April 2010, Real estate market situation in Kiev, Ukraine

Recently I have started to search for a new apartments to rent and I've found some changes in the market. And I want to remind that right now is crisis in Ukraine and it's not going to finish in near future.

So here is the changes:

1. A lot of real estate agents/brokers was kicked away from the market when crisis started. And approximately 50% of those that are still in the game, have good professional level: They speak right, they don't shout on every corner about "price rise", they try to negotiate better deal for you. Today one of brokers proposed to give me a ride to my home on his own car, and before I rejected the apartment that he showed me. So they try to keep the client satisfied. And that's a good sign. Other 50% are the same dumb ass holes, and I believe they will professionally die soon.

2. Landlords have chaos in their mind right now, they don't know real price. Some of them think that after Yanukovich became president, prices should go up, they set high prices for apartments and don't want to negotiate. But of course nobody rent them for such price. Other people try to touch the market, they set high price and make it less in few days, and then less again till somebody rent it.

If you want to rent apartment here is my advices:

1. Reserve 1 month for search process.
2. Ask brokers to send you apartments photos to your email before going to view the apartment. Save your time.
3. Negotiate the price!
4. Try to understand if landlord is a good person by himself. If not, don't lease apartment no matter how good it is, it will cost you a lot later.