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| recommended area to live in from a Swede |
The housing market is Stockholm is very much like Seattle, San Francisco and New York City. To give some background... Stockholm has a thriving economy with lots of tech companies and start-ups and is actually a small city with very strict building codes around preservation. The result is much more demand than supply in the housing market.
All I've been hearing from coworkers is how difficult it is to find a place and how it may take a while and how hard it can be, etc. At the same time, I spoke to some people who relocated for Spotify from California that had the same relocation agent and they had no problems except that 5 minutes after looking at their top choice of apartments, it had been claimed by someone else! So I prepared myself to make a quick decision.
The requirements where a two bedroom apartment in central Stockholm and with our conservative budget we were told this could be a stretch. We want to be in the middle of the action as we don't know how long we'll stay here and as DaD says, we don't want to be in Stockholm and be 'house poor'. So we expected to get a 1 bedroom and make it work until R found a job and we felt we could spend a bit more. With that, I'll describe the day...
I finally got to meet Ines, my French relocation agent who I've been working with for 3 months, in-person at her office in Ostermalm for a quick presentation about the market and how things work over here. It was a good overview with some useful information. After that, we hopped in her car and set out on the hunt. She had arranged viewings for 5 properties. I had a print out overview of the properties and of course, I ignored the presentation and really had to take a look at what she had arranged. I started seeing Vasastan, Sodermalm and Ostermalm and got excited because these were our top choices for location. So at least there will be options! Even a 2 bedroom in Vasastan in our budget, there's hope!
The first property was a 1 bedroom in Ostermalm that was about 650 sq ft. It was an okay place in a very good location and it would have worked, for a while. Ostermalm is the most posh area of Stockholm and would certainly be a nice area to live in. However, what it makes up in poshiness, it lacks in interesting. It was comforting to see a place this size and have the feeling that it could work even though I was pretty sure it was not THE place. Sorry, no pictures of this one.
Next was the 2 bedroom in Vasastan, 860 sq ft and 1km from work and close to everything. Vasastan is the northern part of Central Stockholm. It has lots of old beautiful buildings, families, parks and great bars and restaurants. The apartment is on the fifth floor with no elevator, BUT it had a stroller closet on the first floor. Ok, not even much smaller than our house in Seattle. Beautiful hardwoods, high-ceilings, plenty of space and built-in exercise. We could even have visitors stay with us in this place! It quickly moved to the top of the list BUT there was still a place in Sodermalm.
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| living room |
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| entry |
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| fireplace!! |
We made a trip out to the suburb of Solna which isn't that far away. The place was ok and cheaper but too out far and not as nice as Vasastan. Meh, next!
We hopped in the car and headed South to Sodermalm. Sodermalm is an island in central Stockholm that is south of the city center. It is usually compared to Greenwich Village or for Seattleites, Pike/Pine in Capitol Hill. Except it is way more kid friend. But kid friendly is just Stockholm in general.
There were two properties in Sodermalm however we skipped one because it was a furnished 1 bedroom and only 540 sq ft. Probably two small. Instead we got a coffee and some lunch at a cafe while we waited for to see the final option. The final option was a 780 sq ft 1 bedroom. Ines had never seen this one before so she didn't know what to expect. I got super excited about it based on the location. It was on a side street with awesome bars and restaurants and very European feeling. The building was beautiful on the outside and there was so much cool stuff in the neighbourhood. I imagined it to be this big open lofty space since it only had 1 bedroom. I loved the place but in liveable space it was much more akin to the size of the Ostermalm apartment due to its architectural features.
Anyways, it's so easy to get anywhere in Stockholm and we can break the lease if we give 3 months notice so we will still have options if we want to make a change! We could do Sodermalm but I knew the Vasastan place would be much more comfortable and be something we could stay in for longer.
Ines cleared it with the leasing agents that I could have the evening to decide. She dropped me at the bus station and quickly started entering the positives and the negatives into a notepad on my phone. It was pretty clear Vasastan would be the winner. I phoned my new friend Anna who grew up in Vasastan and she gave me the feedback that it would be a good location (Thanks Anna!). I went home and waited for R to wake up. I gave her the overview and we chose Vasastan. Hooray! Our lease starts August 1st and our stuff arrives August 2nd. Now if only my girls would get here, life would be perfect!
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