Hi! I'm going to study in Dresden and would like to check out nice little flats to rent, for two people for one year. Do you know was to seach for it online, preferably in English?
Thanks,
Thomaz

Answered by a Localyte , Jena, Germany

Thomaz,

Aside from Immobilienscout, check out http://www.studenten-wg.de/ and http://www.wg-gesucht.de/ Both of them are in German, because the people posting are, well, German.

My experience is, any time anyone has tried to rent an apartment from an English language ad, they have paid two to three times more in rent than they should have. Consider looking through one of the aforementioned apartment web sites, especially with a vocabulary list (http://german.about.com/library/blvoc_haus.htm is basic), and then email the person who posted the ad, in English.

Keep in mind, though, that no matter where you live (yes, even in apartments with an English ad), 1) your landlord probably won't speak English well enough to explain the lease, 2) there's a 98% chance that the person responsible for repairs won't speak English, 3) there's about a 90% chance that your meter reader won't speak English, either.