After 1 year in Paphos, we, a young couple without children, started to think about changing our current apartment by the number of reasons, including mold, missing private garden and a general value/cost ratio. Before relocating to Cyprus, we lived in different apartments for 10+ years , but I always liked to live in a large cottage in a calm village (similar to what my parents have and where I lived before 14). Mainly due to this and since we also pay a lot for our apartment (700 euro), the dream about a house and a small plot of land to grow greens started to materialize.
We look for apartments at the local bazaraki.com web site. There are many different accommodations for long-term rent in Paphos and Pegeia in the 400-700 euro range. Especially in January-February when it is not season (I expect prices to grow in April+).
We are basically looking for 1 or 2 bed-room townhouse, maisonette (duplex) or ground-floor apartment with Wi-Fi a small private area, greens and internet – all up to 700 euros and ideally not worse than the place we live in (see the photos below). We currently have a typical 2-bed room apartment with 2 bathrooms and balconies in the center of Paphos, Universal. Amenities are good and the contract is flexible, but there are some problems with the mold in several rooms + we do not use the communal pool (and do not want to pay for it).
During our apartment search and up to 3 real meetings with property owners on site, we realized that it is technically possible to find what we are looking for. So far, the main difficulty is the contract flexibility, because most people offer 12 month tenancy agreements and only few agreed to consider 6-8 month duration. Also, we even regretted that we did not think about changing initial apartments earlier – there were much better premises available for the same or even less money.
Being a pragmatic programmer (IT job) and a man, I do not like to make emotional choices. Instead, I like to base my decisions on strict numbers. It is especially important when you compare similar options like apartments, cars, devices. Below is my comparison Excel sheet based on apartment qualities that matter to us.
For accurate decision-making, I used 0-2 weights for qualities (from unimportant to critical) and their conditions (from problematic to excellent). Final scores are automatically calculated based on quality scores and their weights – I do not like the manual work too. If you’d like to see my Excel for choosing a wife/girl-friend, drop me a line in comments:-P
You may also find useful the tenancy agreement we received from one of the Cyprus property agents.
As of writing this article, we have not yet moved out of our current apartment and continue our searches. Our attention is now paid to Larnaca region, because it is much cheaper than in Paphos and there are even more townhouses or apartment with gardens near the sea.
Hopefully, we will write follow up post in the coming months – please stay tuned and share your own experience with renting apartments or houses in Paphos. What property qualities matter most to you, what were the culprits during the process? Thanks!
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