Tag: housing

It occurred to me that this might be a very interesting topic for anybody looking to set up in Brussels. And it is certainly not easy to move into a new city, find a place and make it feel like home. Below are some tips on how to start.

Where to look for an apartment?

There are several sites that are very helpful in looking for a new place.

• Immoweb – the most used, it has a website in English even though the description of the apartments are usually in French or Dutch https://www.immoweb.be/en/
• Immovlan – similar to immoweb but for whatever reason, they still do not have the same choice of apartments https://immo.vlan.be/en
• Logicimmo – https://www.logic-immo.be/en/real-estate-properties-belgium.html

Between these 3 pages, most of the apartments in Brussels should be covered. Now there is also a decision where in Brussels to move to which neighbourhood. This is a very personal choice but I would highly suggest going for a walk in each of the neighbourhoods to get a feeling of whether you would like living there, whether the atmosphere is good and whether the amenities that you need are within reach.

Moreover, BIG question: furnished or not? Again a personal choice depending on your budget, how fussed you are about the furniture and how much you care about making the apartment your space. What i can say with certainty is that you can furnish a place in Brussels for 1000 euros. And we are not talking about IKEA and the usual shops around it.

There are a bunch of places in Brussels that are very useful for furnishing apartment on a budget that are worth a visit:

• Le Troc – https://www.troc.com/fr a great shop selling second hand furniture for affordable prices. We are talking everything from antiquities to 6 months old furniture.
• Jeu de Balle – now this is a sacred place for smaller things that you need in an apartment. Whether we are talking about a plate, cutlery or a night stand Jeu de Balle has it all. It is open every day from early morning to lunchtime.
• Facebook groups – i cannot stress this enough! Brussels is full of people that move very often and all of a sudden, they need to get rid of their apartments in a very short time. The furniture they give away or sell is usually very new and used for maybe 1 year. So this is one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BrusselsSellSwapBuyWantOrGiveItAway/ and this is another one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/993217907377130/

And then the best part – small decorations!

• Action – https://www.action.com/nl-be/ this is my personal preference whenever i look for something, i first go to Action. It is the cheapest place that has a lot of handy things from arts and crafts to dishes, cleaning supply, candies, car maintenance and tools. Everything. So for making your apartment pretty, it is very useful.
• Hema – https://www.hema.com/nl-be it is slightly more expensive than Action but the logic is the same – you can find loads of things here.
• Flying Tiger – https://be.flyingtiger.com/ smaller than the 2 shops before and slightly quirkier. It also does a lot of seasonal goodies which was fun especially coming up to Halloween or Christmas.
• Casa – https://be.casashops.com/fr/ it is a nice shop with everything to decorate your house but prices are slightly higher than the above mentioned ones. However, if you go during sales, the prices are affordable and their decorations are nicer than the previous 3 shops.