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Are you someone considering a move to Addis Ababa and worried about where and how you will live once you have arrived in the city? You are not alone. Every year, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of expatriates that move to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian political and commercial capital. That means as many foreigners also search for houses for rent in Addis Ababa every year. The fact that the majority of expats coming to Addis Ababa prefer to rent houses in traditionally “expat-friendly” neighborhoods of Addis Ababa namely Bole (which covers Bole Medanialem, Wello Sefer, Olympia, Bole Rwanda, Bole Japan, Bole Peacock, Bole Matemia, Bole Atlas), Old Airport, Aware, Kebena, Kazanchis, Lancha, Sarbet, Mesqel Flower, Ferensay, Varnero, Sunshine Meri Luke, Jacros, Arat Kilo, Sidst Kilo, and the likes, finding the right house to rent in Addis Ababa that fits one’s budget and living style may seem a very daunting task for expats who are not open to consider other parts of the city. Here are a few tips offered by a veteran real estate broker that have been in the real estate business in Addis Ababa for over three decades on how to find a good house for rent in Addis Ababa that is reasonably priced.

Be open-minded

While the demand for great quality housing in Addis Ababa’s most preferred zip codes is growing exponentially, the supply side in most of these popular neighborhoods is not growing fast enough to catch up with the ever increasing demand for houses for rent in Addis Ababa, which makes the hunting for villas for lease in Addis Ababa’s most popular areas increasingly challenging and expensive. One may even argue that the supply of quality housing is declining in some of these neighborhoods since existing villas are being demolished to make way for massive commercial real estate projects. For this reasons and others, I highly recommend newly arriving expats especially those who are on tight budget to be a little open-minded and consider staying out of “the expat bubble”. Besides saving a lot of bucks on your rent, you will also have a chance to immerse yourself in the local culture. Only by doing so will you learn about the lives of the ordinary people of Addis Ababa and appreciate their culture. Unlike many other cities in Africa, which are known for having high crime rate, Addis Ababa is a relatively safe place; hence it should not be that scary for any expatriate to reside in parts of Addis Ababa that have previously not been so popular among expatriates. You will be pleasantly surprised by what you can find in places like Kotebe, CMC, Ayat, and Summit, where people have built some of the best houses for rent in Addis Ababa in recent years. If you lease a villa in one of such under-rated neighborhoods, you can be sure that you will get great value for your money. However, if you are not a morning person or are able to leave work a bit early or a bit late, living in such neighborhoods might not be so ideal for you because of the crazy traffic jams during rush hours. For example, unless you leave home at or before 7AM, it may take you an hour or more to get to downtown, where most offices and service providers are located.

Do your homework & negotiate hard

A lot of expatriates wrongly assume that house rent in Addis Ababa, a city in a third world country, must be cheap but this assumption cannot be farther from the truth. Before you accept any employment offer that may bring you to Addis Ababa, I highly recommend you to do a little research on the market of rental homes in Addis Ababa. If you do, you may be surprised by how large the gap is between your expectations and the reality on the ground. Doing a little research will allow you to find out how crazy the house rental prices in Addis Ababa are and negotiate with your employer to offer you a good housing allowance package even before you sign your employment contract. By doing so, you will do yourself a big favor and avoid getting hit by a shocking reality once you touchdown in Addis like a lot of expats who arrive in Addis Ababa without doing their homework. A little online research or a quick call to a good realtor in Addis Ababa will allow you to learn that the price of houses for rent in Addis Ababa is actually one of the highest in the world. You should also make sure that your employer will be willing to pay the commission for a realtor in Addis Ababa, whose services you might use. The rate of commission for leasing agents in Addis Ababa ranges between half to a whole month’s rent.

Find a good leasing broker in Addis Ababa

Besides the high house rental prices in Addis Ababa, the limited number of professional real estate agents in Addis Ababa is another big challenge foreigners moving to Addis Ababa are faced with. These days one can find dozens of individuals, who pretend to be realtors in Addis Ababa and some of them may even have a decent website that looks professional. However, only a handful of them are real professionals and are in the business for the long haul. Most of the people that pose as real estate brokers in Addis Ababa are all about one time gain and lack long-term vision; hence the best interest of the client is the least they care about. Therefore, before you decide to rent a house in Addis Ababa, make sure that you have found the right property broker to help you. You may ask how you can find the right realtor in Addis Ababa being so new to the city. The answer is ask your friends and colleagues who might have been in Addis Ababa for longer time than you have and they may guide you in the right direction. If you don’t know anyone currently living in Addis Ababa or who have lived here before, join some online forums and groups on social media and on other platforms and ask for recommendations. Once you get a few names, you can easily pick one or two real estate brokers in Addis Ababa that can help you with your hunting for a house for rent in Addis Ababa.

What if you do not have the budget to pay a real estate broker to help you find your dream house for rent in Addis Ababa?

While using the services of an experienced property broker in Addis Ababa is the easiest and most efficient way of finding a house for rent in Addis Ababa, here are a few tips for those who do not have the budget to pay a broker to help them with their house-hunting. If you happen to be one of those people, you could check ads posted by owners both online and offline. A lot of supermarkets and UN agencies do have noticeboards in their premises, where people can post ads pretty much about anything. Most of the ads posted on such noticeboards happen to be for houses for lease in Addis Ababa and duty free vehicles for sale. Very few people get lucky and find their dream house for rent in Addis Ababa on such ads that are posted in a supermarket or other places where they have such public noticeboards but who knows, you could be one of the lucky ones. There are also some online groups, forums, and pages, where landlords as well as agents post ads for rental houses in Addis Ababa. You could scan through the listings and see if you can find a listing by the owner of a house for rent in Addis Ababa. You could also checkout some classified ads, where landlords advertise their villas and apartments for rent in Addis Ababa. Last but not least, you could also drive around or hire a cab driver to drive you around in your preferred neighborhood and look for “For Lease” signs on homes. Posting such signs is still not very common in Addis Ababa but it is sometimes possible to find your dream home for rent in Addis Ababa this way.

Top Realtors in Addis Ababa

You are probably wishing that this article won’t end without giving a recommendation on a few good real estate companies that operate in Addis Ababa. Of course, it will not. You could start your house-hunting by browsing the property listings of reputable companies such as Ethiopian Properties and Addis Agents Real Estate and get in touch with them to seek their help in finding your dream house for rent in Addis Ababa. Both companies do charge commission but it is absolutely worth it if you have the budget or if you do not have the time to look for your rental villa in Addis Ababa on your own.

About the wrtitter

Mohammed Ibrahim has been one of the most prominent real estate brokers and consultants in Addis Ababa for the last 30+ years. He is mostly active in more affluent neighborhoods such as Bole and Old Airport as well as in some newly emerging hot areas.