Finding accommodation in Bremen, Germany

Got accepted at Jacobs? Congratulations!!!

Now, how to proceed?
After being accepted at Jacobs University and having settled all your financial issues, next thing to
do is to find a place to live during your stay in Bremen.
In general looking for an apartment in Germany may be time consuming and annoying experience.
You need to give yourselves plenty of time for finding the accommodation you were looking for.
Thus start your search early, some time before your trip.
Living in Germany can be expensive, so if you don't want to rely on luck, you should consider
several possibilities. A major advice here is to decrease your expectations from the perfect place
you want to live in, to the place you can afford.
Upon your arrival in Bremen you might find it necessary to live in a hostel or some other type of
temporary accommodation until you find an apartment. This might take few days, weeks or maybe
even more than a month. Some hostels offer reduced rates if you are staying there longer so you can
pay per week instead of per day.
Community emails
This might be the easiest way to find an accommodation. Pay attention to the spams sent to the
university/community lists. Many students leaving their apartments send an email to the lists to let
students know about the possibility of overtaking their apartment/room.
Newspapers and Online search
Beware that most of the times as soon as the landlord or the agency posts the ad, they will receive
many calls and this reduces your chances of securing the apartment. Also, when you will be given
the time for visiting the apartment it is possible that you will have to wait for your turn since the
landlord have given the same time to many perspective tenants. Most of the times being foreigner is
a disadvantage since you don't speak proper German or you don't have a believable proof for
payment. You might be asked for your finances, how are you planning to cover all the costs and
how much is your monthly income. You should be prepared to show more or less 1000 euros/month
income. Sometimes you might be asked for someone to guarantee for you, that in case you don't pay
your rent or bills this person will cover your costs. Normally this would be your parents, but
sometimes landlords prefer having someone from Germany guaranteeing for you.
Do not be discouraged. This is not always the case. Sometimes landlords are really flexible in their
requirements, and sometimes they might even prefer a foreigner to a German person due to the
internationality. This especially implies for WGs (shared apartments).
When an ad is from Makler (real estate agent) or Verwalter (service provider) you usually get a
commission (Provision) of 2 monthly rents, or most of the times 2.28 * KM (Kaltmiete = cold
rent). Sometimes they might decrease the commission, but in any case they can be really helpful if
you are in real hurry to find an apartment.
Sometimes in the ads you will see something like 3.5 room apartment. This half room is actually a
room in connection to one of the other rooms, and normally it doesn't have windows and is too
small to be considered a full room. Normally it is used as a storage room. When apartment is
advertised as a two-room apartment it means that it has one bedroom and one living room. Kitchen,
bathroom and hallway are not counted in the room number. If you want to rent an apartment with a
friend, landlords might consider that a two-room apartment is too small for two people although you

think it is good enough for you.

Prices of the apartments will vary on the location and the size of the apartment.
Most of the time the price is determined by the size of the apartment. Rooftop units, where the hight
of the room is between 1m and 2m are calculated only as 50% of the size, so they might appear
bigger in reality. Apartments with balconies are generally more expensive, and the more central the
apartment is, it's price gets higher. Generally the prices are listed as KM (Kaltmiete = cold rent)
which means in addition to this you will need to pay NK(Nebenkosten = additional costs) such as
garbage disposal, building maintenance, water, electricity, heating, etc. Sometimes the rent is Warm
(includes the utilities). Approximate price of a two-room apartment is around 450 euros cold + 150
euros for utilities but this varies. For the same price, depending on location you can find a threeroom apartment. One person apartments are usually smaller two-room apartments and can be found
for as low as 250 euros + utilities or maybe even lower. But do not underestimate the utilities value.
Sometimes you might need to pay low amount for utilities per month, but after some time, usually
ones a year, there will be a recalculation of the expenses, and if you are lucky you might get some
money back, or if you are really unlucky you might have to pay additional few hundred euros for
the extra spent. Thus be very careful and try to save on energy.
Apartments are generally rented as unfurnished, half furnished or fully furnished. When they say
unfurnished, they really mean unfurnished. You will not find anything in the apartment sometimes
not even a lamp. Since most of us are coming here for relatively short time, it is advisable that you
get an apartment that at least has a kitchen installed since this is not cheap to do on your own.
You can find housing offers in the Kleinanziegen (classifieds section) and then look for
Immobilienteil (property) which has two sections Vermietungen (flats to rent) and
Wohnangebote (flats to buy). You will find these sections normally in the Wednesday and/or
weekend editions. From my experience it is best to get the weekend edition of Weser Report or
Weser Kurier and look for the Immobilien section in it. The second part of the Immobilien section
is Vermietung and it is divided by the different areas in Bremen, so depending on your preference
for the location of your apartment you can find offers easily. There are also other newspapers which
have many advertisements as well.
Another possibility is to look at specialized German publications which contain only ads.
Since reading ads might seem confusing in the beginning I have compiled a small glossary below
which might help you to decipher them :)
When and ad gives a phone number you should call as soon as you can to make an appointment.
Sometimes you might get preference if you are one of the first ones to call. If there are times
specified call during those times, otherwise do not call before 8 am or after 9 pm. Sometimes as ad
shows a Chiffre instead of a phone number. In this case you should send a letter to the newspaper
quoting the Chiffre number and then they will forward it to the advertiser. Although this is more
work, it might pay off since you will be competing with less people.
Generally ads are placed by three types of people: landlords, real estate agents or tenants looking
for someone to take over they lease before their notice period expires. If someone is leaving the
apartment and is looking for a successor they will normally include something like Nachmieter
gesucht in the ad and this is a good way of avoiding the agency fees. However, they might ask you
to purchase some of their furniture and kitchen equipment (an Abstand). If priced reasonably this
might be better than buying everything on your own. You should be careful since sometimes
vacating tenants might want to make extra cash by pricing their furniture and if you don't agree to
pay their price they might not forward your application to the landlord although they are not legally
entitled to choose you as Nachmieter.
If you see the words Immobilien, RDM, or just Makler in an advertisement it means that the ad is
by a real estate agent. In this case in addition to the rent, utilities and deposit, there will be a
commission fee.
You can also place your own ad saying that you are looking for an apartment, but most of the time

this is just waste of money and time.

On some Internet sites you can place an ad like this for free so maybe you will be lucky and it
doesn't hurt to try.
The best site where you can find most ads is www.bremen.de. There you can find ads by students
and landlords and ads are put quite often. The exact link where the ads are is:
http://bremen.de/sixcms/detail.php?template=01_markt_eintraege_d&id=1687960
If you browse the site, you can find many different ads for furniture, student jobs etc. Other sites
where you can find ads are:

http://www.studenten-wg.de/angebote_lesen.html

http://www.wg-gesucht.de/

http://studenten-wg.spiegel.de/

http://studenten-wohnung.de

As an alternative to an apartment you can get a room in a WG (shared apartment). These are shared
apartments and it is a cheap alternative since you will split the costs with the others in the
apartment. It is also a good chance to meet new people. Usually WG's are shared among students
and young professionals, but there are also the ones for 50-60 year olds. In the ads for these kind of
rooms they usually give the ages of the people already living there. Living in a WG means that you
will share the bathroom and the kitchen with the others who live there. Generally WG-Zimmer
(room in a shared apartment) is unfurnished, or has only a bed.
Usually the price for a room in a WG, depending on the size is 200-350 euros/month cold.
As a temporary accommodation (usually for couple of months or even a year) you can find a room
rented by a tenant rather than a landlord. This usually happens when one of the tenants of a WG is
leaving the country or the city for some time. These kind of ads are usually labeled as Untermiete or
Zwischenmiete. Most of the time this kind of rooms are rented furnished, and you might have to
pay a deposit to the previous tenant for his/hers furniture in the room.
Brokers and agencies
If you are willing to pay an agency your housing search time will be reduced. Usually agencies have
the most attractive offers. You won't have anything to do with the landlord since the agents take
care of all the administrative tasks. When agents help you find a flat they will charge a fee
(Courtage). This usually goes up to 2 month rent (Kaltmiete) plus additional charges and taxes. An
estate agent may not ask you for any payment until you legally sign a contract. Never pay a fee, not
even a handling fee before a lease is signed. Also, never sign a contract until you fully understand it
and everything has been properly negotiated.
Here are some links to agencies in Bremen area:
http://www.bremische.de
http://www.gewoba.de
http://www.gewosie.de
http://www.brebau.de
And for the Vegesack area (close to campus):

http://www.elb-immobilien.de

http://www.purnhagen-immobilien.de

http://www.biendara-immobilien.de/

http://www.rademann-schneider.de/

Keep in mind...
... that furnished apartments are more expensive than unfurnished ones. Unless your stay is
relatively short, unfurnished apartment, or half furnished one may be a better choice. In addition it
is much easier to find an unfurnished apartment than furnished, or if you don't want to be bothered
by finding furniture and furnishing your apartment sometimes there are the possibilities to get the
furniture from the previous tenant. If you don't mind what kind of furniture you have in your
apartment and your ultimate aim is to have it as cheap as possible you can get your furniture from
second hand shops. They usually bring you and assemble the furniture at your place in a week and
for additional cost of 30 euros to the price you paid for the things you are getting from there. It is a
good idea to get as many things as you need from there at the same time so that you pay for the
transportation only ones. You can find a convenient (price and location) second hand shop close to
the university campus:
Address
Hermann-Fortmann-Str. 18
City:

28759 Bremen Vegesack

Tel-Nr:

(04 21) 6 09 05 59

Website

www.alz-bremen.de

Another possibility for getting cheap but new furniture is to get it from IKEA.
http://www.ikea.com/de/
When buying a bed, they mostly come without a mattress. You can normally get a mattress from the
place where you got the bed from. Prices of mattresses depend on many factors. In some
supermarkets like Aldi, LIDL, Real, etc. you can find mattresses ranging from 50-150 euros.
Further hints
Always have a German speaker to read and explain to you your lease before signing it. Or if
possible get someone who speaks German when signing the lease. You can always ask the Student
Service Center volunteers for help. They won't mid helping you with this.
When first reading the ads in the newspapers or internet they might seems impossible to understand.
But after some time, you will become a professional in deciphering all the different ads.
Here are some German housing terms and abbreviations normally used:
2 Zi.-Whg = two-room apartment
2 ZKBB = 2 rooms, kitchen, bathroom and balcony
3 ZKDB = three rooms plus kitchen, hallway, bath
Abstand = you have to buy some of the fixtures and furnishings
DG (Dachgeschoss) = loft apartment
EBK (Einbaukche) = built-in kitchen
EG (Erdgeschoss) = ground floor
HH (Hinterhaus) = back of the house (might have little light)
K (Kaution) = deposit
NR (Nichtraucher) = non-smokers
Kalt = heating costs are not included
KM (Kaltmiete) = (cold rent)
KN = kitchenette
Nachmieter = tenant who takes over an old lease

NMM (Nettomonatsmiete) = net monthly rent (plus costs for heating, electricity, gas,
water, waste disposal)
MVZ (Monatliche Vorauszahlung) = rent in advance
Prov. (Provision) = commission
qm (Quadratmeter)= square metre (size of the apartment)
TG (Tiefgarage) = underground garage
VH (Vorderhaus) = front of the house
WG (Wohngemeinschaft) = shared flat
WBS erford. (Wohnberechtigungsschein) = subsidised housing only rented to holders of a
special permit (WBS)
Wfl. (Wohnflche) = living space
WM (Warmmiete) = warm rent (this is the cold rent plus additional cost)
Zi (Zimmer) = room(s)
ZH (Zentralheizung) = central heating
zzgl. NK = plus extra charges (heating, electricity, etc.)

further glossary can be found at (A-L) http://german.about.com/library/blvoc_wohn3.htm and (MZ) http://german.about.com/library/blvoc_wohn3b.htm

The Lease (taken over from http://www.study-in-germany.de)
The Lease Agreement
By signing a lease, you gain certain rights, but you also gain responsibilities. Among them:
- payment of rent
- observance of the period of notice to move out
payment for certain repairs
- in some cases, covering renovation costs when you move out
- rent increases, depending on the stipulations in the lease
- payment of additional costs (heating, water, garbage disposal, etc.)
Rent prices are often given as either "cold" or "warm." "Warm" means that the rental price includes
the additional costs mentioned above. "Cold Rent" refers to the sum that you have to pay without
those additional costs added on. The kinds and amount of these additional costs depend on the
apartment and its location. Remember: pay close attention to the final amount you'll be asked to pay
every month.
In addition to the rent, in most cases you will have to leave a security deposit. The amount usually
ranges from one to three months rent. You will get this money back when you move out of the flat,
along with any interest the deposit earned while it sat in the bank. Make sure you completely
understand any lease agreement before you sign it. With your signature, you are consigning yourself
to the countless rules and regulations set out in all the legalese and fine print in the lease. Before
you legally commit yourself to something that might not be in your best interests, consult a friend or
colleague.
You can find more information on the contract here: http://www.justlanded.com/english/Germany/
Germany-Guide/Housing-Rentals/Contracts
On-campus possibilities
In addition to finding an apartment on your own, you can also book a room on campus. But this can
not be considered as a short term accommodation only. You will normally be asked to sign a

contract for a semester or a year. But there are always exceptions to this, so for further information
you can contact Bianca Hurlemann (b.hurlemann@jacobs-university.de).
The on-campus housing goes together with a meal plan. These two can not be separated. The cost of
a room plus meal plan is 550 euros/month but this is the university subsidized price, so it might be
different if you have a full time working contract (660 euros/month).
To get a room on-campus you need to contact the college office managers from the college in which
you want to apply to. There are 4 colleges on campus: Krupp College, Mercator College, College
III and the newest one College IV. More information about the colleges can be found on the Jacobs
University website.
Contact Information :
For Alfried Krupp College:
Renne Wells, re.wells@jacobs-university.de
For Mercator College:
Samuel Johnson, s.johnson@jacobs-university.de
For College III:
Robert Rennie, r.rennie@jacobs-university.de
For College IV:
S. Hooden, s.hooden@jacobs-university.de
Contracts and further issues to be discussed with Bianca Hurlemann, b.hurlemann@jacobsuniversity.de.
You can apply for a room on-campus before during the previous semester, or approximately a
month before the start of a new semester. If you apply for a room in the middle of the semester, you
can still get one if there is one available.
Most of the rooms reserved for graduate students are single room apartments. Namely, you have a
room, a bathroom and a small hall in your apartment, whereas you are sharing a kitchen with the
rest of the people who live on your floor. The meal plan allows you to use the servery, which can be
found in each college on the ground floor. The serveries are open 3 times a day and you get 12.66
euros/day to spend. Money not spent are stay on your card and can later be used.
Off-campus university housing possibilities
Another possibility is to get a room in one of the United Houses. As of now Jacobs University
subsidizes the costs for students living in the Yellow House, the Blue House and the Green House.
Most of the rooms are not available since students apply well in advance so usually students who
were already living there continue staying in the rooms. More information to be added!!!
References:
http://www.justlanded.com/english/Germany/Germany-Guide/Housing-Rentals
http://german.about.com
www.study-in-germany.de