The Hunt Is On

We have officially started our search for an appartment here in Geneva. Thank heaven we have a relocation company to help with the hard part of setting up appointments and doing all the application paperwork. There seems to be a lot of hoops to jump through in applying for an appartment in Genva. They want to know everything about you.
Anyway, to get back to the point. we went and looked at 5 appartments yesterday. It was pretty much an all day process and James was a little trooper. I have to admit that I was both horrified and at the same time pleasantly surprised by what we saw.
Let me explain. The rents are outrageous and, as my new friend Harmony pointed out, there really is no rhyme or reason as to why one appartment (which is super ugly and nasty) costs more than another appartment (which is vastly superior). It is quite different.
We started of the day with a visit to an are that Brian knows very well. We went to look at a 3 bedroom place in an appartment complex that he lived in while he was a missionary! When the relocation guy driving us around didn't know which building it was Brian told him which one it was. I was very pleasantly surprised by this appartment. It overlooked a nice little garden area and had two large balconies. The only drawback was the little "unequipped" kitchen. (Unequipped means that I have to buy everything except cabinets. Including, Stove, fridge and dishwasher if I want one.) Other than that it really was perfect. It even has the most amazing view of Mont Blanc. Rent CHF 2420.
Next, we went on our way to the second appartment and the relocation guy got a call that it had been rented. He was quite irritated but it didn't bug me. It happens. So, we just went on to the next appartment. This appartment was pretty okay. It was another 3 bedroom but the bedrooms were significantly smaller. It did have a bigger living room so that was nice and it had an "equipped" kitchen. It came with a stove and a fridge. Think mini-fridge. Like the kind you would put in an entertainment room for beverages. Still it was okay and it was the closest to church and downtown of all the appartments we looked at. Rent CHF 2340.
Then we had a 2 hour lunch and James had a nice long nap. After lunch we headed out again to what the relocation guy called a "suburb" of Geneva. It really is about 10 min. from downtown by bus. Not far at all. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL!! It was only 2 bedrooms but they were enormous and it was completely redone. It was on a nice quiet street and has it's own private garage. It has a fully equipped kitchen, including a dishwasher and a large fridge (about half the size of a regular American fridge). And it had a balcony. Rent CHF 2600.
After the glory of that appartment we went on to another "suburb" and saw the nastiest little apparmtnet in the history of appartments. I could just see the disgust on Brian's face when we walked in. First off the elevator was scary. Even the lady that was there to show us the appartment thought that 4 peoople was too many for the elevator. Crazy! Needless to say the bedrooms were small and the kitchen was like something you might see in Verminators (minus the cockroaches). The only attractive thing was the rent. CHF 2150.
And last and almost least was the final appartment that we went to see. It was technically the largest with 3 bedrooms but they were very weirdly shaped. The kitchen was quite nasty in this unit as well and there were about 20 steps leading up to the building. Steps and strollers don't mix well. I can deal with a few but not that many. Just hauling James' stroller up and down the 6 steps here at the hotel already has my back hurting. So that was one that we didn't look at for long. Oh and the rent made it even more unattractive. CHF 3100!! Whatever! They are smoking crack!
All in all, we have decided to apply for 2 of the appartments and will have to hope and pray that we get accepted. I am keeping my fingers crossed because the process is very different than in America. According to the relocation expert, the owners get about 20 applications and then they pick who they want based on whatever they want. There are no explainations or anything. The housing vacancy rate is less than 0.5% here so they can be as picky as they want. Oh, and we probably won't hear back for at least a week. So then we may have to start the process all over again. I sure hope not but some people we know took 8 weeks and 10 applications to finally get into a place.
Oh, and we applied for the first appartment and the third appartment. Pray that we will get one! I know I am! Oh, and next time I promise some pictures of Bimmy.