My apartment

I am in my new permanent apartment. I have to paint it but it did come with a small stove, oven and a kitchen sink (the refrigerator goes where the chair is) but I have to provide that myself, still better and much less expensive than outfitting an entire kitchen, which I have been told includes being forced to pay someone approximately 1,000 euros to install it).












One of the really cool things about it is that it comes with a nice sized balcony that I plan to turn into a summer time sitting area with a little container garden.

GAGFAH Group

I have just found the website for GAGFAH Group, a very large apartment management company with a searchable website you can read in English or German. They don't have quite as many search features as FAZ, and sadly do not include sample floor plans or pictures of the interiors of their apartments, but the apartments do appear to be priced quite reasonably and the ability to search in English takes some guesswork out of things.

Apartment Shopping

The first thing I really learned about German apartments is that they don't necessarily come with a kitchen. I am getting accustomed to that idea, and have gone from being horrified to having mixed feelings regarding it (remembering some of the cabinetry in college apartments helps with this).

The other interesting thing is that it is apparently common to use real estate brokers (who charge huge fees) to help find apartments. I have found that Frankfurter Alle Zeitung website includes a classified section for apartments that do not necessarily include fees for finding the individual appartments.