Finding a home

Well your thinking of moving to Sweden? Well one thing you should consider is where to live. Whether your buying or renting its all very different from the UK where im from.
First I will discuss the rental market then discuss buying a place, ending with an idea on where to live.

RENTING:
If your moving to Stockholm you will need to find a rental contract. This will be difficult because you will have on any given day of the week 20 to 1000 people also looking for a place to rent.
You have to forget whatever rules or logic you think you need when looking for a place and understand the basics.
1) You will need to beg for your apartment.
YES you read correctly, unless you get lucky and rent from another expat who thinks like you, if they are Swedish they most likely think like a local and this is the interesting part. You must sell yourself, it is a renters market. You and 100 people are all interested in the same apartment. So sell yourself well, this means tell them why they need to pick you? And if you meet them you better treat it like a date, dress up well, look clean and be polite. finding a place to rent is like finding a date. (But dating is even more weird! We will get to that in another post).

2)Its not uncommon for the landlord to ask for more deposit than the rent. Like I mentioned is a sellers market, as a renter your begging for a place to stay.

3) Prices. Be prepared to pay between 10,000 SEK and 16,000 SEK for a simple humble studio or 1 bedroom apartment. for this money you will most likely have your bed, kitchen, sofa (if it can fit one) and total living space in one room. So student living basically. You can also rent cheaper but then your competing with students to do a flat share and again will be around 7,000 SEK a month.
So yes an average of 16,000SEK (or €15,000) a month will give you the opportunity to live like a student. Welcome to Sweden!

4) ALWAYS sign a contract and make sure you read and understand the terms clearly before signing.

5) Without a social security number you might as well be a bin laden twin and be waving an ak47 when you meet the landlord. NO WAY will they rent to you, you have the plague and ebola without a social security number so get that sorted BEFORE looking, otherwise no contract, and thus no apartment.

BUYING:

Same rules apply, you are begging to buy also. Its a sellers market. You will be competing with maybe 5 to 50 buyers who all want to buy the apartment just like you do. You will always go into a bidding war, so whatever price you see advertised is not the price you will be asked to pay in the end.
on a good day expect to pay 20% over the asking price, on a bad day expect 60-100% more.
It happens FAST, so do have your finances in place otherwise you will be wasting everyones time.


WHICH AREA?
Stockholm is the most highly segregated city I have ever experienced in the world. I mean really different. People will judge you immediately on where you live.
Stockholm is divided up into several areas, there are Ostermalm, Sodermalm, Kungsholmen, Gamla Stan, Vasastan, City and then everywhere else.
Ok I will give you the low down on each of these areas.

Ostermalm:
This is the apparently posh area, prices here are the highest in Stockholm and you will have to sell your liver just to afford a small tiney 20sqm apartment. All the apartments are very old victorian style french looking buildings. This is where all the embassies are located and celebrities ect ect you get the impression? But this is also where allot of plastic surgeons are based and where dog ownership is high so you will find allot of poop on the footpaths and rats running around. Most women have fake boob implants and fake lips, but yet the locals find this area posh. Its odd. You have to book everything in advance here and all the restaurants are pretty pricey. For some reason its cool to hang out at hotel bars and cafes spending €6 for a little scoop of ice cream.

Sodermalm:
This is the working class and hipster area. Very chilled and all fashipn types are here. You can wear your hoody without getting a second look, in fact you can be a goth, swinging the rapper look, hippy, casual any look fits in well here, except a suit, then you look like your lost.

Kungsholmen:
Here is more the modern day working class peoples area, you have allot of nice local cafes and bars and you will see its a less pricey area than the rest but yet only 15 minutes walk away from Ostermalm, go figure, like I mentioned its highly segregated. You will find the same beautiful buildings in Kungsholmen than in Ostermalm but mixed with allot of buildings without character. Some nice parks here and areas for children to play. Overall Kungsholmen has it all really.

Gamla stan:
Prices here are similar if not more than Ostermalm. Its where the Royal family have their palace and its the old town. Very high tourist area. Its where ALL of the tourist shops are, I have been to the same shop 5 times and they still ask me where im from. Yes allot of tourists visit this area so they dont bother remember you. Houses are very insta friendly and some interesting small footpaths. It has the nobel museum and hosts a lovely christmas market during the season. 100 years ago you couldnt pay people to live here, now its seen as the old tourist district and its expensive. Downside is the walls in the apartments are VERY thick, which means getting any cell phone coverage means you might have to step outside to use your phone. Yes its that bad in some apartments.

Vasastan:
This area is actually more central along with the city areas. It boasts some of the most diverse population ethnically in the centre, there are even some fast food shops in arabic and has a wide range of people living here. So if your looking for a wide mix then Vasastan is for you.

City:
This is the area closest to the train station. You will probably see more taxis than anyone else, its going to be the dirtiest of all stockholm as the foot traffic is the highest and drug dealers and immigrants have been known to roam around and lounge. having no job but still driving expensive cars. I think you get the idea. Still has all the restaurants and hotels you would even need during your relocation.


BONUS INFO.
Parking in stockholm is like seeing a unicorn running past in your local forest. It could happen but....
Most likely wont. If you must insist on bringing your car to Stockholm, you will pay allot and not necessarily have a spot when you do decide to use your car. Unless you pay x5 or x10 for a more expensive indoor garage. Another tip, DO NOT say hello to your neighbour, they dont wanna know you its Sweden! :)