Moving to Finland

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lafield
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Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2003 4:09 pm
Location: Arizona

Moving to Finland

Post by lafield » Sun Jun 08, 2003 4:14 pm

My family and I may be living in Finland for one school year on a teacher exchange. I am not sure in what city I would live, but I do wonder about the approximate cost of a three bedroom home? and do some come furnished? The homes we have seen are all apartment style homes, are there free standing homes or not?


Joel

Moving to Finland

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BAT

Post by BAT » Sun Jun 08, 2003 4:26 pm

Hello Joel,

You can check the Miscellaneous Links on the board where some rental websites are listed - hopefully those will help.

Indeed you can find fully detached homes, but there are far more apartments and row houses for rent. In Canada I am used to more urban sprall, but here it is much more common for city folk to live in apartment buildings or semi-detached or row houses. It is possible to find some rental homes with furniture, but again, not as common as unfurnished places.

The rental costs will vary depending on which city you live in. If you are getting a three bedroom place in Helsinki, be prepared to pay a lot...

Good luck with the move! Finland is a nice country, and it will definitely be a good experience living here. :)

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Hank W.
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Post by Hank W. » Sun Jun 08, 2003 4:27 pm

Cost as in renting?

In the boondocks "nothing costs nothing". In the big cities everything costs - propertywise that is.

It is somewhat rare that you see houses for rent. There are some, but then again would need to know which 'city' you are talking about. Some schools they'd furbish an apartment for you I'd think.
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.

lafield
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2003 4:09 pm
Location: Arizona

cost of housing

Post by lafield » Sun Jun 08, 2003 4:34 pm

An approximate cost of a three bedroom home would be great. Just take a stab at it. I have no idea. I live in suburban Phoenix, Arizona and the range could be 900-1200 dollars a month.
Joel

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tjawatts
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Post by tjawatts » Sun Jun 08, 2003 4:35 pm

most of the houses in the cities are apartment blocks, but is not far to the suburbs and the "omakotitalo" which is a freestanding house garden etc. Then there are row houses (rivitalo) or semi-detached (paritalo).

I assume you are going to rent? I dont know how often detached houses are rented. But the word for rent is vuokra. I did a quick national search and mostly I came up with flats (kerrostalo), several row houses but very few detached houses for rent.

A place to look is http://www.oikotie.fi

If you are on exchange is not possible to organise to exchange house with someone here or the program could help you find something.

Hope it helps

Tony

lafield
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Jun 08, 2003 4:09 pm
Location: Arizona

Moving to Finland

Post by lafield » Sun Jun 08, 2003 4:41 pm

Yes, exchange is an option, we live in a 2300 sf home and may be exchanging to a 700 sf apartment and we are just looking for different options.
Joel

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Hank W.
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Re: cost of housing

Post by Hank W. » Sun Jun 08, 2003 4:51 pm

lafield wrote:An approximate cost of a three bedroom home would be great.
Well, I'd keep the ballpark there. Anything between 500 -1000, doubling around Helsinki. Then again you need to calculate the cost of transportation as well + the vicinity of services etc.

In Finland, the houses are sold/rented as in square meters/ amount of rooms. There is no differentiating if you sleep in there or just snore. Your 700 sq feet is approximately 65m2 ~ I have a 'triple' for that. Can't fit a third bedroom in this one. You'd be looking for 80-90 m2 if you want four rooms.
Last edited by Hank W. on Sun Jun 08, 2003 5:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.

gavin

Re: Moving to Finland

Post by gavin » Sun Jun 08, 2003 4:56 pm

lafield wrote:Yes, exchange is an option, we live in a 2300 sf home and may be exchanging to a 700 sf apartment and we are just looking for different options.
better start thinking m2... :wink: I have always rented detached houses in Finland, but I prefer to live 'in the sticks' where it's cheaper to rent (but not because of that reason :) ). The way I usually find somthing is by word of mouth (ask your local contacts) and obviously in the 'regional' paper.

Prices vary wildly (in my experience) in one place we had a big (by Finnish standards) detached house, maybe 200m2 for only 250 euros/month, but it wasn't the most beautifully kept place in the world (the location was perfect though- 30Km to 'local' shop) I guess you could normally expect to pay about 800 euros/month for somthing halfway decent within walking distance of civilisation of that size (again, I'm talking in the sticks here, not inside Ring III)

It so much depends on the town you will work, and if you are a city or a countryside person.

now oile jus go an feed moi anirmals, oh, ar.... (please ask Neil to translate that, if you need to)

Cheers
Gavin

BAT

Post by BAT » Mon Jun 09, 2003 7:19 pm

Me again...

Some info from this past Sunday's Helsingin Sanomat.

4 rooms, (3 bedrooms - 1 living room), kitchen, and sauna - 120m2 in downtown Helsinki. 2200€ per month. (apt. building)

? rooms, 78m2 in Espoon keskus - 665€ per month. (probably apt. building)

Most places were quite small. Didn't see any ads for a free-standing home for rent.

If you check those links though you will find more info. This just helps with the price range for different sizes of places. Some areas are more expensive than others, like Westend and Kauniainen - so those rent prices are elevated.


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