Most of what I say will be based on my experience, which means we left home for a full academic year and moved to a single residence in Germany for our year there. Some of what I say, especially the references for short-term housing, will also be applicable to shorter stays.
Though I was quite worried about this, renting out our home turned out to be easy. A colleague recommended SabbaticalHomes. There was definitely some noise, 1 but I also had lots of very solid inquiries. I had no problem finding a good family that fit our little neighbourhood well, and have had a great experience with them.
This has been the most consistently difficult point for us over three sabbaticals in Germany. Looking for more than one bedroom complicated things even more for us on the latest trip. A couple of things to keep in mind: When on the general market for an unfurnished apartment , we have found that German landlords tend to prefer long-term commitments more than a year from native speakers with whom they feel more comfortable communicating.
As foreigners, we found it impossible to find an unfurnished apartment on the normal market in advance from North America. You will also have to furnish it yourself, possibly even down to buying a kitchen. If you are in the market for a short-term, furnished apartment , you can work through a company like HomeCompany or HC The Welcome Centres at two universities recommended HomeCompany. HC24 seems to be a recent splinter off HomeCompany.
You may see listings for short-term, furnished apartments on big apartment listing sites like Immowelt. Caveat emptor. HC24 was a better experience.
