# Moving to Cyprus



## lornic (Aug 1, 2011)

We are in the process of moving to Cyprus for job reasons. I will be working in Nicosia and we are now trying to decide what areas to concentrate our property search in. We will rent for the first couple of years and then see what happens. We have a few questions that would great if someone could hep with. 

Could someone recommend good expat areas that are within 30 minutes drive of Nicosia? 
We are moving with 2 dogs and 2 cats, is it easy to rental property that accepts pets? 
Also, does anyone know of a good agent that could help us (not sure if that is allowed, it's not on the Malta expat forum)? What is the normal fee you pay to agents when you rent?


Many thanks

Nic


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

lornic said:


> We are in the process of moving to Cyprus for job reasons. I will be working in Nicosia and we are now trying to decide what areas to concentrate our property search in. We will rent for the first couple of years and then see what happens. We have a few questions that would great if someone could hep with.
> 
> Could someone recommend good expat areas that are within 30 minutes drive of Nicosia?
> We are moving with 2 dogs and 2 cats, is it easy to rental property that accepts pets?
> ...


Rental agents are paid a commission by the owner of the property. You should not be asked to pay a fee, if you are just walk away and find another agent.
Its ok for people to recommend an agent to you as long as they do not own the company or work for it.
Sorry I cant help you with that as Nicosia is not my area.

Veronica


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## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

Which area of Nicosia will your work be based ? - it can take 30 minutes on a good day just to get into the city centre from some of the residential suburbs, but if your work is based in the south of the city near to the newly refurbished roads, then you could commute from the south/east coast. There are also some nice residential estates to the northwest of Nicosia.


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## lornic (Aug 1, 2011)

kimonas said:


> Which area of Nicosia will your work be based ? - it can take 30 minutes on a good day just to get into the city centre from some of the residential suburbs, but if your work is based in the south of the city near to the newly refurbished roads, then you could commute from the south/east coast. There are also some nice residential estates to the northwest of Nicosia.


Thanks Kimonas. I'll be based in central Nicosia, not far from the Hilton Park hotel if you know where it is. It certainly sounds like there are a few traffic issues, so we will probably try to find something in Nicosia or very close by. Don't really fancy spending hours in the car. 
What are the areas like that you mentioned? We are ideally looking for an apartment/penthouse on a complex with a communal pool, like we have seen advertised in the Larnaca area. Is it possible to get this close to/in Nicosia, or do we have to head to the coast?

Really appreciate any advise you can give.


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## kimonas (Jul 19, 2008)

lornic said:


> Thanks Kimonas. I'll be based in central Nicosia, not far from the Hilton Park hotel if you know where it is. It certainly sounds like there are a few traffic issues, so we will probably try to find something in Nicosia or very close by. Don't really fancy spending hours in the car.
> What are the areas like that you mentioned? We are ideally looking for an apartment/penthouse on a complex with a communal pool, like we have seen advertised in the Larnaca area. Is it possible to get this close to/in Nicosia, or do we have to head to the coast?
> 
> Really appreciate any advise you can give.


The Hilton Park is in a tricky spot for commuting out of the city as it's not that far from the UN buffer zone which cuts accross Engomi (and Nicosia- you're forced to travel all the way round the loop of the ring road to get to the main Nicosia/Limmasol/Larnaka highway which can take ages, or battle through the city centre. There are plenty of rents available in surrounding districts (but as far as I am aware nothing like complexes with communal pools such as you would find in the villages along the coast. There are very few swimming pools in the Agios Dometios district (around the race track) but mainly apartments to rent - Engomi has places to rent, but again few pools. There arel lots of very swanky residences around the hotel itself on private developments on former Kykkos Church orchards and Olive groves (which are still quite learge) - most of these have individual pools, but are in private hands - there may be one or two of these up for rent, but I expect they will have a price tag to match the top-notch location and you'd probably need to find a decent agent to track one down for you.

There are two Hilton Hotels in Nicosia - the Park is in a mainly residential area - the other is more central and surrounded by businesses/retail etc. I'm just pointing it out in case I've got the location wrong, as the two hotels are often confused (even by locals). The Hilton on Makariou Avenue is in the south of the city only a few minutes from the highway and easily commutable to Larnaca (I live close by and work in Larnaca - it takes about half an hour).


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## atw26 (May 23, 2009)

There is only one apartment complex that I know of in Nicosia that has a communal pool. It is closer to the center of town. I suppose I would put it in the Ayios Omologities area which is about 10-15 mins away from Hilton Park Hotel.

I concur that you would have better luck finding a house with a pool to rent. Unless you think that would be either too big (you don't mention having children) or too much upkeep.

To familiarise yourself with the areas in Nicosia, take a look at this map:
http://www.intercyprus.com/maps/map-of-nicosia-b.jpg
The Hilton Park Hotel is number 67 in C4. (uh, and the river is a dry river except in the winter after a good rain). It's got the Engomi and Ayios Dometios areas and the racetrack marked that Kimonos mentioned.

In Nicosia, I wouldn't say that it's easy to find a place that takes 4 pets. My gut feeling is that it may be easier if you're looking at houses or at places on the coast; the coast because there are more expats who might be into that sort of thing (can anyone confirm/deny?)

Ah, also, what do you mean by 'good expat areas'? I may be off but I can't think of an area where there's a heavy concentration of expats vs. locals (aside from Nicosia inside the walls which draws those looking for rock bottom rents and those who will put up with the poorly maintained places that often go with it).

And finally, in which month would you be moving?


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## lornic (Aug 1, 2011)

Thanks for all the advice. I am arriving in Cyprus in a couple of weeks and my wife and the pets will be coming in October. We are coming to the conclusion that it will be best for me to rent something small, close to work for a month and spend the time weighing up the pros and cons of living in or close to Nicosia versus the coast and complex living. Our preferred lifestyle is out of town ideally, where we can build up a group of friends in the expat community. Our home in Malta is in a "local" area, so it will be nice to experience something different for a bit!

We have sent lots of e-mails to estate agents, but haven't received a single response! Is that the typical service you can expect? Is it easy to find somewhere to rent for a month in Nicosia and can anyone recommend an agent there?

Thanks again.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

I think you will find that most rental agents wont do short term rentals. For short term you need to be looking at a holiday let.
Once here you can then look for something more permanent.
Short term rentals on a weekly basis are of course a lot more expensive as the general rule of thumb is for short term you pay the same for one week as you would pay per month for long term.

good luck
Veronica


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## atw26 (May 23, 2009)

lornic said:


> Thanks for all the advice. I am arriving in Cyprus in a couple of weeks and my wife and the pets will be coming in October. We are coming to the conclusion that it will be best for me to rent something small, close to work for a month [...]
> 
> We have sent lots of e-mails to estate agents, but haven't received a single response! Is that the typical service you can expect? Is it easy to find somewhere to rent for a month in Nicosia and can anyone recommend an agent there?


Unfortunately, it is still better to visit in person or call on the phone as opposed to trying to contact via email. Although the situation has improved slightly over the years (at least some places *have* an email address now), the frequency of checking email often leaves something to be desired.

Add to that the fact that August is generally the time when people take their summer holidays and the lack of a response is not out of the ordinary.

I agree with Veronica that it will be difficult to find such a short term lease. I would recommend that you check out this other thread for some ideas:
http://www.expatforum.com/expats/cy...-cyprus/78851-short-term-rentals-nicosia.html

I will PM you some rental agent phone numbers that I have aggregated. Out of the list, the Markides agents are always the ones who respond. The others may or may not call back. Costas Markides Estates - Real Estate Agent in Cyprus


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Strangley enough even many agents who do sales are slow to answer emails and often dont bother at all. It beats me why they even bother to have websites.
We have had several clients who told us that we were the only company to respond to their enquiries. Well their loss is our gain


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## lornic (Aug 1, 2011)

Thanks ATW26 for the list of numbers. It looks like I will now be provided with hotel accomodation for the first month, so that will give me time to get in contact with some of the agents you have recommended and suss out the different areas, traffic volumes and what we can expect to get for our preferred budget.

Two places of interest nearer the coast are Oroklini and Perivolia. We have seen lots of apartments for rent on various websites in those two locations. Can anyone advise how long it would take to drive from each village to Nicosia? Also are there any other villages between the coast and Nicosia that you would recommend?

Thanks again for all the advice.


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