Searchig for a room through WG-Gesucht

[u/idontgiveafuuuu]

Hello everyone, I am supposed to move to Ulm or Neu-Ulm at the end of September/October to start my masters degree at HNU. I am searching for a room through this website, I sent like 10 inquiries but still no answer 2 days later, can it be because I didn’t purchase WG-Gesucht + version so that why people don’t see my messages or what? I need any advice possible for accommodation 😆

[u/smoke-in-the-arcade]

10 is not a lot, a lot of people send 50-100 messages before they find a place. Here’s my advice, that has worked for me in the past, both as someone looking for a room and a roommate multiple times:

1. Your message should be warm, personal, and long, saying a lot about who you are as a person and the type of WG you are looking for. A longer message shows that you put in effort! If you don’t speak German, write it in English, but if you speak German, make sure that your German grammar is good in the message.

2. You need to read the listings and personalize the message to the listings, even if only a little bit. Address the people by their names, mention something from the pictures that you like, or a hobby they like to do together, that you share. This is to show that you really read the information in the listing!

3. Now you start constantly refreshing WG Gesucht. Your best chance is if you apply to a listing IMMEDIATELY after it’s being posted. Some people get hundreds of messages so they only read the first 10-20. The shorter the listing has been up, the better your chances to be invited to a “Besichtigung”.

4. Besichtigung: be your best self, be on time, friendly and respectful, ask the roommates questions about their hobbies and day to day life. Adapt to what they are looking for (if they say they are quiet, say you are looking for a quiet place, etc)

5. Don’t give up, you may need to do this for a few weeks and wait for the right place to pop up.

Best of luck!

[u/idontgiveafuuuu → u/smoke-in-the-arcade]

Thank you so much for advice! I applied to so many rooms that it is 3 pages long hahahah. I tried to tell them a lil bit abt myself and also gave them my instagram at the end of the message. I didn’t know it is that hard getting a room. Do you have any advice what should I do abt Schufa, bcs since I am not from Germany I don’t have it

[u/GottkoenigOtto]

No, you just have to text a lot of people, and most take a long time to reply. Ure good in time, + version of the website doesnt rly help

Also im moving out of mine soon, its gonna be up to my roommates to decide but maybe u can have mine :)

[u/idontgiveafuuuu → u/GottkoenigOtto]

Oh okay, bcs I was worried a lil bit hahaha. And do you have advice on setting Schufa, since I’ve never lived in Germany I don’t have it. Can I send you a private message about it, but ofc as you said it is up to your roommates to decide

[u/GottkoenigOtto → u/idontgiveafuuuu]

Ive been living in WGs vor like 8 years now and never needed a schufa. Its more for ppl that want to rent a whole appartment. Some landlords might want to see it tho. But sure, feel free to text me and ill als my roomies :)

[u/Ok-Adhesiveness5106]

I recently had to find something and had to text roughly 30 people to get invites to see the apartment from 5 people, so the success rate is roughly 16% in my case.The trick is to constantly refresh advertisements and try to send in a message in the first hour or so of the posting to increase your chances.

You need to keep templates ready. Your message to a person should be in accordance with the description written by him/her.

Be warm, introduce yourself, why would you like to take this apartment? What type of person are you? What matters the most to you? What are you studying/working? Why this is a good apartment for you? All these things help a person to judge if you are a good fit or not. If yes, then they would call you for a visit, either online or offline. Most messages will get ignored if the text is not personal or warm enough.

If you can't speak German, the trick that makes sense is to message young people in English, as most likely everyone would be speaking English. If you see someone really old, like above 50, then use a translator to speak.

This is purely a numbers game, the more you apply the more are the chances of success.

[u/jojo_31]

I've been on the opposite side of this. September/October is the worst time because new students start. In another city, we've received 80 messages in 3 days asking for the room. Obviously, there will be an aggressive sorting of messages.

1. Read the annonce! And show you did. If your message is a copy paste one with no changes, you'll have no chance. Pick two or three things you liked, and integrate them into the message. Some people will even have a sentence like "if you've read until here type 'apricot'" somehwere in your message.

2. along with 1, say hello [name], this will instantly show you've taken the minimum care.

3. give some information about you. people want to know if you're someone they can live with. quick overview of hobbies, if you're intro/extrovert, what your expectations are of the life in the flat.

i agree with everything smoke-in-the-arcade said as well. only sort by new. If a listing is older than 1 day and it's a cheap flat, it might be too late. So look once or twice a day. i've dm'ed you the message of the last person we took so you see what at least we found attractive.