One week in Birzebbugia

Maltom Active member

Member since 24 April 2013

MaltomActive member15 May 2013 06:37:43

We had 4 real estate agent "working" to help us find a 3 bed appartment in Birzebbuga. After 4 weeks with no result I was getting nervous, our dream starts with a place to live in!

"Scubaboy" adviced me to come down to Birzebbuga and he should help me in the search for a appartment. When we arrived to Birzebbuga me and my wife walked every street,up and down, to check the trafic, noisepollution and locations where we would like to live. Then we went down to the Del Piero bar and talked to Julian, Tina and Lisa and after 20 minutes we had a selection of 3 appartments, in tree different locations!! After 4 hours we had signed a contract and moved in!!

So on one side we have the four major real estate companys and on the other side the staff on the local bar!!

My advice to you must be the same as Julians advice to me, dont bother with the real estate companys, they cant compete with an expat with a broad local network!

Sweden is a country where everything works like a clock. Malta is more like the country where the clock stopped! If you accept that you will find Malta a perfect place to live in. The kindness of the people you meet is compareless. We asked a old Maltese couple for advice on what bus we should take to Marsaxlokk, and was invited to ride with them so we didnt get lost! We had dinner on a local restaurant and left it 2 hours later with the telefonnumbers to 3 complete strangers! - Here you have our numbers if you need something, or just want some company!

Julian, Tina and Lisa, we cant thank you enough for all the help we got from you during our stay in Birzebbuga. Looking forward to see you again in June.

Tomas

GuestPoster566 ViP

Member since 18 October 2012

GuestPoster566ViP15 May 2013 07:25:55

3692

Nice one!

scubaboy Serial expat

Member since 06 February 2011

scubaboySerial expat15 May 2013 09:23:49

872

Tomas & Malin,

what can i say, it was a privilege to meet you both and be of some assistance to you.

Your words have made me feel very humbled and I did not feel that we did anything out of the way to help, just offered advice and tried to see if we could help.

This does actually show that things in Malta are not as hard it is made out to be. I have in the last couple of days started to speak to an Agent here that will hopefully start to work well for the expat community and give some REAL deals here in Malta. One of the things he has said is that he will not accept any Landlord that will not declare their earning, therefore this will also allow the landlord to help put any bills in the renters name.

I will see how it pans out as its in early stages.

Again Thank you Tomas for the Kind words and if anyone else needs assistance you know how to get hold of me

Julian

matm911 Serial expat

Member since 17 October 2012

matm911Serial expat15 May 2013 11:51:39

656

That's the way things are working in Malta - it took me some time to realize that
Not sitting behind a computer checking online offers or rely on over-worked agents ... just talk with the locals - and expats of course - and you can get (almost) everything: accommodation, garage, vehicles, boats, repairs, handymen services, jobs etc. etc.

Toon Cyprus Expert

Member since 04 June 2011

ToonCyprus Expert15 May 2013 12:30:20

10223

I couldnt agree more - and am waiting for the new ethical estate agent too - thats going to be so so interesting - especially the impact on the rest. If it works out well i will certainly recommend them.

GuestPoster566 ViP

Member since 18 October 2012

GuestPoster566ViP16 May 2013 04:38:57

3692

Any question we have, which we cannot answer for ourselves we always ask one of the two sisters who work at our local corner shop. The result usually depends upon how many other customers are there and sometimes the question causes quite a debate as they will always ask other customers who are there and their parents who own it. We love it!! Lynn says it reminds her of village life when she lived in remote Norfolk. Another source of good information for us is the manager at our local bar, she knows virtually everybody in the village. She is also a very nice person as are the two sisters. The genuine warmth of the people and their willingness to automatically involve us in their lives has been wonderful. Anyone new to Malta or Gozo I say, get to know your local people, always greet them whenever you see them and always, always, acknowledge those working in a shop as you enter or as soon as possible afterwards. There is no room for bashfulness here!