Dear Chutzpanim,
One thing truly difficult in Israel is the cost of living. Tel Aviv is the most expensive city in the middle east, and indeed in the top 50 most expensive cities in the world. Local purchasing power is considered 28 % less than that of New York City, a place many people consider pricey. Rent is especially painful; there simply isn't enough housing which not only allows landlords to jack the price up, but to also treat their tenants indifferently if not poorly.
When I first arrived here, I searched for a couple weeks for a decent apartment. The best place to look is an Israeli website called Yadstein, where you can find private people and rental companies renting apartments, as well as a plethora of secondhand products that are great for the international student. When looking for an apartment, you often you will meet an agent who just shows apartments for a rental agency. If you go this route you will have to pay a finders fee to that agent, equal to one month of rent.
Deposits are very large in Israel. For a three bedroom apartment, landlords would normally suggest 20,000 ILS bank note, equal to ~ 3 months of rent. Everything of course might be negotiable, so always try. Then apartments are not always furnished, even without closets, so you will need to buy wardrobes, and secure transportation for them (which can cost an extra 100 ILS each).
Rent prices ~8000 ILS (~2200 USD) for a three bedroom, or ~4000 ILS for a 1 bedroom. You might also need to pay for the arnona or city tax, utilities (gas, electric and water), building manager fee, insurance fee, and any cables. All of which may get you such a beautiful place such as this:
One thing truly difficult in Israel is the cost of living. Tel Aviv is the most expensive city in the middle east, and indeed in the top 50 most expensive cities in the world. Local purchasing power is considered 28 % less than that of New York City, a place many people consider pricey. Rent is especially painful; there simply isn't enough housing which not only allows landlords to jack the price up, but to also treat their tenants indifferently if not poorly.
When I first arrived here, I searched for a couple weeks for a decent apartment. The best place to look is an Israeli website called Yadstein, where you can find private people and rental companies renting apartments, as well as a plethora of secondhand products that are great for the international student. When looking for an apartment, you often you will meet an agent who just shows apartments for a rental agency. If you go this route you will have to pay a finders fee to that agent, equal to one month of rent.
Deposits are very large in Israel. For a three bedroom apartment, landlords would normally suggest 20,000 ILS bank note, equal to ~ 3 months of rent. Everything of course might be negotiable, so always try. Then apartments are not always furnished, even without closets, so you will need to buy wardrobes, and secure transportation for them (which can cost an extra 100 ILS each).
Rent prices ~8000 ILS (~2200 USD) for a three bedroom, or ~4000 ILS for a 1 bedroom. You might also need to pay for the arnona or city tax, utilities (gas, electric and water), building manager fee, insurance fee, and any cables. All of which may get you such a beautiful place such as this:
This was a nice big place down by Habima, but the kitchen was disgusting, and no furniture. Often there will be no fridge as well, so you need to figure this into your pricing.
The rental agents can be extremely indifferent as I said. We were shown multiple apartments where there would be dead cockroaches on the floors, and things were very messy. They know that the vacancy rate is very low, so the apartments sell themselves
Well stay chutzpanimm, comrades, and find that home!
Sauce
lol just say yad2
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