Advice on rental

Hi there,

Any advice will be appreciated.

We are moving around the end of December. We will require a furnished place to start off with. I have seen some on kamers.nl however they are available immediately and I doubt an owner would wait 3 months for occupancy (and associated rental).

Our option is to book an AirBNB, we were initially thinking for a full month as in SA rental contracts usually start from a calendar month.

From what I am seeing with apartments being available immediately, are rental contracts then available to start at any time of a month? And is the rent then a pro rata cost?

Any advice on how long to book an AirBNB for so that we can come over and look for an apartment?

I also read that it is important to see the place in person first as people have been scammed.

I love the security of pre booking but really cant afford to have a financial loss should it be part of a scam or not upto expectations.

Is there a rental deposit usually required?

What are the chances of finding a furnished apartment for a short term contract (2 months)?

Any advice on links to reliable websites with more info on rental in Amsterdam and surrounds would be great too.

Thank you!