Living in Frankfurt

For you who plan to move to Frankfurt am Main, first of all, good choice. Frankfurt used to have bad reputation in the past only known as one of Europes largests Airport Hub.

But that has changed. It is cleaned up and is constantly being modernized. Frankfurt is an international very city. It has converted to a finance center in the heart of Europe attracting a lot of interesting people of all ages from different countries. Frankfurt is a very modern city today with a high level of service and life quality. With close to 800.000 people it is not a very big city as Munich, Berlin or Hamburg.  You will soon discover that finding a place to live can be a bit of challenge and expensive as a lot of people move here. Despite all constructions of new blocks in Frankfurt and its outskirts the demand is high and it is quite expensive.

If you are going to move here my first suggestion would be checking houses and flats on www.immobilienscout.com just to get an idea on the prices. It is nice to live almost everywhere in Frankfurt nowadays. The most posh area is Westend where the bankers live and can go by bike to their jobs. Here a flat costs around 2000€ for 100 square meters. Pay attention to the advertisements where the rent is cold or Kaltmiete. It means you add a surcharge for heating, water and community. This depends on the size but for a 80-100 sq meter flat it is tipically 200-400 Eur /month just to give an example.

Other central and popular areas are Bornheim and Sachsenhausen. Sachsenhausen is south of the Main river and has got plenty of restaurants and bars on the famous Schweizer Straße. Bornheim is on the east side of the center, also with restaurants and bars on Berger Straße. Here flats prices are maybe 1700-1800€ for 100 square so not that expensive as West end.

There are also other nice areas like Nordend which is still quite central. Dornbush, Preungesheim and up north are calm and nice areas to live and the prices go down by a further 100€ or so here.

South of the city Niederrad is ok and not so far. But be aware of the noise from the airport which can be annoying.

When we moved to Frankfurt  we temporarily rented a flat during a month as a base to find something permanent. What you have to do is applying for a lot of flats and go seeing them. Have patience, it can take time as there is high preasure.

The most typical case is that the selection process goes through a real estate agent. The legal charge is 2 month’s rent plus 19% VAT. When you sign the contract you will have to pay this commission fee and also something that is called “Kaution” or in English a deposit. This deposit can vary but normally it is 3 month’s rent. A lot of money yes, but sometimes you can find a place also without a real estate dealing directly with the tenant and then you only need the deposit in cash. Often the flat doesn’t have a kitchen installed.

Questions you will be asked is about your job and income and how many you are. You will be asked to fill out forms with that data. It is normally not a problem if your employer can state your income.

Good luck and enjoy your new home town.

 

Frankfurt Turismo

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