Usually, when you move to Germany for the first time, it might be difficult to book an appointment for longer period without visiting them. There are many scams available in this domain (see all here). Also, in bigger cities, landlords might not be willing to rent the apartment to someone without meeting them personally. In such a case you might have to book a temporary accommodation option for a shorter time period (1month- 3months). You might have this buffer time to come here and settle and look for permanent accommodation. Some of the options are

 

Hostels are usually opted by tourists who are visiting for a few days. Hostels have dorm rooms or in some cases also individual rooms and it is usually cheap. You can book a hostel for some weeks (check hostel description for the maximum duration – it ranges from 2 weeks to 3 weeks and in some hostels, it might be even higher). To book hostels, you just have to use the platforms like booking.com, hostelworld.com and you will get a confirmation immediately. in this way, you can ensure that you at least have room to stay for a few weeks, which reduces your stress of not being able to find accommodation from your home country.

 

There a quite a lot of private WGs (flatshares) especially for students. you just have to search in google about “private Studentenwohnheim” and you will find the list of available options in the city. Some of them are FIZZ, Studentendorf, SMARTMENTS, etc

 

If you are a couple or a family with kids, you could check out apartment providers like Bonavo (Berlin) or similar provider who own many buildings in the city. Usually, they have a separate portal for application and you can call them directly to ask whether there is a vacancy

 

Some platforms like spotahome provide pre-checked apartments or flatshares for a short period. They are mostly furnished as well. You can book one directly through their website and get a confirmation very soon. These might be costly compared to the flatshares you find in general room search platforms, but for a shorter period of time, especially if you are not in Germany yet, this might be helpful.

 

As a newcomer, finding an accommodation might be a difficult task, hence we have created the platform MyHelpBuddy where you can get help from locals to find you an accommodation (temporary or permanent) or assist you in the process like writing applications in German, pre visiting apartments, communicating with landlord, contract explanation and more. Just share a request for free on the platform if you need such support! If you are willing to help others in these aspects and earn money flexibly, then join us as a Buddy here.