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Apartment Hunting German: Viewings, WG Castings, and Landlord Calls (2026)

By Bengi Coskun, Co-founder, OGIMA · Last updated 2026-07-07

Finding a flat in a German city is a competition, and the competition is conducted in German. Fifty people at a viewing, a WG casting that is really a personality audition, a landlord who only answers the phone — and somewhere in there, the Schufa question. The language is not advanced. It is specific, and it rewards preparation brutally.

The stakes show up in what people rehearse in OGIMA: “No Schufa yet, but the landlord wants one”, “Roommate casting around the kitchen table”, “The room comes with an interview panel”. Housing German is anxiety German. Here is the script.

The vocabulary that filters listings

Before any conversation, the ads themselves speak dialect: Kaltmiete (base rent) vs Warmmiete (with running costs — the real number), Nebenkosten (those running costs), Kaution (deposit, up to three months cold rent), provisionsfrei (no agent fee, sadly rare the other way), Wohnungsgeberbestätigung (the paper your new landlord must give you for the Anmeldung), befristet/unbefristet (fixed-term or open-ended lease), and WG (Wohngemeinschaft — a shared flat).

The landlord phone call

Many listings say nur telefonisch erreichbar, and the call filters out half the applicants by itself. Script it:

Guten Tag, mein Name ist … Ich rufe wegen der Wohnung in der Gartenstraße an — ist sie noch frei? Ich arbeite als Softwareentwicklerin und suche eine langfristige Wohnung. Wäre eine Besichtigung diese Woche möglich?

Three sentences. Say them out loud a few times before dialing, because phone German offers no gestures and no second chances, which is the same reason the booking call is the hardest part of a doctor’s appointment.

The viewing (Besichtigung)

Strictly Sie. You have perhaps ninety seconds of actual conversation with the landlord or agent, and it has two jobs: make you memorable as organized and solvent, and get your questions answered.

Your pitch, rehearsed until smooth:

Ich bin …, ich arbeite fest bei …, mein Nettoeinkommen liegt bei … Ich suche langfristig und kann alle Unterlagen sofort einreichen.

Your questions — asking them well signals a serious tenant:

Wie hoch sind die Nebenkosten ungefähr? Ab wann ist die Wohnung verfügbar? Sind Haustiere erlaubt? Ist das kalt oder warm?

Bring the folder: payslips (Gehaltsnachweise), ID copy, Schufa if you have one, a filled Mieterselbstauskunft (tenant self-disclosure). In Berlin or Munich, applying on the spot beats the follow-up email every time.

The Schufa conversation

New arrivals hit this wall constantly — good income, no German credit history. Do not dodge it; pre-empt it. The rehearsable version:

Ich bin vor drei Monaten nach Deutschland gezogen und habe deshalb noch keine Schufa-Auskunft. Ich kann aber meinen Arbeitsvertrag, Gehaltsnachweise und eine Bürgschaft vorlegen.

A Bürgschaft (guarantee from an employer or relative) plus payslips answers the question the Schufa was going to answer. Saying it fluently, without apologetic hedging, is half the credibility. “Good income, but no credit history yet” is one of the most-practised expat scenarios in OGIMA for a reason: the words are easy, but delivering them confidently under a landlord’s gaze is a skill you build out loud.

The WG casting

The one housing conversation in du. A WG casting is not a tenancy interview; it is a vibe check around a kitchen table, sometimes with a literal panel (“The room comes with an interview panel”, a real scenario, practised often). Expect: Was machst du so? — Kochst du gern? — Wie sieht’s mit Putzen aus? — Bist du eher der ruhige Typ oder feierst du gern?

Prepare concrete, casual answers rather than impressive ones. “Ich koche zweimal die Woche, meistens zu viel, es gibt dann für alle” wins over a flawless but stiff monologue. This is also the best low-stakes practice ground for informal German you will ever get — the du-register skills transfer straight to making small talk at work.

How to rehearse it

Each conversation above is short, predictable, and high-stakes: the definition of rehearsable. Do the phone call, the pitch, the Schufa explanation, and a casting answer out loud, then run each against something that responds. OGIMA’s housing scenarios cover the viewing, the casting, and the Schufa talk; the broader method is in how to practice speaking German. One viewing’s worth of rehearsal is reusable for the entire search, and in a market where you might do fifteen viewings, that is the best-leveraged German you can learn this month.

Frequently asked questions

Is there an app to practice apartment viewing and renting conversations in German?

Yes. OGIMA lets you rehearse the exact conversations of a German flat search as spoken scenarios — the viewing, the WG casting, the landlord phone call, the Schufa explanation — repeatedly and at your own pace. That matters because each real viewing is a one-shot performance with dozens of competing applicants.

What do I say at a German apartment viewing?

Come with a prepared self-introduction (job, income, how long you want to stay) and two or three informed questions: “Wie hoch sind die Nebenkosten?”, “Wann wäre die Wohnung verfügbar?”. Bring your documents (Gehaltsnachweise, Schufa, ID copy) in a folder. In competitive cities, being ready to apply on the spot is an advantage.

What is a WG casting and how do I prepare?

A WG casting is the interview shared flats hold to pick a new flatmate — usually informal, in du, around the kitchen table. They are choosing a person, not a tenant: expect questions about cooking, cleaning, hobbies, and how social you are. Rehearse casual answers out loud; relaxed, concrete German beats perfect grammar here.

How do I rent a flat in Germany without a Schufa record?

Be upfront and bring substitutes: recent payslips or a work contract, a landlord reference from your home country if you have one, and possibly a Bürgschaft (guarantee, often from an employer or relative). The rehearsable sentence: “Ich habe noch keine Schufa, weil ich neu in Deutschland bin — aber ich kann Gehaltsnachweise und eine Bürgschaft vorlegen.”

Do I use du or Sie when apartment hunting in German?

Sie with landlords, agents, and property managers: the whole formal register. Du in WG castings, almost always, since flatmates are choosing a peer. If a WG ad is written in du, answer in du. When unsure at a viewing, open in Sie and follow their lead.

What are Nebenkosten, Kaltmiete, and Warmmiete?

Kaltmiete is the base rent; Nebenkosten are the running costs on top (heating, water, building services); Warmmiete is the two combined: the number that actually leaves your account. Always confirm which one a listing shows: “Ist das kalt oder warm?” is a perfectly normal question.

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