTIC one preferably before you sign the lease - THERE IS A DIFFERENCE - do not accept it if they say its normal it isnt

if its not try and get them to agree to endorse FORM H and have it included a a condition in the lease that they will do so once you apply for it......

danex2 wrote:

First of all, get a local number, it will make things much easier. It will also give you a way of contacting owners who advertise in Times of Malta or on maltapark.com. Go to Vodafone/Melita/GO and ask them how much they charge for a prepaid SIM card. I think GO was 20 Euros, of which you get to use 15 Euros for calls but I can't recall Vodafone/GO.

miker7 wrote:

Good to hear someone else having that experience. I was already pondering if they don't want to sell to foreigners

That can be a problem but in my experience usually not for Germans. (Your profile says you're currently in Germany so I assume you're German, sorry if that's not the case).

One thing I would certainly NOT do is to have an agent show me an apartment, then contact the owner directly. Do one or the other but never both..

I got today a local number didn't know its that easy. Was also at two other agencies and will wait for them to contact me. There is now only one left around here I know about at the moment.

Concerning Germans: My guess was rather in the direction of western foreigners being generally picky or less likely to rent one of the first couple apartments and that being a possible reason for them to prefer local customers. With the number of agencies around here I can't explain otherwise their seemingly low interest in doing business.

@redmik:
Yes I contacted him after seeing your post in another thread. He is so far the only one who wrote back asking what exactly I search.

toonarmy9752 wrote:

just make sure you are on the residential utility tariff and NOT ON THE DOMESTIC one preferably before you sign the lease - THERE IS A DIFFERENCE - do not accept it if they say its normal it isnt

if its not try and get them to agree to endorse FORM H and have it included a a condition in the lease that they will do so once you apply for it......

Thanks for the tip, didn't know about this two tariff system.

How about owners direct I read that was a good option

toonarmy9752 wrote:

just make sure you are on the residential utility tariff and NOT ON THE DOMESTIC one preferably before you sign the lease - THERE IS A DIFFERENCE - do not accept it if they say its normal it isnt

if its not try and get them to agree to endorse FORM H and have it included a a condition in the lease that they will do so once you apply for it......

Hi Toon
Still a bit confused over the tariff situation...........can you only get the residential tariff once you have applied/got residency? As someone who only arrived last week would it have to be the Domestic tariff until i've got residency?
Sorry if i'm being a bit dim here.......

Kerry

I mentioned about different prices, this is the same apartment (i checked it):

http://maltapark.com/item.aspx?ItemID=3119241 - 695 e
http://maltapark.com/item.aspx?ItemID=2358865 - 620 e

75e isn't a small difference

Update: I got yesterday a suiting apartment.
It was with the first agent who actually seemed to care enough to show me some apartments and one of them looked good.

Experience so far is when I visited one office and they made no appointment they never contacted me again. Even if they are super nice and ask for additional specifics, locations and promised the agent would call me the same or next day I never heard back from them. It's funny as I would usually at least expect a short response like "we have at the moment nothing suiting" or such.

Concerning the last agent one mistake on my side might have been to name my exact price limit. Every apartment he showed me was then very very close at that limit. Not sure whats better without naming the exact price one will go more likely through apartments who are to expensive or with lower quality. But at least for the one I got its around the average of what I have seen online (with the same details) so I know it's at least not totally overpriced.

i had a similar experience before I came out, I emailed a few agents in malta asking "how long will it take from arrival on the island to actually living in the property" only one agent actually bothered to respond, we kept in contact via email right up to the point of house sale in the UK, she had me met at the airport, spoke to me on the phone. Knew my budget and roughly what I was looking for, took me out in her car the day after I arrived in malta, found a lovely place that afternoon and signed the dotted line and got the keys the next day. I cant recommend them highly enough. Anyone else coming over talk to Simon Mamo (ask for Karla) you cant go far wrong. She was brilliant.

I think I wrote to whole Malta looking for an apartment....it's been 3 weeks now...no answers from any agency at all....or a negative answer after 30 seconds.....I am giving up

you are not in Malta?
then in 99.9% cases, agents don't even wanna bother with answering you

Hi all,

Reading the posts here, I'm feeling lucky.

I start my research for an apartment 3 months before my arrive date using the normal channels (websites, Google, etc). I select 4 real estate companies and I sent some messages to "test" what they have on that time and how much time they answer me. All of them answer my emails with some options and questions. So, until them, ok.

10 days before my flight, I sent another message for all that I contacted, giving all the things that I need in an apartment (full furnished, internet connection, 2 bedrooms, etc). Also, I use this message to make the appointments in the next week after my flight.

With this message, I receive some different answers: 2 of them tell me that they don't have properties in my budget, one don't answer the email and 3 make the appointments for 3 different dates.

Arriving in Malta I meet the agents. One of them, very polite, show me 3 places in the first day with almost that what I want. To be honest, one of them I cloud sign the contract on the same day but I choose to wait a little bit more.

The second send a message told me that they don't have properties that what I like anymore. So, ok. I've learned a lot in this time in Malta about the real estate business. It's crazy, fast and nobody cares if you need to wait one or 2 days to decide (with few exceptions).

The third show me 4 apartments in the same day and 2 more in the second day. Some of them far away that what I like, some of them far away of my budget. But every time with care, attention and education.

After 5 days, I rented an wonderful apartment with lovely owners (an old Italian couple) with all that I need. For sure, I changed a little bit my budget because sometimes I found places that, with 50 more I changed for a better one. But I feel sometimes hopeless. I saw 12 apartments and I just find what I like with 4 days of hard work. For someone (like me) waiting in a hotel to find a place to move on, this situation is hard.

If someone need the name and mails of the agents that help me, drop a message. They are awesome and work hard to find what you need.

Best

Hallo,
could you please give me the name and tel of the agent who helped you to find the apartment in Malta? thank you

Hallo!
could you please give the contact  of the agent who helped you to find your apartment? thank you

Hi,

Talk with these guys:

Mr. Darren Abela
[email protected]
Ph: +356 79477497

Mr. David Chapelle
[email protected]
Ph: +356 79046667

good luck!

Looking at this post... I have gone through the same. I find it not a pleasant experience to look for a place to rent in Malta, plus there are the agency fees. I moved in Malta three times and just recently I found a nice place directly from owner on this website [link moderated] . Hope it will help someone as I know the pain!

Having read through what people have encountered, I feel very lucky as my agent, Graziella from Fairdeal Properties in Swieqi, actually helped us move from our hotel to the apartment.  We live off the beaten track, away from the tourist areas and dare I say it, we are the only British couple in the village.  Her choice of location was amazing and the block we live in, we are surrounded by my landlords family.  I too contacted the usual suspects, Frank Salt, Remax, Dhalia, and had mixed replies, Remax actually laughed at me down the phone when I mentioned my budget and told me to go back to the UK! It does make me think if there needs to be a more English style Agent out here that keeps things up to date and doesn't try to rip people off.

The other alternative is to hire a car and drive around to see the signs on buildings that are to rent/let directly from the owner, you never know there may be a hidden gem in there somewhere .....