How to rent an apartment or a house in Batumi. Tips for renting real estate in Tbilisi without intermediaries
How to save money on renting a house or apartment in Georgia? How to rent a comfortable house or apartment in Georgia without intermediaries to a tourist? Recommendations for renting a house or an apartment will help you make the right choice
This article will highlight our personal experience in renting housing in Georgia. We will tell you about the features of the lease, pitfalls and surprises that you will face. From this article you will learn what you should pay attention to when choosing a home, and how not to let yourself be deceived. You will be able to look at our mistakes so as not to make the same ones.
The most important thing is not to rent a house until you arrive. Come, live for a few days in different areas, take a look, choose. In no case do not agree to the first option that comes along, even for a long time. Do not agree to broadcast in order to view the apartment remotely, or watch a video review of the apartment. Until you personally look at the house, the entrance, you will not see what is under your window, what kind of area it is, do not take it off. If they try to persuade you to rent remotely, feel free to refuse, a good option is unlikely to be offered.
Another important point is the neighbors. Neighbors are something that manifests itself not on the first day of rent, so it's worth living in an apartment for a while to see and hear everything. In Georgia, there is such a concept, such a lifestyle, which is called Georgian Zen.
We are faced with the fact that our neighbors go to bed at 2-3 o'clock in the morning, and wake up around 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Georgian zen, which has developed historically, is a lifestyle. How does this manifest itself? You come to see the apartment in the afternoon or in the morning – there is silence around, you like everything, and in the evening conversations, feasts, music and other manifestations of neighbors begin, and you will not be able to do anything about it.
Even the neighbors on the balcony or even in the apartment may have interesting animals – chickens and roosters. We were shocked to learn that in a residential area of Batumi, people keep such a bird in apartment buildings. In the morning we hear a rooster crowing, we find out what it is and how it is, and it turns out that for Georgia it is quite a typical picture to keep poultry in an apartment, which we associate with the village.
And nothing can be done with this cock crowing in the morning, the neighbor has the right to keep anyone. No matter what time you went to bed, early in the morning, at best, at six o'clock, the rooster will greet the dawn with a ringing song, and the whole apartment building, including you, will listen to this singing.
We had an absolutely wonderful story with an unusual neighbor's cock. This rooster was flawed: he drank or ate something, and his biological clock completely lost. The morning for the bird began at exactly two o'clock in the morning. Imagine a picture, you are sleeping, your windows are open so that it is not stuffy in the room, and at two o'clock in the morning a live alarm clock turns on, as scheduled. The rooster crows with his soul, almost tearing off the vocal cords so that everyone will definitely rise.
After that – silence, the bird considers the mission accomplished and falls silent. There were nights when the rooster went somewhere or slept, and silence reigned around. We lived with this for three weeks, then we couldn't stand it and paid a neighbor to buy a new rooster with normal biorhythms, and put this one away somewhere. I don't know what happened to the bird, maybe he sold it to someone else, maybe he cooked soup from it, but the issue with the night crow was peacefully settled. A neighbor bought himself a normal rooster who sang at the proper time.
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There is a nuance in Georgia that you probably haven't encountered in other cities. This is the water pressure in large houses or in private houses. For example, when there is a boiler and you poured out hot water, then it's all clear, but very often it happens that the pressure of cold water leaves much to be desired. This is especially noticeable when everyone comes and starts turning on the water.
We encountered this in Ureki, when just in broad daylight at first there was a small water pressure, then it did not become at all. In this regard, I recommend that when you come to see the apartment, open all the taps and watch the water pressure. Water in Georgia is inexpensive, so open the taps in the kitchen, in the bathroom, let the water flow, and you look at the pressure. There is often a situation that you are going to take a shower, and a thin trickle flows from the tap, which is enough for a very modest hand washing and washing.
When renting a home in Georgia, pay attention to heating. This can become a real problem. Do not think that it is warm here all year round, the nights, for example, can be very cold, and in winter the temperature is not +30. We are now taking $200-250 a month from our budget in order to heat the house normally.
Especially pay attention to the fact that you will have central heating or a variety of gas burners. It also varies in price. Imagine that a gas burner will work in your house all day long, the pleasure is below average. Heating is a very important part that needs to be looked at right away. It is very comfortable here in summer, but in winter with poor heating it will be very uncomfortable.
Another strong argument in favor of not renting an apartment remotely before you arrive is noise. This is especially true for Batumi. You can be shown a beautiful apartment with renovated and new furniture in a great area, but you will not hear any sounds, because the recording will be conducted when there is silence around. You will also come to see the apartment, most likely, in a quiet time. You just need to understand that Batumi is one big construction site, where bumpers, punchers work, permanent repairs are carried out at the neighbors.
Live 3-5 days and you will hear all this. This is especially true for those who would like to live in a quiet and peaceful residential area, without knocking and drilling from morning to night. The neighbors are unlikely to keep your peace of mind if they have started a big reconstruction of the apartment. You can complain in this case, the Georgian police respond to appeals, but very reluctantly, so it's easier to travel to different places and find a really quiet place.
Pay attention to the cafe in the house. You came here to rest or work, it doesn't matter, it's important that you need peace and quiet. So in the evening, cafes, clubs with loud dance music can open until the morning. And street musicians with amplifiers and speakers can also play under the windows, and nothing can be done about it. Such moments should be checked.
It may come as a surprise to many, but a lot of noise can be created by air conditioners that are located next to your window. We had such an experience. We rented an apartment on the second floor, a grocery store on the ground floor, everything is wonderful, convenient. If not for one "but" – a powerful, old air conditioner was working in the store, which serviced the refrigeration systems, provided air exchange. In a word, the noise was terrible, which greatly spoiled the impression of the apartment and made it difficult to live.
It is worth paying attention to the road nearby. If you have lived in a big city and think that the road not far from home is not scary, then you have not heard how people drive in Georgia. In the same Batumi there is a special, Batumi driving style. What is it? The fact that drivers are godlessly honking at each other about and without. One asks to skip – beeps, the other skips – beeps, the first thanks – how not to click on the signal, etc. And this permanent buzzing will be from morning to night, especially at busy intersections. The road near the house in Georgia is darkness and horror.
Let's talk about our smaller brothers. In Georgia, the attitude towards animals is very specific – they love domestic animals very much here, there are a lot of homeless chipped dogs that everyone knows and feeds. You should not be afraid of them – they are completely safe creatures. At the same time, it should be understood that if you are going to rent a good renovated apartment and you have a cat or dog, then you should inform the landlords about this in advance.
You should not think that you will be able to hide your livestock or hide it somehow, word of mouth works very well here, and the owner of your dog will be notified very quickly. Many owners can agree to an animal for an additional fee. For example, our friends rented an apartment with a dog, agreed for $ 50 a month to pay extra for it, and there were no problems. And there have been cases that animals were evicted, because initially it was not specified in the contract that there would be a pet.
Constantly pay attention to the condition of the sleeping place. Very often it happens that the beds creak mercilessly when not that moving, when breathing. Mattresses may be sagged. At the same time, if you look superficially, when everything is neatly laid, you will not see it. And you will have to sleep in a hole squeezed out by the previous tenants, which, of course, is not very comfortable. It all becomes clear if you live in an apartment for a few days, spend the night.
A few words about household appliances. You should understand that looking for an apartment with good appliances is a useless activity. The best thing you can count on here is the presence of a working kettle. There are no microwaves in rented apartments as a class, it is easier to buy and transport yourself. There are plenty of equipment in stores, you can find a good option on the secondary market if you want cheaper.
A refrigerator is a very important item. Apartments usually have small refrigerators where you can store, say, a bottle of milk and two saucepans. Agree that in a country of very tasty food that you want to cook for more than one day, such a capacity is unacceptable.
The best option is to buy a large refrigerator with a guarantee, handle it carefully, and then sell it at half price the next time you move. I advise you to buy all the equipment that you need for a comfortable life on your own, so as not to look for an apartment with household appliances, but to select housing according to the level of comfort. The main thing is not household appliances, but the voltage in the power grid.
Always rent an apartment with your Georgian friend. Why? Because it often happens that the owners do not speak Russian well, and it will be very difficult for you to negotiate with them without such a voluntary translator. Yes, and the Georgians will agree with the Georgians faster, because the locals know the nuances, average prices on the real estate market and can negotiate faster and smarter than you.
Moreover, there is such a moment that when you come with a Georgian, the hosts have an increased level of trust in you. I don't know how, but it works. So get to know Georgians (not real estate agents) via Facebook, communicate, make friends, and if you manage to find a guide in this way, it will be much easier to solve the issue of renting housing.
There may also be an unpleasant moment – neon advertising. In our apartment, a sign flickered right through the window, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. It flickered like an alarm signal, at regular intervals. Very unpleasant for the eyes. We then had to buy a thick fabric to curtain the window.
Let's think about the neighbors again. They, as I have already said, do not manifest themselves immediately. Over time, you begin to understand all the delights of living with neighbors. They can sleep, they can make noise. The worst option is when housing is rented for daily rent near you. There will be endless discos, brawls, screams, screams – in a word, you can forget about a quiet and peaceful life for the entire rental period.
Pay attention to whether the apartment has Internet or not. We, the people of the 21st century, are used to the fact that everything around us is built on the Internet. Georgia has very good Internet, fiber optic. The highest–speed tariff is 100 lari, $33. There is a connection almost everywhere, but be sure to check. We had a negative experience. In Ureki, we did not check the Internet, and there was no Internet in the apartment.
We wanted to spend, to which we were told: "Pay. We'll connect everything." We took the most expensive tariff – 60 GEL. The manager took the money and turned on the Internet for us. Facebook Instagram feed is the lowest rate that will be enough to view, but no more. When we tried to find out what the problem was, why we had a low tariff, we were told that you asked for the Internet, they connected it to you. And that was the end of the dialogue.
It is also worth paying attention to the view from the window. Georgia has beautiful views of the mountains, the sea, and forests. The view from the window is something you can pay extra for. Always check what kind of view you have. In new buildings, it often happens that with dense buildings, the windows either go out into other windows, or even into the wall.
I never tire of repeating that when renting a house, the most important thing is the owners. Always try to communicate and negotiate with the owners directly, without intermediaries. I often hear stories of how someone rented an apartment without communicating with the owners, and then they came to them and were evicted, simply because a more profitable client appeared. Therefore, always look at the owners. The main thing is that it should be the owners of the housing, and not acquaintances of acquaintances who saw this owner once through the window.
Another feature of Georgian apartments is adjacent rooms. For example, they tell you that there are two rooms, you come to look at the apartment and see that it is one room with a sleeping place and one hall, a passageway, that is, in fact, you have incomplete two rooms. The same story happens with three-room apartments.
What should I know about bathrooms? Bathrooms should be insulated. We once looked at a very nice house, we liked everything, and then my wife asked a quite logical question: "Where is your bathroom?" And everything would be fine, but the bathroom was not even in the house, but in a small annex, almost to the street, and it was necessary to go there through an unheated corridor. In winter, as you understand, this is not an option. Therefore, make sure that the bathrooms are heated, warm. In summer, of course, it is warm and wonderful, but in autumn and winter the heating moment is very important, especially if you have children.
Another important point is the dryers. There's a problem with dryers here. There are balconies in Georgia, but these are not the balconies that you are used to, where you can hang laundry to dry. A balcony in Georgia is a small patch where you can go out to breathe, enjoy the view, and that's it.
The dryer is a very important story. For example, we rented an apartment where a rope was stretched from our balcony to the neighboring house, which was supposed to be twisted to hang out the laundry in this gap between the houses. There have been cases when I had to ask my neighbors to hang up their laundry. The only adequate option is to buy your own folding dryer and put it in the bedroom, because finding a place where it is problematic to dry clothes.
We advise you to pay attention to electricity. Especially a big problem with electricity in a private house. You are used to comfort, to the fact that you can have a washing machine, oven and refrigerator working at the same time. So in Georgia, this can very often be turned off, because the power line is not designed for such energy consumption.
Especially often such outages occur in winter, when the neighbors on the street all start to turn on the heaters and increase the load on the network. You turn on the stabilizer and see how the voltage in your network is no longer 220 watts, but 192. Computers turn off, and you realize that you need to do something urgently before it all burns down. And you have to buy a separate stabilizer for each computer in the house. Electricity is very important.
Another point that anyone who plans to shoot the first line by the sea should know about is mold. I'm not shooting the first line, so we don't have such an unpleasant phenomenon in our house, but friends who live on the first line constantly complain about dampness and mold. Pay attention to how dry the apartment is and whether there is mold there.
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So, let's summarize our experience. What you should pay attention to, and what problems you may face when renting housing in Georgia.
- Don't take it off until you arrive. No remote impressions and contracts. You have to see everything for yourself.
- Look at the neighbors. Whether they are doing repairs, whether there is a rooster nearby with a broken alarm clock, whether an apartment near you is rented for daily rent.
- Agree that pets will live with you, and be ready to pay extra for them.
- Pay attention to the water pressure. Open the taps everywhere and see how the pressure will change.
- Find out how your apartment or house is heated. It will be central heating or a gas burner.
- Pay attention to the construction sites nearby. If a residential complex is being built nearby, then it will be noise from morning to night without days off and lunch breaks. It is better to give up this option.
- The noise can come from the road (in Georgia, drivers love to honk), from cafes and from street musicians, well, roosters not only in the village, but also in the city.
- Carefully inspect the sleeping place. What is the condition of the bed and mattress. Often in apartments that rent daily under the mattress, you can find many different traces of the predecessors' vital activity.
- Always rent an apartment together with your Georgian friend, so that he is near you, translates, helps clarify possible nuances and difficulties.
- Pay attention to the availability of Internet in the apartment, what kind of view from the window.
- Talk only to the owner of the apartment. You need to understand who you are dealing with, how adequate your landlord is, so that later there will be no unpleasant surprises in the form of unexpected inspections or evictions.
- Pay attention to the fact that the rooms are not adjacent, the floors do not creak, and the bathroom is insulated.
If you, after going through the list, found some discrepancy, then you can bring down the price, or look for another, more convenient option. The main thing is not to rent the first apartment you find right away for a long time.
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Но мне кажется, когда человек едет отдыхать, он в квартире иди доме будет только ночевать, и поэтому ему не особо будут важны дизайнерские ремонты и прочее)))