On The Hunt for our Next Place

The time here has already gone so fast and we now need to find our next long term apartment. Ben and I have been enquiring at several real estates all over salzburg if they have any availability and we have been met with the answer “there is nothing at the moment”. We have also tried the online websites - Willhaben - https://www.willhaben.at/ and Immobilien - http://www.immobeilien.at.

Considering they will still require past rental references, pay slips and the like and require us to sign a 3 year lease the better option is to continue with the letting agency we are currently with - Kurzzeitmiete and find something available for 6 months.

It is difficult to decide what to take as we do not know the wage for Ben yet so we are trying to get something for around 2250 euros per month.

I am absolutely in love with the current area that we are in and you could say I’m being a little stubborn about the possibility of living somewhere else in the city. Ben and I have had arguments over the fact that I won’t even look at or consider another district of the city. Why would I want to move away from such a cultural spot where everything is a 5-10 minute stroll.

Picture a whole walkable zone of beautiful cafes and bakeries, ice cream parlours, clothing shops and the area has such a vibrant feel and friendly energy, people are chatting in groups, enjoying a meal or wandering through the shops, there is music playing and every day feels like you are in a postcard. Then the walk to the river and over to Aldstadt only takes under 10 minutes, that is hard to pass up.

But I did decide to try and so I found 2 apartments, one in Lehen (on the same side of the river as the kids school) and the other apartment 20 minute walk in another section of the city bordering to the south of Itzling . From the photos online the apartments are larger and did have 3 bedrooms but they are much further away than what I would call the “The Heart of Salzburg”.

It’s really interesting when making decisions what the priority is and I understood it to be that Daniel needed to have a bedroom (as his bedroom has been the lounge room for the last 3 months) so that was it! We needed to find a place with 3 bedrooms and no compromising, however easier said than done as all the holiday apartments that are listed on Kurzzeimiete that are within our price range are all 2 bedroom apartments.

My mum guilt has been screaming at me to find a 3 bedroom apartment and just pay the extra and I have been weighing up - “Do we sacrifice being able to travel and explore by having a bigger apartment or have savings to visit other destinations like we plan and take a smaller apartment”.

Well the first decision was to see if I liked a different area so off I took myself on a walking tour of various areas that I did not like.

At least I tried and I had a look but they were far too far away from the glamour of the city, the cuteness was gone and the areas both felt like commercial and industrial areas. I know I am quick to judge and closed off at times and this was definitely one of those times and I couldn’t get out of there quick enough.

I then thought it couldn’t hurt to look inside at a 2 bedroom apartment 5 minutes down the road from where we are currently staying, so Ben and I went together and I have instantly fallen in love with it.

All the properties that are for rent on Kurzzeitmiete are short term holiday rentals and were all out of our budget at over 3500 -4500 euros per month. But generally I would assume most people only rent for a few weeks at a time. I assumed they would discount for longer stays so I contacted a handful of properties that I liked and asked the question of what price they could offer for 6 months. Many came back over budget but 3 came back from 2250-2500 budget so we decided to go and look at the 2250 budget.

It is on the top floor and is still in the Shallmoos area. It has 2 of the most adorable balconies looking over the city and towards Kupuzinerberg (which is. a large nature area where we go walking and see the cutest squirrels - near the Linzer Gasse). It is light and bright and I immediately could see us moving in. 100m down the road is a ‘Spar’ grocery store, the number 21 bus to the kids school is right out the front and it’s only a short walk to the river again. I also think it would save us from eating all the pretzels and pastries not being as close to the Old Stadt walking area but we are only 5 minutes away from it. I only wish it had 3 bedrooms but this apartment is in our budget too at 2250 euros.

I had a big talk to Daniel about how he felt and he explained it wasn’t even an issue for him if we would buy him a loft bed that he loved that he saw in Ikea and we could put the couch underneath. The room is set up perfectly to fit it and would work in the space well. And I could also buy some room dividers to cordon off the space and then open it back up when we need to. These are just some of the super hard decisions we have to make as a parent and I wonder will this affect him later by feeling like I didn’t prioritise him but he is being so good about it and really as long as he can game he is happy.

So my priority has now changed to being within budget and in an area that I feel not only I love but the kids and Ben do too. Isn’t it all about finding a place that feels like home, that is safe and is your sanctuary.

Apartment in Schallmoos

I have already worked out in my head that we need to move the table and chairs over and then we can put his gaming desk and computer to the side and move the couch underneath. Ben doesn’t have any tools with him so hopefully it is an allen key job otherwise we will be buying a drill.

I have weighed up the cost of purchasing the furniture or putting the funds towards a more expensive apartment but it is still cheaper to buy the furniture and Daniel is super excited about his new bed. The next level up which was only a little bit nicer was still a 2 bedroom apartment at 2,666 euros per month it is just a little bigger.

We have contacted Kurzzeitmiete and explained we would like to go ahead with the apartment and they advised they would adjust the price on line which was currently asking 2650 euros a month and then we could put through our request online. They emailed us saying this had been completed but when we went to book the price was still showing as 2,399 euros. I am hoping it is a mistake and I have emailed the company to ask what the situation is.

As it is a Saturday here now I won’t hear back until Monday so will wait until they respond. It could be a VAT charge or cleaning or some other fee that they pay here we are not aware of.