To live in Prenzlauer Berg or not to live in Prenzlauer Berg

Another blog post and of course a new story. And guess what - the story is about finding an apartment in Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin. There are a few well known facts about this "angesagt" district in Berlin:

1. Buildings are very nice
2. There are plenty of good dining locations
3. People look schick
4. Apartments are expensive and difficult to get

Well, now imagine you are newcomer in Berlin e.g. started work 2 weeks ago and one of the prerequisites is to show your last 3 monthly paychecks in order to be considered for renting an apartment. Besides this when you visit the place you usually discover that you are one of 20 candidates for it and have to wait on the staircase for your turn to glimpse at it. 

Question: Now what do you think are your chances to get a place like this?

Answer: Nil

Question: What you do then?

Answer: You look for a WG!!!

WG is an abbreviation for an apartment shared by few people. I thought it would be easier and cheaper to get in one of these. Berlin has plenty of places like that and they are gigantic. While I was visiting WGs I have seen 140-250 sq. m. places. These are usually old apartments with 3m decorated ceilings, few bathrooms and many rooms. Inhabitants usually share the living room and kitchen, and everyone has his own 20-45 sq.m room. 

So, I signed for www.wg-gesucht.de and www.immobilienscout24.de and started calling to all ads that were popping up. And they were popping up quite often - 3-4 per day. Then I started visiting these places. Here is what I found out:

1. These places were definitely not cheap - prices varied based on the quality of the room and the number of people living there, but in general you always end up with a price between 380-600 euro. Considering that Berlin is a lot cheaper than London or Paris, for this money you can basically rent an apartment 2-3x that size (25 sq.m) yourself. Definitely not in Prenzlauer Berg, but a few tram stations away. This leaves a somehow bitter taste even if you like your new "Mitbewohner" as it seems that you are paying a huge amount of the rent and costs of the other guy(s).
2. The selection process hugely reminded me of cat walk show. You are examined in greater detail and face some funny requirements and views. For example, a man would tell you that although he has a girlfriend, he prefers to live with a woman, which is one of the few things that I am not ready to comply with. 
3. You see a lot of different apartments, life styles and get to know the city.
4. You meet a lot of people and some of them are worth staying in contact with. Some of course not. But I definitely made friends. 

So, you probably wonder what happened? I waited long enough to find a nice apartment and grabbed it immediately. No WG, not for me, and probably not for the guys that want to have some privacy.

Feel free to share your experience in apartment hunting, be my guest.