Search for housing

There are several housing options. You can buy or rent real estate or live in a house or apartment. But where to look for relevant offers for purchase and rental?

Looking for a dormitory

When looking for a boarding school, first, you must find out if your high school or college offers a boarding school. If so, they should have the conditions published on the website, which you must fulfill to approve the accommodation. It is usually necessary to submit an application where you state, for example, how far from the school your permanent residence is located and, thus, how much you need a dormitory.

You don’t have to worry if your school doesn’t provide a dormitory. There are also boarding houses that schools do not set up, or you can use the dormitories of other schools. In that case, try to find out at the school you are attending whether it has an agreement with any of them. If not, you must find such a place yourself and apply yourself.

Don’t forget to think about dormitory living well in advance! The dates by which the application must be submitted are usually fixed. If you do not have time to apply for accommodation on the given day, you have to wait to see if the dormitory will have enough space after all applications have been processed.

At the beginning of your boarding life, you will sign a contract. It sets out the monthly rent for accommodation and the deposit, which will be returned to you at the end of the accommodation period if you do not damage the room and equipment. You can find your rights and obligations, the rights and obligations of the dormitory, and the rules and conditions for early termination of the contract. You sign the contract usually for one or two semesters. Sometimes it is not possible to terminate it before you find a replacement. Other times the contract specifies a so-called notice period.

Finding your rental

You can find a property for rent in two main ways.

In advertising in the media, on the Internet or on social networks – in this case, you usually have to contact the owner. The most famous real estate portals in Slovakia include nehnutelnosti.sk, reality.sk, topreality.sk and bazos.sk. Attention, real estate agencies can also advertise on these portals. The bezrealitky.sk portal is also well-known. Similar offers are often found in various Facebook groups within social media.
Through real estate agencies – either you contact the agency directly with your requirements, based on which they will try to find you a property, or you use a portal combining the offers of several real estate agencies. Examples of such portals are the already mentioned nehnutelnosti.sk, reality.sk, topreality.sk and bazos.sk. However, natural persons can also advertise on these portals.

Looking for a shared rental

You can also search for a shared rental on the internet portals, but you will often come across similar offers in various Facebook groups. However, consider also the possibility of connecting with someone you already know and finding a rental with this person or persons.

Buying an older property

You can find an older property to buy in two main ways, which are very similar to looking for a rental:

In advertising in the media, on the Internet or in social media – for example, on the portals nehnutelnosti.sk, reality.sk, topreality.sk and bazos.sk, bezrealitky.sk or in various Facebook groups.
Through real estate agencies – by contacting the selected agency directly or on portals such as nehnutelnosti.sk, reality.sk, topreality.sk and bazos.sk.

When buying real estate through a real estate agency, it is a significant advantage that these agencies usually provide the complete legal service related to selling and purchasing real estate. They know how to recommend suitable financing, provide you with a financial advisor, consult with you, give you advice, or even directly draw up a purchase and sale contract, as well as a proposal and deposit in the cadastre.

This legal service is not free – it is usually included in the property’s purchase price. However, considering that it is a significant investment and a meaningful life decision, it is often beneficial to use these services.

Purchase of a new building

Suppose you are planning to buy a newly built property. In that case, it is probably best for you to contact directly a developer who builds apartment buildings, residential zones or family houses and owns these properties.

Developers post real estate listings on their websites, and when new properties are being built, they usually have giant advertisements around the construction. You can find many development companies on the Internet.

There are two basic rules to follow when looking for housing:

Get advice
Communication prevents surprises

If you want to know exactly what these rules mean and how they will help you if you follow them, click on the housing options.

TIP

If your housing search is successful, you will face other important challenges and probably various bugger or smaller problems. Our article’s 10 practical tips for independent living will help you avoid at least some of these problems. In addition, it is important to take care of the household.

The National Association of Real Estate Agents of Slovakia provides more detailed information on this topic in its regular NARKS podcast.

In our podcast, you will learn directly from a person from practice – real estate broker František Fortuna from FORA reality. You can find us on Spotify, Apple, Google podcast, and many other platforms.