Residential districts of Stuttgart

Will be moving to Stuttgart soon and need to find a decent area to live. I used to live in Leinfelden / Echterdingen but I need to be closer to either Degerloch or Vahingen for the kids school. Don't fancy Boblingen (not too fussy am I?) Does anyone live in a really nice neighbourhood, or know of a nice area they want to share?? We have an allowance of around EUR 2000 for a house is this enough for a 4-5 bedroom place?
Thanks Nicole

Hi Nicole. I'm looking to move down to Stuttgart in the next 3-5 months as well and am looking at Stuttgart-West (somewhere near the Kräherwald or Botnang). Both are close enough to the city centre for entertainments and on the 'decent' side of the city. I'd definitely avoid Ost (Bad Cannstatt / Untertürkheim). At the moment though I'm having trouble finding a reasonable 3-room flat for no more than €600 warm. I may well have to go down to 2 rooms or raise my rent limit. During my investigations I came across "Dusche in der Küche" for the first time -- what the heck's that all about? Bizarre!

I used to live in a nice town called Herrenberg. You could get yourself a nice place for around €1000, €1200. It's just south of Boeblingen and it is nothing like Boeblingen, it's more like a small Sindlefingen. Do you like Sidlefingen? Pop just outside of the town centre and head for the towns outside and you'll get things for cheaper. Maybe in Affstatt or somewhere. Good luck.

Steve

Well I went there today and had a look around. 2.32 times the rent for a Makler plus 3 months Kaution thieving gits!! All of the decent places are taken by the Americans or Daimler Benz. I have 1800 Euro a month to spend and thought it would be a piece of cake to find a 4-5 bedroom place.

I joined the website upon seeing this thread and I wanted to ask this question, what is Boeblingen like ? Why have there been references to not liking it as a place to live ? I have an opportunity to work in Boeblingen with my company but I know little about Boeblingen. I did live in Italy and France for several years and have visited the Hamburg area of Germany however, so I am confident we would be happy in Germany, especially with the people and their friendliness. We have two children and were hoping to find a place to rent for $1400/month and then if all goes well, buy some land and build a house. There have been some favorable references to Herrenberg so that might be a place to start looking during my upcoming visit in person before the move, but I haven't made a game plan yet other than beginning intensive German language lessons and obtaining quotes from 3 reputable moving companies.

Any intelligent and actionable comments would be appreciated!

Böblingen has its nice areas, but there are nicer places on the outskirts. Sindelfingen will be the same.
You do have to be a bit careful, as BB and SIFI have Mercedes Benz located, and that means higer rents. The outskirts will be a bit cheaper.
Herrenberg is a very nice town. But avoid Magstadt, that is also known as "Little Istanbul" :-)

But If you need any advice - Just pm me, or post your question here...

My advice would be to take someone who speaks German well, with you when you look at houses. As you are American and non German speaking, they may incorrectly conclude that you are affiliated to the nearby US army bases and demand a higher rent. The US military pay at least 1 and a half times more in rent than the 'locals'
I live 15 minutes drive from Sindelfingen and 20 minutes from Boblingen and the rents where I live are far more affordable as you go out a little bit. Weil Der Stadt and surrounding areas is quite nice, also out towards Calw is nice, newer housing with a lot of families.

so is the best way to find a house for rent to look in the local newspaper classifieds and then visit the property ? I have tried looking online at www.wg-gesucht.de but the listings look rather old...

Also, I found a relocation agent who will provide 12 property listings meeting my search requirements (house size and location, schools, culture, etc) and go with me to see the properties and sign the paperwork for a couple thousand dollars. Has anybody had experience with this kind of service ? Based on my experience of relocating within the US, this service could well save some headaches associated with moving into the wrong neigborhood with respect to schools and culture when one only looks at price without knowledge of the character of the neighborhood.

It's quite common in Germany, yes. They usually charge two months' rent so it suits them just fine if you decide on the most expensive house on offer. They can be helpful but it's still up to you to look out for and defend your own interests.

Where will your children go to school? There is only one international school in the area should you require an English speaking school. There is also a school in Sindelfingen that caters to children for whom German is not their first language and so they get more intensive German lessons for a while until they catch up.

There are lots of nice areas in Stuttgart and the suburbs where you can live. You will not have a problem finding one. However one problem I found was that some places are advertised to rent, six months before the current tenant moves out. A good majority of German houses come without a fitted kitchen too so you may have to budget for a kitchen. A lot of Germans literally take the kitchen sink with them when they move!

Gaissert This woman is used by a lot of Americans here in Stuttgart as she speaks English well and has good contacts with US spec houses (i.e. fitted kitchen/laundry room/garage). A lot of my Husband's colleagues were pleased with her although be prepared she does charge 2 months rent as her fee (as do most Realtors) . You could E mail her and ask her what she has to offer. Ignore the sketches on her website, they are just to show you how the house is situated and where the rooms are.

The children are 1 year and 5 years old, so hopefully they can learn the language quicker than us (the parents) and not need the international school. The information on the schools is very appreciated though because we did not know about the international and intensive school, and we might end up needing to center around the school issue when we move to Germany as we currently don't speak German at home.

Also, we did not know about the kitchen sink frequently leaving with the tenants. This is a big cost factor to consider and be on the lookout for. We will look at ibg-gaissert in more detail.

Thanks for the info. The process of looking for a place to live in a foreign land is quite overwhelming and all your comments were enlightening and helpful. I am curious about one thing however. In Italy, where I lived for several years, there is a law which prevents landlords from raising the rent or asking official tenants to leave without alot of bureacracy. Therefore, homeowners are reluctant to rent their houses and this creates a market where only run down houses that nobody wants to live in are available, or if they are decent quality, the cost is prohibitive and you could buy the house for less than it costs to rent. Few people rent in Italy and for good houses they buy. Is there a similar law in Germany which affects the rental market ?

Life in Ludwigsburg is treating us fine. Our kids are 3 and 6.

Please forgive my bluntness, but why on earth would you want to speak German at home?

In Ludwigsburg we do. Although I slip an English word in now and then

If neither parent masters the language (there's no mention of the wife being a native German speaker) I think attempting to speak it at home does a disservice to them and to their children. Their German will get better over time but their English will suffer, and how are the children supposed to keep up their English if they don't hear it at home? As it is they are so young they will pick up German in no time at all at school; wouldn't it be better for them to grow up truly bilingual?