Looking for renting a small house or appartment in Casablanca

SvenStockholm wrote:

Hi. I got a nice cheap place in Belvedere. It's in a solidly built block and is large enough for one person - it even has an unneeded second bedroom. It's not fully furnished, so I had to buy TV, fridge and so on (secondhand) but beds and sofas were provided as well as some crockery and utensils. 2,500 dirhams a month. It's best to go to a physical agency.  You can search online, but insist on meeting actual reps from the agency and also the landlord, so you can bargain the price down.

I know that Belvedere is no good for you, but you should be able to find similar in your area. By the way, avoid the word "ensoleillé" like the plague or you'll roast in the hot summer months.

Hi Sven, hope you don't mind me repeating some very wise words spoken by yourself.

SvenStockholm wrote:

To the OP, let me repeat my invariable advice. It probably gets boring for regulars, but after only a few weeks on a board that seems to have its fair share of scammers, I feel it's necessary.

A word of advice. If you decide to go to Morocco, whether Marrakech or not, as you are staying for some considerable time, get yourselves parked in an hotel for the first few days and go to a reputable physical estate agency for your accommodation. Insist on meeting the owner and bargain the price down after you have seen the property. Don't rent from online. You can be lucky, but appearances are deceptive and photos often don't correspond to the real thing. In addition, that lovely roof terrace shown might just overlook a stinking cesspit or rubbish dump! This is why I would not recommend online agencies or resources such as airbnb. In addition, there have been some horror stories emerging about airbnb regarding thefts and harassment.

Never, ever accept offers from people who pop up on these forums to offer "their" property, either as a first post or the same post in multiple languages. Especially never get in touch with people who want to "help" you and leave their phone numbers on the forum or ask you to message them privately. Ignore all private messages that arrive in your inbox. They will be scams. The forums are infested with these scammers and worse, despite the best efforts of the moderating team. Unfortunately, this spoils it for the very few genuine people. The scammers will be intermediaries for the real landlord, if indeed the property exists at all and will take a hefty commission whether you rent or not. They are a buffer between you and the landlord for his benefit. If he uses one of these scammers, you can't bargain the price down and why would you want to rent from such a person anyway?

As you say, get a hotel room for a while and use it as a base to find what is really wanted/required.