Blocket
Ammiel Fried
Hi, I got a message last night that my Apple ID account was blocket, because your service has detected two unauthorized devices and that I should unlock it by pressing a blue button saying Unlock My account in this email. Is this from you or is it spam?
That seems to be a scam/phishing email. Apple won't send you an email/text telling you your account is disabled/restricted or will be disabled/restricted. You will find out the next time you try to log in somewhere.
The only exception to the above I have noticed is if you order something from the Apple Store (apple.com), your receipt will be addressed to Dear Apple Customer. That is a receipt for a purchase you initiated.
Okay, so you have probably read the longer version of this article over here and found you were not really interested in my detailed experience during my apartment hunt, so in this new shorter post, I will list the options that I think you have and describe them very briefly. If you want to know more about them and how my experience with them have been, read the detailed version of this post here:
Cons:
a. Most of the ads are junk.
b. Most of the people putting up the ads do not publish their contact numbers. So, you just have to send them email with your details and hope for an answer, which never comes.
c. The website is only in Swedish language so you need to translate each ad to English manually.
d. Difficult to separate useful ads from the useless ones. For instance, many ads say the apartment is only available for stay during weekdays and the owner needs it back during weekend. Or, apartment is for sharing only. The problem here is that there is no easy way to filter the results so that you see only the useful ads.
2. Register with Bostaddirekt.com: (My rating: 4* / 5)
( )
Pros:
a. Mostly genuine ads since the advertiser also has to pay for publishing the ads.
b. Very easy to filter ads according to your requirements, thus saving time which would be wasted if it were blocket.se
c. Almost all ads have a phone number published, so it is easier to contact the publishers.
d. Lots of pictures of the apartment are generally included in the ad along with the location.
e. Membership includes access to sample contract templates, inventory lists, deposit receipt as well as other good tips on apartment searching.
f. Option to change website language to English.
Cons:
a. Cost of finalizing an apartment is 2,000 kr, which is quite high compared to bostaddirekt.com also. (but it is one-time and irrespective of how long you stay at the property)
b. Apartments seem to be slightly pricier than what you would expect.
How would I suggest you go about it?
1. Forget about blocket.se. Erase it from your memory.
2. Register with Bostaddirekt.com and pay the registration fees. It is worth it. Search for as long as you can afford (in terms of time). And remember to call up the advertiser as soon as ou see the ad. My expectation is that you should be able to find something good in less than a month. So, this is perhaps what you should give most effort to.
3. If you cannot afford to waste any more time, go to Indica.se and call up Kaushik (his number is published on the website). Pick the apartment that you like, visit it personally then pay the fees and its yours.
(By the time I ended up writing this post, it became too long to read if all you wanted was plain facts. So, if you just want to know what the options are very briefly without time for my experience with each option, read this post instead. Otherwise continue reading below.)
Buying or renting?
Digging deeper into this throws up the more important question of whether to buy an apartment or just rent one and the answer is not that simple. I have spoken to my colleagues, friends and other people here and what they are unanimous in their agreement with the fact that buying an apartment is easier and far cheaper than renting one. This is not to say that apartments are cheap in Stockholm, in fact it is quite the opposite. The demand for apartments in Stockholm is many time greater than the supply since the Swedish authorities are painfully slow at building housing, so the prices of apartments are through the roof and it makes Stockholm as one of the most expensive cities in the world for buying apartments. And, due to rent control in first-hand contracts, the second-hand rental market as become criminally insane. An apartment that is supposed to cost, say, 4,000 kr/month in first-hand rent ends up costing as much as 10,000 kr/month. And again, this is due to the insane demand and supply mismatch for housing in Stockholm.
Renting: First-hand vs. Second-hand
So, how do you go about renting an apartment in Stockholm? There are two kinds of contracts in Sweden: First-hand and Second-hand. As you might have read elsewhere, a first-hand contract is what you have directly with the owner of the building and a second-hand contract is what happens when you who is holding the first-hand contract, give sublet it further to a third person at an increased rent. So, a second-hand contract is not directly with the owner.
Options for Second-hand renting:
There are many options that a new comer might contemplate. For instance, my wife was of the opinion that if she could find out who the owner of a building was, she could probably break the queue, but as it turns out, the vacancies are rare and people never really get back to your questions. You could register with one of the online databases: blocket.se and bostaddirekt.com. Or, you can go via Indica.se. More on that option later.
1. Blocket.se: (My rating: 1* / 5)
For the first month of my stay in Stockholm I went through Blocket.se, since it is free to register and use. This website has dozens of ads in a day but it is quite a bit of hard work to separate the ads that suit you from most of the junk that makes up blocket. For instance, I found that a large percentage of the ads were either for weekday stays (and on weekends the apartment should go back to the present renter), or for very short period of 15-days or so only. Most of the other ads were for sharing accommodation and even those at quite high prices. From the remaining ads that I found suitable, up to 90 percent did not give contact numbers but asked you to simply send an email describing yourself and your background and the advertiser would pick and chose who to call for the viewing. I immediately knew it was going to be a waste of time sending these emails and waiting, but I thought I would give it a shot and, in the process, learn something about how things work here. I had no expectations of any replies and surely there were none.
2. Bostaddirekt.com: (My rating: 4* / 5)
If you are serious about your chances, I discovered Bostaddirekt.com to be a far greater website. Of course, you need to pay 700 kr to register (membership period of 45 days) but it allows you to search ads and view contact numbers (YES!) of the advertisers. It also includes tips on apartment viewing and contract signing and contains sample contracts and inventory list documents (in English as well) that you can use. But most importantly, I found that:
a. It was easier to search and sort ads from Bostaddirekt.com according to your needs
b. There were no nonsensical ads wasting your time because even the advertiser has to pay
c. Almost all ads had a phone number that could be reached
So, I was a bit slow, due to my unsuccessful attempts with blocket.se and did not have the same confidence to call up the people who had posted ads on bostaddirekt.com. It was very easy for me to see which ads were suitable for me so I picked one and called the guy, who was sorry to inform me that he had already signed the contract with someone else that morning and wished me luck with my search. His attitude was very nice and I felt encouraged to continue my search. I called up a few people and in each case, I was too late in reaching out to them. I realized my mistake was that I was responding to ads that were a few days old, while I was trying not to be too impolite by calling up for ads that were posted the same day. So, I gave up all the conflicts in my mind and called up each ad that I liked, as soon as it was posted.
Wanna know my personal view on how to land an apartment with least hassle? I would suggest:
1. Forget about blocket.se. Erase it from your memory.
2. Register with Bostaddirekt.com and pay the registration fees. It is worth it. Search for as long as you can afford but my expectation is that you should be able to find something good in less than a month.
3. If you cannot afford to waste any more time, go to Indica.se and call up Kaushik (his number is published on the website). Pick the apartment that you like, visit it personally then pay the fees and its yours.
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