Jay & Nicole's Search for an Apartment in Tel Aviv
(click any picture to get enlargement)


We moved to Israel in September 2007 so Nicole can begin a four-year assignment with the Embassy of Switzerland.  If you missed our ' Introduction to Israel ' page, you might want to go there first to get some background information on Tel Aviv before continuing with this page. 


This story begins on the day of our arrival.  We contacted some of the realtors that co-workers suggested and provided them with our list of desires:

The apartment should:
- Be within a 10-15 minute walk of the Embassy and have a view of the Mediterranean Sea
- Have at least one nice open-air terrace or balcony and hopefully be a top-floor penthouse
- Have a master bedroom/bath, a guest bedroom/bath and another room we can use as a study
- Have separated kitchen, dining, and living room areas; a visitor bathroom is also needed
- Not be located on a busy/noisy street and have a garage or safe parking for one car
- Extras that would be nice: fitness area, pool, Jacuzzi & tennis court
 

 

Realtors began to call on the first day.  They showed us a map of Tel Aviv and quickly explained the overall city layout. 

The Embassy is located in the City Center and is near the Sea, so we concentrated our initial efforts in that area.
There were many high-rise buildings along the Sea, which would be perfect for us.
We drew a circle on a map to indicate the area in which we were interested (10 minute walk from the Embassy). 

We then gave the map to any realtor that wanted to help us; most of them were not very enthusiastic about being able to meet our requirements.

We learned that the high-rise buildings along the beach were hotels, and the low-level places were too expensive.  The high-rise buildings further into the city were too far away and had small balconies.

Within the circled Tel Aviv area, the tree-lined streets initially looked great ... until we found that most apartments didn't include a parking spot, and that we'd have to park on the crowded street.
Those apartments that did include parking, had spots that were not desirable or secure.

Within the circled Tel Aviv area, many buildings were 'old and ugly', 'strange or weird' ... or just 'blah'.

Some corridors made you feel like you were entering a hospital. Some closets made you feel like you were in a poor country. Some places were very messy; what would this look like empty? 

The bathroom areas are important to us.  Although everything was clean, most bathrooms needed a lot of updating, needed new fixtures, were too small, or were  just too 'mixed & matched' to our liking.
In the city, space is very limited and most places were multi-level; the stairs were very basic. The kitchens seemed OK, but many needed appliances and were not near the terrace. Many apartments had strange configurations and could not handle our furniture.

Some places were still under construction ... we were told  these places will be ready within a month ...   

... from our experience, we could only laugh as we walked away!

Some of the views within the apartments were outright scary ...
... ugly apartments & wiring was not my idea of a 'city-view'!

With regard to terraces, which are very important to us and our cat ... we were quite saddened.

Most terraces were in dirty condition, or in disrepair, or just way too small.

Finally, some of the views within the city center were not very nice at all!

As a result of our initial search, we agreed to expand our circle without much hesitation.

We included more of Tel Aviv and an older neighborhood called Neve Tsedek, which is cute & quaint.

This decision meant that Nicole would need to drive to work, since taking buses were not allowed for security reasons.

In Neve Tsedek we could get an entire house ... but they were built right on the busy streets. Parking was an issue; this owner used his driveway as a terrace. There were lots of cats too :( Roof-top terraces were next to each other; no privacy and not good for security.
 
These homes were older and would need a lot of maintenance. Many of the appliances and fixtures within the homes needed to be repaired or replaced.

The buildings also were not very high, so the views were minimal.
This place had a cool courtyard ...  ... but the location and views were terrible; no thanks to this area!
Closer to the sea, this place came close to what we wanted, a great terrace and view of the sea, but it was next to the bus depot ... darn! This 'sea view' wasn't as great as it was advertised to be.
We were very interested in this place; it was big and had a great terrace.  Unfortunately the kitchen and A/C needed lots of work ... and the flooring wouldn't match the zebra rug & our Africa stuff.
Since we were seeing better places, we were able to get more picky.
 
The realtors then mentioned that the newest buildings were located just a little further south, so we agreed to include Jaffa.

Jaffa is actually the oldest part of town, but many renovations are being done. This area is even farther away from work, but still only a 10-15 minute drive.

The first apartments we saw in Jaffa were in bigger complexes ... with nice entrances, underground parking and swimming pools!  This is more like what Jay was hoping for.
The views though, didn't turn out too good ... lots of construction, warehouses & noisy schoolyards.

In these complexes, we could only afford the smaller places,
which needed work or were not secure; so we kept looking.


Further south we discovered a special place, done in Arabic style ... but the area wasn't real safe.

We found some other places that had nice views or that had great architecture, but there were always problems ... parking issues, unsecured access and general messes were common negatives. 

 
Ok, we can finally show you what apartment we decided upon....

After looking at 30 apartments, with 8 different realtors, we decided to rent in the Jaffa neighborhood.

Our new home is a few minutes walk from old Jaffa and about 10 minutes from the sea... look for the 'Home' dot on the map to the right.

 
We live on a one-way street which connects the old part of Jaffa to the rest of Tel Aviv.

<== looking up (west) towards
newer buildings & sea.

Looking down (east) ==>
towards an older section.
Our building has 5 floors. There are 11 apts.; 5 face the street and 6 are along the back alley.

Our place is on the street and takes up 3 floors; the master bedroom is on the top; the kitchen, dining & living areas are on the middle floor; the entertainment area and guest room are on the lower floor.

 Nicole wanted balconies, and we have 4, but they are small ...
... so it's great that we have a
big terrace off the middle floor.
 
<== From the street, there is an outside gate which is somewhat hidden.  There is an area for the garbage cans & then other gate.  

                                        ==>
Once through that gate you enter the building through a door on the right or you can continue down to the alley gate.
The alley is cute and many walkers (and dogs) are around. This was the ONLY place we saw that included a garage. The gate leading from the alley has a keypad entry.

We immediately liked the building, as it was newer and everything seemed to work. It was especially nice to have electronic openers and doors that would close solidly behind you.

Safety was not a concern since there were entry gates, solid doors and an intercom system for visitors.

Now we can enter the building ...

We go up the elevator to the 3rd floor.  Upon entering our door, you have the stairs to the right, the terrace doors to the left and the living room in front of you.

We have always enjoyed 'loft-like' places; this was the only apartment we saw that could be considered 'lofty'.

The beams & stairs are all made of metal.  There is a lot of glass and open space all around.

Some of the artsy decorations are quite interesting ... but will be very difficult to clean!

A mirror above the living room ... an interesting way to use space.
The living room area is somewhat small.  With three doors leading out to the terrace and three windows that open to the street, it will be hard to find room for all of our furniture and wall hangings!

The dining area is also not big and may not handle our furniture. The mirror will need to be moved and the lamp doesn't fit with the 'high-tech' feel of the place.


The light panels are cool, but all the labels are in Hebrew ... yikes!

 
The kitchen was one of the most important factors in us choosing this place.  All appliances are included an of 'top-notch' quality, so we don't have to worry about buying anything.

There is very little storage space, so we will not be building up any supplies.  Luckily there is a supermarket just up the street; so we should be OK.
<== Towards the back of the kitchen is the utility room.  The washer/dryer is located here; there may be space for small storage cabinets.

The visitors bathroom is     ==>
done up nicely.  All of the fixtures are new and work wonderfully!

The terrace, off the main living area on the middle floor, was the most important factor for us.

The terrace measures about 5m by 5m (15x15 feet) and will provide plenty of room for us.  

The western side of the terrace contains three entry doors, but each is somewhat narrow.  A big sliding glass door would have been better, but the architect had to follow local standards.

The landlord included a bar and some stools ... as well as some other patio furniture.  The weather has really damaged these items; we will need to repair them and provide a cover.

A big umbrella will probably work, but I am hoping to develop a cover for the whole terrace.  During the summer, it will get to 40 C (100 F) and during the winter it will be cold and rainy.

 
The east side faces the neighboring building, which houses a large family.  We will need devices to provide some privacy for us; good projects for Jay!

We will also need to hunt for plants, as the terrace is quite barren.  We are shipping some pots, but planter boxes will be needed ... unfortunately wood is quite expensive!
The housing prices in Jaffa are quite expensive since the market is so saturated. 
Our apartment was priced within our range only because there is a large construction 
project across the street.  Hopefully it will be noisy only for a few months.
Returning to the tour ... let's now go up the stairs to the master bedroom ... 

After going up the stairs you can look down to the living room through a large pane of glass.

The bedroom area is actually quite spacious, but has a concrete barrier in the middle.

The owner had placed the bed against the barrier and had a large video system against the wall behind us.  It will be interesting to see how we decide to use the space.

The balcony is very small, so we probably won't use it much.

 
From this view you can see the wall which contained the video system, but we won't have one.

The bathroom is to the left and the walk-in closet is to the right.

The biggest problem with loft properties is the limited storage and bathroom space.  Luckily this bedroom didn't have those issues, which made Nicole smile.

 
The master bathroom contains everything we could wish for.

Nicole was happy to have lots of space to store things and Jay was happy to see that all of the fixtures were new and worked great.  The modern look appealed to us and sealed the deal.

The walk-in closet, shown below was also something that Nicole was drastically hoping for ... especially to store lots of shoes!
 
So far we have toured the middle floor (kitchen, utility, visitor bath, dining, living rooms & terrace) and we have seen the top floor (bedroom, bathroom and closet).

Lets now head down the stairs to the lower level ... 


This floor should be a small apartment by itself, but the owner incorporated it into his place during construction.  Yes, there is another mirror to be dealt with! 

 

This floor will contain the TV area (see picture above) and a study or entertainment area (right).

The landlord left us this bar too, so we will have plenty of places to handle visitors; hint, hint!

The tall shutters lead to small balconies on which we will try to grow crawling ivy plants.

Behind the bar area you will find the guest bedroom and bathroom.

The bedroom is actually bomb-proof, with extra thick walls, a sealed door and a secured window... but it is done up quite nicely.

The bathroom is excellent and completes the package.
The tour is now finished ... but do you see anything strange in the picture below?  
Sometimes Nicole does the work of two people ... but sticking pictures together allows this to occur.
You are invited to check back to see what the place looks like after we get settled in !