Hello,
I guess I should start by saying that this is my first post to Glocals. I like what I've seen so far and I'm so glad to have this resource!

My boyfriend and I have been on the hunt for an apartment in the Lausanne area and after having numerous applications rejected we were lucky enough to find temporary accommodation that will hold us over until the end of March. I'm hoping to get a jump start on the search. We are not picky about the area; we've been searching from Morges all the way to Chexbres, though Pully or Lausanne would be ideal. Our only real requirement is to be reasonably close to public transportation since we do not have a car. We would like a place with a bedroom separate from the kitchen/living area.

In addition to hopefully making contact with people who might know of places available at that time I'd love to hear any advice for finding listings in advance. I've been to sites like Homegate, Anibis, and ImmoStreet but they only seem to allow you to narrow down the listings by area and not so much by availability date. Is there a better way to go about this? For those of you who have successfully found an apartment, do you feel that some specific factor gave you an advantage? We've been to the offices to fill out applications right when they open so we can be the first applicants but so far that hasn't helped swing the decision in our favor. Did you include a CV/cover letter (my written French is not equal to this task but I figure it's worth checking)?

Thanks for any tidbits you might have to share!