Well I did it on my own. It took me about 10 days to have my dossier well prepared and another 10 days of waiting for the regies to decide. After 3 weeks of visiting over 20 appartments I received 3 offers. My French is not perfect and my experience is that the regies do not necessarily prefer relocation agencies. So if you have the nerves to try, you will get to know the city fairly well by looking for an appartment. Just do not try to visit appartments with a car - you will loose a lot of time in traffic jams. Cycling and even public transport will be a much faster way to get arround.

Of course if you have to start working on day one you are here, it might well be worth the money of having somebody else looking for an appartment beforehand. 

How much do they (harmeling consultancy) cost? I have been looking for apartments for 1 month already. Saw 20+ and applied for 5, got rejected 4 times and the other 1 has been pending for a week. We have a good dossier according to our agent from packimpex as company pays them, however we think they are not doing a good job....so frustrated!

You might get lucky but 90% of the case it just add to your frustration and you might as well let the professional do their job

I assume that if you say 90% you're not just pulling a number out of thin air.

Maybe it's just me having spent too much time on the Interweb, but if someone with only 5 posts starts a thread on how great a specific agency is I get suspicious.

I know first hand about excellent services offered by Raymond. My friend had been looking for a flat  to either  buy or rent for  a year without any luck.  Thanks to harmeling Consultancy today my friend is a proud owner of  a lovely flat in Petit lancy.

Could you give some details, how much they charge and how long it took to find that flat?

Fortunately regies are offering appartments to everyone and not exclusively to relocation agencies. I really appreciate that system. In Germany e.g. real estate brokers can offer flats exclusively and are asking quite high margins for little service.

Just contact them they will give you a quote and it depends on the service : they for example picked me up from my office at lunch time took me to view apartments things like that...they are flexible and customer oriented which is rare for somebody you only pay upon delivery

I only have 5 posts and I start a thread : what's wrong with that? I already replied to all these people frustrated with the flat hunt in Geneva, why don't they share their successes it would be more constructive and lessons learned type of blog not sharing frustrations: I tried Harmeling and it worked: I am happy with their delivery: i recommend them and share lessons learned basta, if I would have tried XYZ : I would have also recommended them it's fair. We know all the bad stories and frustrations about Geneva Flat hunt.

So why don't you post a number here. Describe the circumstances and the money charged and everybody can judge for herself/himself if they would be willing to pay that much to facilitate the flat hunt.

It would be also very interesting if they only charge you

a) in case a flat is offered to you

b) you actually buy or rent the flat.

I would not have liked to pay about ten thousand francs for something I would be able to encomplish myself in a couple of days. Of course things might be different if your employer takes over the cost.

Well they charge the usual one month rent which is common in Geneva: upon signature of the lease: in my case it was rental so it's ok and affordable: if you think time is money : better than staying in the hotel.

The circumstances are very know to everybody: I saw more than 100 flats: I have no problem finding them: but they are already earmarked: the agent does not have to do an 8 hours job like me, since they do this full time they work with the regies and the regies will tell them the hidden reasons that they will never tell us:like the profle they look for: family professional woman, certain nationalities etc...I've seen it all, if not I've heard some horror stories...

Well, I think your post would have been fine had you not posted the same comments twice. First, you posted your comment in response to someone's request. Then you started a new thread with the agent's name in the title.  

Then, the same day, you started a thread with the agent's name in the title. This kind of "recommendation" perhaps is having something of a negative effect. Before your thread started, I hadn't seen any negative comments about his services. Your thread managed to elicit a very specific one and raised some questions about what seems to be a "marketing" technique. 

Sorry, for the duplication in the first sentence of the second para.

well sorry i am not familiar with threads and all that stuff: what's the big deal I am just shring a lesson learned that was in the form of a referral: this company i have no link to them or what so ever...

Not all re-location agencies add value.

Not all regies add value.

I told my Regie I would leave my flat at the end of July and asked them whether they wanted to find a replacement tenant themselves or whether they wanted me to do it.  They wrote me a stroppy sounding letter saying that I had to find a replacement tenant, or I would be on the hook for the rent until June next year.

I advertised my flat last Thursday, and a number of private indivduals got in touch on Friday and over the weekend.  Only Tuesday and Wednesday did I then receive calls from three different re-location agents wanting to show their clients the flats.  When I told them I could only do it after work, all seemed rather upset, and pissed off.  They also did not like the idea that some other people would visit the flat before their client!!!!!

In the end one relocation agency decided that if they could not visit the flat in the day time with their client, they would not tell their client about it.  They made it sound like it was my loss.  The second rather reluctantly decided to send their client to me on his own, begging me to find a time when there were no other visitors.  The third, bugged me for details of the Regie, and then said she was going to phone the Regie directly to get them to reserve it for her client.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that a lot of solvent individuals got in touch with me up to 4 days before the relocation agencies managed to get in touch, and it looks like there will be more than one applicant for the flat, long before the relocation agencies can propose it to their clients.

So, whilst the re-location agencies may have power to ring the Regies and try to swing it their way, the individuals who did it on their own and reacted fastest to the advertisement may have the advantage.

Given the number of people who literally said that they will take the flat before even seeing it, my impression is that the situation in Geneva to rent accomodation must be desperate.

If you are looking for a flat my advice is:

1) Act quickly

2) Ask the previous tenat to remove tha ad as soon as your file has been presented to the Regie. 

3) Apart from submitting the usual docs like Attestation de non poursuites, and proof of salary, add any other papers which will convince the Regie and the owner that you are reliable, honest, trustworthy, and will always pay the rent on time.  Examples might include a recommendation letter from your employer, copies of your bank statement showing as much money as possible, a recommendation from your previous Regie confirming that you were a good tenant who paid by standing order, and evidence that your company is large, safe and reliable. 

4) Keep everything ready to go in a PDF file, so that you can just send it with your application letter the instant you find the place you want.. 

5) Be flexible about visiting the flat.  You need to try and get to see it as quickly as possible after the ad appears. 

6) Subscribe to the auto-mailing system of Homegate etc, so you get an email every time a new ad appears.

7) If you really find the place of your dreams, think what might motivate the girl in the Regie to favour you, as opposed to someone else.  I don't mean bribe her...