You don't need this kind of list in Geneva Canton, it's so small and so expensive everywhere....

Every places are nice places to live and if you're in Geneva town you even can walk from one side to another in a short time.

Public transports are excellent and you can go everywhere with them in the canton (cars are sometimes a problem in the center of the town), I use them everyday and need 40 minutes (mainly due to a blocking point in carouge where the bus has not its own way)

John

If youre prepared for a commute, and want a house...with a garden... then i suggest you look in Canton Vaud.

Areas like Nyon, Founex, Coppet, Prangins, Gland, etc are very good. and the commute to the main station is 20 mins by train... and a 10 min walk to the centre of town.

To find a "house" in canton Geneva you will need considerably more than 3000, unless you look out of the town centre in the "Russin" area... but be prepared for a huge 20 minute commute (sarcastic)  by train... a fair bit more by car though.

In Eaux vives, Paquis and the such (town centre) , for 3000 to 4000 you'll get a good sized 2 or 3 bed appartment, but no garden... you may or may not be able to have a dog... parking will be an issue as well.

Paquis is a mix of trendy bars, expat pubs and knocking shops..... 

Eaux Vives is very trendy, lots og bars and restaurants, but parking sucks before 11pm at night. Also can be quite noisy when Portugal win any football match :-)))

Carouge ... its depends where you are... its considered the arty trendy part...

Depends really whether you want noise at home, or quiet... a house outside town or an appartment.

Paquis near the lake (the Wilson area) is beautiful and if you are lucky you can even get a flat at a reasonable price.

At least I found via homegate and got it right away (but that might be miracle of God). Just saw that my (very good) regie is advertising a 2.5 flat there: 1,850.-- CHF

http://www.wohnung.ch/

According to those who know very little about it, because we do not actually live there, at 0.1% availability, you wont have a great deal of choice in any case.

Sheila is right about 0.1% vacancy rate , so if you find something your lucky.

Also if you find some thing you can tollerate, take it, dont hesitate or its lost.

best get a temporary solution and then when your on the ground, you can talk a little bit more time to find a place.

and Good luck your going too need it. Its all about luck and who you know.

How come everybody says there's a huge shortage of housing .. But every site like immostreet or homegate etc have LOADS ?  Is there something wrong with these?

Likely is that my employer will sort out a flat imitially and hire me some sort of agent to do everything.. I'm just getting ideas on where i want to look with them.. Probably looking more like Vaud and a little commute.

Carouge -- yeap : Nice are / good transport / expensive 

Paquis -- NOT Horrible / Dirty / everybody drunk / but cheap to live (its central and have alot around you when rest of hte city is quiet.)

Eaux-Vives -- expensive / really nice / no transport nearby (Eau x vivre has alot of transport, but that is relative to what you expect and where your from)

Citè Meyrin has alot of appartments and reasponable prices and distance.

Grand Sacconex or Sacconex is very nice.

Servette is good overall, average everything and central.

Charmille, Avanchet, Lancy, party of Onex, Junction is too be avoided, alot of breakins and pickpockets. St. Jean is just south of Charmille, and again avoid.

no-one has mentioned Chene-Bourg - public transport direct to town and close to French border. We find it ideal. As the others say your figures are on the low side for a house - we pay 5k for a small one.

For a place to live, it's important to know where you work in relation to public transport and highway links.  If you work in central Geneva, easy to live anywhere in Geneva (trams/bus) or in Vaud (train), or neighbouring France (tram/bus).  If you are working in Carouge, commuting from Vaud more difficult (more connections train/tram, more traffic), etc. etc.   If you are used to city living and public transport, Geneva/Lausanne on your radar.   If you are used to more suburban lifestyle with a car, then think Geneva canton not Geneva city (e.g. Versoix, Genthod, Vessy/Veyrier, Chene-Bourg, Chambesy, Bellevue, Onex), Neighbouring France (Ferney, Prevessin, Gex, St. Julien) or Vaud (Nyon in particular has best transport connections).

As you have a family, have your wife/partner join the social networks & expat communities BEFORE you arrive (i.e. now) so that SHE can settle in faster once you do arrive.  If she's not happy, you won't be either.  The relocation agents are not so good at keeping spouses happy (and well, aren't great altogether sometimes) and if they aren't expatriates or parents themselves, they often cannot help with the most important questions for trailing families (which might be as simple as "where can I buy x, y, z?", "should my kids go to public or private school?", etc.).

I founded a free community for expatriate parents for the area between Geneva & Lausanne (Moms-in-Vaud) and on our website on the links page I list others in Geneva (e.g. AIWC) and further afield.   We also have a blog. Joining is free, so though I'm the founder, I run the group voluntarily and make no financial profits (monies coming in cover administrative costs).

-Michelle

I've been thinking same Michelle. It'll be quite easy for me, going to work with people i know already, routine etc.. But my wife will be there with an almost three year old and one on the way -- or just arrived arrived depending on when we get there! It's going be very important for her to feel welcome and find stuff to do.  We're viewing this as a long term thing, not a quick jolly so want to try get it right and properly integrate too.. But it's all a bit hard right now until i actually see the numbers and get some dates from my employer. Without that we don't know exactly our budget etc etc .. So just getting ideas..

Since we're looking long term, probably suburban, out of town, bit of a commute but with space, parking.. Maybe even over the border, but i don't yet understand the admin involved with that.

Even though i've been a few times, the prices are still a shocker.. My mortgage here in ecosse is only chf300 .. Yes that's two zeros. :-)

Probably a wise decision to look over the border: our lives are considerably less expensive for many reasons, mortgage, initial cost of housing, groceries, transport costs etc. etc. If you are able to obtain a "frontalier" permis de travaille, then there is no reason why you should not live in France. We just adore it here - have everything we need, as well as the proximity to CH [mostly the airport]! if and when we need it. PM us if you need more help

Thanks Sheila.. I'm really leaning towards over the border..  I'm pretty sure my employer is gonna accomodate us for say - six months and give us some kind of agent to work for us.. Hopefully that gives us plenty time to find the right place and scout out the areas etc. The frontalier permit looks straightforward enough .. only problem i see is that working in banking, i woudn't be able to work from home over the border.. Which could be a pain if i'm on call.

I won't bug you for now - at least until i get some firm dates :)

Despite other advantages, do note that time spent as a Frontalier does not count towards eventual C-permit/citizenship, if that may be on the table.

Also, it's highly advisable to take as many French lessons, as possible, before you arrive, if you don't already read and speak French. Arriving here speaking English or German only is guaranteed to additionally stress you and your family.

The best place to look for accomodation, try:

https://www.anibis.ch/fr/gen%C3%A8ve--474/advertlist.aspx?sf=dpo&so=d&ualf=true

ring direct, organise a meeting at the place and don't hang about if you like it.

there's a lot of ex-pat type sites out there, like immostreet, but often you pay more than you need to.

Look carefully at where your office is before considering living out of town. If it's near the station or the Airport then Vaud is a good choice. If it's near France, then France might be a good choice.

Use www.cff.ch to find the best connections from home to work. Crossing Geneva at rush hour is not usually a good choice.

and good luck