Last updated May 23rd 2024
As we all know, finding apartments in Tel Aviv is insane, especially with a lack of Hebrew.
There are two ways to go about doing it:
- Via an agent – usually have to pay the first month’s rent as a finders fee
- The Israeli way – through websites, Facebook groups, and friends
1. Via an Agent
Demand for apartments in Tel Aviv is crazy. Agents are expensive, however there are times when it is necessary to use an agent – you are short of time, you are looking for some special secret apartments, you don’t know the areas, and you don’t care about costs. Additional advantages of using an agent are that they will find suitable apartments matching your needs, they may help you with lawyers and contracts, and have partners for other services such as moving.
2. The Israeli Way
The majority of Israelis do not use an agent to find an apartment, instead regularly checking apartment listing websites, facebook groups etc. While this can be a lot of work, it can save you several thousand shekels.
While most of the listings are in Hebrew, simply using Google Translate on Chrome should help you get by. Word of caution – agents do still lurk behind many of the postings in websites and facebook groups – be sure to ask early in the conversation whether there is an agents’ fee.
Typically the outgoing tenants will help the landlord find new tenants. The Israeli way is to organize a large open house for a few hours and people can come round and see the apartment. We recommend turning up to the open house as early as possible as the outgoing tenant will add people to a list for the landlord and it is better to be at the top of that list.
Websites:
- Yad2 – huge online marketplace for many things, including apartments. Click here for apartments to rent and click here for apartments looking for room-mates.
- Homeless – another huge listings website. Click here for apartments to rent and click here for apartments looking for room-mates.
Facebook Groups:
- Secret Tel Aviv – obviously the best Facebook group in the world. Over 60,000 members with over 200 posts every day, relating to everything Tel Aviv (not just apartments). Great place to find movers and furniture once you have found your apartment.
- דירות מפה לאוזן בת”א (Word of mouth apartments in Tel Aviv) – Facebook group of over 70,000 members, managed by CityWall. Loads of new posts every hour, including many without agents’ fees.
- דירות ריקות בין חברים בתל אביב, לפני שמתפרסמות בהומלס (Empty Apartments in Tel Aviv) – Facebook group of over 40,000 members. Loads of new posts every hour, including many without agents’ fees, and posts from people looking for new room-mates.
- דירות ברות השגה (Achievable apartments) (not just Tel Aviv) – Facebook group of over 35,000 members, however not much activity – maybe one post a day.
- דירות להשכרה ריקות או שותפים בתל אביב (Apartments for rent for singles or partners in Tel Aviv) – Facebook group of over 25,000. Pretty active, about 50 new posts every day.
- דירות מפה לאוזן תל אביב (Word of mouth apartments in Tel Aviv) – Facebook group of over 20,000 members, managed by a moving company. Very active, but a lot of the posts are by agents.
- מחפשים דירה להשכיר / לשכור בתל אביב (Looking for apartments to rent in Tel Aviv) – Facebook group of over 18,000 members, managed by a moving company. Very active, but a lot of the posts are by agents.
- דירות בתל אביב בלי שותפים (Apartments in Tel Aviv without room-mates) – Group, 14,372 members
- דירות תל אביב Tel Aviv Apartments – Group, 9,583 members
- דירות להשכרה ברמת גן / גבעתיים (Apartments for rent in Givatayim and Ramat Gan) – Group, 9,317 members
- דירות יחיד עד 3000 ש”ח בתל אביב (Single apartments for under 3,000 shekels) – Group, 8,605 members
- דירות בתל אביב (Apartments in Tel Aviv) – Group, 7,849 members, active group
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